3 ways to build an exercise routine

You might have noticed the Exercises Library category that popped up on Gym Free Fitness a while back, but if you haven’t, you can see all the posts here. So, what exactly do you do with the posts in the Exercise Library? How do you make an exercise routine out of them? I’m going to show you three ways to build an exercise routine from the Exercise Library.

1. Reps/Sets Weight Training Workout

To build a standard weight training exercise routine pick 4+ exercises then complete 3-4 sets of 8-12 repetitions of each exercise. So your workout might looks like this:

1. Bent over dumbbell row

• 8 reps
• Rest 30 seconds
• Repeat 3 more times

1. Squat-wide stance-parallel depth

• 8 reps
• Rest 30 seconds
• Repeat 3 more times

1. Across the body step-ups

• 8 reps
• Rest 30 seconds
• Repeat 3 more times

1. Zottman curl

• 8 reps
• Rest 30 seconds
• Repeat 3 more times

To track your progress with this type of workout simply keep track of the weights you are using and try to increase your weight used.

2. HIIT Workout

To create a HIIT exercise routine, pick 4-6 exercises and how long you want your work and rest rounds to be. Then pick how many times you want to go through the list of exercises, this will determine your number of rounds. Typically work rounds are anywhere from 20 to 90 seconds and rest rounds are anywhere from 10-30 seconds. Most people like to make it so that their workout is an even 12, 15, or 20 minutes, but it doesn’t really matter that much.

Let’s use the same exercises from the previous example and use them to build a HIIT workout. If you pick 45 seconds work, 15 seconds rest for your intervals and want to go through the list of exercises 3 times then you would set your interval timer to 12 rounds (3 times through 4 exercises) of 45 seconds work and 15 seconds rest. Here is how your workout would look:

Round 1:

• 45 seconds Bent over dumbbell row
• 15 seconds rest
• 45 seconds Squat-wide stance-parallel depth
• 15 seconds rest
• 45 seconds Across the body step-ups
• 15 seconds rest
• 45 seconds Zottman curl
• 15 seconds rest

Repeat two more times

To track your progress with this type of workout keep track of how many times you can complete the exercise in each work round and try to increase the number of reps the next time you do this workout.

3. Reps For Time Workout

This is another type of HIIT workout that is a cross between a standard strength training workout and a standard HIIT workout. Like the strength training workout you’ll pick 4+ exercises and then the number of reps you want to complete of each exercise. Then, you’ll time yourself to see how fast you can complete all the reps. Since there are no rounds in this workout you’ll need to pick a much higher number of reps to get a good workout in.

Let’s use the same 4 exercises as in the first two workouts. Here is what your workout would look like:

Start your stopwatch/timer and complete the following reps/exercises-

• 50 reps Bent over dumbbell row
• 100 reps Squat-wide stance-parallel depth
• 75 reps Across the body step-ups
• 50 reps Zottman curl

There are two ways to do this workout. You can complete all 50 reps of the dumbbell row before going on to the next exercise. Or you can complete as many dumbbell rows as you can, write down how many you did, then move on to the next exercise. Just be sure to go back and finish the reps you didn’t complete.

To track your progress with this type of workout write down how long it took you to complete all the reps and try to beat your time the next time you do the workout.

What workout did you create? Share them in the comments below!

Photo by Suketu Gajjar is licensed under CC BY 2.0

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Pamela Bruesehoff

Hi! I'm Pamela and I run Gym Free Fitness. Your one stop for real information. No bro science and no faux science. Just real healthy information.

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