How can I create a good training plan?
Do you want to achieve your sporting goals? Change your appearance? Don't just train somehow? Then you need a plan! I will show you in a few steps how you can create a good training plan for yourself and what you should pay attention to.
Creating a good training plan: your goal
A training plan should help you achieve your goal. But before you can set off, you must first clarify where your journey should go. Do you want to lose weight, build muscle, just get a little fitter?
Only when you have formulated your wish or goal for yourself can you pursue it with your training plan:
- I want to lose a certain number of pounds.
- I want to fit in my pants from last year again.
- I want to climb stairs again without being out of breath.
- I want to be more muscle and in better shape.
At the beginning, set yourself a specific goal!
Short digression: motivation
It is sometimes difficult to follow your chosen path to the goal. Some goals just seem too big and difficult to achieve. For example, if you want to lose 20 kilograms of weight, that is an almost invincible mountain at the beginning.
But 5 kilograms as an intermediate goal is quite achievable. Even a marathon runner started with shorter distances.
So set yourself smaller intermediate goals!
Analyze your starting position
You looked for a goal because you want to change. And you want to and will do it with bodybuilding. The first step is taken.
In a second step, take a look at your starting position. Try to understand your current physical condition. And that without false shame: Be honest with yourself and don't be afraid to openly admit the points that bother you. You are not there yet, but you will tackle these points now! First questions you should ask yourself now:
- Do you have any health restrictions? If you are not sure, consult a doctor. He can tell you whether you can / should do all the exercises.
- What is your current weight really?
- How efficient is your body really?
- Do you already have experience with exercise and fitness in a gym? (You are new to the gym and need tips? Read my article "Fitness studio: the most important tips for beginners!„)
Is your goal realistic? Can you achieve it Don't get demotivated. Feel free to set yourself an ambitious but realistic goal. If you are seriously overweight, it is not very likely that you will reach model size in a short period of time. Or build lots of muscle very quickly if you've always been very thin. After all, you won't run a marathon right away if you just start jogging. But you can change. So don't demotivate yourself, pursue realistic goals!
Create a good training plan: full-body or split training?
If you have ever dealt with creating a training plan for building muscle, you have probably heard the terms "full-body training" and "split training". Have you never heard of these terms or have no idea what they mean? No problem: Full-body training and split training denote two different concepts for classifying exercises in the gym:
- At a Full body workout you train, as the name suggests, your whole body in one training session.
- At a Splittraining divide the muscle groups into different (at least 2) training sessions. In a session, you only train one part of your body, while the other part pauses and recovers.
Create your own training plan
The most successful training plan is the one you do long-term in everyday life can implement. The basic principles are always the same: Exercise regularly, work hard in the gym, pay a little attention to your diet (Read more about how protein can help you: "Protein - the stuff your muscles are made of!„). There is no general statement as to which training plan you should train with. Nevertheless, I would like to recommend the following:
Full body workout
- 1 - 2 times a week
- few exercises per muscle
- little variety
- rather for beginners
If you are a beginner, have not done any sport before and have no experience in sport with dumbbells and weights, I would advise you to do a full body workout. Even if you have little time and are not physically resilient (which will often be the case at the beginning) you should start with this training plan. Get advice from a trainer from your gym and let them show you exercises.
Certainly every major muscle in the body should actually be trained in a full body workout. So there should be exercises for the chest, back, legs, arms and stomach.
If you manage to go to the gym regularly twice a week, you may be able to switch to a 2-day split plan. The advantage of full-body training is that if you train 2 days a week you will learn the exercises faster because you do them more often. If you are already physically resilient, you can, however, stimulate your muscles more strongly with a 2 split. Because by doing a larger number of exercises per muscle group, you can increase the load on the trained muscles.
Former IFBB professional bodybuilder Markus Rühl explains why it is better to start with full-body training as a beginner.
Splittraining
- 2 - 6 times a week
- lots of different exercises per muscle
- Variety through division
- rather for advanced users
Split training is basically suitable for everyone who trains. In my opinion, however, it only makes sense if you train regularly at least 2 times a week. Because the main advantage of split training is to do a larger number of exercises per muscle group and thus increase the load.
I claim you won't meet an advanced gymnast in the gym who doesn't work out on a split plan. A split plan offers the possibility to tailor the training exactly to your individual needs.
Remember: the muscle only grows in the break between two training sessions! If you are at a performance level that allows you to train intensively twice or more per week, your muscles need sufficient breaks for their growth. You can offer this to him through a clever split.
Former IFBB professional bodybuilder Markus Rühl explains when it makes sense to switch to split training and presents a few example plans.
Excursus: endurance training
It is important to be persistent. It not only helps you in sports, but above all in everyday life. It is not strictly necessary to do cardio if you have good stamina. However, if you want to improve your endurance, I recommend that you train strength first and then endurance. So you can stimulate your muscles to strengthen them and achieve a sportier look. Your carbohydrate stores are empty after strength training and endurance training at the end can both improve your endurance and also tend to attack your fat deposits more.
Conclusion
Creating a good training plan is no magic. You will be successful in the gym and achieve your goals if you don't do anything with dumbbells but work out according to your plan. It does not matter whether you do a full body training as a beginner or a split training as an advanced:
Create a plan that you can implement in everyday life in the long term and that will be successful. You know who you're doing it for: for you!
Weitere Pläne findest du bald in der Kategorie „Training -> Pläne“ Beispiele für Split- und Ganzkörpertraining geben.
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