How do you come up with your clients workouts?
I work with most of my clients in a pool two times a week for 30 minute sessions. Since it is only twice a week for what I feel isn’t too long of a time frame I always try to do workouts that incorporate both strength training and cardio. I tend to use what has worked for me as well as other resources to come up with ideas for desigining each of their sessions (as well as what their individual needs are, goals are etc). That being said though I really would like to know how you come up with designing your clients workouts. This seems to be the hardest thing for me to do so I am wondering what kind of process you each go through to make something that works. I am the kind of person that gets bored quickly but I have also read that you aren’t suppose to change up routines too often (maybe every three-four weeks). I want to be effective but not repetitive either. How do you come up with your sessions/workouts? Do you have any suggestions?
After I assess them, and I know their goals and commitment level, that’s really where I plan the workouts.
I have a simple checklist of muscle groups and planes of motion. Whatever workout I’ve planned for a client, I look briefly at my checklist to ensure that I haven’t skipped a muscle group or a plane of motion.
One client pays me for the work-out write-ups, which I do in Excel and email to her after the workout. For this client, I write the goal and purpose of that workout at the top. Then I’ll write the duration of the activity and the intensity level. Down the left side, I write the exercises in the order we’re doing them. In the next column to the right, I write the muscle groups mainly worked, and in the column next to that, I write down the plane of motion. This is one of my clients who travels a lot, so she can take the body-weight exercise plans with her and exercise in her hotel room.
The more write-ups I do of workouts, the faster I am at planning them, and the easier it is for me to plan in my head “on the fly” if I have a plan for a client on one day, but they come in with an injury or a different goal than I had planned for.