Coach Sophie

October 11th, 2023

There are SO many, even too many, workout programs available nowadays and it can be really hard to know which program is the right fit for you and your goals. Look no further if you are someone looking to build an initial resistance-based training program based on the time you have available. Note that I do recommend having access to dumbbells and/or a full gym for the following programs.

1. You’ll want to workout resistance training a MINIMUM of 2 days per week. I like recommending my own clients stay within 2-5 days of intentional resistance training workouts in addition to a daily step goal. If you are someone with a sedentary lifestyle, try upping your daily steps (I do recommend even an inexpensive pedometer for this if you don’t have one of the fancier watches) by 1-2k per day. If you’re already hitting between 8-12k steps a day, stay where you are for steps, that’s a great place to be!
   
2. Now let’s get into the nitty gritty, how should you design your own workout split? As a rule of thumb, I like aiming for 10-20 sets per muscle group per week. So, say you have a 3 day training split, you’d want to make sure you have 4 sets of legs on one day, 3 sets another day, and 3 sets the third day. You could also do 4 sets of legs each of the 3 days and still be under that 20 set upper limit – there isn’t much benefit to going higher than 18/20ish though!
   
3. Specific splits:

2 day: I’d recommend an upper and lower OR 2 full body days
3 day: I’d recommend an upper, a lower, and 1 full body
4 day: 2 upper, 2 lower – you can get more specific here because you have more days – 1 day back and biceps, 1 day chest, shoulders, and triceps, 1 day hamstrings and glutes, 1 day quads and calves
5 day: lots of options here! I’d recommend doing the 4 day split and making your 5th day either a specific muscle group you are wanting to target (for instance, you might want to grow your glutes) or maybe you want to work on your pull-up strength so you add in another back day! The other option is a full body day!
6-7 day: I’d recommend MINIMUM 1 full rest day per week, if not 2 so a 7 day split is less than ideal. If you opt in for a 6th day, make it something outside of lifting – maybe some cardio, a HIIT class, some yoga or pilates, switch it up!

4. Picking your exercises! Below is a list of exercises for you to pick from to make your very own initial workout split! Remember to always add in a warm-up even if it’s just 5 mins of dynamic stretching or bodyweight exercises to prime your muscles for lifting! Remember, to create your split, you are looking at how many days you have to workout and aiming to get 10-20 sets per muscle group per week in those days you workout. The key muscle groups to hit: glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves, biceps, triceps, chest, back, shoulders, and core.

Lower Body:

Squats (options: front, pistol, sumo, back, pause, goblet, suitcase, split, box) – full legs
Lunges (options: reverse, forward, walking, lateral) – full legs
Romanian deadlift – glute focus
Leg extension (gym only) – quad focus
Hamstring curl (options: machine, swiss ball, dumbbell) – hamstring focus
Hip thrust/glute bridge – glute focus
Leg press/hack squat (gym only) – full legs
Stiff-legged or B-stance deadlift – hamstring focus
Heel elevated squat – quad focus
Bulgarian split squat – quad focus/glute focus depending on position
Step-up – full legs
Wall sit – quad focus
Banded leg exercises – typically glute focus
Calf raises – calf focus

Upper Body:

Overhead press – shoulders
Push-ups (options: from knees, from toes, incline, decline, banded, wide, narrow)- chest + tricep focus
Pull-ups (assisted or unassisted) – back + biceps
Bent-over row – back
Chest press (incline, flat, decline) – chest + triceps
Tricep extension/pushdown – triceps
Lateral/front raises – shoulders
Push-press – shoulders
Dips (options: bench or bars) – triceps
Lat pull down (narrow, regular, wide, reverse grip) – back
Cable row (narrow, wide) – back
Y raise – shoulders
Chest fly (options: machine, dumbbell, incline, flat) – chest
Bicep curls (cable, dumbbells, hammer, regular, eccentric, 21s) – biceps
Tricep kickbacks – triceps
Bent-over lateral raise – back + shoulders
Face pull – back + shoulders

And what is great about all of these exercises is that they are all great to build on! You don’t need to do them all but rather work on getting stronger in the lifts that you most enjoy and adding in variety if it doesn’t cause any injury/pain!

5. But what about my core???

You are MORE than welcome to add in some days with dedicated core workouts, this is actually a great idea to sprinkle into your routine. BUT, I encourage you to think of how you can use your core activation in ALL of the above lifts; you’d be surprised how much core engagement corrects form on so many lifts! If working out at a gym, it could be worth checking with a trainer to see if your form is on point with these exercises too!

Hopefully this helps! I like to follow a specific split for about 3 months at a time before changing up my accessory exercises, tempos, sets/reps, etc.