So you decided you are ready to start working out at the gym. And along with learning form, dealing with gym intimidation, and heck actually just GOING to the gym, you also need to know how to plan your workouts??
Well luckily I’m here to help!
There are lots of factors that go into planning your workout split because each person is so different. Things to consider are your goals, your fitness level, equipment, schedule, etc.
How Many Days Per Week
I am solely talking about weight training workouts:
- 3 training days per week = full body workouts
- 4 training days per week = 2 lower body, 2 upper body
- 5 training days per week = 2 lower body, 3 upper body (choose 2 each workout: back, biceps, shoulders, chest, triceps)
- 6 training days per week = 2-3 lower body, 2 push (chest/triceps/shoulders), 2 pull (back/biceps)
Core/abs can be added in every 2 days. If you enjoy doing group classes such as pilates, barre, cycling, etc. make sure you do at least 3 weight training workouts and then add in 1-2 classes per week depending on intensity.
Cardio
High intensity cardio (HIIT) and Low intensity (LISS) exercise can be great for cardiovascular health and muscular endurance. These do NOT help make you “toned” aka build muscle.
Feel free to add in active rest like light cardio/walking on your off days or during your warm up.
Higher intensity workouts mixed with weight training get your heart rate up and may help burn calories, but again they are not the most beneficial for muscle building. I often find women doing 5 days of high intensity workouts (like soul cycle or OT) and still aren’t hitting their fitness goals. Weight training needs to be a priority if you are looking to build strength and muscle.
Here are my general recommendations if you want to add cardio/classes into your routine:
LISS: 1-6 days per week
HIIT: less than 2 days per week
Rest Times and Days
You should try to let a muscle group rest for at least 48 hours before working it again. This means if you are doing 3 full body workouts, you would do them Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Rest times in between exercises can be between 1-3 minutes for the same muscle groups (hip thrust and deadlift both for glutes), for different (back and chest movements) or smaller muscle groups (biceps and triceps) you can do shorter times like under 1 min if preferred.
How Many Sets and Reps?
Reps (repetitions) means how many times you do the movement in a row. Typically for beginners I recommend between 8-15 reps per set.
A set is how many rounds you do. This can be between 3-5 sets of each exercise.
If you are relatively new to lifting weights, you don’t have to focus so much on each numbers of sets and reps. The most important thing is that you are actually fatiguing the muscle to elicit a response (growth! well breakdown first, then growth!)
Studies have shown that 3-10 sets per muscle group per workout is perfect. Obviously this is a broad range with lots of variance, but each person is very different. There isn’t a perfect way to workout, but there are more optimal ways.
Guidelines for Workouts
- At least 2-4 exercises per muscle group per workout
- Always do some sort of warming up for joints and muscles to prevent injury. This can include dynamic warm ups (5-15 mins)
- Do 1-2 warm up sets with lighter weight prior to compound lifts. (example: warm up with squats with 45 lbs for 1-2 sets, then slowly increase weights to working sets)
- Try to let a muscle group rest for 48 hours before working it again (don’t work out legs 2 days in a row)
- Aim for 3-6 working sets per exercise
- In general, aim for 6-15 reps per set; try to vary the reps throughout the week/month