Consistency is so important when exercising and if you don’t have a clear workout plan to follow, it’s much harder to reach your fitness goals. So many people struggle to keep up with a routine because they just do random workouts here and there, so they don’t see any measurable improvement, and they lose motivation. However, if you can build a focused workout plan that targets specific goals, you will find it a lot easier to stick to and get the results that you want.

Unfortunately, many people don’t have a clue where to start when building a workout plan, which is why they lack consistency. The good news is, you don’t have to be a personal trainer to create your own fitness regime. Just follow these simple steps and you can build your own workout schedule in no time. 

Think About Your Goals 

Before you do anything else, you need to decide what your goals are. Are you looking to lose weight or do you want to tone up? Maybe you want to build muscle or you are training for a specific event, like a race? Different goals require different exercises, so you must know what you are trying to achieve before you start planning your routine. 

Make Short Term Plans 

The biggest mistake that people make is trying to create a workout plan for the next 6 months. The problem is, you don’t know how much progress you will make over the next few weeks or months and you don’t know what state your body will be in. When creating workouts, it’s important that you listen to your body and adapt accordingly. For example, if your shoulder is feeling particularly tight and painful, you don’t want to do a full shoulder workout just because you put it on your schedule when you created it months earlier. In many cases, it’s best to plan workouts on a weekly basis, so you can adjust them based on your recent performance and any problem areas that you might have. 

Decide On Rest Days 

You might decide that you’re going to work out every single day so you can meet your fitness goals quicker. However, that’s not going to work because you will be completely burned out after the first week or two and you might even injure yourself. Rest days are so important because your body needs time to recover between workouts. If you don’t give yourself that recovery time, you won’t be able to push yourself as hard during your next workout. Although everybody is different and you may need more or fewer rest days than other people, 5 days on, 2 days off is a good starting point. When deciding on your rest days, pick the busiest days when you are not likely to be able to get a workout in. 

Pick Your Exercises 

Now it’s time to pick the exercises you will do each day, and you may need to experiment for a few weeks before finding the right plan. The most important thing is to choose exercises that you enjoy doing. If you are going to keep it up, you need to find your passion for fitness and make it enjoyable. You will soon start skipping workouts if you pick exercises that you hate. 

Think about which areas of the body you want to work on the most, but make sure that you keep it varied and work all areas. Don’t neglect cardio exercises either and make sure that there is a good balance. 

Don’t Neglect Your Diet

A workout plan needs to be accompanied by a good diet plan or you will undo all of your hard work. Finding the right diet plan can be tough because there are so many different opinions about the best way to eat. However, keeping it simple is usually best. Take Joe Rogan’s diet plan, for example. He has done so much research into different diets and the plan that he has landed is focused around lean, healthy meats and plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables while staying away from simple carbs. It’s as easy as that, so don’t get caught up with diet fads because most of them are ineffective. Start planning your meals when you plan your workouts and you will find it a lot easier to stick to a healthy eating plan. 

Track Your Progress

Tracking your progress is vital if you want to meet your fitness goals. Weighing yourself is one way to track progress but you should also count reps or compare distances when running and cycling. Being able to see how you have improved week to week will give you the motivation you need to carry on. It also shows you where you are falling behind so you can adjust your workout plan as you need to. 

Follow these steps and you can create a consistent workout plan that helps you reach your fitness goals.