A WEEKLY WORKOUT SCHEDULE
THAT WORKS FOR YOU

Unless you are a professional athlete or training for a competition or event, I would encourage you to be flexible with your training. Your training should be enjoyable and should work with your lifestyle. More importantly, your training should be manageable so it’s maintainable in the long term. It absolutely should not make you feel stressed, pressured or guilty.

Personally, I do not create a strict schedule of what to do on which day, because as much as I try to keep my timetable the same each week, my job usually doesn’t allow this. More importantly, my mental health and energy levels demand flexibility - some days I don’t want to shoot my heart-rate through the roof or lift really heavy things. Some days just getting out of bed is an achievement. And that’s okay, I don’t believe that exercise should be forced or obliged.

Instead, I set a target of total sessions for the week. An average week for me would usually comprise of two weights sessions, two conditioning sessions, three yoga classes and four metcon workouts, and I take each day as it comes. This target should be a minimum target that is achievable almost every week. Usually I have a general plan of how I’d like the sessions to fall - and I know which days are less busy and can therefore fit longer sessions - but more often than not, plans fail. So each day I consider everything that needs doing, and decide what fits best for that particular day.

Please remember that my targets are specific to me, and your weekly targets will probably be different. Not only have I been doing this for a long time but I also work in a gym, so it’s convenient. I do not need to fit my training around an office job or a new born baby. My restrictions and requirements are not your restrictions and requirements so try create targets that are achievable for you and your lifestyle.

Bearing your targets in mind, try to get through all your workouts as you go and as you feel, acknowledging when your body wants to work and when it needs to rest. On more energetic days, this may mean training twice; perhaps some weights in the morning and a yoga before bed? Harness that energy! On less energetic days, it could mean an impromtu rest or a slightly less intense or productive workout. But even a less productive workout is still a workout, and I almost guarantee you’ll feel better for it.

It’s good to remember that as the week goes by the list gets shorter and your options become more limited. So you can’t always just do the workouts you like, especially if you’re expecting results or working towards a goal. Nothing worth having ever came easy, so sometimes you have to accept that on a particular day you may need to fit in a particular workout. Sometimes, often times, you won’t feel like it - and that’s okay. You’re allowed to have an off day and you’re allowed to slip up. Please don’t beat yourself up when you do.
But sometimes, you have to pull your socks up and get on with it if you’re going to get to where you want to be. And if you regularly fall off the wagon then you have to accept that it will take you longer to get to where you want to be.
Quite simply, you will get out of it what you put into it.

At the end of the day consistency is key. Once you find the frequency that works for you then you can settle into an unregimented routine. Although the order of the routine may change, the weekly output should remain the same. And if that weekly output is maintained, then goals will achieved. Maybe that goal is a full press up or a 50kg deadlift? Maybe it’s a 5km PB? Or maybe it’s fitting into your favourite jeans without having to lie down to do them up? Either way, that goal is yours and you don’t have to justify it to anyone. So long as it’s for you and your happiness then nothing else matters. Just do the thing.