So, lets go a little more in depth with workout design because there truly can be a million blogs, articles and studies about this! Like I said in my previous post, the workout truthfully depends on goals, time commitment, equipment available, etc and should be chosen based off of that. So lets talk about designing some workouts! I will say what I like to do for myself, for my clients and other ways to workout as well, because again – never ending options.
So personally I love lifting legs. Here are perks of lifting legs 1) you get nice legs 2) you’re usually using your whole body when holing dumbbells (DB) in your hands, a barbell (BB), and so on using your upper body, therefore needing to create total body tension 3) helps a lot with sports 4) lastly, because everyday is leg day. I usually lift legs 3-4 days a week, 3 of those days will be with a BB followed by dumbbell and or kettlebell work with one day being a full body day or squats and deadlifts, typically using kettlebells and DBs. Deadlifts are my jam, BB squats are okay, BB split squats are where it’s at. I usually start my workout with a bigger compound movement or two, depending on how spicy I feel that day or how much time I have. Then you go onto “smaller” movements people like to call them – though I sometimes think those are more important ones (again depends on goals/specificity to you). Honestly recently when I’ve had less time to workout I will pick two bigger compound movements and do 5 x 5 or 5 x 8 of one and then go onto the next one. I’d rather focus on one or two things for volume than a million half ass movements. As for upper body I attempt twice a week, doesn’t always happen because I’m human too and I always choose legs over upper body. When I do upper I typically focus on back, shoulders and triceps at once vs splitting them. Though, I personally split my days upper and lower because I workout so many times in a week full body gets boring to me. It’s not my thing personally, doesn’t mean you cannot do it. If I workout with friends or family or am feeling like an easier day I will do a full body. I typically trickle in core work on 3 of my workout days.
Now, how I train my clients – largely depends on their goals and how many days a week I see them. If it’s 3 days I will sometimes do two full body strength, one day HIIT, or split upper and lower and one full. Now – how those sets, reps and movements are picked out is solely based on the individuals ability (previous experience, movement patterns/needs), goals, and so much more! Some clients I do an hour of Functional Range Conditioning (FRC) with, some do none. I would like to and try to start all clients with a mobility warmup.
Enough about that. There’s simple circuit training, supersets, tri-sets, quad sets, drop set, EMOM, AMRAP, 5×5, 10×10, pre-exhaust, post-exhaust and so much more. How you use these and pick movements can also depend. I use circuit training, supersets, 5 x 5 and sometimes EMOMs, with most clients and different movements. Circuit training can be done all upper or all lower etc. I prefer lower body, upper body and core movement, that way you can keep moving a little quicker if effort isn’t too high, break a sweat and hit everything. One of the movements can be a little cardio movement to truly ensure your heart rate will be elevated throughout the circuit. Supersets are pairings of exercises, which can be done tons of different ways, push – pull, upper lower, I’m sure there’s some I don’t even know about, I mean, I know there are some I don’t know about! Tri-sets just how it sounds – three exercises. Drop sets – decreasing the weight and continuing on with the movement. EMOM – Every Minute On the Minute. For example, 10 cal bike, 10 kettlebell swings, 30s plank – you complete each movement at the start of every minute and the remainder of the minute you rest. AMRAP – As many reps as possible – how many sets and or/reps can you do in 10 minutes, 15 minutes, etc. 5 x 5 = 5 sets and 5 reps per set. 10 x 10 = same thing 10 sets, 10 reps. Pre-exhaust is performing an isolated exercise for a high number of reps before switching to a compound movement involving the same muscle group. Example – doing 2-3 sets of 12-15 reps of leg extension and then a squat variation (barbell, Leg Press, etc). Post-exhaust is the exact opposite – working very hard doing a multi joint movement followed by (with no rest) an easier isolation exercise. This can also technically be called a superset unless you do a quad set. I’ve done this with clients doing two lower exercises and two upper – an example of upper can be pull-ups followed by lat pulldown or another pulling/row variation.
There truly is so much more than the above and let me tell you – nothing is right or wrong it’s specific to you and your goals. Don’t let anyone else tell you differently. Though, I wouldn’t do a whole workout on machines for too many reasons to fit all in right now…. Machines don’t always allow you to recruit all the little stabilizing muscles, or your whole body – like a leg press, you’re likely sitting back and way more relaxed than anyone with a barbell. Anyways, perhaps that’s for another day.
Rest is a whole other topic as well and for the above ways to program a workout varies on goals, time you have to workout that day, your effort level, how much you want to sweat, how much muscle you’d like to add, the rep scheme. I could go on, I prefer longer rest and higher effort level that’s also because I’m a form stickler and don’t like to sacrifice that for much of anything. Why? because if you’re not doing it right in my opinion you might as well not do it. If you’re not using the right muscles and getting the benefit you want?? Anyways, that’s all I’ve got! Thank you for reading my beautiful essay on workouts. Peace, Love, Lift.