How to build an exercise program based on the six essential exercise movements.
At the end of the last blog I stated that I would show you how to put an exercise routine together based off of the six essential exercise movements I wrote about (if you haven’t read that blog post yet then please read it HERE). So, without further delay, let’s dive in!
Questions to ask yourself before building any exercise program.
What are your goals?
For example, are you training for general health, to lose fat, to increase muscle mass, to increase strength or to increase your athletic ability for a particular sport?
How much time are you able to dedicate?
For example, are you able to train 2, 3 or 4 times per week? How many minutes are you able to spend for each session? 5 minutes or 45 minutes?
What equipment will you have access to?
For example, will you be working out at home or at a commercial gym?
Are there injuries to consider?
For example, are there specific exercises that you cannot perform because of pre-existing injuries?
As you can see, there are many questions to consider when building a program right from the get-go, that is why it is generally wise to have someone with education and experience help you build a program that is designed for your specific needs.
Points to consider before lifting weights that are all too often ignored.
Before going any further there are a few additional points that I would like to cover. These points should be taken into consideration whether you are new to lifting or are experienced. Remember, just because someone has experience doesn’t mean that they have experience doing things optimally. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen “experienced lifters” ignore these important points (either these lifters truly don’t know what they are doing or their mistakes are fuelled by their need to impress others in the gym).
Perform exercise with proper technique.
This is non-negotiable! Training with proper technique will not only greatly minimize your risk of injury but will also carry over into life outside of the gym (there was a study done on firefighters that showed this) which will decrease your risk of injury when performing daily tasks. Additionally, training with correct technique can help you maximize muscle growth and strength gains. For example, muscle growth can be increased by performing an exercise with less momentum, since momentum decreases muscular tension (increased muscular tension is a factor that contributes to muscle hypertrophy), and strength can be increased by the use of more optimal biomechanics.
Train through an entire range of motion (there are exceptions, see the next point).
You should generally work through the entire range of motion when possible unless you simply cannot because of pain or mobility issues.
Not everyone should deadlift from the floor or squat to parallel.
Not everyones hip anatomy allows them to perform a full range of motion squat or deadlift without rounding their lower backs (technically speaking this is called lumbar flexion). It has been shown that one of the best ways to herniate a disk in your lower back is to load up your spine with some heavy weight and then round it (flex it). Of course, this may never happen to you but why take the risk?
Building an exercise program.
It is important to understand that as a beginner, less is more, which means you don’t need to perform a pile of different exercises and workout for several hours a day to see results. You will gain strength fairly rapidly without actually lifting heavy weights because during the first few months of training your nervous system will be rapidly adapting to the movements and in essence, become much more efficient (without getting too deep into the science) which will increase your strength output.
For the sake of context, let’s assume that you have zero gym equipment and that you will be working out at home. In addition, let’s assume you will be working out three times a week for roughly 20-30 minutes. Based on this information I would suggest performing a full body routine which means incorporating all of the essential movements into one single workout.
Each day you will perform a single exercise from each of the five movement categories. In the example below you will notice that everything remains exactly the same except for the lower body exercises. The reason everything is the same is for the sake of simplicity. You could vary the pull and push exercises on each day but I highly recommend being consistent for at least one month before changing anything.
While your core does get activated during these exercises, in particular during the push-up and suitcase carry it is still important to train the core directly. So why are there no direct core exercises in this routine? The answer is because I want to keep this workout as short as possible as you will be more likely to complete it. My challenge to you is to simply show up and complete the exercise routine with pristine technique for four weeks. Once you have proven that you can be consistent (which is key) then maybe consider adding some additional exercises.
In order to track your progress, during your first workout you should record the maximum number of repetitions you are able to perform for each exercise so that you have a baseline. For the suitcase carry you will simply record the time you carried whatever object you are carrying. If you don’t have space to walk for the “carry” exercise, an alternative is to march on the spot, but I would raise my eyebrows very high if you told me you didn't have at least 10 feet! In addition to recording time and repetitions, you can also use a Rating of Perceived Exertion scale (RPE) from 1 to 10. For example, “10” being extremely difficult (you couldn't perform another repetition) and “1” being a cakewalk (you could perform ten more repetitions).
For each exercise you will aim to perform 3 rounds of 10 repetitions also known as 3 sets of 10 or 3 x 10. For example, on Monday you might perform a suitcase carry for 30 seconds then perform 10 push-ups, then perform 10 bucket rows then perform 10 bodyweight squats. In between exercises you can rest as required. As your body adapts you may find that you don’t need to rest anymore. Once you have completed one set (or round) of each exercise for that day then simply start all over again until you have completed three full sets (rounds).
If you find that 10 repetitions is simply too easy for some of the exercises because you don’t have enough resistance, then feel free to add reps. For example, you could perform 30 squats if need be. As stated previously, ensure that you are training with the best technique possible as you want to engrain optimal movement patterns.
Below is the workout and if you scroll down a bit further you will see a video I made of myself explaining and demonstrating the entire workout (please excuse the faint whistling in the background as my air compressor was leaking).
Monday
Suitcase carry with milk jugs, buckets, suitcases etc. (carry)
Push-up (push)
Bucket row (pull)
Bodyweight squat (squat)
Wednesday
Suitcase carry with milk jugs, buckets, suitcases etc. (carry)
Push-up (push)
Bucket row (pull)
Reverse lunge (lunge)
Friday
Suitcase carry with milk jugs, buckets, suitcases etc. (carry)
Push-up (push)
Bucket row (pull)
Single leg deadlift (hinge)
Conclusion
While there are many ways to construct workouts this one is a decent template to use. Construct a workout that incorporates the five essential movements and then either build on that or simply do variations of each movement.
I hope this gives you the confidence and knowledge to put a basic workout together that you can begin using immediately! With so many gyms being closed this is a great time to get started at home!
Please comment below if this helped you! If you have any questions at all simply contact me HERE and finally, please subscribe so that you don’t miss out on my next blog post!