How to design your own workout

It's obvious that many pre-made training plans prove to be only partially practical upon closer inspection. To help you put together a sensible workout, this article provides a guide with the absolute basics.

Step 1 – Decide when and how often you want to train per week

Nowadays, medical professionals agree that at least 30 minutes of exercise per day is necessary to maintain optimal health. Based on this fact, you should aim to dedicate five of the seven weekdays to physical activity, provided you have enough time. However, if you can only train three or four days a week, that's not a problem either, as long as you adjust the duration of your workouts accordingly. Before planning the length of your individual training sessions, you need to determine the training days. You have complete freedom here, of course, so you can adapt your training program to your individual weekly schedule. Generally speaking, however, it's recommended to take a one-day rest day after no more than three training days. Once you've finalized your training days, you determine the duration of each workout. This should typically be between 30 and 60 minutes, depending on whether you're planning a short cardio session or a more extensive strength training workout.

Step 2 – Put together a good warm-up routine

Before you dive into the fray with high motivation, every training session begins with a short warm-up program, which should also be planned in advance to maintain a consistent focus. Warm-ups are generally short, lasting 5-10 minutes. The foundation of a warm-up is a general warm-up, which brings the entire body up to operating temperature so that it is prepared for the upcoming exertion. For this purpose, it is advisable to spend a few minutes on a cardio machine of your choice, or, in the case of a cardio workout, to do a few minutes of light jogging. If you are preparing for strength training, the general warm-up is followed by a more targeted local warm-up, which ensures that the target muscles are specifically prepared for the exertion, thus significantly reducing the likelihood of injury. In practice, a local warm-up is performed with a few warm-up sets using light weights. It's also worth noting that light stretching is part of a warm-up routine. However, you shouldn't overdo it, as this can negatively affect your muscle tension.

Step 3 – Create your main workout

Unless it's a cardio workout, the planned training session doesn't involve the entire body, but rather focuses on one or two muscle groups. The following day, you then target a different muscle group, allowing the previous one to rest and enabling your body to begin regenerating and building new muscle mass. This approach will be explained below using a classic two-day split routine. Monday is the so-called "push" session, during which you train your chest, shoulders, and triceps. Tuesday is the "pull" session, which focuses on your legs, back, and biceps. On Wednesday, you take a one-day rest day before performing another push session on Thursday. After completing your second pull session on Friday, you can use the entire weekend for recovery or do a light cardio session, which is recommended in either case. However, the distribution across the mentioned days of the week is by no means binding, so you can certainly adapt the schedule to your needs.

Step 4 – Now it's time to plan the cool-down phase

Just like the warm-up, the cool-down is also relatively short. During this five- to ten-minute phase, you can, for example, do a very light cardio workout to ensure that your body doesn't experience a complete metabolic shutdown, but rather winds down gradually. Alternatively, you can use additional relaxation techniques like yoga, which help you relax your muscles so that the regeneration process can begin as quickly as possible.

Step 5 – Let your program become second nature.

A sadly often neglected aspect of training planning is the consistent implementation of a training routine. Recreational athletes all too often tend to abandon their training program every two to three weeks without good reason. Create your training program and stick to it strictly, as it takes several weeks before the first visible results appear. Since boredom, along with a perceived lack of progress, is the main reason for constantly changing training routines, you should also ensure that your workout always presents a new challenge by varying the exercises for specific muscle groups.