How to Build Your Own Athletic Workout Plan
Are you one of those athletes that walk in the gym that stretches for a couple of minutes then go do an exercise or workout that you saw on social media?
By knowing how to build your own athletic workout plan, you will maximize your performance and reduce the risk of getting hurt. It will also save you time by not having to figure out what to do every time you step into the gym.
When it comes to planning your workouts, you need to understand that you only have a certain amount of energy that you can use up. If you don’t prioritize the most important thing, you will waste time and energy, and eventually not have enough in the tank to improve important athletic qualities.
For example, if you start with isolating muscles groups and training those to fatigue, you no longer have the energy to do exercises that will actually help with your athleticism.
This is why you need to plan your workouts smartly to make sure that you’re getting the most out of your training session.
Athlete Workout Plan Template
1. Warmup
This can be broken down into 3 categories:
- Prehab/Corrective Work
These are exercises that help take care of your weaknesses/previous or current injuries. This is the best time to do it because it’s the first thing that you will be doing in your warmup which will help you stay consistent with strengthening those areas. Pick 1-3 prehab/corrective movements.
For example, if you’ve always had ankle issues, this is where you can add some ankle stability/mobility exercises to improve that area.
- Dynamic Movements
This is where you will do general warmup movements to increase your body temperature and loosen up your body for the training session. It is also good to get specific with your warmup depending on what you’re going to do in your training session. Pick 2-5 general warmup movements.
For example, if you’re doing a speed training session then your dynamic movements will consist of movement patterns that will help you sprint better. Stability and mobility work for the lower-body and core area will be an empahasis.
- Neural Activation
This part of your warmup is where you “wake up” your nervous system with movements that are quicker and more explosive. This will help you feel primed and ready for your workout.
For example, using the speed training session above, you can do your ABC skip variations, low bounds, and hops to get you moving quicker and work on your speed coordination.
Examples:
| Prehab/Corrective Work | Dynamic Movements | Neural Activation |
| 3 Way Ankle Mobility KOT Split Squat Bent Knee Calf Raise | Dynamic Spiderman Lunge Lunge w/ T-Spine Rotation 180 Lateral Lunge | A-Skip Double Switch B-Skip High Knees |
2. Speed/Agility/Plyometric Movements
Once you’re done with your warmup and you feel ready to start your training, you want to begin with your speed, agility, and plyometric movements.
This is where you want to perform all the fast movements first because they are best to perform when you’re fresh and in a non-fatigue state.
Examples:
| Day 1: Speed Movements | Day 2: Agility Movements | Day 3: Plyometric Movements |
| Falling Sprints Half Kneel Sprints | Reactive Crossover Lateral Shuffle Crossover Sprint | Depth Triple Jump Hurdle Jump |
3. Explosive Movements
When you finished your speed movements, the next best thing you can perform are your explosive movements. These are typically your Olympic lift variations and weighted drills that need to be executed with speed. It isn’t going to be as fast as the first category since you’re adding load, but it’s still faster that your normal exercises that are performed with control.
Examples:
| Explosive Movements |
| Hang Power Clean Landmine Push Press Trapbar Clean Pull |
4. Strength Movements
This is where you want to perform your compound lifts. Compound lifts are movements that work multiple muscle groups at the same time. These are exercises that will help you build strength for your lower and upper body.
Examples:
| Strength Movements |
| Trapbar Deadlift Barbell Incline Bench Press Front Squat |
5. Accessory Movements
This is the part of your workout where you can work on the smaller details of training. This is where you can focus on hitting a certain muscle group, working on imbalances, and weaknesses of your body.
This is where you can add a variety of movement patterns that involve different planes of motion. Also, you can do some stability and balance drills by utilizing unilateral movements to improve your overall performance.
Examples:
Barbell Oscillating Split Squat
Hopefully, this helps you plan your workout next time in the gym to help you maximize your performance and reduce your chances of getting hurt. This template is a great start to programming for yourself. As you learn more and understand how to train, you can definitely start thinking outside of this guide and do what works for you. Although, the majority of athletes would continue to benefit from sticking to this workout template.
