Except for those spur-of-the-moment fun adventures, everything else in life needs careful planning. This is especially true with achieving your dream physique and fitness level.

No matter how often you hit the gym or how long you stay there each time, without a workout plan, it’s not unlikely that you will only end up frustrated. The amount of time you spend at the gym will yield no satisfactory results. A workout routine without an effective workout plan will give you limited benefits.

Either you consult a fitness trainer or you prefer doing it on your own, creating a workout plan basically involves a common procedure. The following is an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide in coming up with an effective workout plan.

Step #1: Outlining Your Objective

Do you intend to lose weight? Or gain weight, perhaps? Do you want to have a lean figure? Or do you want to have huge muscles? Deciding on what your objective is gives your workout routine a cohesive approach to deliver what you are intending to have in the end.

You can have one or more objectives. This is basically a statement which tells you what your workout plan is focused on. Some examples are:

• To improve my strength and endurance
• To increase my weight and muscle mass

Step #2: Coming Up with Goals

Goals, by and large, are more specific than objectives. It may be based on your objectives, but precise detailing is added into the picture. There are two types of goals: short-term and long-term goals. Let us begin with short-term goals.

Usually, a short-term goal is based on a span of a week or month. This is a specific intention which you want to have achieved by the end of the time given for it. For example:

• To lose 1 lb at the end of the week
• To gain 4 lbs of muscle mass at the end of the month

On the other hand, you need to provide longer time periods for your long-term goals. You may also have your long-term goals based on your short-term goals, provided that you will be able to meet each short–term goal. Examples of long-term goals are:

• To bench press 300 lbs at the end of the year
• To lose 20 lbs of excess weight by next year

Step #3: Picking Routines

Depending on each body part you want to work out, you might want to consult a fitness trainer or do some researching on which routines are best. And don’t forget how each one is performed the right way, to avoid injuries and to achieve results.

Workout routines are usually scattered throughout the week, with each session focusing on a few body parts. As a general rule, one should allow muscles to rest for 24-42 hours in between work out. This means, for example, you did bicep curls yesterday, you should not repeat it today to let your biceps recover.

Your muscles, in time, will get used to a particular set of routines. You don’t want this to happen as you muscles will no longer benefit from it. To solve this, you might want to change your routines occasionally. You may increase the reps per set. You may do fewer reps per set but with heavier weights. Or you may altogether incorporate newer routines to challenge your muscles.

Step #4: Creating a Schedule

When doing your schedule, you should consider your lifestyle or career, as your working out is likely to be inserted during before or after office hours, or during weekends or holidays. You need not hit the gym daily; 3 times a week is good enough. And you need to maximize your session each time, so you might want to target 2-3 muscle groups each time. A sample schedule would be:

• Monday – Arms, legs and abs
• Tuesday – Rest
• Wednesday – Chest, back and abs
• Thursday – Rest
• Friday – Arms, legs and abs
• Saturday – Chest and back
• Sunday – Rest

It doesn’t necessarily mean you should do nothing on rest days. You can perform some light exercises, such as walking, biking, yoga and the likes – but no weight lifting. Again, you need to have your muscles rested to recover. Also, you might want to change your schedule every month to challenge your body, and increase your strength and endurance.