6 Key Elements for a Well-Structured Training Plan to Avoid Burnout and Achieve Success

Going to the gym without a training agenda is a bit like going to a grocery store without a shopping list – you’ll end up doing random exercises, just like you’d come home with a bunch of random products in your bag.

If you’re ready to start exercising regularly this upcoming year, then it’s time to roll up your sleeves and prepare a training plan. It will help you make the most of each minute you spend dedicated to improving your physical performance.

What are the benefits of using a training plan?

Creates consistency

Irrespective of whether it's a simple workout or a half-marathon training plan, it helps you stay consistent. If you only exercise from time to time or when you’re in the mood, you won’t achieve your fitness goals. If you have a training schedule all planned, it’s more difficult to find excuses for skipping the gym. And the more consistent you are, the better your performance will be.

Prevents under or overtraining

If you want to improve your muscle strength, you must ensure that you do enough exercise while avoiding overtraining. Having a training plan helps you do two things:

Plan out when you’ll work on each muscle group
Keep track of the weights you can lift and the number of reps you can do

Both of these will aid you in progressing faster.

You can track your progress

We’ve mentioned it briefly above, a well-structured fitness plan not only allows you to maintain a routine but also to track your progress. Without proper tracking, it will take you longer to reach your fitness goals. Bear in mind that it’s not only about how heavy you lift or how fast you run but also about noticing a strength plateau and understanding what causes it. Here is what you can record:

The number of training sessions per week
Types of exercise you do
Number of reps and sets performed
Weights you use for each set, etc.

You can hit all your fitness goals

When it comes to fitness, a lot of people have more than one goal in mind – it can be increasing strength and flexibility or boosting endurance. With a training plan, you can come up with a workout routine, i.e., pick the right type of exercise that enables you to hit all your goals.

Saves time while boosting flexibility

Not many of us have the privilege of having unlimited time at the gym. Usually, we spend anywhere between 1-2 hours working out. So, to make sure we use this time as efficiently as possible, we need a fitness plan. Otherwise, we might end up walking around the gym without purpose.

If you know you only have 60 minutes available, you can plan your workout accordingly. For example, spend 10 minutes warming up on a treadmill, 40 minutes on strength training, and leave yourself some time for stretching. It also can help you pick the best time to get to the gym, i.e., when there are fewer people, so you can finish your training within an hour.

Prevents burnout

If you work out but you can’t see any progress, you might lose motivation and get burnout – and that’s understandable. The same goes for lack of variety in your workouts – if you keep doing the same routine over and over again, you’ll get bored. With a fitness plan, you can plan your exercise for best results, avoid overtraining, and change your exercise routine every few weeks to keep it interesting.

Steps for building a comprehensive training plan

Ready to create your own workout regime? Here’s how to get started.

Do a physical fitness assessment

Before creating your training plan, you should get a good understanding of your overall physical condition. Specifically, you need to know which types of activities you’re pretty good at and where your weaknesses lie. This will help you avoid any strenuous activities that could discourage you or, in the worst-case scenario, even cause injury.

Most physical assessment test frameworks include the following:

Cardiovascular endurance evaluation. The goal here is to measure your resting heart rate and your max heart rate during an exercise, like a 5-minute run. You use both these numbers to calculate your ideal ‘cardio’ range. Here’s an example of a treadmill endurance test along the formula for calculating your ideal heart rate beat for cardio exercises.
Muscular strength. You do a few reps on a machine like a leg press or do a few squats. Too easy? Increase the weight or the number of reps gradually and measure where things are starting to get challenging. Write that number down.
Muscular endurance. This assessment checks how long you can endure in a static position. For example, how many seconds can you hold a plank?
Flexibility and mobility. You check your range of motion for each joint. Examples include shoulder flexion and lying hamstring tests.
Body composition. Here, you use an IoT device or smart scale to measure the percentage of muscle, fat, water, and bone mass.

Write down all of your findings. You’re going to use them as your point of reference as you work towards your fitness objectives.

Define achievable goals

Now that you know where you’re starting on Day One, it’s time to set measurable, attainable goals.

Say that, deep inside, you’re tempted to create a half-marathon training plan, but your fitness assessment test showed completing a 21 km run is way out of reach. How about thinking of a 10k training plan instead?

You’ll get to the finish line sooner (pun intended). Plus, achieving something that was previously a challenge feels amazing.

Decide on your training frequency

Don’t plan out a three-hour-long, high-intensity workout six times a week, as not only will you miss out on your social life; if you're a beginner, your body will not be able to recover without rest days. Generally, the more intense the activity you engage in, the harder it might be to stay on track in the long term. Your body needs to adapt to new movements and routines, and you must also have the time to notice any new sensations. Are you feeling anything other than typical muscle sores? Paying attention to what happens to your body on rest days will help you avoid any strains that could put your entire training plan on hold.

Limit the number of exercises and decide on the number of sets and reps

While variety is good, when it comes to strength training (which is a pillar for many training plans) it’s not about the number of different exercises per session. Rather, it’s about making sure that you move all muscle groups.

If you have separate ‘arm’ and ‘leg’ sessions, then each of those days will include exercises that engage the core and upper or lower muscle groups. If you do a full body workout every time, then you need to check each body part off your list.

Usually, anywhere between 4 to 6 different exercises will do the trick. Then, there’s the case of sets and reps. How many should you do? That’s a classic “it depends” question. You’ll have a completely different setup when you want to improve your general fitness levels than if you’re building hardcore muscle endurance. Still, for anyone working out for the overall health benefits 3 to 6 sets of 6 to 12 reps will be enough to see progress.

Create milestones and measure them

Remember how we suggested crafting a 10k training routine as a new runner rather than going straight for a marathon plan? Well, this demonstrates how important it is to celebrate small victories. Even if you don’t have an event like the London Marathon to work towards and you’re exercising simply to stay fit, you should still create milestones.

Why? Because progress, either in sports or in any other skill, isn’t usually a straight upward line.

At a certain point in your workout journey you might feel like you’ve plateaued, without any big breakthroughs. Yes, sometimes this can point to an issue with your workout plan and the need to re-work it. Other times though, it will just be a subjective feeling, when in reality you’re still on track with your goals.

If this ever happens, you’ll be able to look back at your most recent milestone and see how far you are from the next.

Adjust your plan

The final step is to keep refining your workout routine. Depending on the type of training, this could mean increasing weights, changing equipment, extending your run, or adding extra sets or reps. If you're unsure of how many extra kilograms or minutes to add to your training, then go for smaller, incremental changes.

For example, start doing a kettlebell swing with 8kg for the same number of sets and reps. If that feels easy, go for the 10kg bell, etc.

This stage would also be the time to introduce some variety if your existing routine has become pretty monotonous and you’d like to include some new movements. When making alterations, just always make sure you’re not accidentally omitting any muscle group. Also, before you start with weights, it might be a good idea to practise motions, to ensure the right technique and prevent injury.

Easy-to-follow beginner's exercises for strength, agility, and mobility

Time for some practice. Here are a few exercises for strength, agility, and mobility – all are beginner’s friendly. Just keep in mind that if you have any pre-existing health conditions, it’s best to consult with a health professional before starting a new fitness program.

Strength:

Bodyweight squats – stand with feet shoulder-width apart, keep your back straight, and make sure your knees are aligned with your toes. Lower your body by bending your knees and pushing your hips back, then return to the starting position.
Push-ups – begin with a plank position keeping your hands shoulder-width apart. Bend your elbows to lower your body all the while keeping it in a straight line. Make sure your elbows aren’t flaring out. Push back to the starting position.
Bodyweight lunges – put one foot forward, and lower your hips until both of your knees are at a 90-degree angle. Return to the starting position by pushing off the front foot. You can keep your hands on your hips. Repeat on the other leg.

Agility:

Ladder drills – you can either use an agility ladder or create a ladder pattern on the ground. Move your foot quickly in various patterns, like, high knees, and lateral shuffles throughout the ladder.
Cone drills – set up cones in a pattern. Sprint, shuffle, or backpedal around them. Make sure to change the configurations.
Jump rope – start with basic jumps, keep the rhythm steady, and increase the speed gradually.

Mobility

Hip flexor stretch – kneel with one knee and put the other foot in front of you to form a 90-degree angle. Push your hips forward to feel a stretch in the hip flexor. Then switch your legs and repeat.
Shoulder circles – while standing with feet shoulder-width apart, lift your arms making circular motions, first clockwise and then counterclockwise.
Cat-cow stretch – get down on your knees and hands, arch your spine back and upwards, bunching your abdominal muscles back and up towards your spine and extending through the palms and fingertips (just like cats do), then lower your belly, arch your spine towards the ground, and lift your head (like a cow).

Don’t go crazy on intensity! Start slow, and listen to your body. When your form gets better, you can intensify your workout.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Fabletics Europe (@fableticseu)

Start the year on the right foot with a training plan

Working out with a training plan has plenty of advantages. Among others, it gives you a clear schedule for each training session, helps build a new, healthy habit, and prevents burnout.

Creating it might seem complex at first, but once you get the knack of it, you'll know how to measure progress and how to set new, achievable goals.

Best of all, since strength training is fundamental for any type of sport, it’s arguably the best type of exercise you can engage in to improve your overall fitness levels. Hopefully, the steps we explained above will make crafting your first training plan a piece of cake.

You can start slow on a plant based diet

We’re at a point of setting New Year’s resolutions. And what’s a better start to 2024 than picking up a little challenge like Veganuary. Not only will you do something good for the world, but also a lot of good for yourself! Your skin and gut will thank you for it.

And if you’re worried that it’s a massive life change, then you can start small. Introduce a few vegan meals, and then, as you grow more accustomed to them, you can begin to eliminate meat and dairy. Also, believe us, there are so many meat and dairy alternatives you won’t even miss them – we’ve recently tried vegan chicken, and it was yummy!

Here is to a healthy New Year – let us know how your challenge goes.