Create Your First Training Programme
Jessica Sweet advises on creating your first training program in five easy steps.
The gym is a popular pastime among the old and young alike. Yet, figuring out what you will do once you get there can be daunting if you are heading back after a month-long hiatus or if it is your first time stepping foot inside a gym. Whether you have some semblance of a workout routine thanks to the personal trainer, you hired months ago or starting from scratch, creating a training program is an excellent way to shake those pre-gym jitters.
Striking out on your own can be challenging, which is evident as this is one of the many reasons people avoid going to the gym in the first place. Yet so long as you have a basic understanding of your goals and the equipment you can find at the gym, you should have no trouble getting started.
However, if you are completely clueless, we have created this article to help you determine your workout goals, decide which exercises you are going to do, learn how to progress at the gym, and how to put it all together into a cohesive training program that will eliminate your pre-gym jitters and help you achieve your workout goals continue reading to find out more.
Set A Target
The first step in creating a training program is identifying your goals, as you can only expect to work towards something if you know what it is you are working for. Regardless of your gym knowledge, you must be clear about your goals from the very start, as this is how your training program will be most effective.
Sit yourself down with a pen and paper, ask yourself the following questions, and note down your answers so that you can refer to them later:
- Are you looking to improve your overall health?
- Would you like to build muscle mass?
- Or are you just looking to get stronger overall?
- Does improving your conditioning sound good to you?
- Or would you instead focus on changing your body composition?
Whatever goal, or goals, you are working to achieve, you must set yourself up for success by choosing plans that are realistic and achievable within a reasonable timeframe. For instance, if your primary motivation is to lose weight, there is no point in setting a goal of losing five stones in two weeks, as this is unrealistic, and you will only be setting yourself up for failure.
Whereas, if you set a goal that you can work towards, like doing one-arm push-ups, you will likely be able to achieve this within a reasonable timeframe, and it will keep you motivated to keep going. You are more than likely to have more than one goal most gym-goers do yet tailoring your training program to focus on one goal at a time will keep you engaged and happy while working towards your goals.
Document Your Progress
Even if you plan to keep them private from the eyes of your trainer, documenting your progress is crucial for ensuring that your training program is working. There is no better way to do this than by taking before and after pictures. As well as being an excellent way of documenting your fitness journey, taking before and after photos is a reminder of how far you have come and can give you much-needed motivation on the days you do not feel up to going to the gym.
At times you may feel frustrated with what you might think is a lack of progress, but often we do not notice our bodies changing even though we look in the mirror each day. But when you have taken a before photo, you have something to compare your progress to, which makes it much easier to recognise changes and is ultimately very rewarding.
So do not be afraid to snap a few pictures, even if you do not intend to share them anywhere, so you have something to document your success story. On the other hand, if you want to share your before and after photos with your trainer, friends, family members, etc., you might want to consider using online PDF conversion tools like the ones from Adobe to avoid any complications further down the line.
Online tools like Acrobat can convert your files into whatever format you want, making file-sharing much more straightforward and enabling others to edit them. If you wish to convert a JPG into a PDF or a PDF into a JPG, their website is full of helpful online office tools to make image-sharing easier. See how their conversion tools could help you document the results of your training program by visiting their website or contacting them directly for specific inquiries.
Add Recovery Days
Even some world's most renowned athletes incorporate recovery days into their training programs to recharge their batteries and keep working at optimal performance. Once you have charted out the days you intend to work out on, it is time to schedule your recovery days which will help you recuperate after more intensive training.
Ultimately you do not want to spend your recovery days slumped on the sofa; even during your days off, aim to keep yourself moving to maintain a habit of activity. We are not suggesting that you put in as much effort as you would at the gym; instead, pick a few low-intensity exercises that keep your muscles moving without zapping all your energy.
Still, daily exercise also boasts many other benefits, from lowering stress levels to providing much-needed relief from soreness/stiffness from previous workouts. Whether you swim a few laps at your local leisure centre or go on a brisk walk around your neighbourhood, you can fulfil your daily exercise quota at a more relaxed pace without pushing yourself to the limits and have fun! It keeps you on track with your gym goals.
Adjust Your Programme As Needed
As you slowly start getting used to your new training program, your muscles will start memorising the routine until your schedule becomes too easy, and you will need to make some changes for consistent results. Once you start noticing your workouts becoming easier to complete and recover from, you will need to adjust your program to make it harder and less easy to achieve.
Whether you achieve this by increasing the load, volume, or speed of completion (or all three if you fancy a challenge!), as you progress, you will need to adjust your program to avoid plateauing. Likewise, you need to find your training program more challenging. In that case, you will need to lower the intensity of your workout to be more realistic – you can constantly adjust this once you have become familiar with the exercises.
Keep A Record
To ensure that your training program is working, you must keep an up-to-date record of your progress, including objective and subjective aspects. This involves noting down the speed of completion, how much load you are working with, how your body feels after each workout, and much more.
Having these records to refer to is imperative to see what aspects of your training program are working and which could be improved. These will give you a notion of what changes to make when adjusting your schedule to make it more successful and help you achieve the goals you outlined at the start of your journey.
Page Reference
If you quote information from this page in your work, then the reference for this page is:
- SWEET, J. (2022) Create Your First Training Programme [WWW] Available from: https://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/article705.htm [Accessed
About the Author
Jessica Sweet is a freelance journalist.