How to Engineer a Workout Plan

Add both resistance training and cardiovascular exercise at each workout. According to “Xtreme Lean” authors Jonathan Lawson and Steve Holman, resistance training is more effective for fat burning. However, cardiovascular training helps burn extra calories to achieve your goals. Tom Venuto, author of "Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle," often quotes science showing that cardio also improves muscle recovery.

Set a realistic workout schedule. Being honest with yourself on this step is one of the most important parts of the process. There is no harm in starting out with more infrequent workouts and adding extra days and more intensity as you go. In the long run, you will achieve more by being consistent. At the very least, consider making time to work out three days per week.

Choose a training split for your workouts. The fewer days per week you work out, the more you will have to do at each session to get quality results. For example, a four-day training split might be as follows: Monday – quadriceps and calves; Tuesday – chest and back; Thursday – hamstrings and shoulders; Friday – triceps and biceps.

Assign exercises to each muscle group. If you choose to do full-body workouts, you must be very efficient and stick to one exercise per muscle. Full-body, or compound, movements give you the best workout in the shortest amount of time. Examples include squats or leg presses for the legs, calf raises for the calf muscles, pullups or lat pulldowns for the back, bench presses or pushups for the chest, upright rows for the shoulders, and triceps pushdowns and biceps curls for the arms. Do three or four set of each exercise, with 30 to 60 seconds of rest between each set.

Pick the number of sets you will do for each exercise, as well as the number of repetitions per set. Lawson and Holman often recommend what they call “4X” training. To do this, you pick a weight you can handle comfortably and do four sets of 10 to 12 reps. Rest 30 to 60 seconds between sets. Shorter rest periods create more intensity and have a fat-burning effect. However, they will not allow you to train as heavy. Keep in mind that training for power and strength requires lower repetitions in the three- to six-rep range range.

Add cardiovascular training after your resistance-training workout. You can add as much or as little cardio as you desire. If you work out five or more days a week, you probably do not need more than 15 to 20 minutes each day. However, if you train three days per week or less, you might consider longer bouts of cardiovascular exercise, such as 30 to 60 minutes at a time.