How to train for a specific goal?

Whenever you are starting to workout, the first thing you need to know is what is your goal? What do you want to achieve in the next months and years? Is it weight loss? Is it strength gain? Is it having a functional body? Or you just want to maintain your current physique?

You can read more about setting your goals here.

For every specific goal you will also have to train a bit differently. As you know, every week i post general workout schedule, which is your guidance. In the weekly schedule i focus on different workouts and different style of workouts. We have 5 days where we are training quite hard and 2 days where we are resting or having low impact calm workouts such as Flexible Mobility and Interval Stretch & Tone.

You can simply follow those workouts or you can make your own schedule.

But how to select a certain workout for a specific goal in mind?

WEIGHT LOSS GOAL

If your goal is weight loss, i suggest you do a lot of full body workouts, with mixture of strength and cardio at the same time. Also dedicate 1 day for a lower body strength and 1 day for an upper body strength. At the end of your strength workout add up your choice of cardio, which can be in a form of a 10-15 min HIIT style or simply choose one cardio exercise (jump rope, Burpees …) and perform it in an interval style (Tabata or 15/45 HIIT).

You will also have to pay attention to your daily calories intake and in order to lose weight, you will have to be in a caloric deficit. You will have to simply consume less than what you are currently eating.

If you would like to know how to calculate your perfect balance for your specific body then check our this article: How to lose weight in a healthy and sustainable way?

So the weekly workout program should look something like this:

1. MONDAY: Lower Body + HIIT
2. TUESDAY: Full Body HIIT
3. WEDNESDAY: REST/Mobility/Yoga
4. THURSDAY: Upper Body + HIIT
5. FRIDAY: Full Body HIIT
6. SATURDAY: Full Body HIIT
7. SUNDAY: REST/Mobility/Yoga

STRENGTH GOAL

If your goal is to gain strength I suggest you primarily focus only on strength exercises and add 1 day of HIIT per week as your choice of cardio. For gaining strength you will have to lift heavier weights, focus more on the slower tempo and on a negative moves or eccentric muscle contraction. You will also have to increase your calorie intake in order to provide more nutrition for your muscles to grow.

One of the most important things about gaining strength is also progressive overload principle, meaning in order to grow, you will progressively have to increase your weights or loads. This usually happens every 6 weeks.

So how do I choose the proper weight to even start with?

The rule is: You will have to try out every exercise and test your strength first. If you can easily do 10-12 reps with the weight you have chosen, the weight is too light. If you are struggling with the reps around 5-7, your weight is obviously too heavy for you and to continue would only mean compromising your form and an injury. And if you are starting to struggle around rep 8-10, your weight is perfect. Stick to this certain weight and test yourself again in 6 weeks.

Suggested weekly schedule for strength gain is below:

1. MONDAY: Lower Body + Abs
2. TUESDAY: Upper Body + Abs
3. WEDNESDAY: Rest/Mobility/Yoga
4. THURSDAY: Full Body HIIT
5. FRIDAY: Lower Body + Abs
6. SATURDAY: Upper Body + Abs
7. SUNDAY: Rest/Mobility/Yoga

IF YOUR GOAL IS BEING SHREDDED (lean), STRONG AND FUNCTIONAL

The next goal is for people who are already fit and strong but they want to get their body to the next level, be it on the strength side, or leaner side and on more functional and flexible side. I personally train similar and it provided me with the best results, which i could easily maintain even if i didn’t train every week as much.

With this method you get your strength but at the same time you will shred off some extra stubborn fat you still have.

Weekly schedule for Shredded Functional Strong body:

1. MONDAY: Lower Body
2. TUESDAY: Full Body Strength HIIT (Sweat to Shred Series)
3. WEDNESDAY: Upper Body
4. THURSDAY: Rest/Mobility/Yoga
5. FRIDAY: Full Body Strength HIIT (Sweat to Shred Series)
6. SATURDAY: Full Body Strength HIIT (Sweat to Shred Series)
7. SUNDAY: Rest/Mobility/Yoga

For me personally the best combo for having strong and lean body is combination of HIIT style and weights. I am also doing Intermittent fasting 3x per week if I really want to shred my body faster.

You can read more about this topics here:

Benefits of HIIT

Intermittent Fasting 

There are also other workout and fitness approaches with different workout splits and weekly schedule and timings. And if you are following my workout styles, then the upper three goals are easily managed with the workout series i am providing. But if your goal is to workout with a body building fitness style in the gym, my workout schedules might not be a great help here. But nevertheless, you can still chose a few of the fun cardio HIIT routines, which will leave you 100% breathless.