How to Build a Fitness Routine: The Ultimate DIY Guide
If you want to maximize your results and utilize your BodyRockPlus subscription, knowing how to build a fitness routine is a MUST.
Why?
Because you want results! And results depend on customization. By learning how to build a fitness routine, you can custom build a program for your age, fitness level and goals the same way a personal trainer would.
You want to be in control of your fitness routine so you know which BodyRockPlus workout to smash on which day and so you know how to pivot when life gets in the way of a workout, all the while, doing workouts you actually like so you can meet your fitness goals.
Got your attention? Read on to find out how to build your own fitness routine.
What’s Your Why?
Think of your ‘why’ as your motivation, your muse: the reason you’re committing to workouts. Internalize your goal, write it on a post-it note and stick it on the freezer so it stops you from snacking on ice cream after dinner — and use your WHY as kindling to build that fire inside. You’ll never commit to a diet or your fitness goals without motivation. It takes weeks (if not months) to form new habits, so if nothing else, get over that hurdle with raw determination to surpass your goal.
Some of the most common whys:
- Are you doing this as part of a healthy lifestyle?
- It’s time to start working out?
- Do you want more toned, muscle definition?
- Do you want to build muscle?
- Are you trying to lose weight?
Once you’ve nailed down your why, it’s time to start customizing your fitness routine.
How Much Time Do You Have?
Not ‘in a perfect world’ but currently, how much time can you dedicate to your workouts? Some things you want to account for are work, commitments and when you’ll be at your best. There will be times throughout the day where you’re gassed and times when you’ve got so much untapped energy it’s like you’ve got springs for feet — the latter is the perfect time to workout.
How many days a week can you eke out for workouts? 3 days a week is entry-level but 4-6 is better for next-level results. 5 days on with 2 days rest is the norm.
Lastly, print out a blank weekly calendar and write: Workout 8am (as an example) next to the days of the week you’re available and Rest next to the remainder — then set the calendar aside, for now, we’ll come back to it later.
|
MONDAY |
TUESDAY |
WEDNESDAY |
THURSDAY |
FRIDAY |
SATURDAY |
SUNDAY |
|
Workout 8am |
Workout 8am |
Workout 8am |
Workout 8am |
Workout 8am |
Rest |
Rest |
P.S., life happens BodyRockers, if you sleep through your alarm and miss a workout don’t fret, rejig your weekly schedule. And if you can’t reschedule, it’s not the end of the world just intensify your remaining workouts by adding length, weight or intensity to compensate.
How to Build A Fitness Routine
Now the part you’ve been waiting for — how to build a fitness routine. No matter your fitness level or goal, we’ve got you covered. To start off, let’s do some housekeeping and cover some of the basics that’ll influence your planning.
Active Recovery Days: Ideally, if you’re following a 5:2 weekly schedule, you want 2 active recovery days that usually follow your most intensive workouts. Active Recovery days follow intense workouts and help your muscles repair and regrow by staying limber. Low-intensity activities like walking, swimming, BodyRock Yoga or foam rolling are all good choices. Of course, if you are injured or overly sore don’t push your limits, take a rest day instead.
Workout Splits: All this refers to is which part of the body you’re targeting. Full-body or are you targeting a specific muscle group for this workout.
DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness): You want to give every workout your all, but that doesn’t mean pushing past your limits. Symptoms of DOMS occur 12-24 hours post-workout (not during), things like localized swelling, poor range of motion and pain. If this happens, discontinue high-intensity workouts that utilize that injured muscle and either target opposing unaffected muscle groups or finish off the week with active recovery days. You can improve your recovery time by icing, applying heat, soaking the muscle and eating anti-inflammatory foods to reduce swelling. Some good news: the more active you become, the less likely you are to experience DOMS.
Beginner’s Fitness Routine
|
MONDAY |
TUESDAY |
WEDNESDAY |
THURSDAY |
FRIDAY |
SATURDAY |
SUNDAY |
|
Full-Body HIIT 8am |
Active Rest Long-walk |
Full-Body HIIT 8am |
Active Rest Foam Rolling |
Full-Body HIIT 8am |
Active Rest Gentle Yoga |
Rest |
Fitness Goal: Weight loss, fitness newbies or if you’re getting active as part of a healthy lifestyle.
How’s it Works:Full-Body HIITs all the time to strengthen your muscles. HIITs rely on compound movements that engage your whole body and elevate your heart rate to burn fat and build strength. You’ll progress quickly because your muscles and brain learn fast how to work synergistically together — so every 1-2 weeks try new workouts or revamp your schedule so you don’t plateau.
Frequency: Because you’re practicing doing high-intensity work, less is more so 3 days of HIITs is where you want to start. A good HIIT will leave you sore so plan the following day as an active recovery or rest day. Time Needed: Starting out 7-15 minutes of active work (not including stretching). Otherwise, 15-30 minutes per HIIT session.
Suggested BodyRockPlus Workouts: If you’re dialled into BodyRockPlus pull up any of these videos:
- Beginners Bootcamp
- Start Strong
- BR20
If you’re not a member of BodyRockPlus yet, score a FREE month trial now!
Intermediate Fitness Routine
|
MONDAY |
TUESDAY |
WEDNESDAY |
THURSDAY |
FRIDAY |
SATURDAY |
SUNDAY |
|
Lower Body |
Upper Body |
Active Recovery |
HIIT or Cardio |
Lower Body |
Upper Body |
Rest |
Fitness Goal: Weight loss, toning or muscle gains.
How it Works: For those of you that are pursuing fitness goals greater than just working out to stay healthy, Intermediate is the next step. Intermediate Routines require both full-body HIITs and strength training or targeted muscle group work — think arm, leg or core days. This dynamic duo will burn fat, calories and build strength. And with strength training comes the need for home gym equipment as you can no longer rely exclusively on bodyweight. If your budget is tight, start off with dumbbells, like our HEX Dumbbells. Now, let’s cover the basic elements in detail before we get into scheduling. Upper/Lower Body Split: Upper/Lower splits are great for building strength and gains. The benefit of splits is that you’ll burnout your arms today and rest them during tomorrow’s leg day. To lose weight, build muscle and improve your overall strength, you’re going to want weights to really burnout those muscles.
Cardio OR HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training): Burn calories with cardio exercises like running, jogging, walking or using a bike (stationary or not) — basically, any moderate activity that works the lungs, heart and gets your blood pumping. Here at BodyRock, we’re sweet on HIITs because the high-intensity exercises work the entire body to build strength — plus they’re fun, shred calories and send your body into EPOC (burn calories post-workout).
Frequency: Unlike the Beginners Routine, there is no one size fits all for Intermediate’s; you’ll find you may need to tinker around with all the components until you find the right fit for your fitness aspirations. We created an Intermediate Sample Routine that’s broken up into 4 days of strength, 1 HIIT and 2 rest or active recovery days (rest when you need it, stay moderately active when you don’t). This schedule is a good basis for Intermediate’s to follow but, there are a couple of points below to help you tailor it to your fitness goals.
Time Needed: Ideally, for both HIITs and strength training, you’ll want at least 25 minutes of active work (not including stretching).
Weight Loss: It’s a misnomer that to lose weight you should only do cardio. The reverse is actually true; for greater weight loss you’ll want a faster metabolism and for that to happen you’ll need more muscle mass. So use weights that challenge you and commit to at least one day of cardio or HIIT.
Strengthening: The key to overall strength is overloading your muscles via lifting progressively heavier weights. Some other points to consider for strength training are: if you’re shooting to bulk up your arms don’t neglect the rest of your body (focus on every muscle group), try One-Rep Maxs (lift your max weight safely with good form, once) and ensure you get lots of rest for your muscles to recover. So if you’re wanting to strengthen, 4 split days, 2 rest days and if you’re up for the challenge 1 cardio or HIIT day to round out your week.
Toning: Toning and strengthening may follow similar principles, but toning is more about lean muscle definition while strengthening is about amounting muscle mass. For muscle definition, you’ll need a low body fat percentage which comes from strength training and cardio/HIITs. So you’ll want 4 split days, 1-2 days of cardio/HIITs and 1-2 rest or active recovery days. Remember to use weights, watch your form and every 1-2 weeks alter your routine to keep your body guessing for optimal results.
Suggested BodyRockPlus Workouts:
Advanced Fitness Routine(s)
|
SPLIT |
MONDAY |
TUESDAY |
WEDNESDAY |
THURSDAY |
FRIDAY |
SATURDAY |
SUNDAY |
|
BRO |
Chest, Abs |
Back |
Shoulders |
Arms |
Legs |
Rest |
Rest |
|
PUSH/ PULL LEG |
Push |
Rest |
Pull |
Rest |
Legs |
Rest |
Rest |
|
UPPER/LOWER |
Upper |
Lower |
Rest |
Upper |
Lower |
Rest |
Rest |
Fitness Goal: This is catered to our home-gym experts — Bodybuilders.
How it Works: You’ve reached the top end of your fitness goals and in going pro, Advanced Fitness requires a lot more in the way of splits and weights. To gain more muscle, each training day your goal is to burnout that muscle. Thus, you’re going to need a lot more equipment, like our BodyRock Pump Bar and BodyRock Weighted Vest (for added weight). Advanced Fitness requires lifting heavier weights at an increasing volume to burnout your muscles, sending them into hypertrophy for greater gains. It also means your training sessions are longer, usually 45 minutes and up. So, it’s equally important you get a lot of rest to support muscle repair and regrowth. There are a few popular powerlifting splits, give them a shot to see which works for you now and save the rest for later:
Bro Split: This is the standardized muscle group split over a 5-day period where you work out one muscle group per workout. This works best for advanced bodybuilders and isn’t ideal for those just starting out.
Push/Pull and Legs Split: This 3-day a week split focuses on pushing muscles (shoulders, chest, triceps), pulling muscles (biceps and back) and legs. This split can be used by any bodybuilder new to advanced and is a popular choice if you haven’t got many days you can reserve for workouts.
Upper/Lower Split: These 4-day upper or lower body workouts are brutal so your body will need a lot of straight-up recovery days. This is great for beginners aiming to build their strength.
Frequency: Depending on how much time you have and what your fitness level is, will depend on which Advanced Fitness Split Routine works best for you. Beginners should either try the 3-4 days a week Push/Pull and Legs Split or Upper/Lower Split while the high-level power lifters should pursue the Bro Split.
Time Needed: At minimum, you’re going to want 45 minutes per workout to send your muscles into hypertrophy.
Suggested BodyRockPlus Workouts:
Sign up for a free month trial of BodyRockPlus.
Your DIY Guide to Building a Fitness Routine
We know you’re committed to achieving your personal bests, especially if you’re connected with BodyRock because that’s what you’re all about too. So that’s why we created this article: so you can learn how to customize and create a workout plan to fit YOUR needs.
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