How Do I Plan My Rotations?

My friend Megan requested I do a post on how I plan my workout rotations. As I was taking the pictures I thought, either they'll think I'm totally crazy or they will appreciate my creativity. Hmmmm....



First up, my workouts. I have a crazy amount of DVD's that I have collected over the years. These are the half that I use most frequently. I like to have them easily accessible.

This is my workout bible. I keep everything workout related in this binder. I would cry for days if I lost it.

This is my Rotation Planner. I just grab my binder and get comfy then I plan out my workouts. I plan out 5 weeks at a time. 4 weeks of intense workouts and 1 week of less intense recovery workouts. My recovery weeks are made up of lighter cardio and yoga. When I'm really worn out I'll make the whole week just yoga to get myself ready for another round of tough work.

Once I've erased and rearranged to my hearts content, I type out my set rotation. Everyday I just wake up, look at my Rotation and off I go.

I just finished up Cathe's STS program. This is one of the awesome workout cards she provides on her workout planning website. It is a fabulous tool to have. It makes keeping track of what weight you used and how you felt during the workout so much easier.

I also have every workout I own broken down into lengths, premixes, muscle focus, etc. This is a great tool to have when you are planning your workouts. It makes it easier to figure out what workout you need to work your body evenly.

I also have the workouts listed by cardio only, strength only, intervals, upper body only and lower body only.

For each of the strength workouts I have a tab that lists which exercise you do in each workout. This makes it so much easier to know which equipment you'll be using so you don't have to waste time retrieving it in the middle of your workout.

This is also a helpful tool for keeping track of your progress. I know if I need to go up or down in weight the next round by charting it. If you don't write your weight down you will miss out on seeing your improvements in black and white. Knowing you've become stronger is very motivating.

Now for those of you who think I have WAY too much time on my hands, I do..........NOT! This took me a while to make but it was so worth it. I just previewed each workout and broke it down. This was a lot of work initially but it saves me so much time now. Working out is much more efficient when you have a well laid out plan.

Do any of you have a plan when it comes to working out? Do you just pop in whatever fancies you that day? Do you plan your workout based on how you feel?

One of the best things about making my rotation ahead of time is that I HAVE to do the workout that is listed whether I like it or not. I don't want my body unbalanced so I plug away at it and in the end I benefit greatly from it. Before rotation planning I would workout based on my energy level that day. Eventually I was doing shorter and easier workouts. My planning snapped me out of that fast! Try it. See if you like it then let me know : )

Nicole