Designing Your Own Workout Plan to Fit Your Schedule

Yes, You can fit Exercise into your Daily Life!

 By Jim Rial

Designing your own workout plan that fits your schedule can be tough but it's not impossible. There are so many different methods and workout plans out there that just coming up with or even picking the right plan can be overwhelming. You can fit exercise into your daily life, you just need a plan and to set aside a little time for yourself. When I started to make my workout plan my kids were a lot younger and I did not have much time at all. I had a goal in mind and I wanted to regain strength, increase my lean muscle and build some endurance, basically just get fit. Well, to get lean and fit, your body requires losing fat and building muscle. On top of a good training schedule, having a healthy eating plan consisting of plenty of proteins will be key to your success, but do you really need to train like an athlete to get results? Not really. I make my workout plan so that it meets the required standards for each muscle group but I also make my plans so that they can be performed quickly. In and Out was my workout motto. I will go through the methods I have learned and researched as well as the shortcuts I take to speed things up. 

When doing your research, you will find information telling you that if you want to build muscle strength you go heavy with a low rep count somewhere around 6 and under, hypertrophy (building mass) you want reps in the 8-12 range, and for endurance would be anywhere in the range of 15+ reps. While much of this information is accurate, it can be overwhelming. Most of us are not training for competition or sport. If you are, you probably have coaches or trainers designing your fitness programs. To start with, you need to figure out what type of training you want to indulge yourself in. There are so many options like full-body lifting plans or the 3-day split for example. Depending on what you are looking to achieve with your plan will determine what type of fitness plan you design for yourself. 

Overall, the best option is going to fit your busy schedule so that you can stick to your plan and get results. The way I make my workout plan, for example, is with three lifting days and three cardio days, but each workout is only 45 to 60 minutes. Instead of a 3-day split designed for a bodybuilder. I prefer a lifting plan closely related to a HIIT type training because it requires minimal rest and I can squeeze it into the 45 to 60-minute sessions and include warm-up, stretching, and a cool-down. Now, I was able to get 45 minutes to an hour. Maybe you only have about 30 minutes. This can be managed as well. The key to a shorter workout is intensity. One thing to keep in mind when you make your own workout schedule is that you do not want to skip warm-ups, stretching, and cooldowns. 

 So to develop a shorter workout plan, the first thing you need to do is figure out what exercises you plan to perform and how you can hit every muscle group for balance. Then you need to find the ideal weight for each lifting exercise. This is essential, if you're not working your body hard enough you won't get the intended results. I sort of chose my weights on the fly and then recorded my finding on my phone using an app. I developed a workout that was quick and efficient. In the short amount of time I was at the gym my workouts were extremely intense. When you hit the gym you'll notice it's like a social hour. People are standing around talking and holding up the equipment. My idea was to get a full workout in as little time as possible and get results. So my plan similar to a HIIT style was hinged on the idea of working through rest periods. On lifting days especially I had my focus muscle group and in between, I would work an unrelated muscle. For instance, on chest, shoulders, and triceps day in between sets, I would do body squats, lunges, or some other leg exercise. When doing the lunges I used dumbbells so I just made sure to have a set sitting next to my bench ready to go. The cardio days are a little easier to complete around your schedule. You can do some more HIIT-type training or just use the machines at the gym utilizing whatever time you have available. Just be sure to leave time for warm-up, stretching and a cooldown, very important. 

Now to get started with an intense workout design. The ideal option, if you have the time, would be finding your 1RM or one-rep max. Doing this for each exercise will give you a more accurate idea of what weight you should be working with for each exercise. Once this number is established you can follow the percentages below to detail your plan around your goals.

There are several ways to find your 1RM such as this formula created by the University of New Mexico.

Find the heaviest weight you can do 4-6 times for your upper body and your lower body exercises then plug those weights into this formula:

• (4-6RM x 1.1307) + 0.6998 = Upper Body 1RM

• (4-6RM x 1.09703) + 14.2546 = Lower Body 1RM

Training Goal	Percent of 1RM	Quantity
Speed and power:	50-60 %	15+ reps per set
Muscle size:	60-80 %	8-12 reps per set
Strength:	80-90 %	3-6 reps per set

Since this formula uses kilograms just multiply your result by 2.205 to convert your answer to pounds. 

For example:

Your 4-6RM is 60kg

( 60 x 1.1307) + 0.6998 = 68.5kg

68.5 x 2.205 = 151 lbs.

Once you have these numbers you can follow the charts below to design your lifting plan utilizing the appropriate weight to get started. 

Once you start your new plan, it’s best to follow your progress and keep track of the weight you are using by bringing a pen and pad to the gym or finding a good note-taking app on your phone. I found for android the best app for keeping my records was an app called ColorNote. This app allowed me to quickly enter changes or results without wasting too much time. 

But let’s be real, for me this was just way too much work to constantly test my progress in this manner. I have two small children and not a lot of time to spend testing at the gym. I usually had 45 to 60 minutes to get in and get my workout completed. Plus, I like to switch my plans about every 6 weeks which includes the time I used for finding the proper weight I would use for each new exercise. If you think about it, to find your 1RM you’ll be fumbling around with different weights anyhow to get the 4-6RM and then plugging them into your formula. I tried this for a couple of cycles but after a while, I just skipped all of this during the start week of one of my new cycles. After stopping the long method of finding my 1RM, I just decided I was going to wing it at the beginning of one of my cycle changes.

 My ultimate goal was to find a weight that I could use for my desired number of sets which ultimately lead to failure on the last couple of reps for my final set. So for the first week of a new cycle I basically just chose weights by increasing and decreasing weight throughout each set. I had a ballpark idea of what I could lift so I set up let's say my barbell with a weight I felt I could handle for 12 reps. Then I would just make a weight adjustment up or down on the next set depending on the difficulty of the prior set. Every time a made a change, I would just do it in small 5 to 10-pound increments. By the 3rd set, I usually had my workout weight pretty well established. So if I was planning on 4 sets of 12 reps max for each set with the plan of failing somewhere around 10 on the final set. Then my goal was to choose a weight that made the final rep of each set of 12 a little difficult to complete. Remember, we are not going to a bodybuilding competition, and you're still working your muscles. This article shows you how to make your workout plan on a tight schedule and still get results. So usually I only needed to do this for the first week of any new cycle.

 When doing this method, take a slightly longer rest between sets when finding the proper weight. Maybe even skip the in-between stuff until your next session when you are ready to roll. This way your muscles can recover a bit and give you a more accurate lift. You'll know you have your established weight locked in once you can perform all of your reps for the first few sets but start getting a little sticky on the final rep of each set. At this point, you can bet you will reach failure on your last set. If not you'll have a ballpark idea of how much weight will be used for your next session. I know this sounds a bit odd or unorthodox, but I would be willing to bet most people just wing finding their proper workout weight. At least you're going in with a plan and some determination. 

After my max weight was established, I made sure to document it. Now I can just increase my weight in small increments by approximately 5 to 10 lbs. over time as I reach the point I can work through every set/rep without failure. Although this may not be the most ideal method according to the things you read, it seemed to work for me, and I could easily expect results from each plan I created for myself and it was much quicker and easier than dialing it in using formulas. Like I said before, I am no personal trainer and I'm definitely not an athlete. My thinking is that any exercise is good exercise and no matter what you do you will eventually see results. But you should take at least some time to plan your workout correctly but you can take some shortcuts along the way that seems to work.  If you have a goal and use these methods, you will still quickly develop an intense enough plan to get results. 

Now finding an ideal weight to work with is only one part, which brings me to the next question. How many sets do you perform for each muscle group per week? For instance, if I’m doing a 3-day split and day one is working my chest and triceps, how many sets do I perform to see positive gains based on my lifting goals? Below is a chart listing the number of sets per muscle group per week that I have researched and made my workout plan according to. Notice some muscle groups have a zero. These groups normally get worked through compound exercise so that they do not need direct isolation. Use this as a reference for building your own unique workout plan. If you do a 3-day split style plan then 10 to 12 sets may be enough, but a full-body workout once a week may add or take away depending on the intensity and exercises you choose. Which in my opinion is key to making those gains. The more intense you make each workout the faster and more efficient you will reach your goals. I make my workout plan with little or no rest between sets and high intensity. You can reach the goals for sets per week easily with a full-body plan and adding enough compound exercises and breaking them up to fit them into smaller time frames. 

Muscle Group	Sets Per Week
Chest	10-25
Shoulders	10-22
Delts	0-6
Traps	0-40
Triceps	6-30
Upper Back	10-25
Biceps	8-26
Forearms	2-25
Quads	8-20
Hamstrings	6-20
Glutes	0-16
Calves	8-16
Abs	0-25

When you are ready to make your plan and know your end goal and what you would like to get out of your program. Whether it be endurance, strength, muscle mass, or as I prefer a mix. I make my workout plan utilizing compound exercises in the 8 to 12-repetition range using a weight that causes failure around the last 1-2 reps of my final set. Then I perform isolation or shaping exercises in a range I set and around 12-15 coming close to failure on each set leaving my muscles fatigued.

 

If you are lifting for strength, then you may wish to rest on the higher side of a 30-90 second rest period between sets. Since I preferred to burn as many calories as possible during my lifting sessions, this is where I chose a 30 to 45-second rest period that I used to perform some alternative exercises from a different muscle group than the ones I was working on during that session. As I stated before and so, for example, after performing a set of incline bench presses, I proceeded to do 30 to 45 seconds of weightless and weighted squats or lunges. On my legs the day after my squats I would perform 30 to 45 seconds of push-ups or triceps dips. I did this with each compound exercise. I also included supersets. Supersets are exercises that you perform back-to-back with minimal rest in between. This workout plan kicked my ass and turned my body into a fat-burning machine. I was doing both losing body fat percentage as well as developing lean muscle. Since I turned my lifting plan into something of a HIIT plan, there may be some drawbacks. Following an intense program like this can cause muscle loss as well. This is where developing a healthy eating plan with lots of good protein comes into play. 

Here is an example of one plan I used for the Chest, Shoulders, Traps, and Triceps

Incline Dumbbell Press 

3 sets, 6-8 reps (45 sec. rest) 

Body Weight Squats

3 sets, 45 sec. (rest 30 sec.)

Dumbbell Bench Press 

3 sets, 4-5 reps (rest-pause, 20 sec. rest)

Bodyweight Lunge

3 sets, 45 sec. (rest 30 sec.)

Superset 1

Dumbbell Pullovers - Chest Version

3 sets, 10-12 reps 

Pushups

3 sets, to failure (rest 45 sec.)

Superset 2

Seated Barbell Military Press

3 sets, 8-10 reps (no rest)

Triceps Dips

3 sets, 45 sec. (rest 30 sec.)

Dumbbell Upright Row 

1 set, 10 reps (Perform 10 reps with 15RM, rest 15 sec., and repeat for 4 min. or to failure)

Dumbbell Shrug 

1 set, to failure (Perform AMRAP with 10RM, rest 15 sec., and repeat for 4 min. or to failure.)

Compound Set

Triceps Skull Crushers

3 sets, 8-10 reps 

Triceps Behind Neck Extensions

3 sets, 8-10 reps 

The key takeaway from this article is that you can spend a lot of time making a workout plan, but if you're not an athlete in it for competition and you don't have a lot of time to dedicate to your workout plan. Any exercise you can get is going to be healthy and give you results over time. The only thing that matters is that you perform the exercises properly and safely. If you are on a tight schedule, make your plans short and intense. You can use some of the shortcuts and ideas from this article to develop a good plan that works best for you and your time management. You don’t need fancy formulas, just get into the gym, or make a workout plan to do at home and just get your body moving. You will see results. Make sure you do both, exercise, and eat healthily and you will reap the rewards. A word of advice; be sure to warm up and stretch before any intense workout as well as cool down and stretch after. Many people like to skip these last steps and set themselves up for both injury and failure.