5 Steps to your own program


Do you ever feel stuck and wish you could design your own work out program? Whether you don’t have a consistent time to hit up a class, you haven’t budgeted to work with a trainer, or you just like to figure things out for yourself, I am here to offer up some strategies and steps to get you started.

You can write your own work out program by following these five steps. No need for a fancy program, make your own and see the results you desire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First, before beginning any program, it is important to asses where your current fitness level is at, how many push ups can you do in a row, how many sit ups in a minute, and how fast can you run are great benchmarks. So are functional movement screen tests, which include these 7 tests. You also need to look at what are you trying to improve, your health or your fitness. Your fitness will fall into the first benchmark test. While there is some cross over, your fitness will fall more into the second movement screen.

Now that you have the big picture improvement covered, what specifically are your health and fitness goals? This is second. Remember, they should be small, attainable, and measurable in order to determine your programs effectiveness, and to monitor your progress. Your program needs to have some balance of work and recovery, strength and endurance, moderate and high intensity. Your program should include activities that challenge you and activities that you enjoy, for me, these would be running and dancing, respectively.

Third, now that you determined your goals, you need to determine what you need to complete the work outs. Will this entail a different type of athletic shoe? A better supportive sports bra? Maybe you need to buy a kettle bell, or a gym membership.

Once you are ready, the fourth step is to start! There was no researching the perfect format, there is no information on the ideal number of days or minutes to exercise. You need to start before you can determine this kind of information for yourself.

You can't do anything if you don't start. Start without it being perfect, and then make changes to what you have decided until you get the results you desire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, as you start along any work out program, certain parts will be better for you than others. That is where monitoring your progress will become key. And I’m not talking about your weight on a scale. If you wanted to do more push ups, have you counted recently? If you wanted to pass the deep squat movement screen, have you recently re-tested? If you wanted to improve your running, does your watch tell you that your cadence has increased? If you wanted to improve your cardiovascular health, has your heart returned to pre work out levels faster after a work out?

Have you ever written your own program? What did it entail? Where you able to determine its effectiveness? My current program has 3 days of running 2, days of yoga, 2 days of strength training, and one day of dance. This keeps me moving towards all my fitness goals at once. I did not start with that much on a weekly plate. Remember to acknowledge where you are, and don’t do too much just because other people are doing more.