The Best Workout Schedule

What’s the best workout schedule? What do we recommend?

Well… it depends (ugh, it always depends, doesn’t it?!).

But it’s true. We need more context about individuals, their schedules, their lives, their values, their strengths and weaknesses. We need to know a lot before we make the appropriate prescription.

And the other thing? Our seasons of life change. The constant ebb and flow of our lives can make settling down into a “perfect routine” a pursuit that you’ll never attain. We must be able to recognize what season we’re in, check in with ourselves mentally and physically, and see what we are actually able to achieve.

“That’s lame. Just tell me the schedule.”

….no.

It’s important to understand these things and how they relate to you before blindly following a schedule. It’s REALLY important if you ever find yourself feeling frustrated or annoyed with yourself that you aren’t achieving consistent fitness.

Let’s dive into it.

I want to give you 3 different schedules, and lots of context around them. I really like to use the term “Good – Better – Best” when it comes to goal setting, but I do NOT like using those terms when it comes to workout schedules. Depending on your season of life, these schedules should be considered “Best – Best – Best.”

Whoa there, Coach. It looks like option 1, which is usually the most attainable and achievable option, is already at 3-4 workouts per week. 3-4 workouts per week can seem pretty tough!

Yes, and no.

Getting to the gym and doing a demanding strength workout can be tough due to schedule, travel, yada yada… but you can do 3-4 workouts a week.

A workout does NOT mean you have to go to the gym, lift all the weights, and end up in a pool of sweat.

A workout can be a long walk on your lunch break.

A workout can be a weighted walk, or ruck (my personal favorite these days).

A workout can be an EMOM x 10 Minutes of 5 push ups + 5 air squats.

You can break up these 3-4 workouts per week between gym time and outside of the gym time. It doesn’t all *have* to be in the gym!

This option is great for the following people:

If you feel like one of those someones, here’s what I would suggest:

For option 1, don’t get too caught up in trying to time perfect rest days. Since you’ll have 3-4 days off from workouts each week anyway, you don’t need to stress the timing of this. This option will help you tremendously in your effort to rebuild, and then sustain consistency.

If you didn’t read the spiel about what a workout is from option 1, scroll back up and read that before moving on.

Option 2, 4-5 workouts per week, is what I truly think of as the sweet spot of fitness and activity for most people (most… not all). 

This option is great for the following people:

If you nodded your head to the above and are one of these someones, here’s what I would suggest:

Now, since you’re someone who enjoys optimizing a bit, let’s take a look at what days of the week we could be working out. There’s ZERO reason to think you have to workout on a Monday, for the record. Just like calories don’t care if it’s after 8PM, your body doesn’t care what day of the week it works out.

One sample schedule could be:

ANOTHA ONE:

What’s important about deciding what your schedule is is your ability to be consistent.

I’m currently living in Option 2 right now, and my “workout week” actually starts on Saturday. I can always get my workouts in on the weekend, when sometimes the work week is too tough for me. Here’s what mine looks like:

Now… if you’re thinking, “4-5 workouts is great, but I’d like more” then here’s your option.

Whew. This is a lot, but it is still doable and achievable. Unlike what a lot of people want us to believe, you can absolutely workout 6+ days a week safely if…

If you checked yes to all of those (yes, even the last one), then you can get curious about more workouts. If you are even missing just one of these (YES, even the last one), then you’ll find more benefit to your health and wellness by getting these squared away before we think about adding extra workouts.

For the 6+ workouts a week person, we can look at this in 2 ways: workout days, or workout sessions (meaning you’ll do 2 workouts some days).

6 workouts in a week is fairly simple. Pick 6 days that you’d like to workout, and bam, workout. I would recommend avoiding 6 days of weightlifting, as your joints and muscles will have a hard time recovering from this. A schedule for you could look something like this:

But if you’re really feeling froggy, I recommend looking at sessions vs days. Now, this is going to be for someone who has a very flexible schedule and is able to put in this kind of volume. You’ll be looking at AM + PM sessions. In the example below, you can also flip these if you prefer strength work in the evening.

Whoa. That’s 10 workouts in a week. You could do this, but again, only if the checklist at the start of option 3 is 100% adherent. It should also be acknowledged that you can very easily (and very quickly) get to a point where more is not better… it’s just more, and making you worse. Signs of this would include inability to recovery, nagging aches and pains, crankiness/irritability, under performing in other areas of your life. At that point, the extra fitness is NOT worth it. It’s actually making you less fit!

So there are your options. This is not a “good – better – best” model. This is a “best – best – best” depending on what season of life you’re in, and what’s actually achievable and feasible for you. For most people who I sit down with in a strategy session and talk about this, they’ll say “I think Option 2 is great for me” to which I reply, “Awesome! Let’s do Option 1 for a month and see how it goes.”

With long term fitness and wellness, it’s better to lower the expectations and keep the consistency than to stretch yourself thin.

Let’s find the option that works for you, and stay consistent with it. If you need help figuring that out, send me an email at [email protected] and let’s get the conversation started.

See you at the gym,