Workout routines to achieve your goal

To find out more about each fitness goal and what sort of training programme best suits you, select your fitness goal under the section ‘Workout routines’ on the left menu. Within each section you will find information on the appropriate warm-up, the specific exercise regime, post-workout stretching, as well as post-workout nutrition tips tailored to each type of fitness training.

Workout phases

There are three major components that are often cited as important for inclusion in any workout regime. These are:

1. Warm-up phase lasting about 7 minutes:

• General dynamic mobility exercises.
• Initial pulse raising activity.
• Specific dynamic mobility exercises to match the training exercises you intend to undertake during the conditioning phase.
• Final pulse raising activity.

2. Conditioning phase lasting 20-45 minutes, this is the workout proper and should include either:

• Cardiorespiratory training or
• Muscular resistance training.

3. Cool-down phase lasting about 7 minutes:

• Low intensity exercise, e.g. walking, to allow pulse rate and temperature to return to normal.
• Static stretching exercises focusing on the areas of the body exercised in the conditioning phase.

We would also include a fourth component:

4. Post-workout hydration and nutrition.

The FITT guidelines

The ACSM has developed overall guidelines for fitness programmes known as the FITT principles. FITT stands for frequency, intensity, time and type. The overall FITT guidelines for the conditioning phases of training programmes for the major types of fitness goal are as follows: