How to Set up Your Own Bodybuilding Training Program

How to Set up Your Own Training Program

Creating your own workout program is not an easy task. There are many different types and variations of the training program that can be created. In this case, there are no limits, and only your imagination can keep you away from creating your own ideal workout program.

This post will provide you with the basic information you have to know for setting up a successful training program.

Basis of Training Program

No matter whether you are creating a program for burning fat, building muscle or just to keep yourself in a good shape, they all have to meet basic principles of building any training program, namely frequency, intensity, type, and duration.

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You will have to take into consideration all these four factors if you really want to have a solid foundation for your training schedule. Further, we will do a brief overview for each of them.

Frequency is the most obvious of principles. It refers to how often you will exercise and how often you will perform a particular exercise. It is very important to follow this principle, avoiding doing too many exercises, and too fast.

Intensity principle explains how intense your workouts should be. Will you set a program based on training with short breaks? Or it will be training with large periods of rest? Maybe it will be training with a lot of sets and reps? That intensity determines your results, so it is necessary to set appropriate goals.

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Appearance. The training program can be designed in various ways, but the form must be completely subjectively. It will determine your own desires and preferences. What physical activity do you want to do? Examples include lifting, strength training, cardio training and many others. Find your passion, as your success will be definitely higher from a physical activity that you really enjoy.

Duration is about how long your workout will be. What about the duration of breaks and work approaches? Time to explain what the actual name implies. This, in turn, is directly related to the intensity. For example, a small amount of rest between sets increases the intensity. You can be a busy man, which means short workout with quick rest periods.

Now, after pointing the fourth main basis of each training program let’s start to set up a training program. At this point, you already have to decide in which direction you need to move in an order set your own training program. Most people create a mental image of how they would look.

Perhaps your goal is to maintain a healthy lifestyle, so you do not make sense to worry about your body look. Further, we will talk about some general principles for the two most common goals in bodybuilding - building muscle and burning fat. This will be done on the basis of above described four principles, which have been described above.

So, in case the goal is to build muscle pay attention to the following:

Frequency: Here the most important is to visit the gym at least 3 times a week. Yes, you can do it even 5 times a week, but this, naturally, will very quickly lead to overtraining. Also, you have to bear in mind that your muscle mass doesn’t grow when you train, this happens during the recovery period.

Intensity: The most effective way to build muscle mass is to keep the intensity slightly above average. How to measure the intensity? To evaluate their level of intensity, use a scale of 1 to 10 (while training), where 1 is the absolute idleness, and 10 being the most difficult and intense workout that you've ever experienced.

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So, stick to the six or slightly higher. Your workout should include work on only 2-3 muscle groups, 3-4 sets and 8-12 repetitions for each exercise.

Time: Training should last maximum one hour. The best option would be the duration of 45 minutes. Of course, one can achieve great results taking less, while others exercising more time. It all depends on genetics.

As we mentioned above the second most common purpose in bodybuilding is fat burning. If you want to lose weight and encourage the body to burn fat, you will get the greatest return, making the training program as follows:

Frequency: Train at least 3 days per week, 5-6 days of training will be the best option. And try to alternate workout. For example, perform strength training 2-3 days a week, and cardio-exercise perform weight training session. Thus, burning fat and strengthening your muscles on different days, you can avoid getting overtrained.

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Intensity: You may have heard that low-intensity cardio exercises are more effective. But you can get rid of more calories if include in your program cardio load exercises. For example, firstly perform 2 minutes of low-intensity load, then 30 seconds of high intensity.

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This will keep your metabolism active during few hours after the workout. On a scale of 1 to 10, try 3-4 on the range of low-intensity and 8-10 at the interval with a high intensity. Total training time has to be about  30-45 minutes.

Appearance: For losing weight you can make use of different types of exercise. Here are recommended exercises with cardio loads that will help to diversify your weight training.

Duration: Try to spend no more than 1 hour in the gym during strength training and 15 to 30 seconds of rest between sets. Time for cardiac load exercises has to be between 15 up to 45 minutes.

Setting up a workout program becomes a quite easy task you have knowledge of main principles that each workout should include, namely frequency, appearance, intensity, and duration. Also, if you decided which is the main goal of your workout program - to gain muscle mass or to lose weight- then things become even clearer.