Workout Generator
General Instructions
Generate a workout containing any or all of the styles of training by setting the desired section's slider above 0. Each section's slider represents how much work (volume) the generated workout will have. Their units of measurement are different and are explained in their respective sections below.
Strength Instructions
The strength slider selects how many sets/week for each movement pattern or muscle group* that you would like to do. You'll be able to modify each movement pattern's volume for this specific workout later. 10-20 sets/week for each movement pattern or muscle group is recommended. Below 10 is generally not enough stimulus and above 20 is usually too much to recover from for optimal results. Additionally, between 2 and 6 sets per session is recommended.
What is strength training?
The primary goal of strength training is improving muscular strength, size, endurance, and/or power. Strength training has longer rest periods(1-5 minutes), exercises that can be progressed by increasing the strength, and 'hard sets' taken within a few reps of technical or complete failure. Workouts be full body, or split throughout the week by various criteria such as upper/lower and push/pull.
Training Max
The Training Max slider is what % of your 1 rep max is used when calculating the intensity for the generated workout. The default of 95% makes for a challenging, but not overly draining workout. Anything over 100% can be used if you want to push for new PRs.
Movement Patterns
This section is where you select how much of your weekly volume for each movement pattern that you would like to include in this workout. For example, if you perform a full body workout three times each week, you would set each slider to 33%. If you didn't want to include a certain movement pattern at all, you would set its slider to 0%.
You'll want to end up with anywhere from 3-10 sets for each movement pattern in a single session for optimal results. Anything over 10 sets becomes detrimental and anything under 3 leaves a lot of unused potential results. 4-6 sets per movement pattern is optimal in terms of effort and results.
Rep Preferences
If you'd like to train specifically for strength, endurance, or power you can select what % of volume you'd like to be in those rep ranges. The volume can be distributed by:
- Movement Patterns: patterns are chosen randomly and all sets of the contained exercises are affected
- Exercises: exercises are chosen randomly and all sets are affected
- Exercises w/in Movement Pattern: exercises are chosen randomly within each pattern and all sets are affected
- Sets w/in Movement Pattern: sets are chosen randomly within each pattern to be affected
Exercise Preferences
Choose what exercises you want to be included and excluded from the generated workout. Included exercises are automatically chosen if allowed by the # of exercises. Excluded exercises are removed from the pool of possible exercises.
Power Instructions
The power training slider selects the average number of sets per exercise you would like to do. Between 3 and 6 sets per exercise is recommended and between 1 and 3 exercises is recomended. Power training is taxing and high intensity. Resting 48-72 hours between sessions is recommended and a good strength base should be developed before starting it.
What is power training?
Where strength training improves the amount of force you can produce, the goal of power training is to improve the speed at which you can produce force. As such, every rep of power training is meant to be performed with the intent to move as quickly as you safely can. Since each rep is high effort, the number of reps per set is kept low and rest between sets is long. Additionally, power training exercises are ballistic, meaning that the weight can be accelerated throughout the entire movement. As such, some, but not all strength training exercises are a good fit for training power.
Include Categories
Power training has been split out into several categories that can be included or excluded when during exercise selection. Upper includes upper body exercises, like clap push ups and med ball slams. Lower includes lower body exercises, like squats and standing long jump. Combination contains exercises that include both an upper and a lower body component such as thrusters and burpees. Finally, speed/agility includes exercises like sprints and cone drills.
Circuit Instructions
The circuit training slider selects how many minutes you would like circuit training session to be. Depending on the desired adaptation, a circuit training session can last a few minutes and be very intense, or last an hour and be performed at a low intensity.
What is circuit training?
Circuit training aims to improve both muscular strength as well as your cardiovascular endurance. Circuit workouts consist of several exercises performed in order for multiple rounds with little to no rest. Included exercises can be strength, cardio, and full body movements. Circuits can be generated for particular muscle groups or for specific cardiovascular adaptations.
Exercise Preferences
Select what muscle groups you would like to work. Circuits can be full body or more focused depending on your goals. Exercises for the circuit are randomly chosen from up to five categories:
- Upper: chest, back, shoulders, arms
- Lower: legs, glutes
- Core: abs, obliques, lower back
- Full: multiple categories
- Cardio: traditional cardio exercises
You can also choose specific exercises you want to be included and excluded from the generated workout. Included exercises are automatically chosen if allowed by the # of exercises. Excluded exercises are removed from the pool of possible exercises.
Cardio Instructions
The cardio training slider selects how many minutes/week you would like to train if all your training was done at your base aerobic pace. For most people, between 2 and 4 hours per week is recommended for optimal health benefits. However, performance can continue to be improved for advanced trainees by putting in more time.
What is cardio training?
The primary goal of cardio training is to improve some aspect of your cardiovascular system and/or performance in a traditional cardio exercise. Cardio workouts usually have one rhythmic exercise performed for an extended period of time or for multiple intervals. Workouts are often organized weekly by difficulty as well as the specific aspect to be improved.
Weekly Volume %
Select what % of your weekly volume you'd like to include in this cardio session. For example, if you train cardio 4 times each week, select 25%.
Focus
Cardio sessions are randomly generated based on the adaptation you intend to produce. These different adaptations are split across several categories or phases.
- Base Aerobic: basic/easy session to build aerobic capacity or recover. Light speed work
- Hard Aerobic: long or faster paced session to build aerobic capacity and work near your lactate threshold
- Incline/Resistance: variable resistance session focused on improving strength and power
- Anaerobic: intense interval session to improve VO2 max and/or lactate capacity
- Sprint: short repeats with complete rest in between to improve top speed, acceleration, or speed endurance
Mobilization
Adds in mobilization training with the goal of aiding recovery, and improving flexibility and mobility.
