Search
  • Ben Banbury
    • Nov 15, 2019
    • 3 min read

How To Build Your Own Workout

Updated: Jul 10, 2021

The complete guide to building your own workout. Follow my simple 4 step formula to building the workout perfect for you



I want you to refer back to this time and time again, so I'm going to hop straight to it!


Step 1: Pick The Areas You Want To Work


As a rule of thumb if your goal is to lose weight, I'd recommend rooting for a full body workout as you leave taxing the whole body


It's simple maths; work more muscles - burn more calories


For strengthening and toning I'd go for an upper / lower split as this allows you to spend a bit more time stressing the muscle which in turn results in muscular change


But hey, those are just suggestions, we're here to build your workout not mine!


Muscles Groups


  • Legs

  • Back

  • Chest

  • Shoulders

  • Arms

  • Abs


Step 2: Pick Your Exercises


Exercises fall into two brackets: Isolation and compound movements


This just refers to how many joints are moving through the exercise


For example, a bicep curl is an isolation exercise as the only joint moving is the elbow


A squat on the other hand, is a compound exercise as the hips, knees and ankles are all moving


Compound movements burn more calories and stress the body much more effectively than isolation exercises


Think of this like baking a cake; the compound movements make the flour, sugar and eggs and the isolation exercises make the icing topping and pretty decoration on top

Take a pick from the list below or add in your own exercises


10 Body Weight Compound Exercises


  1. Squats

  2. Pressups

  3. Lunges

  4. Pullups (or Inverted rows)

  5. Dips

  6. Sumo Squats

  7. Diamond Pressups

  8. Step ups

  9. Glute Bridge

  10. Bicycle Crunch

8 Isolation Exercises

  2. Bicep Curls

  3. Skullcrushers

  4. Lateral Raises

  5. Calf Raises

  6. Crunches

  7. Tricep Pressdown

  8. Hamstring Curl

  9. Leg Extension



Step 3: Pick The Time or Reps For Each Exercise


For fat loss I tend to use time, as your main concern is getting your heart rate up and moving as much as possible. As you're against the clock you can always speed up or slow down to ensure you finish the set time


For strengthening and toning, reps tend to be a better option as your focus of the session is to stress the muscle as much as possible in a controlled manor


Also by setting reps you can clearly see if you're getting stronger. For example if week one you do 10 reps and week four you do 15, you know you've become stronger

Time / Reps


20-30 seconds: Best for short, intense cardio intervals

40 seconds: G