Work on your body is akin to the work of a sculptor and comes down to perfecting ideal forms. The tools are sports equipment, as well as knowledge that will help achieve the desired result. Almost every girl who decides to fashion the ideal of her figure asks herself the question: “How to create my own training program for the best result?” The article will answer this question.
Target selection
Before creating a training program, it is necessary to determine the goal. Training plans will be different depending on whether you want to lose weight, gain muscle mass or increase overall stamina.
First, evaluate your current level of fitness. Answer the following questions for yourself:
- Can you climb the stairs without panting? Can you easily go short or long distances? If not, then the main goals may be to improve the functions of the heart and lungs, increase endurance and reduce weight.
- Can you easily lift 10, 15 or 20 kilograms? Can you do push ups from the floor? If not, then your goal may be to improve the muscles of your upper body.
- Can you touch your toes when you bend down? If not, your goal may be to increase the flexibility of the body.
Choosing a training venue
Next, you need to determine the location of the training. It can be a gym, street or your home. Each of the options has both positive and negative sides. Let's consider them in more detail:
A place | pros | Minuses |
Gym | 1. A wide selection of sports equipment. 2. Additional motivation and communication in a group of like-minded people. 3. Working atmosphere. | 1. Cash spending on a subscription, personal trainer. 2. Losing time on the road. 3. The necessary simulators and equipment may be busy. |
House | 1. The familiar environment. 2. You can do it at any time. 3. Savings on the purchase of a subscription and the services of a personal trainer. | 1. There is no place for classes. 2. Not enough motivation. 3. Cash spending on sports equipment. |
Street | 1. Fresh air. 2. You can train in the company of friends. | 1. Training depends on weather conditions. 2. A limited selection of training options. 3. Oblique views of others. |
Everyone chooses for themselves the most convenient format of classes, depending on lifestyle and preferences. The most affordable are home workouts, as they do not require large investments and a lot of time. You can achieve an excellent result if you know how to make yourself a training program at home.
Sport equipment
To conduct strength training at home, it is important to have a minimum set of sports equipment:
- mat;
- free weights (dumbbells, weights, barbells);
- optional equipment (expanders, balls, ribbons, etc.).
If it is not possible to purchase equipment, weights can always be replaced with water bottles or sandbags. There is also a large number of exercises that you can perform with your own body weight - everything is limited only by your imagination.
For conducting cardio workouts at home, you can use a stepper, bike or jump rope - it depends on your financial capabilities.
It is also important to engage in sportswear to increase the fighting spirit for training. The use of sports shoes, in turn, will help to avoid injuries.
Timing for workouts
When choosing a training time, you need to focus on your lifestyle, as well as well-being at one time or another. Classes should organically fit into your schedule and become a way of life.
Do not exercise on an empty stomach, as you can easily faint. Also, you should not conduct training immediately after eating, since the main body forces are aimed at the digestive system.
Choose specific days of the week and time for training, try to stick to the schedule so that training becomes a good habit for you.
Types of Training Programs
Training can be divided into two large groups: full-body training (full body) and training of various muscle groups on different days (split).
For beginners and those who do not have time for long workouts, it is better to choose a full body workout, as it will allow you to work out all the muscles of the body at once. Such training should be carried out 2-3 times a week so that there is no overtraining. Using a full body, you can create a training program for both losing weight and gaining muscle mass.
If you have enough experience, you can switch to split training, during which the muscles are divided into groups and trained on different days. For girls, you can divide training into upper and lower body. Such classes should be carried out 3-4 times a week. The main advantage of split training is that muscle groups get more time to relax, recover and grow.
It is important to give time to the body to recover and avoid overwork, so it is advisable not to exercise every day.
Training pattern
The training process, regardless of the venue, can be divided into three main parts:
- Warm up. As a warm-up, it is necessary to carry out joint gymnastics (squats, rotation of the shoulder, knee joints) and a short cardio (for example, running or walking in place, jumping rope). It should last at least 10-15 minutes, since a body that is not prepared for the load is easily injured.
- Main part. In this part of the training, we directly perform basic and isolation exercises. It should last from 30 to 60 minutes, depending on sports training. Longer workouts do not make sense, as they will overload the muscles. It’s better to do less, but more intensively.
- Hitch. The hitch is carried out with the aim of smoothly removing the body from the load. You can hold a small cardio of low intensity, and then stretch all the muscles, paying special attention to those who actively worked in the training process. The hitch should last from 10 to 15 minutes.
Try to adhere to this scheme when conducting your workouts in order to minimize the risk of injuries and successfully recover in the future.
Types of exercises
All exercises can be divided into two large groups: basic and isolating. Let us consider in more detail their main differences in order to know how to correctly draw up a training program at home.
Basic exercises - exercises in which several joints are involved. Such exercises are more complex and energy-consuming than isolating and allow you to work out several large muscle groups at once. For example, these exercises include squats, lunges, traction, bench presses.
Isolation exercises are exercises in which one joint is involved. By performing such exercises, you can purposefully work out the lagging muscle group. For example, such exercises include: swings, flexions, twisting.
Beginners should include mainly basic exercises in the training program, as they contribute to the release of hormones, which positively affects muscle growth.
Advanced training should include both basic and isolation exercises.
It is important to train all the muscles of the body so that there are no imbalances. The following are exercises for major muscle groups:
- Legs - Squats, lunges, bouncing, or stepping on a raised platform.
- Buttocks - traction, forward bends, gluteal bridge.
- Chest, shoulders and triceps - bench press or bending, push-ups, breeding.
- Back, biceps and forearms - craving for the chin, pulling up, bending the arms.
- The bark muscles are planks, twists.
Exercise sequence
Consider some of the principles that you can adhere to during the training.
- The basic principle of training.
A beginner should start each exercise with one or two warm-up approaches with a small weight, then 2-3 basic approaches are performed. In the future, it is desirable to minimize the duration of warm-up approaches in order to prevent the adaptation of muscles to loads.
- The principle of preliminary fatigue.
This principle consists in the fact that before performing the basic exercise, it is necessary to perform the insulating, so that with the further performance of the basic exercise it is better to feel the target muscle. For example, before doing squats, you can perform leg swings so that it is more effective to use the gluteal muscles in the next exercise.
- The principle of super series.
Successively perform two or more exercises without rest between them. Supersets can perform on one muscle group as well as on muscle antagonists. Compliance with this principle will increase overall stamina and strength.
- The principle of circular training.
This principle is that different exercises are combined into one set, which is divided into short intervals. Rest is possible only after completing a full circle. Such a training is perfect for weight loss and increase body stamina.
Exercise selection
The number of repetitions and weight should be chosen depending on your goals and your own feelings.
- For a set of muscle mass, low-rep training with high weight is suitable, in which from 8 to 10 repetitions are performed in each approach.
- The average number of repetitions from 12 to 15 with a weight of 20-25% less than with little repetition of training, is suitable for increasing endurance and bringing muscles to tone.
- To reduce weight, it is better to use multi-repetition training with 15 or more repetitions in each approach.
How much do you need to rest between sets? Depending on the exercises, different times are required for rest between sets. After complex basic exercises, the body needs more time to recover than after isolating ones. The next approach should be started only after you feel that the body is ready, breathing is fully restored.
How much rest do you need between workouts? You must have at least one day to rest, so that the muscles have time to recover. You need to focus on your own feelings: if the muscles are very sore and you cannot move again, then the training should be postponed. Optimal to deal with every other day.
Features of female physiology
A trainer in the gym can often draw up a training program for both women and men identically, but the female body has a number of features:
- tendency to accumulate nutrients in reserve;
- the inability to train to failure due to the low level of testosterone;
- fewer muscle fibers, unlike men;
- as a rule, the ratio of weak top to strong bottom.
Therefore, when compiling a training program, it is worth considering these facts.
It is also important for girls to adjust the training plan to the female cycle. During the period of critical days, you should not heavily load the body, you need to exercise according to your health, it is enough to limit yourself to a light cardio and stretching. These days it is advisable not to perform exercises on the abdominal muscles and heavy basic exercises.
In the first two weeks after menstruation, the female body is ready for more intensive and frequent strength training, during this period it is worthwhile to increase its training weights and the number of training approaches.
In the last two weeks of the cycle, it’s worth focusing on burning fat and adding low-intensity cardio load to strength training.
Training diary
A training diary is a recording of a training program that is conducted with the aim of compiling the most effective methodology, taking into account the physiological characteristics of the athlete.
Keeping a training diary will help track progress in weights, the number of repetitions. Preliminary preparation of a training plan will save you from inventing exercises on the go.
It is very important to take measurements in order to be motivated by your results. In the diary, it is worth highlighting separate pages for fixing the main indicators - girth of the chest, waist and hips. You can also fix other body parameters (thigh, biceps, etc.).
The diary can be kept in any format convenient for you. Someone prefers the traditional paper version, and someone uses the electronic diary format on a computer or smartphone.
Modern applications with great functionality will help to independently create both a training program for losing weight and for gaining muscle mass.
Training Examples
Now let's look at specific examples of how to create a training program at home.
The following programs need to be adjusted to your own level of physical fitness, removing or adding extra weight, as well as increasing or decreasing the number of approaches in each exercise:
1. Full body training. Training consists of exercises that will help to work out the main muscle groups. It is suitable for beginners who need to smoothly enter the training regime and prepare the body for a heavier load in the future. Exercises are performed in the range of 10 to 15 repetitions for 4 sets.
- Squats
- Pushups.
- Lunges back with dumbbells.
- Dumbbell pull to the belt.
- Twisting on the press.
- Strap.
2. Training on the lower body. Training includes 3 basic and 2 isolating exercises. All exercises are performed in the range from 15 to 20 repetitions for 4 approaches (1 warm-up without weight and 3 core with working weight).
- Squats
- Romanian deadlift with dumbbells.
- Lunges back with dumbbells.
- Swinging legs with knees.
- Gluteal bridge with dumbbells.
After such a workout, it is worthwhile to devote time to stretching. After strength training, the muscles and ligaments of the legs are well warmed up, which will allow them to sit on the twine faster.
3. Training on the upper body. All exercises are performed in the range of 20 to 25 repetitions for 4 sets. The muscles of the upper body in girls are often poorly developed and in order to achieve a muscle response, a large number of repetitions with a small weight should be done.
- Dumbbell pull to the belt.
- Dumbbell bench press.
- Hands apart with dumbbells.
- Butterfly with dumbbells lying down.
- Twisting on the press.
Summary
So, now you know how to draw up a training program for girls at home.
The main components of a successful workout are consistency and discipline. The combination of strength training and proper nutrition will help to achieve the best results in building a dream figure.