How to Create a Workout Schedule!
Are you wondering how to create a workout schedule? You have come to the right place! Today I will be discussing the 3 primary factors involved in creating a workout schedule that will set you up for success when it comes to sticking with it!
What are these 3 primary factors?
- Commitments
- Your Goal
- Experience
Your Commitments:
When I say commitments, I don’t mean what you likely think. No… it’s not in the sense of some drill sergeant screaming, “YOU GOTTA BE COMMITTED”. While being committed is important, I am referring to different life commitments/obstacles that need to be considered and planned around to make a workout schedule that sets you up for success with regard to long term sustainability.
For example, if you work a labour intensive job 6 days a week… a 6 day a week training program might not be the choice for you. Or… if you are working between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM and only have a 45-minute lunch break, trying to squeeze in an afternoon workout likely doesn’t make sense either.
What I mean by doesn’t make sense is… it’s setting you up for inconsistency in the long haul. I am not saying to use this as an excuse to not get to the gym as much as you should, but there needs to be a sense of reality with your schedule to set up a sustainable and SMART approach.
What do I suggest? Looking at all of the constants within your life to be planned around. This includes things such as work, family get-togethers, and attending your kid’s activities, (I am 16 and certainly know the amount of activities that my parents attend).
Once you figure these things out, decide when the best time of day for you to workout will be. Is it before work? After work? Do you have long enough of a lunch break to get a session in then?
From this, you can figure out how many days and what time or time(s) during those days you have available to train.
You have now laid the foundation for your schedule!
What is Your Goal:
The next step is figuring out what you want to do with your training? Are you trying to grow muscle, develop power, or build strength? For any of these goals, the majority of peoples training schedule should be between 3 and 5 days.
An example would be 3 days a week for power development (would be enough to cover all your bases). Or 4 days a week for strength progress. A 4-day strength split might look like a heavy upper day, heavy lower day, speed upper day and speed lower day. Or, maybe you want to run a 5 day a week schedule for the goal of muscle growth to get some frequency in there.
These are guidelines, you can grow muscle training 3 days a week and you can, of course, develop speed training 5 days a week, etc.
The question is, what frequency makes sense for your goal, and for the plan you have/will have to achieve your goal? This all needs to factor in with your availability that we determined in the above section.
Your Experience Level:
Lastly, your experience level dictates a lot.
For example, if you are a beginner, you probably have some flexibility for your training frequency, assuming you are recovering properly and technique is at the forefront (as both of those things should be no matter what your experience level is). However, what if you are more experienced, then maybe you require a little more work to provide enough stimulus for progress since your body is already used to training and doesn’t adapt as easily.
Think about your experience level and how it may apply to your training frequency!
That’s All!
Well, everyone, that’s the article! Those are the 3 primary things to consider when it comes to setting up a workout schedule with relation to how many times you train in a week and being able to stick with it!
None of these factors should be considered alone. Rather, looking at the guidelines for each and incorporating them all together to develop a plan that is optimal for YOU is what I would suggest.
Thanks for reading and please be sure to put any questions or comments down below!
Here are some other articles that may be beneficial for your knowledge!
How to Create a Workout Program
Until Next Time,
Kohl Johnson
Please refer to my liability disclaimer to ensure you know who is responsible for the use of this information after reading.
Support is much appreciated if you benefited from this:
Nice article man!
Thanks Braedon, I really appreciate that!