Use These 4 Steps To Make Your Own Workouts

Unfortunately, not everyone has the benefits of having a good coach individualize workouts for them. In most cases the average person’s workout comes from some cut and paste website, some bro-scientist guessing his way through a set of curls, or if their lucky they get good general programming from places like EnduWod. No matter who you are, if you want optimal results you’re going to need personalized workouts. If you’re like 99% of people, you’re going to have to make your own workouts – and I’m here to help.

captain pose for confidence

So, if you’ve already passed on using some of the free EnduWod workouts then you need to get ready to do something called programming. Programming is the art of creating a series of workouts that all progress based off of one another to get the desired adaptations from training. When a good coach makes workouts he or she programs with several things in mind: Frequency, Intensity, Volume, and exercise selection.

FREQUENCY

This refers to how often you plan on working out. If you want to workout 3 times a week then you need to figure out how much rest you want to have between workouts. When it comes to resistance training, the rule of thumb is to have at least 48 hours of recovery between similar muscle group workouts. For example, if you squat on Monday then you should AT THE LEAST wait until Wednesday before you deadlift.

INTENSITY

Intensity can be interchanged with 1RM % (1 Rep Max percentage). When you choose the intensity of a workout, you’re essentially deciding how hard this workout will be on your body. If you’re looking for hypertrophy and strength gains you should use at least 70% 1RM. Some newer research suggests that optimal intensity may be as high as 85 % or even higher. Just remember, the higher 1RM % you use the fewer reps you should use.

VOLUME

Sets x reps is the formula used to calculate volume. The traditional set-rep scheme in many workouts is 3 sets of 10 reps. That’s fine and dandy if you want to get a quick pump, but some of us want to get strong. Strength gains are seen more in the 5 rep range as long as intensity is high enough. Performing 5 sets of 5 is, in my opinion, the ultimate strength and muscle mass gaining set-rep scheme. However, performing sets of 3 or 2 at 90% 1RM or higher may be what your strength gains need. A good set-rep scheme for such a high 1RM% would be 4 sets of 3 reps or 5 sets of 2 reps.

EXERCISE SELECTION

Picking the right exercise should be the easy part. If you want to get better at squatting you definitely need to squat. Start with your primary goal – back squat – and perform it at the intensity you desired. Next you need to select your accessories; such as front squat, RDL, or Lunge. Program your accessories at a lower intensity and volume, but not so low that you don’t see any adaptations.

Obviously this is just a basic run-through on how to make your workouts, but now you have the foundation to start making your workouts and reaching your goals. Of course, if you have the resources please trust the professionals to get write your workouts and program you to success. Just whatever you do, don’t trust commander bro-science whose workouts do little more than cost you money and waste your time.