The weekly fitness plan is perhaps the most overlooked component in a consistent training routine. One of my top priorities with a new client is to get a sense of what an average week of their life looks like. Only once I understand that can I identify when they should train, how often, and what they should do.
I’ve created a step-by-step video describing how you can create your weekly fitness plan. You can watch this by scrolling to the bottom of the page now, or click this link. Just be sure to come back and finish the article for more reasons you should create your own weekly workout plan.
Why Should You Write a Weekly Fitness Plan?
There are three main reasons why you should use your weekly plan to design your fitness routine. We’ll cover each one before we move on to the video guide.
1. Organisation
Any workout routine looks good on paper. Unfortunately, that doesn’t matter much if you can’t find time to do it. You could have the best workout plan in existence, but if it doesn’t fit your lifestyle and routine, then it is useless.
We’ve all had that feeling of starting a new week with a new plan. You’re full of motivation to train at least three times this week. Then, before you know it, it’s Thursday and you haven’t trained yet. Often this is because things cropped up; things that you forgot about, or failed to plan around.
Writing out a weekly plan is a good way of getting organised. You can use your weekly plan to make a note of anything that could possibly interfere with your workout schedule. Once you’ve identified these potential disruptions, you can start to plan around them.
Sometimes you can change your weekly plan to fit the workouts, and other times you have to change the workouts to fit the weekly schedule. The important thing is that by writing out your plan, you can avoid being caught off guard, meaning you can get your workouts done.
2. Accountability
One of the greatest appeals of having a personal trainer is that you have made an appointment with a professional. If you don’t show up, you waste your money and someone else’s time.
It’s difficult to completely replicate this if you’re going solo. Oddly enough, we tend to be much more serious about honouring our commitments to others than we are about commitments to ourselves. That being said, if you can overcome that hurdle and start taking your commitments to yourself seriously, then you can harness the power of appointments to improve accountability.
This isn’t the only way that acting like your own personal trainer can help you get great fitness results.
The most important thing is to put your plans in writing. As you’ll see in the video, this process isn’t about making a hypothetical weekly fitness plan. It’s about making a physical (or digital) plan. Put it in writing and your chances of following through will skyrocket.
Balance
Designing your weekly workout planner allows you to make time for non-fitness related events too. Seeing your week laid out in front of means you know when to push hard and when to rest. On the flip side, if your training is uncertain, sporadic, and disrupted, then it’s tempting to go hell-for-leather every time you set foot in the gym. I talked about this more in my article on training around a demanding job.
Guilt over the gym shouldn’t influence your ability to relax, but it’s much easier to rest when you know you’re on schedule with your action plans.
Step by Step Guide to Creating Your Weekly Fitness Plan
We’ve covered some of the important reasons to create a weekly plan for your workouts. Now it’s time to go through each step in the process and make your plan. You’ll see in the video that this process will also help you explore your reasons for training, and establish how your training matches with your values.
I hope you found this video useful! Organising your training routine is one of many tools I use to provide value that goes beyond the time we spend in the gym together. If you’d like to know more about my personal training in Liverpool Street, then get in touch below.