First things first, there is a lot that goes into creating a well rounded workout plan that actually moves you towards your goals. Being a trainer, I can tell you a lot of thought goes into each and every plan that I make! That being said, I know a lot of people make up their own workout schedule. Soo, here are some tips that can help you to make a more well rounded plan that works you towards your goals!
If you want an actual plan already laid out for you, check out my plans on the SugarySixPack app or the E-books here! 🙂
Creating an Effective Workout Plan
It works your whole body. I know, most of us have one specific are of the body that we want to focus on most and make progress on. BUT that doesn’t mean that our overall workout plan should only focus on that area! We want our plan to create balance and strength through our body while working towards our goals.
Cardio & Strength are included. Cardio gets a bad wrap these days. I’m 100% not telling you to do it daily, you don’t need to, but your plan should include it for the health benefits if nothing else! The type of cardio is going to depend on what you enjoy personally a lot of times but I love to recommend (and do) quick HIIT workouts on cardio days. It’s fast, it’s effective and you can also get some great body weight movements in while doing it.
You also want some type of resistance training in your plan. Again this can vary based on your goals and what works for you. It can be barbells at the gym, free weights or bands at home, whatever gets it done and you enjoy enough to stick with! Strength training has great health benefits too and I promise, it does not make you huge and bulky! Building muscle gives our bodies shape and creates functional strength for daily life!
Recovery & Flexibility are included. This is something that gets easily overlooked! We want to go hard and rush towards our goals and sometimes recovery days seem like they’re just going to slow things down. Not true! Your body needs recovery days to rebuild and be ready to crush another week of training. How many days is going to depend on you and your goals. Remember to always check in with how your body feels. If you’re feeling run down or worn out you may need to add another day of rest that week!
Warming up, cooling down, stretching and foam rolling are also super important things that aid in your recovery! Warm ups and cool downs/stretching are transition periods from normal life to workout ready and from workout mode back down to normal life again. Give your body these adjustment periods pre and post workout! You’ll feel so much better for it and your likelihood of injuries will go down.
Tailor it to your goals. This is what most of us thing we’re doing when we set out to get visible abs and do 1000 crunches daily and nothing else. That is not going to get you visible abs and that is not an effective or functional workout plan. Having a well rounded plan is going to help you lose body fat faster while building muscle aka how you’re going to get to 99% of our fitness goals.
When I say tailor it to your goals I mean within a total body, well rounded plan. For you that may mean doing abs twice a week or throwing in an extra glute targeted circuit or workout day based on what you want to accomplish. There are small tweaks and changes that you can make while still having a plan that is well rounded!
I hope this was helpful for you! 🙂
Sweat, Smile, Repeat!
Niki
