How to build a workout routine in 6 steps

You don't need a fancy program to make progress. A good routine is a handful of decisions made once: how many days, which exercises, how many sets and reps, and how you'll add weight. Here's how to make each one.

1. Pick your days and split

Be honest about how many days you'll actually train. Two or three: full body. Four: upper/lower. Five or six: push/pull/legs. See how to choose a workout split.

2. Cover the main movements

Every week should include a squat, a hinge, a horizontal push and pull, a vertical push and pull, and a lunge or single-leg move. Start each session with the bigger compound lifts.

• Back squatQuads, Glutes
• Romanian deadliftHamstrings, Glutes
• Barbell bench pressChest
• Barbell rowUpper back, Lats
• Standing overhead pressFront delts
• Pull-upLats
• Bulgarian split squatQuads, Glutes

3. Add a few isolation exercises

Then add one or two smaller exercises for what the big lifts miss or what you want to grow: lateral raises for the shoulders, curls and pushdowns for the arms, leg curls for the hamstrings, calf raises.

4. Set sets and reps

• Main lifts: 3 to 4 sets of 5 to 8 reps.
• Other compound lifts: 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps.
• Isolation exercises: 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps.
• Weekly total: about 10 to 20 hard sets per muscle.

5. Decide how you'll progress

Use a rep range and add weight when you hit the top of it on every set. That's double progression, the simplest way to keep progressive overload going. Write everything down so you know what to beat next time; see how to track your workouts.

6. Plan a lighter week

Every four to eight weeks, or when you feel run down and stop progressing, take a deload week: same exercises, about half the sets, lighter weights.

In Liftsmith you can save your own routine and run it any day, with the plates drawn for every barbell set and every set saved to your history. Or let Pro build each workout from your equipment and recovery, and skip steps 2 to 6.