How to Make a Workout Plan (Step by Step)

Quick answer: To make a workout plan, pick one goal, count the days you can train every week, choose a split that hits each muscle twice, and give each day four to six exercises. Program about 10 hard sets per muscle per week, add weight once you beat the top of your rep range, and review every four weeks.

Most people have a "plan" that lives in their head. Monday is chest because it has always been chest. The rest of the week depends on mood and on which bench is free.

That works for a while. Then the numbers stop moving, and nothing is written down that could tell you why.

What is your workout plan actually for?

Start with one goal. Rep ranges, exercise choice and weekly volume all depend on it, and a plan chasing two goals equally tends to shortchange both.

• Build muscle. You want enough weekly sets per muscle, spread across moderate rep ranges.
• Get stronger. You want heavy, low-rep work on a few main lifts and a lot of practice on those lifts.
• General fitness. You want a bit of everything, and showing up consistently matters more than any detail.

Write the goal at the top of the plan in one line, such as "add muscle to chest and back" or "squat bodyweight for 5". When you are unsure whether to add an exercise later, check it against that line.

How many days a week can you train, and which split fits?

Use the number of days you can keep up through a bad week, not the number you would like to manage. A three-day plan you finish beats a five-day plan you abandon by week three.

The American College of Sports Medicine position stand recommends 2 to 3 sessions a week for novices, 3 to 4 for intermediates and 4 to 5 for advanced lifters. The split you choose is a way of fitting your muscles into those days:

• 2 to 3 days: full body every session.
• 4 days: upper/lower, run twice.
• 5 to 6 days: push/pull/legs, or upper/lower plus a full body day.

Whichever you choose, aim to train each muscle at least twice a week. A meta-analysis on training frequency found that, at equal volume, training a muscle twice a week grew it more than training it once. If you are stuck on which muscles to group together, what muscles to work out together goes through the common pairings.

Which exercises should go in your workout plan?

Think in movement patterns before you think about exercise names. A balanced week covers:

• Squat: back squat, goblet squat, leg press
• Hinge: deadlift, Romanian deadlift, hip thrust
• Horizontal push: bench press, push-ups, dumbbell press
• Vertical push: overhead press
• Horizontal pull: barbell row, cable row
• Vertical pull: pull-ups, lat pulldown

Pick one exercise per pattern from what your gym actually has, then add a few isolation lifts (curls, lateral raises, leg curls, calf raises) for the muscles you care most about. The ACSM recommends putting multi-joint lifts before single-joint ones and big muscle groups before small ones, so compounds go first in each session.

Choose exercises you can do well. A goblet squat with good depth teaches you more than a back squat you are nervous about. You can swap it later.

How many sets and reps should a workout plan have?

Count sets per muscle per week. A dose-response meta-analysis by Schoenfeld and colleagues found that each extra weekly set was linked to a 0.37% larger gain in muscle size, and that higher-volume groups gained 3.9% more than lower-volume ones. The authors grouped volume at under 5, 5 to 9 and 10 or more sets per muscle per week, and 10 is the usual starting target. How many sets per week to build muscle covers the upper end.

Pick rep ranges by goal. For beginners, the ACSM recommends loads you can lift for 8 to 12 reps. For muscle growth more broadly it suggests 1 to 12 reps with most work in the 6 to 12 zone. For strength it eventually moves toward heavy sets of 1 to 6.

The range matters less for size than many people assume. A meta-analysis of 21 studies found similar muscle growth from light and heavy loads when sets were taken to failure, but heavy loads built more 1RM strength. What counts is sets taken close to failure, whatever the weight.

For example, ten chest sets across two upper days is five per session: three sets of bench press and two of incline dumbbell press.

How do you make a workout plan progress?

A plan without a progression rule is just a list of exercises you repeat.

The simplest rule is double progression. Pick a rep range, say 8 to 12. Use the same weight until you hit 12 on every set, then add weight and work back up from 8. This matches the ACSM guidance, which suggests raising the load by 2 to 10% once you can do one or two reps more than your target.

Write the rule next to each exercise so you never have to decide mid-session. For your main lifts, plug a recent set into the one rep max calculator so you can see whether your estimated strength is going up over time.

How should you write down your plan, and when should you change it?

Write it in whatever you will open at the gym: a notebook, a phone note or a Google Sheet all work. Keep the format short enough to read between sets:

GOAL: build muscle, 4 days, upper/lower

UPPER A
Bench Press 3x8-12 (add 2.5kg at 3x12)
Barbell Row 3x8-12
Overhead Press 2x8-12
Lat Pulldown 2x10-15
Curls 2x10-15

LOWER A
Squat 3x6-10
Romanian Deadlift 3x8-12
Leg Curl 2x10-15
Calf Raise 3x10-15

Once you have drafted a week like this, paste it in and get a free private link to the workout plan optimizer. It maps which muscles your plan actually hits, shows weekly sets per muscle, and suggests an improved version for your goal and experience.

Review every four weeks. Look at your log, not your memory. If a lift has gone up, leave it alone. If it has not moved in three or four weeks, change one thing: a set, a rep range or the exercise itself. Changing everything at once means you will not know which change helped.

A simple starting plan

1. Write your goal and your days. One line each, at the top of a note or page.
2. Choose the split those days allow. Full body for 2 or 3 days, upper/lower for 4, push/pull/legs for 5 or 6.
3. Fill each day with four to six exercises. Compounds first, one per movement pattern, then isolation work.
4. Set reps and weekly sets. Use 8 to 12 reps for most lifts and start each muscle at about 10 hard sets a week.
5. Run it for four weeks before you judge it. Log every session, then review and change one thing at a time.

If you would rather start from a finished plan, the beginner workout plan has one ready to copy.

Where should you keep your workout plan and log?

The plan only works if you can see what you lifted last time. Here is how the common options compare:

A notebook or notes app is fine for writing the plan. It gets painful at review time, when you have to scroll through four weeks to work out whether your row went up.

Gym Note Plus keeps the plain-text logging and handles the counting for you.

• Type your session the way you already write it, and it becomes structured sets and reps
• Training volume per muscle group, so you can check your weekly set targets
• Estimated 1RM charts and automatic personal record detection
• Before each session it shows what you lifted last time, so you know what to beat
• Any split works: full body, upper/lower, PPL or your own

A workout plan is a set of guesses. Your training log is how you find out which ones were right.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I create a workout plan for myself?

To create a workout plan for yourself, set one goal and count your weekly training days. Choose a split that trains each muscle twice a week, with four to six exercises per session, compounds first. Program 8 to 12 reps and about 10 weekly sets per muscle, adding weight once you reach 12.

How do I make a workout plan to build muscle?

A workout plan to build muscle needs enough weekly volume and a way to progress. Start with about 10 hard sets per muscle per week, since Schoenfeld's 2017 meta-analysis found a graded dose-response between sets and growth. Train each muscle twice a week, mostly at 6 to 12 reps, and take sets close to failure.

How do you make a workout plan for beginners?

To make a workout plan for beginners, use full body sessions two or three days a week, which matches the American College of Sports Medicine recommendation for novices. Each session covers a squat, hinge, push and pull with loads you can lift 8 to 12 times. A simple progression rule matters more at this stage than exercise variety.

How do I make a workout plan in Google Sheets?

To make a workout plan in Google Sheets, give each training day its own tab or block of rows. Use columns for exercise, sets, target reps, weight and notes, and add a row for each week so you can compare sessions side by side. Keep the plan section separate from the logged results.

How long should you follow a workout plan before changing it?

Follow a workout plan for at least four weeks before judging it, then review your training log. Keep exercises that are still progressing. If a lift has stalled for three or four weeks, change one variable, such as sets, rep range or the exercise itself, so you can tell which change made the difference.

Final Takeaways

• Start with one goal. It decides your rep ranges, exercise choices and how much you train.
• Plan around the days you can keep up. Then choose the split that trains each muscle at least twice a week.
• Count weekly sets, not exercises. About 10 hard sets per muscle per week is a sound starting point.
• Give every exercise a progression rule. Double progression in 8 to 12 reps is the simplest one to use.
• Write it down and review it monthly. Change one thing at a time, and use your log to decide.