How to write a workout program for clients

Most programs fail on the last step, not the first five. The training is sound, but the person holding it cannot tell what "DB RDL 3x10 @ 2 RIR" means at 6am in a busy gym. This guide covers both halves: what goes in the program, and how to write it down.

If you already write programs for a living, skip to the half most programs miss: writing it for someone who trains without you.

Who is the program for?

Write for one real person, even if hundreds will buy it. A program for "anyone who wants to get fit" has no way to choose between two good options. A program for "a busy parent with dumbbells at home and three free mornings" makes most of the choices for you.

Settle four things before you pick a single exercise:

• The goal. One outcome they would notice: a first pull-up, a stronger squat, visible muscle, a 5 km run without stopping.
• Their experience. Someone in their first year responds to almost any sensible plan. Someone with five years behind them needs more precision.
• Their week. How many days, and how many minutes per session, they can keep up for the whole program.
• Their kit. A full gym, a pair of dumbbells or nothing at all.

If you are writing for one client, add a pre-exercise screen and their injury history. If you are writing for an audience, say plainly who the program is not for.

How many days a week should it run?

As few as they will keep. The best frequency is the one the person holds for the whole program, and a missed session costs more than a modest plan.

The American College of Sports Medicine's position stand on progression gives a starting point by experience: two to three days a week for novices, three to four for intermediate lifters and four to five for advanced lifters.² For muscle growth, a meta-analysis of the frequency research found that training each major muscle group twice a week beat once a week.¹ That is why full-body and upper/lower plans work so well at low day counts: every muscle is trained at least twice.

Which exercises go in each session?

Six movement patterns cover nearly everything a general program needs. Checking a session against them is the quickest way to see what is missing.

Pick four to six exercises per session. Put the hardest, most technical lift first, while the person is fresh. The ACSM position stand recommends the same order: large muscle groups before small ones, and multi-joint exercises before single-joint ones.²

Choose the version of each movement the person can do well today. A goblet squat done properly beats a barbell back squat done badly, and it is far easier to learn from a screen.

How many sets and reps, and how hard?

Three numbers describe the work: sets, reps and effort.

Reps and load. For novices, the ACSM position stand recommends loads they could lift 8 to 12 times. Experienced lifters use a wider range, from 1 to 12, varied across the program.² The goal sets the bias. A meta-analysis of 21 studies found that heavy loads build maximal strength best, while muscle grows about equally across light and heavy loads when sets are taken close to their limit.⁴

Sets. For muscle growth, count sets per muscle group across the week, not per session. A meta-analysis of 15 studies found a graded dose-response: each extra weekly set was linked to a little more growth.⁵ That does not mean more is always better for a beginner. A review of time-efficient training suggests a floor of about four weekly sets per muscle group.³ Two to three sets of four to six exercises, repeated across the week, clears it comfortably.

Effort. Percentages of a one-rep max only work if the person has tested one. Most people buying a program have not. Reps in reserve (RIR) solves this: you tell them how many good reps to leave in the tank. It maps onto the 1 to 10 effort scale (RPE) that lifters already use, where RPE 10 means no reps left and RPE 9 means one.⁶ A line in a program then reads "3 x 10, 1 to 2 reps in reserve".⁷

Two findings keep this honest. People are not precise judges: across 12 studies, lifters misjudged their reps to failure by about one rep on average, and were more accurate closer to failure.⁸ And nobody needs to hit failure: a meta-analysis found no evidence that training to failure builds more muscle than stopping short of it.⁹ So "leave two reps" is a safe default, and it survives being a rep out.

Rest. Write it down, or people rush. In one trial of trained men, resting three minutes between sets produced more strength and more muscle than resting one minute.¹⁰ It was a small study, but it points the same way as common practice: two to three minutes on the main lifts, and 60 to 90 seconds on smaller exercises.

How does the program get harder?

A program with no progression is a list of workouts. Progressive overload is the plan for week 2 being slightly harder than week 1.

It matters more when you are not there. In a 12-week trial, two groups of men followed the same program. The supervised group raised their training loads faster and gained more strength than the group training alone.¹¹ A program someone follows on their own has to do that job on paper: it must say when to add load, and how much.

The simplest method that works without a coach present is double progression. Give a rep range instead of a single number. The person adds reps until they reach the top of the range on every set, then adds load and starts again at the bottom. The ACSM position stand puts a number on the jump: raise the load by 2 to 10% once the person can do one to two reps more than the target.²

Plan the easier week too. A deload is a short, planned drop in training stress. An international panel of strength and physique coaches defined it as a period of reduced training stress that eases fatigue and prepares the lifter for what comes next. In their practice it usually comes every four to six weeks, lasts about a week, and works by cutting the amount of training.¹²

How long should a program be?

There is no research-backed number, so this is judgement: long enough to see a change, short enough to finish. Four to eight weeks suits most first programs. Twelve weeks works when it is built as three four-week blocks, each with its own focus and an easier week at the end.

Shorter programs have a quiet advantage: people finish them. Someone who completes a four-week program is ready for your next one. Someone who drops a twelve-week program in week five rarely comes back.

How do you write it so someone can follow it without you?

This is the half that most programs skip. Read your program as a stranger would, on a phone, mid-session, with one hand.

1. One name per exercise, spelled the same every time. "DB RDL", "dumbbell Romanian deadlift" and "stiff-leg deadlift" read as three different exercises.
2. Letter the order. A, B, C for straight sets. B1 and B2 for a superset. Say how many rounds.
3. Write sets, reps and effort the same way on every line. "3 sets of 8 to 12, 2 reps in reserve" every time, not three formats on one page. Spell an abbreviation out the first time you use it.
4. Give the rest time. If it is missing, people guess short.
5. Say what to do when it goes wrong. Too easy, too hard, no equipment, a missed day. One line each.
6. Show the movement. A short demo for anything a beginner might not know. A name alone sends people to a search engine mid-session.

DAY 1: LOWER BODY (about 50 minutes)

Warm-up (5 minutes)
- 2 minutes easy bike or brisk walk
- 10 bodyweight squats, 10 glute bridges, 5 inchworms

A. Goblet squat
First, 2 lighter sets of 5 to warm up.
Then 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps, 2 reps in reserve. Rest 2 minutes.
Note: when you hit 12 on all three sets, go up one dumbbell.

B1. Dumbbell Romanian deadlift
3 sets of 10 reps, 2 reps in reserve.
B2. Split squat
3 sets of 8 reps each side, 2 reps in reserve.
Do B1 then B2, rest 90 seconds, repeat for 3 rounds.

C. Leg curl (machine or band)
2 sets of 12 to 15 reps, 1 rep in reserve. Rest 60 seconds.

D. Plank
3 sets of 30 to 45 seconds. Stop when your hips start to drop. Rest 45 seconds.

If a set feels too easy: add one rep to each set next time.
If a set feels too hard: drop the load until you can finish the reps with good form.
No equipment for an exercise: swap it for the closest movement you can do, and keep the sets and reps.
Missed a day: do it next, and move the week along. Do not double up.

What mistakes make a program hard to follow?

• Too many exercises. Eight to ten movements per session reads as thorough and trains as a slog. Four to six is enough.
• No progression written down. "Increase weight when ready" leaves the hardest decision to the least experienced person.
• A new workout every week. Variety feels generous, but nobody can see progress on an exercise they did once.
• Shorthand only you understand. If a line needs you to explain it, it is not finished.
• Wall-of-text coaching notes. One cue per exercise gets read. A paragraph does not.