5 STEPS TO CHOOSING THE CORRECT EXERCISE PROGRAM

I know from first-hand experience, people who are looking to make serious progress in the gym often search long and hard to find the perfect program to help them achieve their goals.  The problem is, more often than not, these programs are not what’s best for that individual. There are a few things to consider when choosing a program for yourself.  Let’s review some of them now:

YOUR CURRENT GOALS

One of the biggest mistakes people make when deciding what exercise program to begin is not being clear about what your specific goals currently are.  Let me put it simply:  A single exercise program will not make you lose weight, gain strength, add muscle, run faster, jump higher, and build your biceps all at the same time.  Not everything can be accomplished at once.  It’s  important to decide what you want to accomplish most right now and find a program that will help you achieve those things first.  Depending on what your goals are, you may be able to accomplish a few things at one.  For example, if your main goal is weight loss but your secondary goals are to run a 5K and reduce your cholesterol levels, then yes you may be able to accomplish all of these things at once.  In order to accomplish multiple goals at once, the goals must be related to each other or complement each other.  Another example may be to increase your overall strength of lifts like squat and bench press.  Increasing strength in these two movements can definitely be done at the same time.  

Take some time to think about your goals and ask yourself, “What is most important to you right now?”  Then make a list.  Once a list is made, circle the most important goals for right now.  If you have 5 goals but only 2 of them are related to each other, you may need to run multiple different programs throughout the year to accomplish all of these things.  Find a program or hire a trainer to help design a customized program for your specific needs.  

YOUR CURRENT TRAINING LEVEL

Everyone needs to start somewhere and once you do start, now you are somewhere else.  We are all on our own journey, in this case our fitness journey.  If you are someone who has no idea about exercise, most likely you will begin to search for programs to perform online somewhere but be careful.  Oftentimes, the programs you find are developed by people, for people with a lot of experience performing those exercises.  If you are new to running, trying to perform a marathon right away probably isn’t a good idea.  The same concept can be applied to weight training.  There is a concept called progressive overloading, which simply means in order to get results, you must do more than you’ve done before.  However, if you’ve done nothing before, doing something will result in positive changes.  Everyone, no matter how experienced you are, should abide by the concept of “doing as little as possible, to get the most results possible”.  It leaves more room to progressively overload your training in the future, reduces chances of injury, and keeps your training appropriate for exactly where you are on your fitness journey.  If you’ve never weight trained before, performing 1-2 days per week with some total body compound movements might be a perfect start but this same program might be terrible for someone with years of experience.  Understand where you currently are with your fitness and choose the program that will give the best results for YOU.

TIME AVAILABILITY 

This is a big variable that often gets overlooked.  If a program is designed for three days a week and 60 minutes a day, but your schedule only allows you to perform one day of exercise and 20 minutes at a time, you are setting yourself up to fail.  When people do not see a path to achieve their goals, it can create self-doubt and discouragement, which translates into giving up.  Setting goals is great but setting realistic goals, keeping in mind the time you’re able to commit is crucial to your success.  Whether you are able to commit 1 hour or 5 hours doesn’t matter.  Make the time you can commit worthwhile.  Work hard, be realistic, and consistent and the results will come.  

HEALTH & INJURY HISTORY

Know your body, know your limits.  When training, always keep in the back of your mind that long term progress is much more important than short term results.  Knowing your injury and health history is an important factor when deciding what exercises to choose and what exercises to avoid.  A good trainer can help you do this and may be able to substitute certain movements that cause pain for something similar that allows pain free range of movement.  For example, maybe barbell bench press bothers your shoulders because of past injuries whereas using dumbbells or a multi grip bar where your hands can be neutral facing might be perfectly fine.  One more example might be squatting to a box at slightly above parallel because of limited range of motion capabilities rather than forcing yourself to get to a depth that causes discomfort.  

Everyone wants results now, but we can’t snap our fingers or flip a switch and become what we want to be overnight.  It takes time, dedication, and consistency.  To get to your results as quickly as possible, we cannot be hurt or injured.  Do not sacrifice tomorrow for today.  Our bodies need rest and recovery just as much as they need activity.  Be smart with your exercise selection not only with which exercises you choose for today but how those exercises interact with other exercises throughout the week.  For example, it is not the best idea to train deadlifts on Monday and then Squats on Tuesday.  You need to space exercises out appropriately throughout the week to give your body appropriate rest to recover.  

EQUIPMENT AVAILABILITY 

The equipment available to you will have a great impact on what you’re able to accomplish.  If you’re training in a home gym with very little equipment compared to a 10,000 square foot state of the art training facility, you will have very different equipment options to choose from.  If you find a great deadlift program but you workout at Planet Fitness, this program might not be for you.  Or if your goal is to be the next Mr. Olympia but you train in your garage with just a squat rack, you might need to reassess your goals.  Many people have accomplished great physiques with very different approaches to their training.  Choose a program that you are able to perform with the equipment available to you.

Understanding these 5 variables will give you a great start and allow you to choose an exercise program that best fits your needs.  After choosing a program that fits your individual wants and needs the next thing to do is to execute the plan!  The perfect plan doesn’t work unless you make it work.  Hard work, consistency, and dedication will pay off.  See the program through until the end, finish it.  Most of the time, the last few weeks of a program are the most difficult because you’ve been progressively building towards something each week.  Finishing what you started is also a great habit to get into.