How To Create a Workout Routine

1.  Decide the days you are going to workout. Get a piece of paper and write out everyday of the week on the left side. Go ahead and determine what days you plan to train. For me, I rest on Thursday and Sunday. I like to have one day of the week where I can not worry about the gym and Sunday has always been a chill day for me to get things done around the house. When planning this, keep in mind that your body needs adequate rest between sessions so plan these days accordingly. For beginners, I would start with 3-4x a week. For intermediate-advanced, 4-5x is adequate if you are training smart.

    

2.  Determine your split. There is NO ONE RIGHT SPLIT. What matters is that the split has a purpose and method to it. I switch my split up every 6 weeks or so. None of them are "better". But it is important to switch it up to continue challenging your body. For beginners, I would start out with a full body split. For each workout, hit every muscle group. This frequency is going to allow optimal progress and it will allow you to push as hard as you can in your workouts since you aren't crushing one body part each day. For intermediate-advanced, full body splits are totally okay and will work BUT, there are a few other options. The first is upper/lower splits. This is where you will hit full upper body then full lower body, and repeat. The second is a push/pull/legs split. This is where you will have a push (shoulders, chest, triceps) day, a pull (back and biceps) day, and a leg day.. then repeat. Third is a body part split. This is just more specific. For example, a chest day, a day targeting only glutes, only quads, etc. I personally like to combine at least 2 muscle groups but it's really up to you and what you can maintain.

    

3.  Determine Frequency and Rest. Based on your goal and how intense you are training, determine the frequency you want to hit each body part. For example, if you are looking to really grow your shoulders, I would try to program hitting them 2x a week. If you want to focus on glutes, I like to hit them 2-3x per week. Also, keep in mind that if you are doing super high volume work, you may not need as much frequency and vice versa. This is going to be up to you, but don't skip a body part just because "you don't care about it" because this will create imbalances you don't want (yes, even chest). When planning your rest days, be sure to allow at least 72 hours (48 in some cases depending on intensity) between hitting the same body part. So, don't train legs then turn around and do it again the next day. Our bodies must have rest in order to recover and rebuild.

    

4.  Don't be afraid to play around with splits. Sure, the basic splits are great! But don't feel like you have to always stick to the script. For example, my split right now has legs and biceps on the same day and one day is ONLY HIP THRUSTS (and abs) for the whole workout. I just recently finished up a split that had legs and shoulders on the same day. Play around with what works!

    

5.  Stay consistent with it. The key to really progressing in the gym is to get as good at your current split as you can before moving on. I personally (and would recommend) keep the workouts the same for the entire time I'm doing the split. I will adjust the sets and reps throughout some but the base workout stays the same. So, pick a split and stick with it. Get good at it and make as much progress as you can on that split. If you don't increase your weights on most of the exercises, you probably aren't pushing yourself enough. There isn't one perfect split so don't feel like you need to be doing a fitspos split just because...finish out yours, then give that a go if you'd like!

    

6.  The workouts. Of course, having a schedule is great but now it's time to program the workouts! I'm not going to get into this on this blog post but once you have this, you are good to go! All you gotta do is put in the work!

    

   I hope this was helpful for you all! Fitness does not need to be over-complicated. It's really simple really. Get your routine set, be consistent with it, and push yourself. No need to add in every single IG video you see.