Whether you’re just getting started or have been working out for years, one of the most important aspects of any fitness program is balance. A well-rounded workout routine isn’t just about doing what’s fun or what’s easy—it’s about creating a plan that targets essential compound lifts, speaks to the goal at hand, and reduces your risk of injury. The main thing I can tell is looking at your lifestyle FIRST. This is a very overlooked step and where people get tripped up. Try not to fit a training program to a life that cannot accommodate for it. This is where consistency will have a hard time. Both in schedule and in intensity.
What Makes a Workout Routine “Balanced”?
A balanced training routine addresses what I refer to as all your buckets. Now, depending on the goal, some buckets will get more attention than others, but overall for a balanced routine it’s good to aim for most of them across the board:
- Strength Training: Developing muscle mass, building strength, and improving body composition.
- Cardio/Endurance: Boosting cardiovascular fitness, endurance, and overall heart health.
- Flexibility & Mobility: Enhancing joint health, muscle flexibility, and reducing the risk of injury.
- Rest and Recovery: Allowing your muscles to recover, repair, and grow stronger over time.
The goal is to target all the components of fitness—strength, endurance, flexibility, and recovery—so you can progress holistically. When you create balance, you ensure your routine is sustainable and effective in the long run.
Step 1: Assess Your Fitness Goals
The first step in designing a balanced workout routine is to clearly define your fitness goals. Are you trying to build muscle? Improve endurance? Lose weight? Train for a specific event, like a 5k or a marathon? Your goals will help determine the emphasis of your workout routine.
- If you’re aiming for muscle growth (hypertrophy), strength training will be a central focus, but you’ll want to include cardio to maintain heart health.
- If your goal is fat loss, you’ll likely want a combination of strength training (to build muscle and increase metabolism) and cardio and/or steps.
- If you’re training for an event, like a triathlon, your focus will shift more toward endurance and sport-specific training.
Once you know your primary goal, you can structure your routine accordingly, but remember, even with a primary goal, balance is key.
Step 2: Choose Your Training Split
The next step is to determine how many days per week you can realistically train, as well as how to break up your routine. Some popular training splits include:
- Full-Body Workouts: Great for beginners and intermediate lifters. You hit all major muscle groups in each session, typically 2-4 times per week.
- Upper/Lower Split: You divide the body into two halves: upper body and lower body. This allows you to focus more on each muscle group and can be done 4 days per week (2 upper body, 2 lower body).
- Push/Pull/Legs Split: This split focuses on movements based on the type of motion—push (chest, shoulders, triceps), pull (back, biceps), and legs (lower body). It’s usually a 3-6 day per week split.
Choosing a split depends on your fitness level, goals, and how much time you have each week. Beginners should start with full-body routines, while intermediate to advanced trainees may benefit from splits that allow more volume and specialization.
Step 3: Incorporate Strength Training
Strength training should be the cornerstone of any balanced workout routine, no matter your fitness goal. It helps build muscle, increase strength, and boost energy.
- Compound Movements: Focus on compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, overhead presses, and rows. These exercises engage multiple muscle groups, making them more efficient for building strength and muscle.
- Isolation Movements: Add some isolation exercises (like bicep curls, tricep extensions, or leg curls) to target specific muscles. These can help improve imbalances and ensure you’re addressing every muscle group.
Example Routine (Full Body Day):
- Squat (compound, lower body)
- Deadlift (compound, full body)
- Push-Ups or Bench Press (compound, upper body)
- Bent-Over Rows (compound, back)
- Bicep Curls (isolation, arms)
- Tricep Dips (isolation, arms)
Step 4: Include Cardiovascular Exercise
Cardiovascular exercise is essential for improving heart health, stamina, and fat loss. Depending on your goals, you can adjust the amount and type of cardio you incorporate.
- Low-Intensity Steady State (LISS): Activities like walking, cycling, or swimming at a steady pace for 30-45 minutes are great for endurance and fat loss without placing too much stress on the body.
- High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): Short, intense bursts of exercise followed by brief rest periods. HIIT is excellent for improving cardiovascular fitness and saving time.
- Endurance Training: For specific goals like running or cycling, longer, more sustained cardio sessions are key.
Example Routine:
- HIIT: 20 minutes of alternating between 30 seconds of sprinting and 1 minute of walking.
- LISS: 30-45 minutes of brisk walking or cycling.
Step 5: Don’t Skip Flexibility and Mobility Work
Flexibility and mobility exercises are crucial for injury prevention, improving joint health, and enhancing recovery. Incorporate stretching, yoga, or dynamic mobility drills into your routine.
- Dynamic Stretching: Before workouts, do dynamic stretches (leg swings, arm circles) to prepare your muscles for movement.
- Static Stretching: After workouts, spend 10-15 minutes stretching to increase flexibility and reduce muscle tightness.
- Foam Rolling: Use foam rolling or myofascial release techniques to relieve muscle tension and improve mobility.
Example Routine:
- Dynamic: Leg swings, arm circles, hip rotations (5-10 minutes pre-workout).
- Static: Hamstring stretch, quad stretch, chest stretch, calf stretch (10-15 minutes post-workout).
Step 6: Prioritize Rest and Recovery
Rest is often the most overlooked aspect of a balanced workout routine, yet it’s crucial for progress. Muscles grow and repair during rest, not during the workout itself. Here’s how to make sure you’re recovering properly:
- Sleep: Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night for optimal recovery and energy levels.
- Rest Days: Schedule at least 1-2 full rest days per week to give your muscles time to recover. Active recovery, such as walking or light yoga, is also an option.
- Listen to Your Body: If you’re feeling overly fatigued or experiencing soreness that doesn’t go away, take extra rest.
Step 7: Track Your Progress
Tracking your workouts is essential to see how you’re progressing over time and ensure you’re staying balanced. Keep a log of your weights, reps, sets, cardio times, and any flexibility milestones. This also depends on the goal. Some progress tools will make more sense than others for the goal at hand.
- Strength Gains: Are you lifting more weight or performing more reps?
- Cardio: Are you improving your endurance or decreasing your recovery time?
- Flexibility: Are you able to stretch further or hold stretches for longer?
Putting It All Together: Sample Weekly Routine
Here’s an example of a balanced weekly workout plan:
- Day 1: Full Body Strength Training + 5-10 minutes conditioning
- Day 2: Cardio (30-45 minutes LISS) + Mobility and Stretching
- Day 3: Lower Body Strength + Core Work
- Day 4: Active Recovery (Yoga or Light Walking)
- Day 5: Upper Body Strength + 5-10 minutes of conditioning
- Day 6: Cardio (30 minutes) + Mobility
- Day 7: Rest or Active Recovery
Final Thoughts
Designing a balanced workout routine isn’t about doing everything at once; it’s about creating a program that addresses all aspects of fitness—strength, cardio, flexibility, and recovery—so you can progress safely and sustainably.
By regularly assessing your goals, adjusting your routine as needed, and ensuring you’re getting enough rest, you can build a workout plan that not only gets you stronger but also keeps you healthier and injury-free. Start simple, stay consistent, and watch yourself grow into the best version of yourself—inside and outside the gym!
