Choosing a weight training program can be a complicated matter if you don’t have weight training goals. These goals will help you choose a weight training program that is right for you.

{You can have different goals and still weight train together.}

If you’re feeling especially motivated consider creating your own weight training program, designed with you and your goals in mind. Before you get out that sheet of paper however, keep reading to find out what features any good weight training program should have.

Warm Up

The warm up is an essential part of any workout, but especially a weight training program. Warming up serves two main purposes:

1. Warm up muscles to help prevent injuries during weight training, and
2. Insure you maintain the integrity of each motion by practicing with lighter weights.

When you begin each weight training session with a warm up you allow blood to flow into the heart, muscles and lungs so your body is prepared for rigorous exercise. By warming up your muscles before starting a weight training program you keep your body healthy so you can work out another day.

Your warm up should include at least 10 minutes of aerobic activity such as walking, bicycling or even jogging. To fully warm up you should do a practice set of weight training exercises with lighter weights to make sure you perform each movement properly to avoid injury.

Choosing Exercises

Arguably the most important aspect of creating a weight training program, you must choose the right exercises to help you achieve your goals.

Whether you want big bulging muscles or to simply tone your body due to recent weight loss, the exercises you add to your weight training program should help you get there. That being said, it is also important that your weight training program is well-rounded, working each muscle group evenly.

Because you should work each muscle group evenly, a weight training program to meet your goals will have varying weight limits and rest periods.

Exercises for the legs you may want to add to your weight training program include squats and calf raises. But you must also target your upper body, which should include exercises like bench presses, dips, curls and crunches.

These are easy exercises to include in your weight training program because they require very simple equipment—weights—that don’t require you to spend a lot of money to get in shape.

Sets & Reps

The number of sets you complete as well as the number of repetitions that make up a set will be determined by the goal of your weight training program. The number of repetitions you perform in each set will be determined by your goal; increase muscle size, greater endurance or improved strength.

Use this chart to help you determine how many repetitions you should perform in each set of your weight training program;

The number of sets you perform during your weight training program will always begin at the low end, increasing as your program advances. During the first week of your weight training program you will start with the smallest number of sets. This will allow you to reach your goals without overexerting your muscles and injuring yourself.

Starting Weight

One of the most difficult aspects of creating your own weight training program is knowing how much weight to start your program. The simplest answer is that you need to use more resistance (i.e. weight) than your muscles are used to. Furthermore you will have to continue to provide greater resistance as your muscles get used to the weight during each week of your weight training program.

{When you feel the burn on the last few reps…that’s enough weight!}

Your starting weight should allow you to finish the predetermined amount of reps, but only those reps. Your form should not lapse by the last rep, but you should feel some difficulty completing the very last rep.

If you can continue easily beyond your last repetition, chances are good that the starting weight for your weight training program is too low.

Progression

Progression is the weakness of just about every dieter on the planet. We all succumb to plateaus because what was once a hardcore, rigorous workout is now an easy weight training program that you complete with ease.

To avoid this demoralizing phenomenon requires progression, that is increasing the level of intensity within your weight training program so that you can continue to see results.

You can increase the intensity by adding more resistance (weights), completing more reps and sets or even by adding more challenging exercises to your weight training program. If free weights are becoming easier, consider cables or bodyweight exercises to give you the intensity you desire.

Cool down & Stretching

As important as your exercises are to an effective weight training program, so too is the cool down after each session. The cool down portion of your weight training program should include stretching to avoid any muscle stiffness.

When it comes to science, there are studies that say stretching and cool downs are effective, others indicate the opposite. One study in the Journal of Sports Medicine, indicate that stretching prior to a workout may help reduce injuries. However they all agree that a post-weight training program stretch or cool down routine poses no risk to your muscles. What does this mean, exactly?

Well it means that a proper cool down can help cool the temperature of your muscles and return your heart rate to normal after an especially intense workout, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Rest

Letting your body rest and repair is as important to your weight training program as the exercises you choose to perform and how much weight you start with. If you strip your body of rest days you are undoing all the hard work of your weight training program because it is during these rest days that your muscles grow and transform—the entire point of these exercises!

How do you give your muscles a rest?

For starters try to avoid working the same muscle groups 2 days in a row. This will give your muscles time to repair and become the muscles you’re training them to become. Your workouts are simply breaking down the muscles, while the rest & recovery period is allowing your muscles to expand.

Dedicate approximately 5 hours each week to your weight training program and spend the rest of the time creating a well-balanced diet and getting a proper night’s sleep.

Read our Eat Stop Eat review to see how intermittent fasting can help you eat so your weight training program is as successful as it can be!