Exercise Programming: Where to Start

Most people recognize the value in exercise but don’t know where to begin. I firmly believe the best plan is the one. If you hate a certain exercise, can only make time to exercise 20 minutes a week, or have other life commitments that limit how frequently you can make it to the gym you should factor those things into your plan. The key to succsess is sustained, consistent effort over a long time.

Exercise Selection

There are seven main movement patterns to human movement. A good program will have at least most of these:

1) Vertical Pressing (pushing something above your head)

2) Horizontal Pressing (pushing something straight forward)

3) Rowing (pulling something close to your body)

4) Squatting (flexing and extending both legs and hips)

5) Hip hinging (pushing your hips back and forward with the legs straight)

6) Lunge (bending one knee and hip at a time)

7) Gait (walking)

Thats great, but what does any of that mean? Here is a basic 2 day a week template that you can use as a base for your workout plan. I have used a very similar ones for my own clients.

Day 1:

3x10 Dumbbell Goblet Squat

3x10 Dumbbell Seated Shoulder Press

3x10 each Dumbbell Single Arm Rows

3x10 Machine Hamstring Curls

3x30 sec Planks

3x10 Glute bridges

Day 2:

3x10 Barbell Romanian Deadlifts

3x10 Dumbbell Bench Press

3x10 Dumbbell Lateral Raises

3x10 Machine Lat Pulldowns

3x5 each Step Ups

3x30 feet Suitcase Carry

This is a very simple template for a general public, so this specific template may not work for you. However it is a good starting point where you can build from. You can learn the form for many of these techniques online via YouTube tutorials. I am not ashamed to admit I have learned huge amounts of my information from there.

Here is the million dollar question; how heavy should I go?

I believe when you are getting started it is important to start at a very light weight to get the form down. After that it gets more tricky. This is when the help of a trainer comes in. People have different exercise backgrounds, strengths, leverages and other variables that may make some lifts naturally more hard or easy.

What I recommend as you get started is getting familiar with the Rate of Perceived Exertion scale, or RPE. This scaled is a 1-10 scale used to estimate how hard an exercise was. A 1 RPE would be something extremely light to the point it is not stimulating the muscles enough. A 10 RPE would mean you cannot perform another repetition no matter how hard you try.

When you learn an exercise you want to be low on the scale, I estimate between 3-5 RPE. This will be just hard enough where you may begin to feel the muscles being worked. After you are confident in your form, that is when you can increase either the weight or repetitions. This should put you between a 6-8 RPE. Most of your sets should be done in this range, where it is moderately challenging but you feel like you can potentially perform 2-4 more repetitions with proper form.

If you feel as though a certain weight may be getting easy (example: 3x10 Squats with 20 lbs used to be RPE 8 and now its a 5) you can try increasing the challenge. You can either add weight to the exercise or more reps.

Ok I know how much weight to start with, but how many times should I do it?

The simple formula I have used for myself and my clients is to start at a certain weight and over time try to increase the amount of repetitions. I find this to be a simple yet effective system. Example:

Week 1: 3x8 with 20 lbs

Week 2: 3x9 with 20 lbs

Week 3: 3x10 with 20 lbs

Week 4: 3x11 with 20 lbs

Week 5: 3x8 with 22.5 lbs.

This system allows you to know exactly when to increase the weight. I find usually adding 1 more rep to each set is more feasible than adding weight every week. It may start off doable, but soon the weight outpaces how quickly your muscles can adapt. In this system right when your muscles begin to struggle to keep up with the challenge, thats when you drop the reps and increase the weight. This offsets the challenge of the more weight with less reps and keeps your body always making consistent progress.

But why should I want to increase the weight over time? Can I just maintain what I have?

Going up in weight can feel intimidating. You’ve never done it, you are afraid if you can do it safely, it feels heavy, etc. Trust me I understand.

However in the long run being able to make progress will build a better baseline of health for whatever may come. For example if you get injured and your muscles atrophy, the larger and stronger your muscles are the quicker they will be able to recover. Or if they are strong enough they can lessen the potential harm of the injury.

Famous comedian Kevin Hart was in a severe car accident in 2023 where he had to go through intense rehab to be get back to normal. His doctor said that if he was not as musclar and strong as he was, the impact of the car accident would most likely have left him paralyzed for life. For him, being strong and muscular was a matter of life and death.

One of my most inpsiring friends I have made at Boss Barbell club where I work and train myself is Debra. She is in her 70s and still working out hard, setting several powerlifiting records for her category. She accomplished an incredible 227 lb deadlift in her 70s! Many of the men and women I train her age are focused on just trying to stand up from the floor safely. Their is no doubt Debra’s quality of life is tangibly better for having dedicated herself to lifting for the last 18 years.

I understand but I still want to make sure I am doing things right.

This is where I can come in! I have taught the techniques and form to hundreds of people of all backgrounds and experiences. I can correct your form in real time to make sure you are doing it properly. I can make the decisions on which exercises we are doing, how many reps, sets, and weight. I know when to rotate exercises at the proper time to make sure we are working all the muscles and keep things interesting.

I understand people have busy lives, work, family responsibilities, outside commitments, etc. I can help keep track of everything to get you the results you need! Reach out so we can schedule a phone consultation to see if it is right for you!

Email: alex.legenhausen.training@gmail.com