Training without a plan is equivalent to studying with the wrong book. You'll learn something hope it's the right information for your test. Training without a plan will definitively improve your physique and physical capabilities, but will it be efficient? Let's create a fully functional and practical training program together, after which you can comfortably go into the gym, know that what you're doing is precisely what you need and have a better start than 80% of people in your position. Creating a program is the fundamental instruction for building your ideal physique, and condition or maximising your physical capabilities.
So what should your first program be? supersets? split? push/pull? Starting your fitness journey be it from scratch or after a long break always has to begin the same for the first two weeks, your first program has to be a full-body workout 3 times a week with an optional 1 cardio session between workouts days.
Remember! Your first program doesn't have to be complex world's best athletes often have the simplest routines, your first program's main objective is to create a routine, increase discipline and get you into a rhythm. for many of us to start training means we have to change our lives, some of us aren't ready for such a change and can get overwhelmed if it is too rushed, and for those motivated people your objective is to stay motivated and keep that fire burning as long as possible, creating a difficult program, overtraining 5-6 times a week will burn you out and you will lose all that progress you were working on so hard.
Let's start creating our program, how is it going to work? we will create 2 different workouts, workout A and workout B. workout A will be a top-dominated workout and workout B will be a bottom-dominated workout, pushing everything to the limit may cause you to not be able to repair in time thus making the plan not as efficient as it should be. every plan you create has to maintain its difficulty throughout until you get to the final stages where you are going to cool down and take a rest. so how do we do that? we start with primary exercises such as squats, bench presses, pull-ups, deadlifts etc keeping the sets high by 4-5 depending on the workout, the repetition depends on the weight you're lifting comparing your strength to reps:
100% strength // 1 repetition
90% strength // 3 repetitions
80% strength // 7-10 repetitions
70% strength // 12 repetitions
60% strength // 15+ repetitions
each set needs to maximize your reps according to your strength, you don't want to underwork your sets otherwise you won't maximise the efficiency of the workout plan.
Knowing what rep range to style yourself into is also important however it is something to get into in your second/third program where you specify exactly your goals. Creating a program you need to first assign 2 main exercises w
hich work the muscle group you're going to work on and that is the most dangerous, and difficult to do because those are the exercises you need to be 100% in. when changing muscle groups you once again start from the main exercise of that muscle group ie. any press for the chest, any pull-up motion for the back and squats/deadlifts for the legs.
Workout A: Top-Dominated Workout
Dumbbell incline press
Dumbbell Flies
Shoulder press
lateral raises
Lat pull down
Seated rows
Superset: Biceps curls with Triceps pushdown
Leg press
Leg curls
(optional abs)
Above you have in order the exercises you will complete for workout A. To maintain intensity and efficiency we need to manipulate the reps and sets.
4 x 10 = 40 total reps
4 x 10 = 40 total reps
3 x 12 = 38 total reps
3 x 10 = 30 total reps
3 x 10 = 30 total reps
2 x 15 = 30 total reps
2 x 12 = 24 total reps
2 x 10 = 20 total reps
2 x 10 = 20 total reps
Note the listed above sets and reps decline in total value as the workout progresses, at the beginning I recommend keeping it easier than it should be, intensity can always and very easily be increased however if the workout is too difficult it can cause injury.
Workout A is an ideal first workout to begin the week, you trained out your whole body activated many hormones and created a demand for an increase of energy to be stored in your body. if you found it tough by the end of the week repeat the same numbers the following week, if you found it easy however your plan isn't going to stay the same, it will get more difficult and we will discuss that after we introduce workout B
Workout B: Bottom-Dominated Workout
Goblet squats
Lunges
Leg extensions
Hip thrusts
Calf raises
T-bar rows
Rear deal raises
Pec dec fly's
(optional abs)
Note the above exercises for workout B, why is it important to do legs? well, not only its the biggest muscle in the body it also generates a huge amount of hormones that will increase hypertrophy. Working your legs helps to produce hormones such as cortisol, testosterone, and human growth hormone (HGH) which as a result decrease stress hormones.
Why goblet squats rather than normal squats? well, when starting with weights our muscles aren't always there to support us the way we need them, the goblet squat is a safer alternative to the traditional squat, it decreases the pressure placed on your back and is more comfortable to go down low, which results in better results. That's not to say that squats aren't good and we always should implement some kind of squat variation in our programs. since the previous workout A was much more top-orientated we are focusing more on the lower areas also with repetition and sets for now.
4 x 10 = 40 total reps
4 x 10 = 40 total reps
3 x 12 = 38 total reps
3 x 10 = 30 total reps
3 x 10 = 30 total reps
2 x 15 = 30 total reps
2 x 12 = 24 total reps
2 x 10 = 20 total reps
So how are we going to plan out our schedule, like I said before it's not supposed to be complicated we will train in sequence workout a workout b no matter the days you want to train. Let's say you want to workout, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday so how are we going to train? A on Monday, B on Tuesday, A on Thursday, B on Saturday and so the pattern repeats. what if you miss a day? the pattern stays just move it by one if you missed the workout on Monday move it to Tuesday never skip the workout.
How long should you have a single program, well you can keep the main structure of a program for 3-4 months if not longer however at the beginning your first program should only last 4 weeks, and after 4 weeks it needs to change into a more specific program tailored to your needs.
Remember: after each week of completing the program above increase the lower sets by 1! to ensure consistent improvements and increases in intensity, as you become fitter your workouts should become more challenging.
For help and more guidance on training contact us directly! we offer free assessments and programs after 3 sessions!
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