Deciding on which workout to follow can be a very difficult and expensive task. For instance, switching trainers, taking online courses and what not! Why not learn this skill in spite of going through the hassle? Read the blog to get the freedom to design your own workout and save yourself time, money and effort!
After learning this you will have a new skill and you won’t need anyone’s help to make you a workout anymore!
So, let’s get started!
- How to design your own workouts
- Chest Workout
- Back Workout
- Shoulders Workout
- Arms workout- Biceps and triceps
- Legs workout
- Summary
- FAQs
How to design your own workout?
To make your own workout for weight loss or weight gain or muscle gain you need to know these important things:-
- Combine exercises so that every part of the muscle is hit
First start your workout with some compound movements like squats, bench press or military press. Then you should do at least one exercise for each part of that muscle.
For example, incline chest presses for your upper chest, front raises for your front delts. - Training frequency
You should train each body part per day and you should not train the rest two days with weights. That means five days of weight training. The remaining two days should be either rest days or ab and cardio days in a week. - Sets and repetitions
Well, that depends on the exercise you are doing but you need to do 3 to 4 sets of each exercise and you need to do 5 to 6 exercises.
Whereas reps could range from 6 to 12, again varying from exercise to exercise. 6 to 12 rep range is the best rep range to build muscle mass and size, going higher than this won’t be as fruitful. - Ideal weight
The amount of weight you can lift should be determined by only you and no-one else. One thing you must know and never forget is that you don’t become a hero if you are lifting the most weight.
You’re a hero when you lift the weight according to your strength and carry out each repetition, each set with the best form so that all the concentration is on your muscle and not on your ligaments and joints. - Specific days for different body parts
We know that some muscles are push muscles and some pull muscles and each muscle takes almost 48 hours to recover.
That means if you trained a push muscle on Monday then you should train your next push muscle on Wednesday. For example, chest on Monday and shoulders on Wednesday.
For example, your week should look like:
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| Chest | Back | Shoulder & traps | Abs &cardio | Arms | Legs | Rest |
What should be the exercises according to each muscle group?
Well, the answer to this question is going to be longer than the previous ones!
Each exercise should be started with one warmup set to really pump up your muscles, you should do 15 reps of this set. Afterwards do 2 to 3 working sets.
Moreover, you should start your working set with the lightest weight and the highest reps (12 reps maximum).
Now, let’s look at the exercises that should be combined to form your workout body part wise.
Workout for chest
Your workout should start with a compound exercise because it hits all the parts of your muscle.
Flat bench is the best compound movement you can start your workout with for instance. Your chest has three parts: upper chest, middle chest and lower chest specifically.
So, you need to do at least one exercise each for every part.
As a beginner, you should strengthen your benches first because they help you build a strong structure and a good amount of muscle mass!
You could start your benches either with dumbbells or barbells. But I’d recommend doing them alternatively, one chest session with dumbbells and the other with a barbell.
Both the barbell and the dumbbells work the same way.
Apart from the classic flat bench press, you should also master the incline bench press and the decline bench press.
Now you’ve done the strengthening of your fibres next is to get some conditioning and size. You need to include some exercises that would help you build some hypertrophy.
After your benches, you should do one exercise each for the upper, lower and middle chest.
For your lower chest cable crossover and dips. Further pullover and incline dumbbell flys for upper chest, flat dumbbell flys and pec deck flys for your middle chest.
Workout for back
You should start your back workout in the same way as you start your chest workout, with a compound movement!
The best compound movements for your back are lat-pulldowns with wide grip and deadlifts. Lat pulldowns help hit all the parts of your upper back!
Wider grips focus more on your rhomboids and teres major, however, Closer grips focus more on your lats.
The wide grip exercises, for example, are wide grip lat pulldowns, seated rowing with a wide grip and bent-over rowing.
And the narrow grip exercises include close grip lat pulldowns, close-grip seated rowing, one arms rowing, t-bar rowing and close-grip pull-ups.
Hyperextension and deadlifts help build your lower back and build that V-shaped physique.
All these exercises do not specifically hit only one part of your back, they hit all the parts but their focus is more on some parts.
Workout for shoulders
Two great compound movements for your shoulders are dumbbell shoulder press and the military press.
Before you start working out you should warm-up your shoulder and scapula first because shoulders are very prone to injuries.
Shoulder injuries are pretty bad consequently, they stay for a long time and they won’t let you work out for months!
Shoulders are very crucial to get that V-shaped superman like physique! That’s why you need to work on them really smartly.
The most underrated part of your shoulders is your rear delt and it makes the separation, the cut from your back till your middle delt. They are very important to get those round and big shoulders.
Rear delt is also the weakest part of your shoulder and most people don’t even train them properly.
For example, some exercises for your rear delt are face pulls, upright rows and reverse pec deck fly.
Lateral raises, upright rows and dumbbell shoulder presses are some of the exercises for your middle delt. Similarly, the exercises for your front delt are front raises and the Arnold presses.
Training the undertrained
So, now you’ve done four exercises and you’re left with one exercise. That one exercise should be of the delt which is the most underdeveloped and the weakest.
Why only 5 exercises and not 6? Don’t forget we have to train our traps too!
Traps are a big muscle but they are easy to hit and they’re involved in various exercises and day to day activities as well! For example, your traps are trained when you do your deadlifts.
So, you need not pay so much attention to working out your traps and dedicating a separate day to them. Just doing one exercise after your shoulder workout would be enough.
So the most effective exercise to hit your traps is dumbbell shrugs. You should do 4 sets of this exercise.
Workout for arms- biceps and triceps
This is going to be your first workout combining two muscle groups. There are two ways to train your biceps and triceps, finishing your biceps first and then doing your triceps or you could train them alternatively which is also called a superset.
Superset workout for biceps and triceps: training your arms in superset means you do one set of biceps and then your triceps without taking any rest.
Supersets are very intense as they require thrice energy and intensity. So if you are someone who is just starting out you should not train with supersets.
You should train your biceps first and then your triceps instead.
You need to pick 3 exercises each for both biceps and triceps. Most importantly, always remember to make sure that you do not go overboard with your workouts which could result in overtraining.
Workout for biceps
Your bicep is a small muscle and whatever exercises you do all three parts of your biceps get hit, the long head, the short head and the brachialis.
But still, some exercises have more effect on the long head while some have on the short head and you can design your workout in a way to isolate all three parts.
A great way to start your bicep workout is by doing barbell curls. Barbell curls hit every muscle and help in getting them ready to pump some iron!
Alternatively, you could also do bicep curls with rope or dumbbells.
Next, you could do some hammer curls (either dumbbell or rope), z bar curls and incline bench curls to hit the long head.
To get those peaky biceps you need to train your brachialis. The brachialis is a short muscle that joins your biceps to your elbow and helps flex your biceps.
The best exercises to train your brachialis are preacher curls and reverse grip curls. They are the same as bicep curls on the cable machine but with a reverse grip instead, the same grip that you have while doing pulley pushdowns.
Concentration curl is also a very good exercise to train the short head of your bicep. In fact, it is the most effective exercise for your short head.
Workout for triceps
The best compound movement to start your triceps with is the close grip bench press. It hits all the three heads of your triceps, the lateral head, the medial head and the long head.
After doing your bench press you should train your lateral head. Exercises for your lateral head include pulley pushdowns with bar and rope and tricep kickbacks.
Since your long head is the biggest part of your tricep there are more exercises than the other two heads.
Overhead extension with rope, double hand dumbbell extension, single hand extension and skull crushers are the best exercises for your long head.
Finally, the best exercise for your shortest part, the medial head is bench dips.
Workout for legs
So by now, you know the drill! We start our workout with a compound movement that hits all the parts of your legs.
The exercise that has the best impact on your legs is back squats above all. Various researches and professional bodybuilders say the most growth of your legs is done by back squats.
Squats are the No.1 move for your legs.
Legs are a big muscle and hence they need a very intense workout. Also, you need to be getting the right nutrition to train intensely!
You’ve done your squats, now let’s move on to isolating our quadriceps. You can isolate your quadriceps by doing leg presses, lunges, leg extension and sumo squats.
The best quadricep exercise is the leg press. It is the only exercise through which you can lift such a heavyweight and get the maximum amount of resistance.
Both squats and leg presses strengthen your back and improve your posture.
Meanwhile, the next part that we are going to train is our hamstrings. Stiff leg deadlifts are the best exercise for your hamstrings.
You can do them by putting the bar on the stand and just isolating your hamstrings. One other exercise that is less intense than the stiff leg deadlift is leg curl.
Finishing off legs by training glutes and calves
Glutes are the underrated part of your legs and the majority of people don’t train them. Although our glutes get trained when we do squats, leg presses and stiff leg deadlifts.
But most people have weak glutes and they need to be trained the proper way!
Remember detail is everything. It is important to train each and every muscle properly even though that muscle is small or not so often trained to get the best physique.
The hip thrust is the most effective exercise to hit your glutes.
We’ve trained our upper legs and now we should train our calves which are very hard to build. Getting big calves is not that easy! That’s why don’t skip your calf exercise.
You could do calf raises on the smith machine and seated calf raises with dumbbells to isolate your calves.
Legs are easy to build because it is easy to build a mind-muscle connection with your legs but legs are pretty intense to train as they are very big muscles.
Wait, but you did not tell us about weight loss and weight gain workout. Whether you lose or gain weight depends on your nutrition and how many calories you consume.
Even if you train the same but reduce your calorie consumption you will lose weight and if you increase your calories consumption you will gain weight. So, if you want to lose or gain weight you can check out my diet plan building guide.
Summary
Just looking for a workout and following it is easy but if you really want to get a good looking healthy body you need to have the right knowledge. Remember knowledge is key! You must know about the process of designing your own workout as it will help in the long run.
Keeping a journal of your workouts is a must. If you need to build your dream physique you need to be consistent with your workouts and by keeping a journal you can see your consistency and it will give you a sense of motivation for your workouts.
FAQs
Yes, you can workout twice a day but you shouldn’t train with weights both the time. In the morning you can train abs with 20-30 minutes cardio and in the evening with regular weight training.
Remember you shouldn’t overtrain by doing weight training both the times.
Yes, when you workout your testosterone and HGH increase. Compound movements give a major boost to your testosterone.
Squats, benches and deadlifts are considered to be natural testosterone boosters.
Your workout can affect your height but in a positive way. If you start working out by the age of 15-16 your height may increase.
Studies have shown that weight training Strengthens your bones which results in a better growth of your height.
It is a myth that going to the gym will stop your height growth.
Working out regularly and leading a fit lifestyle have so many benefits!
1. It reduces risk of various diseases.
2. Reduces stress and makes you happier.
3. Increases your energy levels.
4. Glowing and healthy skin.
5. Confidence boost
These were some of the reasons of why workouts are important.
