Establishing how much exercise you need to do can be a difficult endeavor. Like protein requirements, public health data about exercise is fairly black and white. Cookie cutter. One size fits all.

But we are not all the same size, whether we are talking about physical size, or obligations-on-the-calendar-size, or enjoyment-of-exercise size.

To find what “size” fits you, let’s discuss practical considerations for your training program. We’ll cover: 

• How much exercise you really need to do and what to do if you don’t have much time 
• Why you need a plan
• Whats the best training split to use
• How to gain muscle, spot increase, aka get a bigger butt, and not get “too bulky”

How Much Do You Need to Exercise?

First things first: how much do you need to exercise? My new clients ask me this all the time and it’s a very logical question. The CDC says adults need 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity aerobic physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise, and two weekly sessions of “muscle strengthening activities” of moderate or greater intensity. WHO, Harvard Health and The American Heart Association recommend generally the same, with a few more helpful guidelines like “limit the amount of time you spend being sedentary.” 

Not terrible advice. If most people followed these guidelines, they’d probably do fine. But I don’t trust the CDC, WHO, or Harvard Health after their disastrous guidelines these past two years. There are more important things to consider when you first start than what a governing body that doesn’t know your name tells you to do.

Let’s make you a plan that’s better than the one-size-fits-all aimed at billions of people.

If you take more into account than just that blanket goal, you’ll have a great chance of consistency, and therefore long term success. 

Your Current Situation

To begin, let’s consider your current situation.

• How much time do you have to allocate toward training?
• What can you currently do? 
• What are your goals? 
• What is your family history?

In athletics, it’s called strength & conditioning. Very performance based. For non-athletes, that’s lifting and cardio. Plan to do both.

We should also take into account what kind of exercise you enjoy. I’ve found with my clients that most people have a distinct preference for a strength or conditioning feel. They prefer either a heavy 2 rep deadlift set or a gut checking extended sled push & pull, all day erry day. Take that into consideration. There will be some parts you don’t love, but if you hate it all, chances are you won’t do it. 

How Much Exercise Do You Need to Do?

The CDC says you should do 150 minutes + 2 lifting sessions, but the better question is, “This week, what are you certain you can do?” Can you do a training session on 2 days? 3 days? Plan on that. Start with what fits your life now. Adjust as you go. 

Please consider practicalities: commute time, the extra time to wash/dry your hair, get dressed, redo your makeup if you’d like. Factors those variables in because this program has to work for you. 

You can say you’ll train 7 days this week, but if that’s not reality, I’d rather you say you’ll do 2. Nail it. Plan on 2 sessions, do 2. Get them done by Thursday. Then, you can adjust to more sessions a week. You’ll be much more successful this way than saying you’ll do 6 days, 7 days, or following a structure that a governing body says to follow, and then failing because it doesn’t fit in your life right now. 

There are seasons in life for everything. If you are a new mom, over committed at work, in a busy semester, it’s hard to do 4, 5, 7 days a week. Don’t look at this like a cop out. Your kids will grow up, mama, your semester from hell will end, and the job will change with time. 

Do the best you can, give yourself grace, and adjust as you go. 

Unpopular opinion, but if you only exercise twice a week for the rest of your life, that’s way better than nothing. That’s 100+ training sessions a year. Better than average, although we don’t compare ourselves to average. 

So how many times a week do you need to train? You pick that right now. Make a plan, nail it, and reassess and make another plan. You can always have an end goal in mind and work toward it, but set yourself up for success first. 

What is Your Strategy?

Sometimes all you need is a plan. The structure of having a plan will help you execute on said plan. If you need help with this please let me know. I have seen many many clients succeed in a variety of ways. We can find a way for you too!

Message me here if I can help you or if you have questions.

Related: 10 Surefire Ways to Get Enough Protein In Your Diet

The Garage Squad

Do you need a program that tells you exactly what to do? The Garage Squad is made for the independent lifter who has gym access and wants to follow a program that uses barbells and some machines.

About the author

Kathryn Alexander is a strength coach and personal trainer in Austin, Texas. She loves hiking, college football, and the feel of a perfectly knurled barbell. Read more about Kathryn here.

Sometimes the toughest decision out there regarding your fitness is how to choose a training program. There are so many programs out there – probably hundreds of thousands! How do you find the right one for you?

To start, consider your current situation, your goals, schedule and lifestyle, and equipment availability. I’ll walk you through it. Read along to discover how to choose a training program for you.

Top 5 Reasons to Follow a Training Program

What Are Your Training Goals?

Your goals are going to be the largest determinant of which program is best for you. Before you go any further, I need to remind you that many, many programs will work for you. Lots of programs can get you where you want to be. Please do not stress about finding the right absolutely specific perfect one.

First, write down what your goals are. Pen and paper. I mean it, write it down. Be honest with yourself here. Be selfish! These are your goals, your body, your time, effort, energy. You deserve to get what you want for your investment. 

Examples include:

• Fat loss in general 
• fat loss in specific areas
• overall muscle gain 
• building size or muscle definition in specific body parts
• bigger butt
• more toned arms
• bigger arms, bigger calves, lol good luck just kidding 😉
• more definition
• increase in performance, such as faster running times
• increasing strength, stronger squat, deadlift, bench press, clean, or snatch
• Increase in the amount of steps each day
• increase in time standing each day
• increase in number of exercise sessions done per week

The list can go on and on. Make your goals very specific for you. Know that you won’t get all of them accomplished from a six week program, but you can work toward them in a methodical way.

Find a Workout Plan That Fits Your Lifestyle

Finding a workout plan or fitness routine that is compatible with your lifestyle is crucial.

Choose to do hard work but make it easy on yourself. 

If you have to drive an hour and a half to the training facility you want and you want to do it five days a week, make sure that you can maintain that. Otherwise, try to find a great gym near you or invest in a home gym. If you are into jogging and you live in northern Canada, you might want to invest in a treadmill for harsh times of winter. These are extreme examples, but the easier you can make your workout program fit your specific situation, the greater chance you have of committing to it . 

Additionally, I want you to pick some thing you enjoy. This should be good for you in the short term and long term. If lifting gives you a little post workout high, embrace that and do it. 

One summer when I was 19, I got an intense runner’s high after a specific jog I would do. It was a route that covered about 2 miles and included running stadium bleachers. I loved it and I looked forward to it. I sometimes feel a little giddy after lifting weights also. 

Some people feel like a million bucks post yoga or Pilates. Some people don’t get runner’s high, but just feel accomplished and proud that they checked their physical investment off for the day. Find what makes you happy and work that into your program. 

Remember, do try to make it fit your schedule. If you are into endurance exercises that take a large chunk of your time, you might have to schedule that on the weekend with supplemental shorter training sessions during the week. If you like to spend a good hour and a half in the gym when you lift but you also have family obligations, you might do that 3 days a week instead of 7. Or if you are looking to simply lose a few pounds, establish good habits, and stabilize your blood sugar, taking 10 minute walks a few times a day can help you more than you think. 

Read more about how to fit exercise into a busy schedule here.

Coordinate Exercise and Diet

Having an optimal diet and training program will help you toward your goals exponentially. Let me repeat that: you will get there way faster when you are eating well in addition to your physical training. Ensure that you are getting enough protein, several servings of fruits and vegetables, a day and plenty of plain water. Add those things in first. 

Then be honest with yourself about taking out the things that you know do not help you reach your goals. I’m not saying go on the strictest squeaky clean diet you’ve ever heard of. I am saying that you know the bad habits you can tone down a little bit. if you drink, maybe drink on fewer days of the week or have one less. If you’re big big into desserts, enjoy a smaller portion.

If you are into cokes and sodas, try having less or having a substitute. Sparkling water really scratches that itch for me. Experiment and see what you like. You might love tea! That would be great, since there are countless varieties out there. Try and try again, to find something that is healthy and enjoyable for you.

Whether you end up following a formal diet or just adjusting yours, a little bit know that every little bit will help you toward your goal.

Fitness Programs for Beginners

If you are a brand new beginner in the gym, I am so excited for you! It’s like you haven’t read the best book of your life! It’s like you’re just about to start the best most bingeable TV series ever. I’m so excited for you! 

I created a course just for beginners. This assumes you want to learn the ins and outs of the gym from square one. This program is very creatively titled Square One. It is six weeks and $15 because I want this to be available to everyone! 

See All Of My Programs Here

If you have questions, please let me know and we’ll discuss if this is a good fit for you. If you have other questions in general, about your program or what program is a good fit for you, I am happy to help! I read every email. Kathryn@kathrynalexander.com.

Happy training!

About the author

Kathryn Alexander is a strength coach and personal trainer in Austin, Texas. She loves hiking, college football, and the feel of a perfectly knurled barbell. Read more about Kathryn here.

It can be challenging to make time for exercise with a busy schedule, but there are so many ways you can get it done! Most people are busy these days, and that is not a copout or a lie. I believe my clients when they say they are so busy that it is hard to find time to workout, because I see it. Like you, they have responsibilities and obligations in the form of jobs, work and relationships. 

Some people like to be busy all the time, because it’s just how they choose to live their life. Others are busy for a short period of time such as until a project is completed, at which point life will go back to a regular pace. 

Whether you are steadily busy or in a push right now, take a few minutes upfront to plan how to make time for exercise in your busy schedule.

Whether you adjust how long you spend in the gym, move some training sessions to your home, or even cut down some sessions, maintaining some training in your schedule will be worth it! 

Remember, you can’t cram exercise. You can’t wait until you’re sick and then exercise for 100 hours in a row and get the benefits. You must exercise regularly. It will build strength, health, quality of life and fortuitously, help manage stress during your busy times. 

Quick Workouts

You can get an effective workout in a quicker time frame than you think, so try a quick workout instead of just skipping. Whether you are doing these short workouts in the gym, home, or even at work, identify smaller chunks of time (10-30 minutes) that you can possibly use for exercise.

Gym

At the gym, there are a few ways to get a quick workout. You can:

1. Just do your main lift/s and skip accessory work.
2. Just do exercises that don’t take as much time to warm up and prepare for.
3. Move quicker through your planned session (don’t adjust anything but pace).
4. Change the type of exercise you are doing altogether. 

Let me touch on each of these briefly to explain: 

1. If you just do your main lift and skip your accessory workout, the pace of your session doesn’t change. You just end it sooner. An example of this would be if I only had 30 minutes to train, but I really wanted to deadlift. I would warm up well, hit my feeler sets that increase in weight, do my working sets, and then be done. Voila. Note, you should always warm up – do not sacrifice warming up for time! You won’t perform as well without a warm up, and you risk injury.
2. Just doing exercises that don’t take as much time to warm up and prepare for is an option also. In this case, you would leave out exercises like heavy compound movements that require the time to warm up thoroughly. You’d still do a warm up! It just won’t be as involved. An example of this kind of session would be a push pull squat minimal equipment workout, where you do 3 exercises and move quickly through them. They’ll be moderate weight, high volume, and quick rest. If you click the link for push pull squat, you can see an exact session like this, and how to modify it to fit you. 
3. Moving quicker through your planned session is a good option also. If you choose to speed up your session by moving through it faster, you’ll shorten your rest periods, and because of this shorter rest, you’ll skip the most challenging sets. For example, if I am deadlifting but still want to make the time to do accessory work, then I might skip the heaviest few sets, which require the most rest between. You do not want to rush through your heavy compound work. 
4. Finally, you can change which type of exercise you do altogether. If you are short on time and literally don’t have the time to do multiple exercises and work around the gym, you might choose just to do some conditioning. Say I don’t have time to do my deadlifts (boo!) but I know I’ll have time tomorrow, then today I’ll get on the treadmill for an incline walk. This way I am getting good work in, and giving myself the chance to get high quality work in when I have time to do it thoroughly and safely.

At Home

If finding time to exercise means you exercise at home, that’s great too! With just one or two weights, you can do the above linked Push Pull Squat session. It’s killer, and can be briefly done in a small area. There are many examples of sessions like this, where you focus on a few exercise that can be done with little or no equipment, and do them circuit style. 

On one particularly cold day a few years ago, I decided I would not be going outside, at all, for anything. I decided to do squats, lunges, and pushups as my workout. I started doing 10 of each and resting only when I needed. Some sets felt great and I did up to 15 reps. When I fatigued, I dropped it to 5. This ended up being less than 20 minutes and I felt great.

You can do something similar. Choose exercises that are within your ability, set a timer and some great tunes, and go!

At Your Work or Desk

Depending on your work situation, you may have a gym or fitness center close to you. If this is the case, make use of it! Remember, you can get sufficient work done in about 30 minutes, 2-3 times a week. If you aren’t able to get to a gym during your workday but you would like to get movement in, don’t forget walking! Walking is so underrated! Walking is great for a whole host of things, including digestion post lunch, and stabilizing blood sugar, which wards off those afternoon energy crashes. You might even be able to walk and get steps in without changing clothes. 

If you sit all day for work, check out specifics workouts in How to Stay Fit With a Desk Job

Likewise, look for staircases. Walking stairs is legit! If you can find a safe place to walk stairs, do it! You’ll experience significant increases in metabolism and conditioning, and building muscle, ie toning the legs, as people like to say.

Make Working Out Convenient

Whether you choose to exercise at home, at the gym, or from work, set yourself up to succeed! Make it fit in your schedule, make it convenient, and commit! Be creative about how you can minimize wasted time, by adjusting your commute to avoid busy times in traffic and the gym. Also think about how you can adjust your work hours so you are in the office being productive instead of sitting on the highway.

Work Commute

I’ve seen so many creative ways to make room for exercise from my clients over the years. Some examples are: 

• Joining a gym with a friend and doing work together instead of happy hours
• Walking meetings instead of sitting
• Joining a gym close to home so traffic is not prohibitive 
• Going to the gym early to avoid traffic
• Similarly, going to work early, and going to the gym before heading home. This has a double benefit, as you avoid the busiest hours of the gym too.

Home Gym

Exercising at home can be done with no equipment, or with just a few pieces. You can go as grand as you like in building out your home gym, or go minimal with small pieces that store easily. Links here. 

For example, my exercise program The Home Team, uses two pairs of dumbbells and a band. This way you can always have fresh workouts delivered to you to do from your living room, garage or back yard. 

Check out The Home Team here for a free week.

I recommend having a dedicated space to exercise at home, like you would have a dedicated work space if you work from home. However, if that doesn’t work for you, you can absolutely have a small storage space for 2-4 dumbbells and a band. Those can go in a corner of the room or closet very easily. 

You can even use a Bala ring, which is pretty cute, and can be left out as an accessory. I don’t make any money from this, by the way. I just thought it was so cute that I bought my mom one.

Hybrid Gym/Home Workouts

Finally one of my absolute favorite ways to structure your training is to do a hybrid of home and gym workouts. You’ll always get benefits from going to a gym, whether its by using equipment you don’t have, learning from others, or creating a supportive community for yourself. Even with the most built out home gyms, most people can find equipment they don’t have at a full gym. For example, I have spent a lot of time and money making my home gym sufficient. I still go work out at Big Tex Gym for the cable systems. 

Lat pull downs, rows, and large spaces for sled and sandbag work permit me to do back and leg work I can’t do at home. For clients who split up home and gym workouts, I suggest doing the home work that you can at home with dumbbells. Obviously, at the gym, you’ll do the work you can’t do at home. 

Use Every Minute

By honestly assessing your time management, you can see where you can fit exercise in. You will also see things you can minimize or adjust. Decreasing social media, for example, can yield you some of your time back. And definitely don’t commit to another tv series! You’ll be fine if you don’t know the water cooler gossip! As a person who doesn’t watch tv, I say this with lots of love. 🙂

Most importantly, schedule your workouts, and do them. Put them on your calendar, remind your spouse and the people who need to know, that you have a commitment to yourself. 

Choose which exercises are priority for you, and do those first. It is much easier to maintain strength than to abandon it and rebuild. 

If you just don’t quit, you’ll get through your busy time. You can add more exercise in as you have time for it, and you’ll be so grateful to yourself that you never quit. 

I believe in you! Message me if this still seems impossible for you. I have the benefit of talking to hundreds of people about how they get their exercise in. kathryn@kathrynalexander.com Let’s find a way for you, too!

Are You Beginning Your Fitness Journey?

If you are brand new to the gym, my program called Square 1 takes you through exactly how to start. It tells you how many sets, reps, and what weight to start with on exercises. It’s $15 for a 6 week program, and you can message me anytime with questions. I’d be happy to help get you started, on this beginning program, or on a program custom written for you! Email me at kathryn@kathrynalexander.com or fill out this form here

About the author

Kathryn Alexander is a strength coach and personal trainer in Austin, Texas. She loves hiking, college football, and the feel of a perfectly knurled barbell. Read more about Kathryn here.

1. Follow a Program to Get the Best Results

First and foremost, you should absolutely follow a program for the best results. Following a well-written program will get you closest to your goals. Random doesn’t help you. You need to practice lifts to get better at them, and you need to get better at them to progress. Will doing 100 burpees help you? No. Will 100 burpees make you stronger? No. Will doing burpees today, a few sit ups tomorrow and clean Friday give you any kind of foundation on which to build? Absolutely not. If you want to get abs, train to get abs. If you want to get better at burpees, do burpees. (But I’ll never make you do burpees.)

However, practicing the same lifts for a training block helps you strategically build. The body is extremely specific in the way it responds and adapts. To get better at something (ie, bigger, faster, stronger, more coordinated), you must practice the specific things you want to improve. Not random movement all over the map. 

Check out The Garage Squad, my barbell training program, or apply for 1:1 coaching here.

2. It Takes Away The Mental Energy of Planning

Following a good program takes away the mental energy of wondering what you’re going to lift, creating the flow of the session, and adjusting the numbers.

Humans make tens of thousands of decisions a day; some researchers suggest up to 35,000. That’s a lot! Often we have more physical energy than mental energy, especially by the end of the day, and that mental fatigue can sometimes be a block to getting your training in. If you have a plan already decided upon, you know you simply have to execute. 

3. Ensure a Time Return on Investment

Since you are investing time and effort and energy, you might as well make sure you have something to show for it! To be clear, any exercise you do will be good for your body. Even taking walks and quick workouts here and there.

But if you are really training and have serious goals, you won’t see the results you want from randomly popping into the gym and moving around some. Choose a smart program and make it work for you! 

4. Visualize Your Progress and See the Best Results

This is where training gets fun! When you follow a good program, you begin to see what you are capable of. A program with smart, steady progression gives you a view into the future. You’ll gain progress on the exercises you are practicing and workouts to compare to, so you can see the increase in weight and reps that you are doing. You can see your progress happening real time. 

Additionally, it allows you to track your progress and learn from it for the future. 

5. Camaraderie

Finally, have some camaraderie! Do a program with a friend and encourage each other through the tough times in training. It’s a great feeling to know you are in it together! One of my favorite programs to do with others is Squatober, which is the brainchild of Aaron Ausmus, owner of Pen and Paper Strength App. Thousands of people around the world commit to squatting in October, and finish with a strong PR day.

With my teams and programs on TrainHeroic, you can join a team doing the same training program as well. You each track your own numbers but you’re doing the work together. Check out this program, The Home Team, that you can do from your home. Invite your best friend or a coworker too, and start your free weeks together. 

Here are all my programs, if you’d like to find the best plan for you.

Have you experienced the difference when you commit to a plan? Which is your favorite? Let me know! Happy training!

About the author

Kathryn Alexander is a strength coach and personal trainer in Austin, Texas. She loves hiking, college football, and the feel of a perfectly knurled barbell. Read more about Kathryn here.

Having a well written workout plan is one of the most important things to consider in your exercise routine. It is hands down the most effective way to get the best results from your time exercising. A workout plan that you follow can help you reach your goals faster and more effectively, take the brainpower and mental stress out of the process, and help you avoid blind spots to get the best out of your fitness routine. 

How Can a Workout Plan Benefit You?

We know all the reasons that exercise is worth doing: you’ll feel better, move better, look better, and stave off injury and disease. No reason not to exercise! Except that it does take time, energy, and potentially a financial investment. If you are going to put in the effort to exercise (and you should!) then you should make it worth it.

The best way to do that is to follow a well designed exercise plan to maximize your results. Read on for more information about how a workout program can help you, and how to find the best plan for you.

1 – A Workout Plan Can Help You Reach Your Goals Faster

A workout plan can help you reach your goals faster and more effectively, since it will help you work toward specific outcomes. Often, people go in the gym or go for a little pop on the elliptical, hit some machines randomly and hope they get exactly where they want to be. It doesn’t work this way; the body responds very specifically to exercise stimuli. For example, if you want to get stronger, you need to lift heavier. If you want to lose weight, you have to increase your exercise capacity and be able to exert more energy.

I receive inquiries for people from an online exercise company, and it asks people to check off their desired goals. Often people will list many goals, such as “build muscle mass”, “run a marathon”, “increase flexibility”, and “bodybuild”. These are all worthy goals, but in the short to medium term, they will compete. A well written workout program can help reach these goals, but it needs to be methodically planned. Otherwise, the process will be similar to chasing cats; chaotic and ineffective.

The bottom line is that if you are going to do the hard work (and making the time and effort for the gym is hard work!) then it should be work that takes you to your desired outcomes. 

2 – Take the Brainpower and Mental Stress Out of the Equation

Having a well programmed workout routine to follow is incredibly peaceful. A good plan will give you a roadmap to trust, so your only job is to do the hard work. It takes the brainpower and mental stress out of it for you, so you can do the work and reassess at the end of your training block. This is usually 4-12 weeks, at which point, you’ll continue to the next phase, or commit to a new program. 

Crammed for time? Check out How to Make Time for Exercise with a Busy Schedule

3 – Avoid Blind Spots in Your Workout Routine

Often, we can learn from others and their experiences. After all, we don’t know what we don’t know! If you have a well designed workout plan, you will be following a well rounded routine that includes everything you need to reach your goals.

For example, to avoid and work past back pain, you need a couple smart glute exercises. Athletes, including weekend warriors, typically need more hamstrings work than is conventionally written into general workout plans. 

Sometimes lifters do a lot of things well, but don’t lift in a balanced manner. For example, if a lifter is focused on a goal of driving their bench press up, it would behoove them to focus on back strength as well. In this case, along with chest work, a good example would be to include rows along well.

Make sure you follow a good program, and you’ll hit everything you need to feel and perform best! 

What is a Personalized Workout Plan?

A personalized workout routine or fitness plan is written specifically for you and your goals. Finding a personalized plan written by a fitness expert is a great plan to follow. If that is out of your budget or doesn’t interest you, you can find a plan online that’s written by a fitness expert for people like you. If you look on Train Heroic, for example, you can find extremely specific programs such as plans for beginners, jiu jitsu enthusiasts, people who want to build their butt or grow bigger arms, military and post military, etc. I have plans for people who sit at work all day and need to decompress, people who exercise with limited equipment, and people who train in a full gym toward strength and physique goals. 

This can be incredibly effective and cost effective as well. This way you’re not, as mentioned before, hopping around and wasting your on things that won’t take you to your goals. 

How to Find a Personalized Workout Plan

Like I mentioned in the previous paragraph, you can find any kind of training program on Train Heroic, which is an incredible training app that my clients and I love. (They aren’t paying me to say this! I just really love Train Heroic!) It features programs from experts of all kinds of strength, fitness and sport specific doctrines. 

Consider how many days a week you can commit to working out, how long each session can be, what kind of equipment you have access to, and what your goals are. Be as specific as you can. Keep those factors in mind when you are searching programs, and select one that matches you as much as possible. Often on Train Heroic, you can do the first week free, or even contact the coach directly. Research it as much as you are comfortable with to find a program that excites you. 

If you are interested in any of my programs, check them out here. If you have questions about which would be a good fit for you, feel free to email me at kathryn@kathrynalexander.com.

Are you brand new to the gym and need a plan to start? Try this 6 week program which walks you through what to do, how to do it, and how to use your gym.

Take Action and Start Your Workout Plan

Take action! Take imperfect action! I encourage you to think deeply on your goals and how you will feel when you achieve them. Then find a plan that will help you get there! Ensure it’s a good program by looking at reviews and/or talking to the coach. From there, GO GO GO! 

Take a leap of faith, put in great effort, and follow that workout plan!

Best of luck! Remember, I want to see you succeed! If I can help you at all, please let me know! 

About the author

Kathryn Alexander is a strength coach and personal trainer in Austin, Texas. She loves hiking, college football, and the feel of a perfectly knurled barbell. Read more about Kathryn here.

Whether you are training at home or at the gym, there are things you can do to make sure you get the best session. Follow the tips below to make sure your workout counts in the best way possible!

Prepare Yourself to Have the Time for a Proper Workout/Training Session

If you are training at home, don’t do your laundry or clean your kitchen between sets. Don’t do work emails on your phone, sitting on the bench between sets. Make the time to get it done. It might have to be quick depending on the stage of your life, but focus to the best of your ability to make the minutes when you are lifting count. 

Take the Time to Get a Good Warm Up

Warm up properly! This is crucial! Warming up isn’t just about temperature. It is an increase in neurological recruitment. This means your body gets better and better at doing what you’re asking it to do. Make sure your warm up reflects what you are going to do, and that it starts light and progresses. Don’t skip your warm up! 

Don’t Stop in the Middle of your Session and Finish Later

Don’t stop in the middle of your session! You can do this with some cardio. Depending on what your goal is, cardio minutes can accumulate. But a training session is planned to be done in a certain order. You warm up, get the most dynamic and coordination-demanding exercises done first. Then do your heavy work. Next comes accessory work, then core/trunk/abs and cool down. 

You don’t want to start and stop in the middle of this. If you are consistently having to stop and re-start your sessions, a better plan would be to re-write them so they fit in your time constraints. 

Focus also on being present, and enjoying your work. I know, I know. It’s work, but you can learn to make it fun.

Rest the Right Amount of Time Between Sets

Resting an appropriate amount between sets is extremely important. How much rest is optimal depends on your goals, which you have hopefully committed to beforehand. For example, if you are training for high volume and endurance, you might rest 30-60 seconds between sets. Resting longer will change the stimulus on your body, prolonging a mediocre session, and making it less effective for your endurance goals. 

If you are training for strength, you will need to rest 2-4 minutes, or maybe longer, between heavy and challenging sets. Moving too quickly into the next set will cost you quality on the next set.

Work on Your Exercise Discipline

Exercising always feels better when you feel good at it. The more you train, the better you’ll feel, both while you’re training, and not. Remember this when you feel like quitting! To get to this point, just keep going. It’s simple but not easy. Read here about how to build your discipline so you don’t always have to rely on motivation.

Find a Supportive Environment

I absolutely love gym communities. I have found the best support, advice, friendships, and general camaraderie at gyms than anywhere else. I highly encourage you to find a community you enjoy, even if you aren’t super social. You don’t have to talk to everyone to get the benefits of a supportive environment. If you are in Austin, check out these great communities.

Another perk of gyms is that there is all kinds of great equipment that is harder to find for home. Try this back extension machine, for example, to make your big lifts stronger, and your back happier.

Tie It All In

Give these tips a go during your session, and let me know how it goes. Happy training!

About the author

Kathryn Alexander is a strength coach and personal trainer in Austin, Texas. She loves hiking, college football, and the feel of a perfectly knurled barbell. Read more about Kathryn here.

Exercise can be done a million ways: in a group, as a team, with your partner, a neighbor or friend. It can be intense and mission driven, or just a way to pass healthy time. Training can also be done solo, and there are a lot of benefits that come with it.

Peace and Quiet 

Or not! You get to pick. Training out alone affords you the time to take a break form the world; away from the coworkers, the kids, and your overflowing inbox. You get to pick your music, or choose no music. You get to recharge and spend time without having to be “on” at work or serving others. This is about you! 

Exercise Is Meditative

Training done properly is not rocket science, but it is not simple! You should be paying attention to the nuances of form; your grip, hand and foot placement, angles of the body. Correct set up is a procedure in itself. From there, during and after the movement, you should be collecting feedback about the tempo, control, and speed of the rep. This feedback guides the decisions about the next set.

It is truly a misnomer to call meatheads “meatheads”. Again, not rocket science, but if you are paying attention to your training, it does not leave much room for consciously ruminating about your problems. The end result is a peaceful mind and a happily exhausted body.

Awareness of the Body

Since you are more attune to your body without the distraction of working out with others, you become more aware of how you feel. You can feel illness before it truly sets in, potentially giving you the chance to head it off. I have often seen clients have an “off” day, only to discover that later they come down with a milder illness or realize allergies are about to flare up. 

This isn’t to say you can’t have this benefit while training with others, but training alone heightens your ability to focus on yourself. Give yourself the gift of training alone and see how you enjoy it.

About the author

Kathryn Alexander is a strength coach and personal trainer in Austin, Texas. She loves hiking, college football, and the feel of a perfectly knurled barbell. Read more about Kathryn here.

People ask me this question often and want the one right answer.

There is no one right answer, but our bodies do well with frequent movement. It would be optimal to move every day.

But how you move every day is important too. You don’t need to go all-out hard every day, and going too easy every day won’t help you as much either. When you are lifting hard, heavy, or doing HIIT training (links) you’ll want to add some lower intensity days. If you are healthy and conditioned, doing all lower intensity days will decondition you.

So how many days should you exercise? It’s not rocket science, but there are lots of right answers to this question and none the same from person to person. Read on to learn about what is best for you right now.

Crammed for time? Check out How to Make Time to Workout with a Busy Schedule.

Factors to Consider

Let’s start here:

• What are your goals?
• Do you have a deadline for your goals?
• What is your schedule like?

What Are Your Goals?

Do you have an event to prepare for, like an athletic competition or a wedding? Does this event require you to compete physically, or do you just want to look great? If you don’t have an event to prepare for, are your goals related to health? You might have short term health goals like reaching a certain percent of body fat, or a certain amount on your bench press. Or, you can have truly long term goals like maintaining your conditioning and balance all your life.

I encourage you to think hard about what you want, both short term and long term. “I want to be healthy” is GREAT, but pretty vague. I want to be healthy all my life too. I want to be hiking to remote natural hot springs, moving the furniture when I want, doing my own lawn work, maintaining healthy blood pressure and body composition. Think specifically about what you really want to do next year, and when you are old.

Do You Have a Deadline for Your Goals?

Like your short term and long time goals, consider if you have timelines for these. If you have an event, do you have to peak to be at your best physically? Do you want to feel good in your own skin at a reunion or beach vacation? If you have a short term goal coming up quickly and you intend to meet it, you’ll have to prioritize exercise more.

You can have short and long term goals. In fact, I recommend it. They keep you moving, and keep that sense of relevance. It’s easy to put off working toward a 10-year goal until tomorrow, but not as easy to put off working toward a beach vacation next month.

What is Your Schedule Like?

I do want you to prioritize your health at all times, but it’s important to understand that sometimes life demands a lot of your energy elsewhere. Post -injury, -surgery, -childbirth, during some school or work programs, and caring for a sick loved one, might chronically stress and drain you. In these situations, you do what you can. Your goal is to take care of your body to the extent that you can now, so you are healthy when you can push it later.

Scheduling 5 sessions a week in your busiest time in life, then missing them and feeling guilty leads to a depression spiral. Instead, be honest about what you can do. Do you have a pocket of time on Saturday mornings, and 15 minutes after the kids go to bed? In that case, you can schedule in a full training session on Saturday and quick movements a couple other days a week. Even ten minute walks once a day add up.

How Many Days Should You Workout?

The final answer is that you should consider how many days you need to workout given the proximity to your goals. Be reasonable about how much you can do. You can’t do 3 months of work in a week, so give yourself plenty of time but work hard. Likewise, keep your long term health in mind and exercise even if it’s 1 day a week.

Remember every season of you life will be different. You will be able to give more physically in some stages of life than others. If you do the best with what you have, whether it’s 2 quick sessions a week or 6, you’ll always be at your best. If you are in a period where you don’t have as much to give, do your best to take care of yourself and get through that time. When you have the time and energy, take advantage of it!

The bottom line is, do what you can even if it doesn’t feel like much. It all adds up! Email me if you have questions about your situation!

About the author

Kathryn Alexander is a strength coach and personal trainer in Austin, Texas. She loves hiking, college football, and the feel of a perfectly knurled barbell. Read more about Kathryn here.

Exercising with less equipment can be liberating. You can train almost anywhere and you don’t have to spend time on all the details of the session. Lift, move, go! Push, pull, squat!

The challenge is continuing to progress with fewer options. You’ll eventually reach a point where you feel like you are doing the same 5 exercises over and over. That’s ok because 1) the basics work and 2) it only takes a little bit of adjustment to break out of that.

I focus on squats on this article because you’ll find yourself doing squats often. They are bang-for-your-bucks, and universally applicable. Below are some ways you can make your squats more challenging when you’ve run out of home weights.

Also, I love squats. 🙂

Do More Reps

The easiest and perhaps most common way to challenge yourself more is to do more reps. This isn’t always the answer, especially if you have the option to go heavier on the next set. If you have used your heaviest weights though, you can add more reps per set. You can also add more sets if your sets are becoming excessively long.

Shorten Rest Interval

Like adding more reps, you can shorten your rest interval to increase the challenge. This decrease in recovery calls on your body to do more work in a fatigued state. Doing the same amount of work in a shorter amount of time shows progress.

Use Different Implements

This advice typically refers to using dumbbells, kettlebells, bands, and barbells. At home, this takes on a whole new meaning. Need more weight? Have a willing kid hanging around? Pick ‘em up and squat! Hold them in your arms like a baby or piggyback. No children or willing partners? Load up a backpack and squat. Wear it backwards for a front squat.

Tempo Squats

A tempo squat uses a familiar set and rep scheme, the same form, and even the same implement. However, you will vary your pace by going slower at certain parts of the lift. Tempo is commonly written as 4 digits, such as 1010. This means a one second descent, no pause at the bottom, one second up, and no pause before performing the next rep. I commonly use a 5010 tempo, which means a sloowww 5 second descent, no pause at the bottom, then a regular fast ascent. This will quickly spice up a squat set!

Pause Squats

Adding a pause at the bottom of a squat is also a great way to increase the challenge without increasing weight. To properly execute a pause squat, you will do a normal squat and dead stop at the bottom. Keep generating pressure so you aren’t wobbling, dipping or rising. Once you have held your pause as long as you need, drive up from that dead stop position. It is important here to NOT dip then drive.

Using the terminology of the last example, a 5 second pause squat would be a tempo of 1510.

Suitcase Deadlift and Offset Loads

A suitcase deadlift is performed by picking up something that is parked on one side of you, like a suitcase. It is an offset load, so the demand on your trunk is to resist the imbalanced pull while. This can be performed like a deadlift or a squat. You can do a suitcase deadlift with one weight, or with two weights that do not weigh the same. Because of the offset load, your trunk works asymmetrically, which is much more of a real life situation than a crunch type movement.

How to Apply These in Your Training

Identify in your sessions where you feel under worked. You can add in one of these exercises and see how it changes your workload. You can also add one of these techniques to the last set of your training. For example, if your goblet squats have been easy, add in a pause squat on the last set. If it’s a good challenge, you can call it a day or repeat that paused set.

Let me know if you have more questions! Get creative and challenge yourself on those home sessions!

About the author

Kathryn Alexander is a strength coach and personal trainer in Austin, Texas. She loves hiking, college football, and the feel of a perfectly knurled barbell. Read more about Kathryn here.

Optimal posture can help you breathe better, alleviate and prevent back pain, and look and feel more confident. Maintaining good posture is always important, but is especially pertinent if you sit many hours of the day, or are less active than you have been in the past. 

Much of having good posture is simply practicing it habitually, but you can do exercises to develop and reinforce good posture. Do these 3 exercises a few times a week. You can do these at the beginning of your training session, after, or as a standalone session. 

Band Pullapart

• extend tall through your spine, whether you are sitting or standing

• press your arms straight around your side

• squeeze your shoulders behind you as you do this

• press until the band touches your chest

• elbows can have a slight bend here, but will stay at the same angle. Do not straighten or bend at the elbow

Bird Dog

• start from a 4 point position on the ground 

• be sure wrists are directly under shoulders and knees are directly under hips

• keep an active, neutral, flat back (no arching or hunching)

• be tall through your spine, from the top of your head to your tailbone

• without wiggling or compensating, extend one arm straight in front of you, and back under you

• repeat on your other arm

• extend one leg, thinking about squeezing your glutes and straightening at the knee

• imagine you are wearing your favorite white shirt and balancing a tray of red wine on your back

• If this is easy, you can extend the right arm and left leg at the same time, then alternate sides

Breaststroke

• lay flat on the ground with arms extended in front of you

• head should be facing the floor, not looking in front of you

• make a wide sweep with your arms around and slightly extend your upper body off the floor

• as arms reach your sides, tuck your hands by your sides as you again extend your arms in front of you

• inhale as you sweep your arms wide toward your sides

• exhale as you return your arms to your starting position

The Details

Begin with a set of 8-10 reps of each exercise. That is one round. From there, repeat, trying to do each movement better. Be in a better control, pay attention to what you are feeling. You can do 3-5 rounds, depending on how you feel. Still have more questions? Leave me a comment or email me! I’m happy to hear from you!

About the author

Kathryn Alexander is a strength coach and personal trainer in Austin, Texas. She loves hiking, college football, and the feel of a perfectly knurled barbell. Read more about Kathryn here.