How do I plan my workout routine?

How do I structure a workout routine for success?

Making your first workout routine can feel confusing, complex, and completely overwhelming. Rows of machines and equipment to choose from and experienced lifters who seem to know exactly what they're doing—it's natural to feel lost. Fear not, however! There are a few key factors to consider when making a workout routine that can make the process as simple as drag-and-dropping your favorite exercises onto the calendar. The effort is well worth it; a structured workout routine can be a total game-changer in helping you feel confident and see real progress.

In this manual, we'll walk you through creating a basic yet effective workout plan that sets you up for success. Whether your goal is to gain muscle, get stronger, lose weight or just feel better in general, this will get you started on the right foot.

Step 1: Establish Your Goals

First things first, ask yourself: What am I looking to achieve? Your goal will determine how you structure your workouts. Are there any weak points that you want to prioritize? What do I want to improve by the end of this routine? A couple of common overarching goals are:

Strength: Attempt to lift heavier weights with less reps (4–6 reps per set).

Muscle Growth (Hypertrophy): Aim for moderate weight and higher reps (8–12 reps per set).

General Fitness & Endurance: Lift lighter weights with higher reps (12–15 reps per set).

Setting precise, attainable goals will keep you motivated and enable you to track your progress over time. When starting to plan a workout routine, you need to have a clear objective you are working towards. The details of the plan, the exercises, the timeline, the workouts are all curated to help reach that goal. If you need help planning, or deciding on a specific goal, use the SMART goal structure as a guideline.

Step 2: Choose a Workout Structure/Program/Routine

After clearly defining your goals, decide how much time you can dedicate to your training each week.

Can you go three times a week for 90 minutes?

Can you go five times a week for 60?

Be honest with the number of days you can consistently go, being too overzealous and planning to go seven days a week can set you up for disappointment when you are unable to follow through.

For beginner lifters, 2–3 full-body workouts a week are the best way to get started with building strength and developing quality movement patterns. Here is a simple set of guidelines to follow:

Example Beginner Workout Structure

1. Warm-up (5–10 minutes): Dynamic stretching, mobility work, or light cardio.

2. Strength Training (2–4 exercises): Compound movements like squats, deadlifts, presses, and rows should take priority. Low rep sets with heavy weight should be performed closer to the start of the workout when you are fresh.

3. Accessory Work (2–3 exercises): Target smaller muscle groups or perform isolation exercises (e.g., cable bicep curl, lat pullover, chest fly).

4. Cool-down (5–10 minutes): Static stretching and mobility or cardio work to help with recovery.

Start with 2–4 sets of every exercise and choose a weight that allows you to complete your reps with good form.

For more advanced lifters, aim to hit each body part 1-2 per week. The Push, Pull, Legs routine has become popular partially because each muscle group is trained twice per week. Use your personal goals to decide how to allocate your training days. If you are looking to build your chest, scheduling three leg workouts per week and only one chest day doesn't align with your objective.

When you begin choosing exercises, it's helpful to break down muscle groups by the type of movements you'll need to train the muscle fully.

Chest: 1 flat pressing exercise, 1 incline pressing exercise, 1 chest fly exercise

Back: 1 vertical pull, 1 horizontal pull

Quads: 1 quad dominant compound closed chain exercise, 1 quad isolation open chain exercise

Hamstrings: 1 hamstring dominant compound closed chain exercise, 1 hamstring dominant open chain exercise

Biceps: 1 long-head emphasis exercise, 1 short-head emphasis exercise

Triceps: 1 heavy compound exercise, 1 long-head emphasis exercise (overhead), 1 lateral-head emphasis exercise (arms at your side)

Shoulders: 1 compound overhead press, 1 lateral delt exercise, 1 posterior delt exercise

Calves: 1 straight-leg exercise, 1 bent-knee exercise

These are general guidelines, but with them you can begin selecting exercises for your workouts.

Terms

Compound Exercise: Multiple muscle groups are used in the exercise.

(Overhead Press, Squat)

Isolation Exercise: 1 muscle group is used in the exercise.

(Leg Extension, Preacher Curl)

Closed Chain Exercise: The hands or feet are in contact with a fixed surface.

(Squat, Deadlift, Push-Up)

Open Chain Exercise: The hands or feet are not fixed in place.

(Leg Extension, Leg Curl, Bench Press)

Step 3: Prioritize Progression & Consistency

A major training principle is progressive overload, which means you have to constantly increase the weight, reps, or sets over time to keep challenging your muscles. If you're lifting the same weights week in and week out for months, you won't see any progress. This is where tracking and logging workouts becomes important. Write down your workouts, track your sets/reps and adjust your routine accordingly to progressively overload.

There are several ways to implement progressive overload:

1. Add 5-10% more weight when you're able to complete all your reps comfortably. 

2. Increase the number of reps while maintaining good form. 

3. Improve your technique and range of motion. 

Most importantly, be consistent. The best workout routine is the one you can stick to!

Step 4: Avoid Common Beginner Mistakes

Every beginner lifter makes mistakes, but being aware of what to watch out for will get you improving faster. Here are some common pitfalls:

❌ Skipping warm-ups – Prepares your body for lifting and helps prevent injury. It's important to note, however, that warm-ups and cardio are not synonymous. Save cardio for after weight training.

❌ Lifting with bad form – Bad form can lead to injury and slow down progress. If unsure, ask a trainer or use Redprint to access high-quality instructional videos and tutorials.

❌ Attempting to lift too much too quickly – Master proper form first, then increase the weight. If you ego-lift, focus is taken away from your target muscles and results in inconsistent stimulus. Use a weight that is heavy enough to challenge your muscles while still maintaining good form.

❌ Having no structured plan – Aimless workouts will not produce consistent results. Pushing yourself hard every workout will result in some progress, but as you continue to workout relying solely on self-regulation to gauge effort and progress becomes increasingly unreliable.

Start Simple & Be Consistent

You don't have to overcomplicate starting your fitness journey. Stay simple, learn to master the basics, and gradually overload your training.

Remember, everyone must start somewhere - so don't compare yourself to another person. Be consistent with your program, track your progress, and most importantly, have fun!

Got questions? Ask in the comments or share your own experience as a gym newbie!