WHAT DOES A FORMAL/TRADITIONAL EXERCISE PROGRAM LOOK LIKE
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends the following exercise session for an apparently healthy individual starting an exercise program. This is a basic exercise program for someone starting out. More involved, specific, or health concern programs can be designed by your trainer, but all of the following phases should be followed in some fashion.
Exercise Session
There are five phases to a basic fitness program and they proceed in the following order:
1. Warm Up Phase
2. Flexibility Phase
3. Cardiovascular Training Phase
4. Resistance/Strength/Muscular/Functional Training Phase
5. Cool Down Phase with Stretches
The Warm Up Phase prepares the body for physical activity. Appropriate activities are light and rhythmical body motions such as walking, exercise bike, or calisthenics (marching in place), at a low intensity, for 2 to 5 minutes (learn more about the warm up phase here).
The Flexibility Phase is done before the aerobic phase or after the cool down phase (more important), or both. All the major muscle groups should be stretched in a slow and cautious manner (chest, shoulders, abdomen - mid torso, low back, quadriceps - front legs, hamstrings - rear legs, inner thigh, outer thigh, and calves). Stretches should be held for 15-30 seconds for 1-3 repetitions (see some of my favorites).
The Resistance/Strength/Muscular/Functional Training Phase uses activities such as weight machines, free weights (such as dumbbells and barbells), bands, kettlebells, balls, or ones body weight. These are all considered muscular training activities. Each body part should be exercised through an activity (chest, shoulders, biceps - front of arm, triceps - rear of arm, abdomen - mid torso, low back, quadriceps - front legs, hamstrings - rear legs, and calves, through a multi-joint, compound exercise (squat) or one that isolates an individual muscle (biceps curl). See a fitness instructor for proper use of machines or exercises. The amount of exercises are endless. Proper execution is extremely important (see basic exercise list or see a very thorough description and list here).
Frequency is 2 to 3 times per week.
Intensity for strength development, the resistance of the exercise should allow 2 to 8 repetitions of an exercise and for muscular endurance greater than 15. To increase both muscular strength and endurance, use weights that will not allow more than 12 repetitions and perform at least 8 to 10, we recommend 10-12 reps. Effort is the key to strength training. You must put out an effort at the end of each set where another couple of repetitions would not be possible, momentary muscular fatigue.
Duration, 1 to 3 sets of an exercise for each body part. (See some of the basic muscular exercises list here).
1 set for novice exercisers and 3 sets for advanced exercisers.
In addition to resistance training we highly recommend stabilization training for the spine at least 2 times per week. This includes performing 1 to 3 sets of planks, sidebridges, bridges, and crunches. There is a form of each that most people can perform from a novice exerciser to an advanced exercise (see Simple Program for Core Exercises). See a fitness instructor to learn how to perform stabilization exercises. We also recommend additional balance and functional training exercises (see a very thorough list here). Generally, 1-2 balance and functional exercises should be part of a traditional exercise program.
Cardiovascular Training Phase
Mode is the type of activity that is performed. It should be continuous, rhythmic activities such as walking, running, swimming, biking, elliptical training, exercise class, hiking, exercise class, etc..
Frequency is the number of times per week that the activity is performed. Typically, aerobic activity should be performed 3 to 6 times per week. If weight loss is your goal perform up to 7 times a week.
Intensity is the degree of effort put forth. Someone starting a fitness program should work at a fairly light to somewhat hard intensity. Learn how to measure RPE and heart rate to judge intensity (heart rate and RPE measuring). As you get more fit increase the intensity to somewhat hard to hard at points in your training session.
Duration is the time spent performing aerobic activity. The ACSM recommends at least 15 to 20 minutes a day for healthy adults. I prefer at least 20 minutes. Approach 45 minutes if weight loss is your goal.
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is highly recommended as you get more FIT in addition to continuous training 2-3 x a week after the first several weeks of training. It is a form of vigorous exercise and can be part of an continuous aerobic session or can be done on its own. HIIT is a cardiovascular exercises that is ramped up beyond your comfort level briefly 10, 20, 30 or more seconds and then is brought down to something that is moderate. This cycle of high and low is done for several cycles. Typically HIIT alone sessions include a warm up of low level activity (5 minutes or so) and then intervals of high and low for whatever duration you can tolerate. Some people like 30 seconds of high intensity activity with 60 seconds of low intensity activity over several cycles. Find what works best for you (see some basic aerobic suggestions here). See Master List of Aerobic Options including ability levels.
The Cool Down Phase is performed at the end of the aerobic session. Its purpose is to bring the body back to a resting state in a gradual manner. Instead of stopping completely at the end of an aerobic session it is very important to slow down gradually by lowering aerobic intensity for 3 to 5 minutes. Light stretching is recommended at the end of the cool down (learn more about the warm up phase here).
Progression
An important point to make about exercise is that if you perform the same activity at the same duration and intensity you will most likely remain at the same fitness level. To prevent this you need progression. This is where you challenge yourself periodically by increasing your speed and/or duration when cardiovascular training and increasing the amount of weight lifted or number of sets when strength training. Eventually you will reach a point of fitness that you desire. At this point you can continue the same program understanding that you will maintain the level of fitness that you wanted to achieve.