Designing An Actual Workout

Training

Designing An Actual Workout
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So far in this exercise series, we have been discussing a variety of aspects of designing a workout program, and I do understand that it can feel a bit jumbled. You have basically been exposed to a variety of different principles, methods and protocols, but you perhaps don’t have a clear idea about how to actually design a workout.

We will cover designing a workout in this article, and then we will look at the bigger picture and how we intend to progress things over time, and how to organise your workouts over time. This should allow you to tie everything together and actually create effective training programs. 

Very often the information you find online doesn’t actually have a coherent longer-term vision for how the training is organised and instead is solely focused on making people feel like they have worked hard in a single session. This sells in the short term (the person feels like they are working hard and burning loads of calories), but it doesn’t necessarily lead to longer-term results.

If you want to be able to produce results, you need to have a clear vision of how things are going to be organised over time. This begins with knowing how to design an individual workout session so that it facilitates the best performance on the day, and allows for progression over time.

So, by the end of this article, you will understand how to organise a single session, and how to organise a week of training. Then in the next article, we will discuss organising your training over the longer term.

If you haven’t already, it would be incredibly helpful to also read our articles on why exercise is important, the goals of exercise, the types of exercise we have available to us, and to have a rough idea of the general exercise guidelines. It would also be incredibly beneficial to visit our exercise hub, and read our content on resistance training and cardiovascular training, along with the rest of the articles in this series. Afterall, you do need to actually understand the foundational stuff to actually put it into use in designing a workout.

Before we get stuck in, I would just like to remind you that we offer comprehensive online coaching. So if you need help with your own exercise program or nutrition, don’t hesitate to reach out. If you are a coach (or aspiring coach) and want to learn how to coach nutrition, then consider signing up to our Nutrition Coach Certification course. We do also have an exercise program design course in the works, if you are a coach who wants to learn more about effective program design and how to coach it. We do have other courses available too.

Now, let’s get stuck into designing an actual workout!

So, the first thing we need to discuss is how to organise a single training session. We need to take all that we have learned so far and put it into an actual workout. But to do this, we need to be clear on the actual goal(s) we are trying to accomplish.

Designing A Workout: What Is The Goal?

I know we always go back to this, but this is the most important thing to think about when you go to design your training program. There are a million and one ways of designing a workout program, and some are better or worse for a given goal. So we must be very clear on what we are working towards.

While a generic workout structure will get you quite far, you don’t want to be confined in your knowledge to only being able to colour within the lines of a generic program. You want to be able to actually draw the picture. 

We want you to actually be able to think things through, and not just follow some seemingly arbitrary workout structure. So you must always go back to the specific goal(s) you want to achieve, and then modify the workout structure as needed to actually accomplish the goal(s). Having this mentality does help in a variety of circumstances, and it allows you to be much, much better at actually analysing and creating programs. 

So, if you haven’t already, it makes sense to spend some time getting very clear on your goals. This will really help you to create a much better program. This is something we spend a lot of time teaching our students on our courses, and it is also something that we spend a lot of time going through with our online coaching clients, and discuss in depth on our Nutrition Coaching Course. So we are not just telling you to do this for the laugh, it really is important and most people skip it. 

However, even when you know your specific goals, we do actually need to have some sort of baseline workout structure to actually be able to modify from. So we need to go through a generic workout structure, and then we can use that as a template. If you know the generic workout structure that works for the vast majority of people, you have a base to build from.

So while going through the next section, assuming you want to learn about designing a workout specifically for your goal(s), I want you to keep asking yourself “how would this change for my goal(s)?”

For certain goals, some things may need to be prioritised, while other things may need to be de-prioritised. This can be tricky to do, if you really are new to all this exercise stuff, but you can always reach out to us for help, and we do offer comprehensive coaching if you want to get everything dialled in optimally for your goal(s).

Exercise Timing

When designing a workout, very often little attention is paid to when that workout will be performed. But if you want to get the best workout possible, you have to consider exercise timing. This is both from a physiological point of view, and a practical point of view. Working out at certain times may be better (e.g. you may be less warmed up if you train first thing in the morning), but we must also consider the fact that the workout environment will likely change at different times of day and that affects what we can do (e.g. the gym is going to be busier at certain times of the day, or it is too hot/humid/dark etc. to exercise outside at certain times of day).

Realistically, when you exercise is largely going to be determined by your work schedule and other commitments (family, life, hobbies etc.). However, there are some things we should keep in mind when we consider exercise timing. 

The first thing is adherence. Adherence is the biggest factor in determining your success with all of this health and fitness stuff. So you should probably try to train at a time that you can actually stick to. Training at 5am may make sense so you can get it done before the kids wake up or you have to get to work. However, if it is something that you can’t consistently do (i.e. you regularly sleep in) or you actually hate, then it is unlikely that you will be sticking to this long term or getting the results you desire. So when deciding on when to exercise, you do have to take your long term adherence with that schedule into account. 

Similarly, your ability to execute the program may be different at different times of day. For example, it may be easier to do a run in the morning rather than a heavy powerlifting style workout, and this is especially true if you live somewhere that means running outside during the day exposes you to excessive heat and/or humidity. Certain types of exercise are just easier to do at different times of the day, and you need to take this into account. 

This does also extend to the logistics of training at certain times of day. For example, training in the evening (after work) when everyone else is trying to train may mean you have to train in a very busy and crowded gym. This may make getting an effective workout done quite challenging. However, if you do some form of training (such as group classes) that require other people to do it with, it may be a benefit to train at the times that other people are available and want to train. 

There are studies on when the best time to train is (largely based on body temperature and performance at different times of day), however, this really isn’t all that helpful for you as an individual. Unless, of course, you have complete control over your schedule, which very few people do.

So, I can’t give you a generic recommendation of when to train. However, what I can say with a large degree of confidence is that exercising close to bed likely isn’t the best time to exercise. Most people will find that their ability to get to sleep is negatively impacted by exercising too close to sleep. So we ideally want to avoid exercising in the 2-3 hours before the intended sleep time. 

However, I do want to just caveat that by saying, exercise is one of the best things you can do to improve the quality of your sleep (we discussed this more in our article on sleep hygiene). We are also massive advocates of exercise. So if the only time you can exercise consistently is in the lead up to your bedtime, then that is certainly better than not exercising at all. 

The only further thing to note on this is that I assume you won’t be using stimulants before an evening workout. This is just a very low-intelligence move, as this will all but guarantee that you will have poorer sleep. So while you may transiently have a good workout, you will more than likely have poorer recovery from that workout due to the stimulants preventing you from sleeping. So the actual results you get and the progress you make longer term, will be very much impacted. 

caffeine half life and sleep with multiple coffees

Finally, training first thing in the morning can be difficult when we consider ensuring adequate fuelling and hydration. We generally recommend that people eat before training, but this can be difficult when training first thing. Now, some of you will be able to get away with fasting and just eating after your workout, however, this will likely result in slightly poorer performance than if you were fed.

This likely isn’t a huge issue, but it is something to consider if you are trying to milk every last drop of progress. Some people simply can’t train effectively in the morning unless they have some fuel on board. So if you are one of these individuals, you are going to have to play around with fuelling strategies and different foods to find out what works best for you. 

Now, with all that out of the way, let’s get stuck into putting all we have discussed so far into a more coherent plan of action. 

Designing A Workout: Generic Structure

The most up to date exercise guidelines for health suggest that adults aim for the following: 

  • 150-300 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise per week (half that for vigorous exercise). 
  • At least 2 resistance training sessions per week, strengthening all major muscle groups. 
  • Beyond formal exercise – move more, sit less (no specific recommendation, but we generally recommend 8,000+ steps per day). 

general exercise guidelines

So, we can use this as a very rough baseline for our overall program structure, but we need some sort of structure for the actual workouts themselves. As most people are training to improve their body composition, get healthier and generally improve their overall strength and fitness, this overall weekly set up makes a lot of sense. 

We effectively have potentially 2 different types of workout structures to design with this set up; a resistance training session and a cardio session. There is a lot of commonality between the two in terms of their generic structure, so this shouldn’t be too difficult to gain a pretty decent understanding and to have some guidelines to work within. So, let’s get stuck in!

Warm-Up

We generally recommend that you do some sort of warm up before training. The warm-up can be more general, more specific, or a combination of both, depending on your specific need and the goal of the workout. The goal of the warm-up is to prepare the body for the ensuing training. You want to get the general body temperature up, generally increase blood flow and heart rate, and ideally prepare the muscles that are going to be trained ready for activity.

A more generalised warm-up would perhaps involve performing some form of cardio for 5-10 minutes, with the goal of getting the heart rate up, and to get a light sweat going. This shouldn’t be exhausting, but it should leave you feeling warmed up and ready to train.

A more specific warm-up would involve going through the movements planned for the day (if it is a resistance training session), especially the first movement of the program, and slowly increasing the weight. You may also perhaps use some slower tempos and pauses here, to get the body feeling good in the positions it is about to be challenged in.

An example may be squatting with body weight, then with the bar, then with some weight added and so on, performing as many lighter warm-up sets as needed to get the body feeling ready to start loading heavier weights.

A combination of both can also be used. This may involve a quick 3-5 minutes of cardio, to just get the blood flow going and heart rate elevated, before going into warm-up sets and general movement preparation for the exercises on the program. This can be particularly beneficial if you are training after sitting all day and/or you struggle to get your general energy expenditure up outside of the gym. It can also be quite helpful for those who are coming in from a cold environment or indeed if they train in a colder gym.

Movement Preparation/Prehab/Activation Work

During and/or after the warm-up, you may program some general movement prep, prehab work and/or activation work. Movement prep is exactly what the name implies, but it does blur the lines into what is often termed “pre-hab” (short for pre-habilitation, as distinct from re-habilitation, by virtue of focusing on preparing the body before injury occurs) and also “activation” work (basically just contracting the muscles you intend to work during the session, and building a better mind-muscle connection). 

Overall, the goal is to prepare the body for the movements that you are going to do that day. It isn’t exactly the same as the more specific warm-up you may do for the first movement of the day. It is more generalised, such as moving the spine, hips, knees, shoulders etc. through their available ranges, along with maybe doing some less specific movements, that serve to get the body ready for the movements you intend to do that day. 

Prehab work may more specifically be training movements that may address a specific issue an individual is having (or indeed, an issue that someone who does their sports or activities generally has). For example, this may be doing some work on the rotator cuff or perhaps working on some core exercises. 

Activation work is fairly straightforward, as it generally just involves doing some lighter movements for a given muscle, usually in the shortened range, so that the individual can actually feel those muscles working. They can then (hopefully) keep that focus and ability to contract those muscles throughout the rest of their workout.

A lot of the work done at this stage can fairly easily be slotted in during a more specific warm up (i.e. doing some movement prep in between the warm-up sets) or before/after a generalised warm-up. Some people may need more or less of this stuff, and in general, it shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes to get through the warm-up and movement prep. If you are spending 30-40 minutes on this stuff as a general rule, you are likely not maximising the return on investment for that individual. For sure, some people will need a lot more of this stuff (especially older or previously injured individuals), but in general, this is not the area of highest yield for most people.

Plyometrics

As we discussed previously in our article about plyometrics, there are some individuals who may want to do some form of plyometrics as part of their training. As this isn’t the vast majority of people, I am not going to go into this too deeply, but we would generally recommend putting them in after the warm up, when the body is freshest. 

Resistance Training

For the vast majority of people, in general, we are going to program resistance training before any cardio training. This is because resistance training is generally best performed in a low fatigue state. However, there are some circumstances where doing cardio first may make sense (such as your main goal being to improve your fitness, and you already have sufficient muscle/strength). You already have a lot of knowledge of how to program resistance training, as we have already discussed this quite a bit (here are the links to the resistance training articles if you haven’t already read them: Resistance Training For Muscle & Strength, Exercise Selection, Variety and Ordering, Understanding Reps, RIR & RPE (Do You Need To Train To Failure), Rep Tempo and Time Under Tension, Training Volume (How Many Sets Should You Do), Rest Periods and Review of Resistance Training Guidelines), so I won’t rehash the details here. However, I do want to address a few key points.

In general, there are two thought processes about how to structure resistance training, and a lot of this is really going to be dictated by the goal. Some people would advocate doing heavy compound exercises first in the workout, as you can maximise the weights you lift this way. You are at your lowest fatigue level at the start of the workout, and thus, you are most able to handle heavy weights at this time and put the most effort into them. 

Alternatively, there are advocates of doing isolation work first, notably exercises that get you into the shortened range. The rationale is that you aren’t able to adequately train these movements/positions when you are fatigued, and thus it makes the most sense to train them first. While it may reduce your ability to lift as heavy on your compound exercises, you get a more even stimulus in all ranges. 

Neither is inherently right or wrong, and it is dictated by the goal. If you are someone who wants to work on their strength on the compound lifts, then it probably wouldn’t make sense to do isolation work first, as that simply isn’t the priority. We must keep the goal the goal, and ultimately, the specific goal will dictate the exact ordering of exercises.

Mostly, you will see resistance training structured so that you do the heavy compound work first, and then move to more isolating exercises as the workout progresses. Usually, the first 1-2 exercises are the main focus for the day, and then the rest of the resistance training is to either contribute more overall volume, address specific weaknesses that the individual has or to work on building muscle in areas that the individual wants to focus on. 

Again, in general, we would prioritise more neurologically demanding activities earlier in the workout, and then more metabolically demanding activities later in the workout (i.e. we would do strength work earlier and then higher rep stuff later in the workout). However, this isn’t always the case, and is again, dictated by the specific goals being tackled.

In general, you will only see working sets written on a program, but it is assumed that you will perform 3-5 warm-up sets for the first exercise. You may need to perform warm-up sets for subsequent exercises, especially if they work a different muscle group or haven’t been adequately warmed up with the first exercise. This may form part of the warm-up itself, but I just wanted to have it stated here, as I know from coaching many people, many people don’t know this and limit their performance by not performing warm up sets.

Cardio

Cardio will generally be programmed after resistance training, especially high-intensity cardio. Not all goals will require high intensity cardio (just like not all goals will require resistance training), however, we generally like to include some form of cardio in training programs. While higher-intensity cardio is generally over-used, it can be quite effective when done for lower volumes, especially with people who may not get much cardiovascular training done otherwise. 

In general, 3-10 minutes of cardio will be programmed here. If more is to be done, we begin having to think about separating it into a different session. Of course, 15+ minutes can be done, if the resistance training volume isn’t too high, but beyond that, not many people are going to have the energy or desire to do 15+ minutes of intervals after doing 45+ minutes of resistance training. It is better to start small with this, and then adjust it over time as needed, and very often, it is better to just do this in its own session if you need to do a higher volume.

You can read more in depth about cardio in our cardio articles:

Flexibility/Stretching/Cool-down

This is the section that is most usually skipped. However, if possible, we do want to spend some time bringing the heart rate back down to a normal level after a workout. This is a perfect time to work on flexibility and do some stretching. During a cooldown, the focus is on doing activities that are “gentle” in nature, and the goal is to bring the heart rate down and switch from being in a more SNS (fight or flight) dominant state into a more PSNS (rest and digest) dominant state. 

During your workout, your heart rate variability (HRV) is likely going to reduce (as you are in a more stressed state and your heart rate is higher), and we don’t want to stay in this state for long periods of time. So, we want to spend some time after the workout bringing the heart rate down and bringing HRV back to a good place.

stress and HRV

For most people, this is an ideal time to just work on some flexibility and general stretching. You can program in some stretching for muscles/movements that are generally a bit tighter or need a bit more attention, or you can be more generalised and just stretch out the areas that have been trained during that session. Less is more with this, and focusing on 1-3 areas and spending more time on them, rather than trying to stretch absolutely everything, is probably a better use of the time.

If you want to read more about flexibility and mobility, you can do so here: Understanding Flexibility and Mobility, and How To Train Them.

Alternatively, if you want to read more about stress management and HRV, you can do so here: Stress Management Fundamentals

Cardio/Resistance Only Workouts

There is a high degree of overlap in the program structure, regardless of whether you are doing a resistance training only or a cardio only workout. You would just be subbing out the resistance training or cardio.

The generic structure of a resistance training workout is:

  • Warm Up
  • Movement Preparation/Prehab/Activation Work
  • Plyometrics (Optional)
  • Resistance Training
  • Cardio (Optional)
  • Flexibility/Stretching/Cool-down

While the generic structure of a cardio only workout is:

  • Warm Up
  • Movement Preparation/Prehab/Activation Work
  • Cardio 
  • Flexibility/Stretching/Cool-down

Designing An Actual Workout

Now, we need to actually get stuck into designing an actual workout. You have the generic structure of a workout to use as a template, but we need to flesh it out a bit more. Right now, the goal isn’t to understand the background theory in its entirety, the goal is to be able to start speaking the language of program design. Like with any endeavour, training has its own language, nomenclature and little soundbites. The better able you are to speak and understand this language, the better able you will be to engage in productive program design.

The best way to do this is to jump in the deep end and actually go through a written down segment of a workout.

Warm Up 

5 minutes Crosstrainer aiming to get a light sweat going.

Movement Prep

Squat-specific movement prep, along with some lower back movement prep.

Resistance Training

Exercise OrderExerciseSetsRepsTempoRIRRest Period
A1Squat3831112-3120-180 seconds
B1Romanian Deadlift3831112-3120-180 seconds
C1Quad Extension3831111-290-120 seconds
D1Hamstring Curl3831111-290-120 seconds
E1Calf Raise3831111-290-120 seconds

Cardio

1 minute warm up on the fan bike.

4 rounds of 20 seconds effort at RPE 8-9, followed by 40 seconds of active rest (just keeping the legs moving) focusing on controlled breathing.

Cool-down

2-3 minutes of the fan bike going at a slow pace, just keeping the legs moving. The focus is on really getting deep slow, full breaths. 

Specific lower body stretches, focusing on the quads, hamstrings, and the lower back. Passive stretching, with the focus on deep slow breaths, aiming to calm the nervous system down.

Not all workouts will look the same, and there will be differences in the layout and overall structure, but that isn’t actually that important. What is important is that you are able to understand what the program is trying to convey. Now, depending on your knowledge base, you may look at the above workout and know exactly what it all means, or you may know some of it and are unsure of other parts of it. So let’s just do a quick run through some things. 

The warm up, movement prep, cardio and cool down should be pretty easy to understand, as it is just the written word (as you are reading this, I presume you have decent reading comprehension abilities). While I didn’t overly specify exactly what to do with each of these (as this is dependent on your individual needs), it should be straightforward enough.

Similarly, we have already extensively discussed what sets, reps, tempo, RIR, and rest periods, so I presume you are able to understand these too (I know some of you may have skipped these articles, so if you don’t understand what these mean, you should go back to each article and read through it).

However, I know some of you may not be familiar with the actual organisation structure of the resistance training. 

The first column (exercise order) has a series of letters and numbers, and these denote how the workout is supposed to be performed. The letter lets you know what order to perform the exercises, and you basically just follow the letters to dictate what exercise is next up. You just work through the alphabet, and it is that simple. 

However, there is a number after the letter, and this is because we may actually want to group exercises together in some sort of superset. So in that case, we would group the letter series together, and then use the number series to dictate what the next exercise would be.

If it was A1 and then B1, we would do all the sets for A1 and then we would do all of the sets for B1. However, if it was A1 and then A2, we would do 1 set of A1 and then 1 set of A2 and then back and forth like that until we had completed all of the designated sets. 

This may seem relatively inconsequential, but there are specific training protocols that make this more or less important. So it is important to understand how a program actually denotes exercise order. Some coaches use the reverse order and have a number first and a letter second, but these would be in the minority. 

Exercise order is important to keep somewhat consistent between workouts. Generally speaking, the first few exercises on the program are more important to keep standardised. It is assumed that you are going to be under more fatigue later in the workout, so generally, less skill dependent and less risky exercises are generally performed later. So moving around some exercises later in a workout isn’t a big issue in general, and overall, we just want to try to keep things standardised wherever possible. So, it isn’t a huge issue if you do have to switch a few exercises around, especially if they are later in a workout. But if you can, try to keep a consistent exercise order, at least for the first few exercises of the program.

Designing A Training Week

As I have stated multiple times, the most up to date exercise guidelines for health suggest that adults aim for the following: 

  • 150-300 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise per week (half that for vigorous exercise). 
  • At least 2 resistance training sessions per week, strengthening all major muscle groups. 
  • Beyond formal exercise – move more, sit less (no specific recommendation, but we generally recommend 8,000+ steps per day). 

general exercise guidelines

So, let’s actually lay out what this would look like using all that we have discussed so far. 

The baseline assumption is that you are going to try to be more active in your day to day life, and an easy way to standardise this to some extent is to set a daily step goal. We recommend somewhere in the range of 5,000-10,000 steps per day (ideally 8,000 or more is where we like most people to be). This generally does take a bit of daily commitment, but it does significantly contribute to your overall energy expenditure, health and fitness. 

Assuming you have your baseline activity level sorted, the next step is to try and get at least 2 resistance training sessions done. If it is your first time ever doing resistance training, you are best to start off on the lower end of things and ease yourself into it. So you will probably want to start at the lower end of the volume recommendations, and you may also want to stay a little bit further away from failure. However, as you get more comfortable and you start to progress, you can start to push the intensity and/or volume. 

There are a number of ways you could possibly organise the training across the week. However, for most people, with only 2 resistance training sessions per week, you would probably be best served doing 2 full body training sessions. These don’t need to be anything extraordinary, but we do ideally want to target all the major muscle groups of the body. 

With only 2 training sessions per week, it can be hard to do a lot of overall volume for each muscle group. But it should be relatively easy to get 6-12 sets for the quads, hamstrings, the upper body push musculature (chest and shoulders) and the upper body pulling musculature (back muscles). If you have more time, you can always allocate some more volume for any of these muscle groups, or you can allocate some volume for the smaller muscle groups (such as the biceps, triceps and/or calves). 

This may look something like the following:

Full Body Workout 1

Exercise OrderExerciseSetsRepsTempoRIRRest Period
A1Squat Variation4831112-3120-180 seconds
B1Hip Hinge Variation4831112-3120-180 seconds
C1Horizontal or Vertical Pressing Variation4831112-390-120 seconds
D1Horizontal or Vertical Pulling Variation4831112-390-120 seconds
E1Tricep Exercise3831111-290-120 seconds
F1Bicep Exercise3831111-290-120 seconds

Full Body Workout 2

Exercise OrderExerciseSetsRepsTempoRIRRest Period
A1Squat Variation4831112-3120-180 seconds
B1Hip Hinge Variation4831112-3120-180 seconds
C1Horizontal or Vertical Pressing Variation4831112-390-120 seconds
D1Horizontal or Vertical Pulling Variation4831112-390-120 seconds
E1Tricep Exercise3831111-290-120 seconds
F1Bicep Exercise3831111-290-120 seconds

*Note: I didn’t include any of the warm up, movement prep or cooldown, but it is assumed that you will do some.

Of course, there are multiple ways you could potentially organise all of this. The two workouts could be the exact same, or they could be different. You could also have three or more variations that you just cycle through, despite only training twice per week (i.e. you have workouts A, B, and C, and in week 1 you do A and B, in week 2 you do C and A, and in week 3 you do B and C, and so on). 

This is where it pays to be clear on your goals, as the exact workout structure will be dictated by this.

It is also important to try and organise your resistance training across the week in a way that maximises your recovery and performance. Ideally, if you were training with the above template, you would try to keep at least 2 days between these resistance training sessions. 

If you were to do resistance training two days back to back, then it may make sense to organise the resistance training sessions to be something like an upper body workout and a lower body workout. This way you wouldn’t be training the same muscle groups back to back. This should result in better recovery and thus better performance. 

After this, you can begin to layer in some more cardio work. The most simple way to do this, is to simply organise to do 2 45+ minute aerobic cardio sessions. These would just be 45+ minutes of LISS cardio, where you aim to train at a pace that you can still just about hold a conversation. This doesn’t need to be too complicated. It shouldn’t be excessively demanding, although some people do find it a bit boring. To overcome any boredom, a lot of people use this time to watch a TV show or movie, or listen to an audiobook or podcast. 

After you have this all dialled in, you can start thinking about adding in some additional higher intensity cardio after the resistance training. This certainly isn’t necessary for every goal, but for some goals, it definitely does make sense. The exact protocols used will be entirely dependent on your individual needs and goals.

And there you have it, a template for structuring your training across the week. Now, I do realise, you may wish to tailor this a bit more to your specific needs. So, let’s briefly discuss this.

Tailoring A Program To Your Needs

Now you have a general structure of a program, and that should serve as a kind of template for you when designing training programs. However, as stated earlier, this is only a generic starting position and you will have to take into account your individual ability, needs and goals when designing a program. We obviously can’t get into all of the nuances with this, as there are quite literally thousands upon thousands of goals. But what we can do is provide you with a sort of framework for thinking things through when making a decision about how to best modify the generic workout structure.

A good way to think about how to change the workout structure is to ask the following questions:

  • What is your priority, and why are you not doing it first in the workout (after the warm-up)? Do you need to do more of this activity, to accomplish your goals?
  • For this goal, what could you do less of and still accomplish the goal? What are the highest-yield activities?
  • If time was an issue, what would you cut out and what would you absolutely keep in?

Asking yourself these questions should help you to more accurately adjust the generic workout structure for the goals of the individual. The thought process is pretty straightforward, we want to prioritise the higher yield activities and deprioritise the lower yield activities, and in general, we are going to place the higher priority stuff earlier in the workout when you are fresher. It doesn’t have to be too complicated, but we do actually need to think this stuff through so that we can make effective training programs.

I do realise that you may want to tailor your program a little bit more than this though. And I know it can be quite difficult to know how to prioritise your training, and what the highest yield items are. So, the following guidelines should help.

If you are unsure of how to prioritise your training, our broad guidelines for training are to get stronger in the 6-15 rep range, for 10-20 sets per major muscle group, aiming to get as strong as you can. You should also try to fit in as much aerobic exercise as you can, and get as aerobically fit as you possibly can.

For most people, this will be easy enough to accomplish with 2-4 resistance training sessions per week, combined with 2-4 cardio sessions per week, and supplemented with generally good activity levels (NEAT/steps).

If you want/need to push muscle building more, then do more resistance training. If you want/need to push cardiovascular fitness more, then do more cardio.

If you do other stuff that generally strengthens the body in less formalised ways than resistance training (i.e. you do something like pilates), then you may only need one resistance training session per week.

If you do sports, then you may not need to do as much cardio (although you could still benefit), as most sports have a larger cardiovascular component than a strength component. So in this case, your sports will potentially cover some of your cardio needs, so would potentially prioritise resistance training. However, if you really want to maximise your sporting performance, it probably makes sense to do more cardio. 

If you would like a tailored training program, you should consider getting coaching. This can be really valuable in teaching you how to organise your training, and a good coach will always strive to create a tailored program for you, while also teaching you how to modify it specifically for your needs.

Designing A Workout Conclusion

Now, we are almost finished. We have discussed an awful lot so far, but we have a few loose ends to tie up before we finish up this exercise series. You see, you don’t want to just learn how to create an exercise program for a week. You want to know how to create an exercise program that actually produces results, and you want to be able to create a program that makes sense over the long term. Most goals aren’t accomplishable in a week, they generally take months of hard work. So we need to now turn our attention to how to organise a training program over time. And that is what we will discuss in the next article in this series!

As with everything, there is always more to learn, and we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface with all this stuff. However, if you are interested in staying up to date with all our content, we recommend subscribing to our newsletter and bookmarking our free content page. We do have a lot of content on how to design your own exercise program on our exercise hub.

If you would like more help with your training (or nutrition), we do also have online coaching spaces available.

We also recommend reading our foundational nutrition article, along with our foundational articles on sleep and stress management, if you really want to learn more about how to optimise your lifestyle. If you want even more free information on exercise, you can follow us on Instagram, YouTube or listen to the podcast, where we discuss all the little intricacies of exercise.

Finally, if you want to learn how to coach nutrition, then consider our Nutrition Coach Certification course. We do also have an exercise program design course in the works, if you are a coach who wants to learn more about effective program design and how to coach it. We do have other courses available too. If you don’t understand something, or you just need clarification, you can always reach out to us on Instagram or via email.

The previous article in this series is about Understanding Plyometrics and the next article in this series is Training Progression (Progressive Overload), if you are interested in continuing to learn about exercise program design. You can also go to our exercise hub to find more exercise content.

References and Further Reading

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Paddy Farrell
www.triagemethod.com

Hey, I'm Paddy!

I am a coach who loves to help people master their health and fitness. I am a personal trainer, strength and conditioning coach, and I have a degree in Biochemistry and Biomolecular Science. I have been coaching people for over 10 years now.

When I grew up, you couldn't find great health and fitness information, and you still can't really. So my content aims to solve that!

I enjoy training in the gym, doing martial arts and hiking in the mountains (around Europe, mainly). I am also an avid reader of history, politics and science. When I am not in the mountains, exercising or reading, you will likely find me in a museum.