Site Search

Introduction to Workout Design

By John Preston

Are you having trouble creating fun, exciting, and effective exercise routines? You are not alone. The majority of people who start an exercise program drop out in the first six weeks. Most drop out because they fail to see results. Many people conclude that if you don’t see any results then exercise must not work. Why go through all the trouble if it doesn’t work? The truth of the matter is that it does work. In fact it is one of the few guarantees in life. If you exercise at an intensity beyond that which your body is accustomed, your body will adapt and become more fit. I guarantee this. So why don’t people see results? First of all they are impatient. It takes a long time for some people to see results. Think about how long it took you to get fat or out of shape. You will not reverse all those years of inactivity in two weeks! Second, people do not know how to workout. If you don’t know what you’re doing then chances are you will fail. The purpose of this and future articles is to provide you with enough information so that you will be able to create exercise routines properly and get to your fitness goals.

The trick to having the body you desire is no different than the trick to succeeding at anything you do. You will have to have a plan and you will have to follow through. If you decide to open a business but don’t create a business plan, your chances of success are minimal. Now for planning your exercise routines.

The plan is the easy part. You need to know what you’re starting with i.e. your weight, dress size, and or your body fat percentage. Then decide what your ultimate goal will be for yourself. With this information it is easy to figure out how long it will take you to achieve your goal. There are 3500 calories in one pound of fat. Fat loss is as simple as calories in versus calories out. Calories in equals food and calories out equals activity. Therefore you will need to eat less and move more. If you create a caloric deficit of 500cal each day, you will lose one pound of fat in a week (500cal X 7 days = 3500cal). If you create a caloric deficit of 1000cal each day, you will lose two pounds of fat in one week. It is fairly well accepted that fat loss in excess of two pounds a week will be temporary. This is because calories are too restricted and when normal amounts of food are consumed again all the fat will come back.

To make it simple, count on one to two pounds of fat loss each week. If your goal is to lose 30 pounds, it will take 15 to 30 weeks. If your goal is tied to a specific event (class reunion, wedding, etc.) then my recommendation to you would be to give yourself as much time as possible. It is a lot easier to maintain the fat loss. If you get to your goal several weeks early, you simply have to maintain until your event. If you are not getting in shape for a special occasion, the sooner you start the sooner you will get to your goals. In other words, start today. But how will you begin?

This is the hard part. It’s all going to start with nutrition. Here’s why. Let’s assume you have the time to take two aerobic classes everyday and lift weights every day. This would expend thousands of calories, which would lead weight loss, right? Not necessarily. If over the course of the day you eat too much food, you won’t lose an ounce. You will be aerobically fit and perhaps strong, but you will have the same amount of fat. To lose weight you will have to consume fewer calories than you expend. Exercise makes it easier to create a caloric deficit. Cardiovascular exercise will increase caloric expenditure as well as boost your metabolism for a short period of time after each workout. Resistance training also will increase caloric expenditure as well as increase your metabolism due to the increase of lean muscle. But what should you be doing for exercise? If you are not currently exercising it’s very simple, start. Doing any physical activity at this point will help. But eventually you will have to develop exercise routines. But you want to avoid settling into an exercise routine rut. Anyone who tells you that they have the perfect exercise routine to get you to your goal is full of it. There is not a single path that will lead you to your goal. The body is very resilient, it will figure out the exercise routine and only adapt enough so that the routine can be completed. After that it will stop adapting and you will stop seeing results. You will be stuck in a dreaded plateau. To avoid a plateau and to see continuous results you will need to make frequent changes to your exercise routines.

With cardiovascular or aerobic exercise there are a few variables that can be changed to help you avoid a plateau. The first is the mode or type of exercise you are doing, try something different. Instead of the treadmill try an aerobics class, instead of cycling try swimming. You can also make changes in exercise duration, or the length of time each aerobic workout lasts. Another change can be made to your exercise frequency or the number of workouts each week. And lastly you can make changes in exercise intensity, by exercising at a different heart rate.

With resistance training the easiest way to avoid a plateau is to select different exercises. You should see progress for a long time if you simply change exercises periodically. If after a while you stop progressing you will probably need to make more changes to you workouts, which include the following; changes in load, repetitions, sets, rest periods, and tempo. Load is simply the amount of weight you are working with. Repetitions are the number of times you perform an exercise which will comprise one set. Rest periods are the time between each set. Tempo is the speed that each repetition is performed. These exercise variables are interrelated; making changes to any one of them will affect the others.

It can become somewhat complicated and a little confusing. In my series of articles I address each exercise variable in more detail to help clarify any confusion. With this information you should be able to design fun, creative, and effective exercise routines and achieve the body, health, and life that you want.

About the Author:

John Preston is a Certified Pesonal Trainer with 14 years of experience. He holds certifications from both the American Council on Exercise (ACE), and The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), as well as a B.A. in Kinesiology for Long Beach State. His website is http://www.johnprestonfitness.com