How To Build Your Own Workout Routine At Home

how to build your own workout routine at home

While working out at the gym is ideal, working out at home can be just as effective if done correctly. A successful workout shouldn’t depend on the location you are in, the exercise equipment you use, or the personal trainer you have. It should depend on you, your body, and your workout routine. You can go to the best gym and have all the equipment in the world but if you don’t have a solid workout routine established you won’t have a successful workout. Which is why, it’s important to create a workout routine that will help you train and strengthen your muscles effectively and take your fitness to the next level. If you’re unsure how to create your own workout routine at home, don’t worry. Today I will help you build your own workout routine, based on your goals and schedule.

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how to build your own workout routine at home

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What Is A Workout Routine?

A workout routine is a sequence of bodyweight and/or equipment-based exercises designed (by someone else or yourself) to help you train specific muscles, build strength, or burn calories in a precise manner. Although you can definitely workout for fun (do 20 squats, 15 push-ups, etc), it’s important to come up with concrete workout routine if you want to see specific results (toned abs, burn x calories, etc.) 

WORKOUT ROUTINES ARE GOAL-BASED.

And notice how I said “workout routines” instead of “workout routine“? Yeah, when you get sucked in to the world of fitness and are training regularly, you’ll realize that you can’t stick to one specific routine. You have to constantly change your workout routines as your body gets stronger and your goals get bigger. Nevertheless, you have to start somewhere. Understanding the purpose behind workout routines is the first step in creating a successful workout routine. So, why are workout routines important? 

Workout routines help you:

  • Train specific muscles in a specific manner.
  • Target a certain area in your body.
  • Determine what exercises to do during your workout, the order you should perform each exercise in, and how long you should repeat an exercise for.
  • Understand the relationship between exercises.
  • Develop consistency in your workouts.
  • Build your strength. 

A workout routine can be followed daily, frequently or occasionally. It all depends on the type of workout routine you create. 

Examples Of Workout Routines

Creating workout routines are easier than you think. In fact, they are fun to create. Although I enjoy following workout routines on YouTube, I absolutely enjoy building my own workout routines at home. One of my hobbies actually include coming up with new workout ideas, testing them, and creating new workout routines. And to show you how easy it is to build your own workout routine, here are two of my favorite workout routines I have created:

10 Minute Plank Workout – Train abs & arms!

This workout includes:

  • 14 bodyweight exercises.
  • One break.
  • Fun plank variations (plank-based workout)
  • A beginner friendly version.

Workout Features/Bonuses:

  • No equipment is required.
  • Train abs and arms in 10 minutes.
  • Strengthen your core.

Click here to try the 10 Minute Plank Workout yourself!

7 Minute Booty Workout – Train & tone glutes!

This workout includes:

  • 9 Exercises
  • Glute-bridges variations (this is a glute-bridge based workout)
  • A modified version for beginners.

Workout features/bonuses:

  • Train and tone your glute muscles in 7 minutes.
  • There is no equipment required.
  • No squats, jumping or lunges!

Click here to try the 7 Minute Booty Workout yourself!

If you want to train your arms, abs, and booty at home, feel free to give these workouts a try!


How To Build Your Own Workout Routine At Home


Building the perfect workout routine for yourself

After understanding what a workout routine is, the important of workout routines, and seeing examples of workout routines, let’s get to the core of this post. Whether you’re a beginner or have been working out for awhile, it’s absolutely necessary to build a workout routine that you feel comfortable with and have time for. It makes no sense to build a workout routine that won’t give you any results or one that won’t be executed due to lack of time.

Therefore, it’s crucial to build a workout routine around your schedule, goals, and level of expertise. In this guide, I will help you build your own workout routine step by step from scratch AND I will build my own workout routine as I demonstrate the entire process to you. But, before we begin, print out my free workout routine builder printable. 

Click on the image below to be directed to the PDF!

workout routine builder


STEPS TO BUILD YOUR OWN WORKOUT ROUTINE AT HOME

1. Set a workout goal

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, before you do anything, YOU always have to know your why. When all else fails, your why is what keeps you going.  Working out for the fun of it is perfectly fine, but if you want to take your workout seriously, be consistent, and see results, you have to know why you are doing it. So, it’s necessary to set a goal for each workout routine. Ask yourself, what is the goal of your workout and what do you want to train? 

WORKOUT ROUTINE GOAL IDEAS:

  • Burn x amount of calories.
  • Lose weight.
  • Strengthen your legs.
  • Tone your glutes.
  • Get a six-pack!
  • Grow your booty.
  • Build muscles on your ___!
  • Tone your arms. 
  • Get a smaller waist.
  • Build endurance. 
  • Sweat without using equipment. 
  • Train your full body with bodyweight exercises.
  • Go from having a sedentary body to an active body.
  • Get stronger. 

As you can see, there are so many different kinds of goals you can set for yourself. And you can be as specific or as broad as you want to be. So, really it’s up to you to decide the goal behind the workout routine you create. Once you have set a goal, it’s time to begin filling out the Workout Routine Builder Worksheet (you printed above)

So, let’s start off by filling in the workout goal section with the goal you just created.

GABBY’S WORKOUT ROUTINE EXAMPLE:

I have decided to focus my workout routine around my abs and glutes, so my goal in this workout will be to tone my abs and glutes. 

Workout Goal: Tone Abs & Glutes

2. Decide what muscles to train

Depending on the goal that you set in step one, decide what muscles you have to train in order to accomplish that goal. You can either train one muscle group or many at once. Again, it all depends on your workout goal. Below are 7 main muscle groups you can train.

MAIN MUSCLE GROUPS:

  • Arm muscles
  • Chest muscles
  • Back muscles
  • Core (abs) muscles
  • Glutes muscles
  • Legs muscles 
  • Calves muscles 

If your goal is more general (burn calories, get stronger, sweat, etc), you don’t have to choose a specific muscle to train. You can just write “full body” 

GABBY’S WORKOUT ROUTINE EXAMPLE:

Since my goal is to tone my abs and glutes, the muscles I will train are abs and glutes. 

Muscles to Train: Abs and Glutes

3. Choose a type of workout to do

Once you have decided the muscle or muscles you want to train during your workout, it’s time to choose the type of workout you will create. If you are only training one muscle group, here are some workout ideas:

WORKOUT IDEAS: TRAINING ON MUSCLE GROUP AT A TIME

  • Booty Workout 
  • Abs Workout
  • Arms Workout
  • Legs Workout
  • Core Workout

WORKOUT IDEAS: TRAINING TWO OR MORE MUSCLE GROUPS AT A TIME

  • Full Body Workout
  • Dance Workout
  • Cardio Workout
  • Abs & Booty Workout
  • Arms & Booty Workout
  • Arms & Abs Workout

GABBY’S WORKOUT ROUTINE EXAMPLE:

Since I am training my ab and glute muscles, my workout will be a combination of both abs and booty. 

Type of Workout: Abs & Booty Workout

4. Determine the length of the workout

After you have set a goal, decided what muscles you need to train to accomplish that goal, and chose the kind of workout you need to do, it’s time to set the length of the workout. A single workout routine should last anywhere between 5 minutes to an 1 hour, depending on how much time you have! 

Now, since you can create a variety of workout routines and combine them during your workout sessions, I suggest that you don’t create a workout routine longer than 30 minutes. Especially if you’re a beginner. It’s better to combine different workout routines everyday than repeat the same long workout every single day. Makes sense? So, choose the length of your workout wisely. Ask yourself, how long do I want this workout routine to last? 

WORKOUT ROUTINE LENGTH IDEAS

  • 5 minutes 
  • 7 minutes
  • 10 minutes 
  • 12 minutes
  • 15 minute 
  • 20 minute 
  • 25 minute 
  • 30 minutes

GABBY’S WORKOUT ROUTINE EXAMPLE

For the particular workout routine I am creating, I have decided that the length of the workout will be 7 minutes.  

5. Choose what exercises to include

Now it’s time for the fun part (or so I think!) It’s time to choose what exercises to include in your routine. While there are hundreds of amazing exercises to choose from, not all exercises will fit into the routine you are creating. 

CHOOSE EXERCISES WISELY

Every exercise that you choose has to help you achieve the goal you set in step one. So, if your goal is to tone and train your arms, you definitely don’t want to include any booty exercises in your routine. Even though booty exercises are great for you (especially for your glutes), there is no place for them in an arm workout routine.

If you’re a beginner, this part will require you to do some research first so that you can be more familiar with all kinds of exercises – here’s a beginners guide to help you!

MAKE A LIST OF EXERCISES

Make a list of all the exercises (and variations/modifications of certain exercises) that you want to include in your workout. Need help coming up with exercises? 

Here are 100 effective and easy to do bodyweight exercises.

Also, you can always repeat the same exercises a few times during your workout. So, please don’t feel like you have to come up with 60 different exercises. 

CHOOSE THE LENGTH OF EACH EXERCISE

How long do you want every exercise last? Personally, I like to measure the time I repeat an exercise with time (30 seconds of squats) rather than with repetitions (10 reps of squats) I find this method to be more accurate and precise. Here are some ideas:

  • 15 seconds
  • 20 seconds
  • 30 seconds *recommended*
  • 1 minute 

GABBY’S WORKOUT ROUTINE EXAMPLE

I have chosen to include 12 different exercises in my workout routine.

Exercises: reverse crunch, russian twists, donkey kicks, plank, plank toe taps, glute bridges, glute bridge hold, heel touches, flutter kicks, close glute bridge, close glute bridge hold, and russian twist hold.

Length: all exercises will be completed for 30 seconds, except for the russian twist hold (this exercise will completed for an entire minute)

6. Decide equipment vs no equipment

Do you want to include any equipment in your workout? Or do you want your workout to be bodyweight based? This is up to you! You can always start with a bodyweight workout and then increase the difficulty by adding in equipment as you go. Make sure to circle your option in the workout builder printable.

GABBY’S WORKOUT ROUTINE EXAMPLE:

I have decided to not include any equipment in this particular workout routine. 

This is what my worksheet looks like after filling it in:

7 minute abs and booty workout routine example

7. Build the workout

It’s time to build the workout!

CHOOSE THE BEST EXERCISES

Based on the list of exercises you created in step 5, narrow down the amount of exercises to only the very best exercises. Make sure the amount of exercises you decide to stay with fill in the entire workout time. So, if the length of your workout routine is 10 minutes, make sure you have enough exercises to last you for those 10 minutes.

CHOOSE THE SEQUENCE OF EXERCISES

Once you have chosen what exercises to include in your workout, it’s up to you to choose the sequence of the exercises. I like to think of workout routines sort of like an essay. Every essay needs to include an introduction, body, and conclusion. So decide what exercises you want to include at the beginning, middle, and end of the workout. 

TEST THE WORKOUT

Once you have you have chosen the sequence of your workout, it’s time to test your workout. Be sure to take some notes while you are testing your workout so that you can make adjustments if you need to afterwards. Here are some things to look out for:

1. Is the workout too simple?

If the routine is too simple and doesn’t require much of your energy or strength, you need to adjust it. A weak routine will not produce any results. So, consider replacing some of the easier exercises from the routine with more intense exercises, or add more exercises to the routine and make it a few minutes longer.

2. Is the workout too difficult?

If the routine is extremely difficult and almost impossible to follow, adjust it. An extremely difficult routine will drain you and make you not want to workout again. So, if the routine you created is too challenging, eliminate some exercises or replace them with exercises that are easier to do. 

3. Is the workout actually targeting the muscles you want to train? 

Where are you feeling the burn? If you created a workout to train your abs, make sure that you are feeling the burn in your abs and not your legs. Otherwise, the workout won’t really help train your abs. So, consider switching up exercises and including more exercises that target the area you want to train. I suggest that you play around with your workout routine (testing and adjusting) until you feel like it is fairly easy to follow, but intense enough to give you RESULTS

8. Finalize the workout routine

At this point, you should have done the following things:

  • set a realistic but ambitious goal
  • decided what muscles to train
  • chose the kind of workout to do
  • decided the length of the workout
  • chose the exercises to include & how long you will repeat them for 
  • decided whether you want to include equipment or not in your workout
  • built a rough draft of your workout routine 
  • tested out your workout routine 

If you’ve missed a step, now would be a good time to catch up (; 

FILL IN WORKOUT ROUTINE PRINTABLE

For those of you who have successfully followed steps 1-6, it’s time to finalize your workout by creating your workout routine using the printable I created for you! So, download the free workout routine printable I have provided for you below and let’s fill it out together! Fill in the workout routine printable with the exercises you have chosen, the amount of time you will repeat each exercise for, and the muscle each exercise targets!

workout routine

9. Approve your workout routine

If you were able to test our your workout and fill in this workout worksheet without a problem, your workout routine has been completed successfully. However, if you encountered any trouble while testing out the workout routine you created or filling out this worksheet, consider going back a few steps and trying again. Remember, a great workout routine will give you great results. While a weak and poorly thought out workout routine will give you poor results. 

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Phew! That was a lot to take in, wasn’t it? Although the process seems pretty long, I promise it gets easier every time you create a new workout. I hope you found this guide helpful and were able to build your own workout routine at home! If you have any specific questions, don’t be afraid to drop them in the comments below!

Until next time,

GABBY

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