This is the third post in my Program Design Mini-Series.  It teaches you how to design individual workouts by introducing training frequency and exercise order guidelines.

Program Design Part 3 — Training Frequency and Order of Exercises

In Parts 1 and 2 of the Program Design Mini-Series I discussed goal setting and exercise selection.

Now that you’ve set your training goal and brainstormed a list of exercises to include in your training program, it’s time to arrange those exercises into individual workouts.

Create your weekly training plan and workouts by following these steps:

Program Design Step 3: Determine how much time you can commit to training each week.

If you Google “how often should I workout”, you’ll get thousands of varying opinions.

There really isn’t a blanket recommendation because ultimately, workout frequency depends on a number of factors… Like goals, experience level, recovery capacity, schedule, etc.

A professional athlete or a competitive lifter has to train far more frequently than someone that just wants to look good, improve their health, and feel strong and healthy.

The simplest way to determine how frequently you should train is to ask yourself:

  • How many hours per week can I realistically devote to training?

The key here is to set yourself up for success by setting very realistic expectations.  Choose a training time that you feel very confident in being able to stick to each week.  Low ball it if you have to, you can always add another workout later.

To look, feel, and move better you can get awesome results with as little as 2-4 hours of training per week.

Athletes or competitors looking to maximize their performance will typically get the most benefit from 5-6+ hours of training per week.  However, this will vary greatly depending on the sport, level of expertise, and competitive season.

If your primary goal is performance training, I highly recommend seeking out coaching or customized programming.

Program Design Step 4: Determine which types of training you'll use

If your training goal is to improve your health, increase your strength, or look and feel better, then focus on the types of training that you enjoy the most. You’re more likely to follow through with your workouts if you actually enjoy doing them.

Here are the types of training that you might consider including in your program:

  • Strength training
  • High-intensity interval training (HIIT, i.e. short bursts of intense work followed by periods of rest, repeated for a specified time or number of sets)
  • Moderate-intensity cardio
  • Active recovery (i.e. non-strenuous, restorative activities, low intensity cardio.  E.g. walking, hiking, biking, swimming, yoga, etc.)

Those with sports performance goals might consider other types of training (e.g. plyometrics; speed, agility, quickness; etc.) but to keep things simple, I won't discuss sport specific programming.

Program Design Step 5: Layout your training week.

Use the information that you gathered in steps 3 and 4 to layout your training week.

Here are some general frequency guidelines to help you out:

Program Design Frequency Table

NOTE:  You might have noticed that I didn't include active recovery in the chart.  That's because I recommend as much active recovery as your schedule allows each week.

Here are a couple of examples:

An intermediate with up to 4 hours a week to devote to training:

  • Monday: 60-minutes of strength training
  • Tuesday: active recovery
  • Wednesday: 45-minutes of strength training + 10 minutes of HIIT
  • Thursday: active recovery
  • Friday: 60-minutes of strength training
  • Saturday: 30-minutes of moderate intensity cardio
  • Sunday: active recovery

A beginner with 2 hours a week to devote to training:

  • Monday: active recovery
  • Tuesday: 45-minutes of strength training
  • Wednesday: active recovery
  • Thursday 45-minutes of strength training
  • Friday: active recovery
  • Saturday: 30-minutes of moderate intensity cardio
  • Sunday: active recovery

After you outline your weekly training calendar, the next step is to design each individual workout.

Step 6:  Design each workout.

NOTE: If you plan on training less than 4 hours per week, I recommend full body workouts over push/pull, upper/lower, or body part splits.

To start designing each workout, take the exercises that you chose in Step 2 and divide them amongst the resistance training workouts that you scheduled in Step 5.

As you do so, keep these principles in mind:

  • Build your workouts around the fundamental movement patterns (see Part 2)
  • Include exercises that emphasize core strength and stability.
  • Include accessory exercises specific to your goal.
  • Balance your movement patterns (see Part 2)
  • Aim to include 5-7 exercises in each workout.  (2-4 foundational movements, 1-2 accessory, 1-2 core strength/stability)
Program Design Step 7:  Order your resistance training exercises

Exercise order can be based on a number of factors specific to your and your goal.  If you want to keep it simple, this is all you need to know:  place your most complex or technical exercises first.

Program Design - Complex exercises first

Here are a few more exercise order guidelines and considerations:

  • Start each workout with a dynamic warm-up or movement prep (e.g. foam rolling, other types of self-myofascial release, mobility drills, activation exercises, etc.).
  • If you're learning a new exercise, especially a complex exercise, do it right after your warm-up.  Your muscles and nervous system learn more efficiently when they're fresh.
  • If you include speed, power, plyometric, and/or ballistic exercises, it's important to do them early on because they rely on energy systems and muscle fibres that fatigue quickly.
  • The fundamental movement patterns (outlined in Part 2) are high priority because they are complex movements that involve multiple joints and muscle groups.
  • Single joint (isolation) exercises and core exercises should typically be done at the end of of a workout.

Alright...so now you've learned how to set your training goal, choose your exercises, outline your weekly training schedule, and arrange your exercises into workouts.  In Part 4, I'll teach you how to program reps and sets.

How To Design Your Own Training Programs

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