The Exercise Article

Choosing a training schedule is a variable that, in my opinion, many people spend more time thinking about than is either necessary or justified. Given the number and variety of programs competing for your attention out there, it’s no surprise. Seems like every 4th post I scroll past on instagram is from someone selling a workout template, a nutrition template, or both! And they ALL promise to have THE SECRET SAUCE, or THE ONE BIGGEST THING YOU’VE BEEN MISSING THAT NO OTHER TRAINER KNOWS. They don’t, mostly. If it promises fast, too-good-to-be-true results – 10 Pounds Of Muscle In Just 6 Weeks!… Your Best Beach Body In Just 10 Minutes A Day – or uses words like Torch, Incinerate, or Blast when it comes to losing body fat, play the safe bet and hold, onto both your time and money. 

such happy, much intense…

I’m not saying all coaches are sharks. I’ve benefited personally by working with some great coaches over the years. And, as you might know, coaching has been my career as a fitness professional for over 20 years now. Which among other things, means I’ve had the privilege of making plenty of mistakes for a long time. I’ve also had the fortune to learn a lot of important lessons during that time. One thing I’ve come to learn about coaching is this:  

One of the biggest benefits coaching provides a client is in simplifying the process and reducing the noise. 

Good coaching helps you stay focused on the steps right in front of you. Actions that, done consistently for long enough, lead to your desired outcomes. A mentor of mine once said “Good coaching delivers what clients need, wrapped up in what they want”. Bingo. Good coaches won’t try to dazzle and confuse you, or sell you “easy” solutions to unrealistic goals. They don’t feel a need to impress you with smarty-pants exercise science language, more-than-you-need-to-know nutrition knowledge, or complicated periodization programs. Instead, we focus on helping you do the things that matter the most, that will make the most difference. We do fill knowledge gaps where appropriate, just without letting you get lost in the details. 

we can all use a helping hand sometimes

For some, small details can matter. Tiny performance benefits might make the difference between an athlete qualifying for an event, getting a contract, signing a new deal for more money, or not. But we need to make an important distinction here. The term athlete used above means someone who is paid to perform in their sport. Not someone who, as part of their exercise routine, lifts weights with a goal to be strong, healthy, and able for as long as I can, and to look like someone who lifts weights. Someone like myself. Maybe you can relate? I don’t know, nor have I worked with, many actual athletes. I work with lots of regular Janes, Joes, and Jaimes, so that’s who I speak to. All that out of the way, let’s get back to the intent of this article. Helping you simplify your exercise program. The below is an important principle I’ve learned over the years.

Most people receive great results by training each muscle group 2-3x/week. 

I’ll go through three ways to achieve that and what it looks like in practice, broken down by a few prerequisites, including how frequently you realistically expect to actually train. Don’t expect positive results from sitting on the couch, eating garbage and drinking, then hitting a half-assed workout or HIIT class once or twice a week. There will be times you just have to get in motion and do the thing, when you’ll make a choice to exercise and eat healthy over that other thing you’d rather do right now. The most important variable to plan and adjust for however is your ability to be consistent. The greatest program you won’t or can’t follow, will yield little to zero results. Maybe you’ll force yourself to do it for a few months, but then what? The flip side is the mediocre program you follow regularly, will yield great results over time. Decide where you’re at in your fitness and life journey, what your current goals are, and how much time you’ll devote to training. Make exercise fit your life, not the other way around. 

1-3 days a week

Use Full Body Resistance Training (FBR) each session. This means you’ll perform the major movement patterns on each training day. All novices should start here, as can those returning to training after a layoff. Or those who, for whatever reason, can only commit to training 1-3 days a week. 

Full Body Resistance Training – entire body is trained each session, as the name implies

(3 day Full Body Resistance Training) 

Monday: FBR

Tuesday: rest/active recovery/cardio

Wednesday: FBR

Thursday:  rest/active recovery/cardio

Friday: FBR

Sat/Sun:  rest/active recovery/cardio

You can obviously move your days around, ideally still having a rest day in between workouts, so Tu/Th/Sa for example. If you train twice a week then try to spread the days evenly, Monday and Thursday for example. You can also do the exact same workout each time you train, but, if you need some variety, you can alternate between “A” and “B” workouts. These certainly aren’t the only ways to program FBR, but remember we’re keeping it uncomplicated. 

*What are “major movement patterns”… ???

Squat, Bend, Push, Pull, Lunge, and Core Engagement. Often I’ll include other fun stuff like loaded carries and holds, explosive lifts, jumps and plyometrics, multiplanar movements like get ups and windmills, and cyclical movements like running, cycling, rowing, jump rope, etc, for conditioning, but those 6 listed above cover 90% of what you need to reap the benefits of strength training. 

How your body is made to move (*image via opexfit.com )

2-4 days a week

If you’ve been consistently training for 6-12 months, AND want to train more days per week, AND have gained some well developed strength, AND/OR you begin to need more recovery time between training movements, you might benefit from a Movement Based Split. There are a few options here as well.

Full Body Splits – both upper and lower body in same session

(3 day Full Body Split)

Monday: Squat, Pull, Core

Tuesday: rest/active recovery/cardio

Wednesday: Bend, Push, Core

Thursday:  rest/active recovery/cardio

Friday: Lunge, Push, Pull, Core

Sat/Sun:  rest/active recovery/cardio

(4 day Full Body Split)

Monday: Squat, Vertical Push, Horizontal Pull, Single Leg Squat/Lunge, Core

Tuesday: rest/active recovery/cardio

Wednesday: Bend, Horizontal Push, Vertical Pull, Single Leg Bend/ Lunge, Core

Thursday:  rest/active recovery/cardio

Friday: Same as Monday

Sat: Same as Wednesday (*be mindful of recovery and maybe use this as a lighter day)

Sun:  rest/active recovery/cardio

Upper/Lower Splits – either upper or lower body in each session

(3 day Upper/Lower + Full Body Split)

Monday: Lower Body (Squat, Bend, Lunge)

Tuesday: rest/active recovery/cardio

Wednesday: Upper Body (Press, Pull, Core)

Thursday: rest/active recovery/cardio

Friday: Full Body (FBR)

Sat: rest/active recovery/cardio

Sun:  rest/active recovery/cardio

(4 day Upper/Lower Split 1)

Monday: Lower Body (Squat, Bend, Lunge)

Tuesday: Upper Body (Press, Pull, Core)

Wednesday: rest/active recovery/cardio

Thursday: Same as Monday

Friday: Same as Tuesday

Sat: rest/active recovery/cardio

Sun: rest/active recovery/cardio

(4 day Upper/Lower Split 2)

Monday: Lower Body A (Squat, Lunge/Single Leg Squat, Core)

Tuesday: Upper Body A (Vertical Push, Horizontal Pull, maybe Arms)

Wednesday: rest/active recovery/cardio

Thursday: Lower Body B (Bend, Lunge/Single Leg Bend, Core)

Friday: Upper Body B (Horizontal Push, Vertical Pull, maybe Arms)

Sat: rest/active recovery/cardio

Sun:  rest/active recovery/cardio

*this set up allows more recovery between specific movement patterns

4-6 days a week

If you’ve been waiting for an Arm Day, here it is, maybe. We’re getting into classic bodybuilder territory with a Body Part Split. While you can start here, it may not be ideal. Body part splits work best for more experienced lifters, those who’ve already spent a year or so focusing on getting strong. Those whose main goal is increased muscle size, AND who have the desire and ability to workout more days during the week. It also happens to be sort of where most guys (self included) began their journey with weights (albeit less than ideally) with the old bench press, arms, and abs… There are lots of ways to structure this, all with the common theme of training each muscle (rather than movement) once or twice a week. Some programs will focus on bringing up “lagging” or “problem” muscles with more frequent exposures, but that starts getting into the fancy territory of athletes training for sport (bodybuilding and figure competition). We ain’t that. 

Body Part Splits

(5 days a week)

Monday: Chest

Tuesday: Back

Wednesday: Shoulders

Thursday: Legs

Friday: Arms and Abs

Sat: rest/active recovery/cardio

Sun: rest/active recovery/cardio

(6 days a week)

Monday: Chest and Triceps

Tuesday: Back and Biceps

Wednesday: Legs and Shoulders

Thursday: rest/active recovery/cardio

Friday: Chest and Triceps

Sat:  Back and Biceps

Sun: : Legs and Shoulders

7 days a week 

Take a rest day, ya lunatic!  No, seriously. I’m a big fan of doing something physical every day of the week, but that doesn’t mean I encourage you to exercise every day. Go for a  hike. Not near trees? Do some urban exploring in a new neighborhood. Take a yoga class to chill, not sweat. Ride your bike to brunch. Pick up a new physical hobby or sport, like paddling, surfing, or climbing. Or pick up a hobby that enriches your mind and soul and let your body come for the ride! Reflect on what you enjoyed doing when you were a kid for inspiration. Take an art class, or learn how to do magic tricks. You’re building this healthy body to live a full, long life, not just to look good in the mirror.

This is NOT a comprehensive list of training templates and there are other things to consider. For instance, we didn’t even get into sets and reps and rest periods. If you have a different method that works for you, more power to ya… keep at it. If you don’t, however, I hope you now have a basic idea of how to create one for yourself without stressing about finding the perfect program, precisely tailored to your goals. We’re all unique in our own special ways, but we’re mostly pretty similar.

get chiseled abs and stunning features, but avoid dying in a freak gasoline-fight accident