How to Organize Your Resistance Training Routine

General Workout Card

Designing a workout card will help you keep track of your workouts and allow you to see the progress you are making. This will also help with your compliance and keep you motivated. This sheet will include information regarding the order of the exercises you perform, the number of sets and repetitions, the date and difficulty of each exercise. This information will keep your resistance training workouts organized. When you do a resistance training workout, you do not want to just do your exercises with any weight you feel like. If you have the previous weights you have been using written down, you will know how much weight to use this workout. This will make your workouts more effective. Additionally, a workout card will help prevent injuries by allowing you to see how you should adjust the weight you are using each workout, by knowing how difficult the last workout was. This will help you avoid increasing your weights too quickly.

There are many different approaches to designing a resistance training workout. The type of exercises chosen and the order of the exercise is mostly a matter of personal preference. The guidelines I am suggesting are applicable to everyone and will give you a general outline which you can expand on your own or with the help of a certified strength and conditioning specialist or certified personal trainer.

There are 5 main components of a resistance training program that you need to consider. These are: choice of exercises, order of exercises, the number of sets of each exercise, the amount of rest in between sets or exercises, and the intensity of each set. These components can be manipulated to change your routine to avoid stagnation and boredom.

First of all, always begin your workout with a short warm-up. This can be as simple as walking from your car to the gym or a 5 minute walk on the treadmill. This will help prepare your body for the workout and help prevent injury. I recommend stretching after the warm-up. Stretching will help the muscles prepare for the workout, reduce the risk of injury and increase your Range of Motion (ROM).

The exercises you choose to perform should work the major muscle groups. These groups include: arms (front and back), legs (upper and lower, front and back), back (upper and lower), stomach, and chest. You should perform 8-10 exercises that cover these muscle groups.

When you are choosing the order of your exercises, you want to perform the exercises that use multiple or large muscle groups first and then perform exercises that use single or small muscle groups next. Multiple or large muscle group exercises include the chest press, the bench press and the leg press. Single or small muscle group exercises include the biceps curl, the triceps pushdown, and the leg extension. This will allow you to maximally stimulate the larger muscle groups.

Additionally, when you are organizing your exercises, you may choose to alternate an arm exercise with a leg exercise. This order will allow you to rest one body part while you are exercising the other. Always perform the exercise throughout the full ROM. This is important to help your muscles develop strength throughout their entire ROM and to keep them as flexible as possible. However, if you experience pain during some portion of the movement, you may need to use a pain-free or limited ROM.

The number of sets and repetitions you perform is based upon your goals and time constraints. For most people, 1 set of 8-12 repetitions at a higher intensity is sufficient. By the last repetition, you should be working hard to lift the weight. If time permits, multiple sets (2 or 3) of 8-12 repetitions may provide greater strength benefits. For older or more frail individuals, 1 set of 10-15 repetitions is recommended.

The intensity of each workout is dependent on the number of sets your perform, the number of repetitions for each set, the weight you use, and the rest you take in between sets. Higher intensity workouts include doing more sets, decreasing the number of repetitions per set, increasing the weights used and decreasing the rest periods in between sets. However, if you do fewer repetitions with higher weights, you may need more rest to allow yourself to recover from the last set so you can be effective on the next set. Lower intensity workouts include less repetitions, less weight, and possibly more rest in between sets. Although, the rest can be shorter because you do not need as long to recover in between sets, since the intensity is lower.

Understand that it is possible to have high intensity workouts using 1 set per exercise. Increase the intensity by decreasing the repetitions and increasing the weights you are using. The number of days a week you perform resistance training will have an influence on the intensity of your workouts. If you lift weights 2 days a week, you need to be at a higher intensity on both of those days. If you lift weight 3 or more days a week, you can have a day of lower intensity in between 2 days of higher intensity. This will give your body a break and will allow you to come back the next workout and work at a higher intensity.

Given time constraints and the number of people at the facility you are using, it may be impossible to always follow the previously recommended guidelines. Remember, these are just guidelines, you do not have to always follow them. Do the best you can, and understand that the most important thing is that you just do the workout. You can try different orders of exercises or perform successive leg exercises. There is not one best method. Find out what organization works for you. To avoid boredom, you can change your exercises or the order of exercises whenever needed, or every 5-6 months. This will change the stimulus your body faces and make it constantly work to adapt to the new workout.

After your workout, if time permits, a cooldown and a brief stretching routine should be performed. This will help your body maintain it’s ROM and help your muscles recover from the workout.

The general workout sheet below is intended to serve as a guideline for you to design your own. Many facilities offer their own workout cards. The format is not important, having one is. Sample workout sheet #1 describes each column and gives an example of how to fill out a workout card.

Sample Weightlifting Workout Sheet

Date:
Exercise	Sets/Reps/Weight	Difficulty
List the type of exercise	Include the number of sets and reps, and the weight for each.	To plan for your next workout put "increase," "decrease," or "same" in this box.
Chest Press	1 X 12 w/ 155lbs.	increase
Leg Press	1 X 12 w/200 lbs.	same
Overhead Press	1 X 12 w/25 lbs.	same
Leg Extension	1 X 12 w/100lbs.	increase
Lat Pulldown	1 X 10 w/230 lbs.	decrease
Leg Curl	1 X 12 w/ 80 lbs.	same
Bicep Curl	1 X 10 w/ 20lbs.	same
Calf Raise	1 X 12 w/ 200	increase
Tricep Pushdown	1 X 11 w/ 120lbs.	decrease
Hyperextensions	1 X 15 w/ no wt.	same
Sit-ups	1 X 100 w/ no wt.	increase

Workout sheet #2 is to print for use at your facility

Weightlifting Workout Sheet

Date:			Date:
Exercise	Sets/Reps/Weight	Difficulty	Exercise	Sets/Reps/Weight	Difficulty
List the type of exercise	Include the number of sets and reps, and the weight for each.	To plan for your next workout put "increase," "decrease," or "same" in this box.	List the type of exercise	Include the number of sets and reps, and the weight for each.	To plan for your next workout put "increase," "decrease," or "same" in this box.