If you are serious about getting the most out of your workout routine, then you must have a structure in place.
Your workout does not have to be perfect from the start, so you need not be frustrated. Take your time and refine your workout programme until you find the balance that meets your needs.
Focus on specificity
Regardless of the fitness goals, be specific with the areas where you want to see improvements. Keeping your focus on specificity in your plan means that you can target specific skills, body parts, and muscles and identify progress in those areas. Make sure that your goals are specific
Your goal will ultimately determine the exercises included in your workout routine. If your goal is to build muscle, focus on strength training and weights. If your goal is to become stronger, lift heavier weights with fewer reps. If fat loss is your goal, create a plan that includes HIIT exercises that will increase the afterburn effect.
Schedule your workout days
To create the perfect workout structure, you need to know how often you can go to the gym. You need to take a look at your current schedule and be realistic about how many days you have or can free up for workout sessions. This is because the available time will determine how much work you can put in at the gym. Also, you can create a better workout structure if you know how many days you have for workout sessions. For instance, if you are working out two times a week, you will need to focus on total-body workouts. However, if you are working out four or more times per week, you need to break down the workout sessions to target different muscle groups and movements to avoid overtraining. You might schedule a leg day (Romanian deadlift), upper body push day (pushups), chest day (barbell bench press) into the plan. Whatever your schedule looks like, ensure that you get at least one full day of rest and avoid back-to-back high-intensity workouts.
Define your set-rep-rest scheme
Once again, take a look at your fitness goals. If your goal is to increase strength, you should focus on high-set, low-rep workout schemes such as five sets of 2 to 4 reps. But, if you want to bulk up, 3 sets and 10 to 12 reps will do. If fat loss is your goal, doing a high-rep scheme such as 15 to 20 reps will get you results. Keep in mind that you need to increase the weight you lift when you reduce the number of reps.
Don't forget to rest - the more you lift, the more rest you need. Getting at least 45 to 60 seconds of rest will maximize calorie burn, muscle growth and elevate your heart rate.
Choose the best exercise
There are hundreds of exercises to choose from depending on your goals. If you're just starting, do not overwhelm yourself with exercises that you may not need. Remember to focus on specificity and choose the exercises that meet your needs.
Get in those compound and isolation movements
Structure your workout to allow you to start with compound movements when you are full of energy and capable of lifting most weights. Compound movements make you stronger and burn more calories because it involves multiple muscles. Throw in some isolation movements later to give the targeted muscles more work.
