How do you come up with your workout rotation?

[Gibbee]

I haven't followed one recently, but in general.... If I don't follow another person's rotation, whether KCM or Cathe or some other instructor (with modifications to suit myself), I will use a generic rotation to allow myself some flexibility in what workout I do.

Set up something that you think you want to try by the number of days in a week you want to workout, whether you want to do cardio, weights, metabolic, stretching/yoga/pilates, etc. and then outline what it might look like.

So...

5 days... a little weights, a little cardio

Upper Body
Cardio
Lower Body
Cardio
Total Body weights or a metabolic workout or something like Cathe's ICE Total Body metabolic conditioning or KCM's Strength and Stamina where you're getting two for the price of one... or a FIRM? Or maybe day 5 is your yoga/pilates/stretch day.

Somewhere around here I have a bunch of generic ones I wrote down. If I find the notebook (that's the trick - I have several), I'll try to post a list for you.

[ebianco]

I read in a similar thread one time that to keep some kind of structure/focus to your rotation (which I generally haven't ever been good at ) is to first define your MAIN workout. For me right now it is barre, it can be Tonique, kettlebells, HIIT, classic Firms, Dream Body, Tapout XT, yoga, TAM, whatever that is a specific workout/set of workouts. Then to add variety mix something else in (one other defined category) for me right now it is strength oriented classic Firms. So I do barre most days, then classic Firms a couple of days a week.

When I get tired of that, I might drop barre for a while and make Tonique my main workout, and keep the classic Firms for a while. Or make Tonique my main workout and make barre my supplemental instead of main workout. For some reason this very simple concept helps me stay really focused. I usually commit myself to about 6 weeks then revisit.

Also, on a day to day, if my legs are really sore, I do a more upper body intense workout, if legs and arms are sore, I do ab intense or cardio, etc.

I don't plan rest days, but I just take a day (or rarely, two days) when I need to, which usually results in my working out 5-6 days per week.

[Honeydew]

Originally Posted by dbclark44

Honeydew, I like what you have going on here and while I do something similar, I'm not very organized with getting it all in. So I adopted your scheme and modified it. I also work out 6 days a week. I do cardio every day, be it walking outdoors or on the treadmill, elliptical, or bike. So here's what I came up with based off your rotation. Thanks for sharing yours, it helped me out a lot.

Day 1 - Cardio/Stretch/Core
Day 2 - Cardio/Upper Body
Day 3 - Cardio/Stretch/Core
Day 4 - Cardio/Lower Body
Day 5 - Cardio/Stretch/Core
Day 6 - Cardio/Total Body

Your welcome!

[schoolgirl-01]

i do what ebianco said....

i have a "main" workout right now it's kettlebells and then i mix in some stuff to round out the rotation.

so i do kettlebells 5 days a week - 3 days are heavy kettlebells for strength/power and 2 days are light kettlebells for metabolic type training.

then one day a week a do a total body workout with dumbbells.

i also do yoga every day of the week.

[Taramisu]

I am going back to basics so to speak, but if I can do weights twice a week, cardio three times a week with yoga and pilates filtered in I would be quite content. I just use the DVDs I have and rotate by instructor.

[superfit41]

Great ideas for rotations here! I do my own also. I am not good at following instructors rotations, I get bored too easily This is what I do most of the time. I alternate:
Cardio/Total Body
Cardio/Yoga
I will usually do shorter cardio on my strength days. I will also do:
Cardio/Lower
Cardio/Upper
Cardio/Yoga
Depending on the length of the workouts I choose, I like to add on CS, and or T-Tapp, when I have time.
I alternate between Barre and traditional strength workouts, most of the time.

Sherry

[Buzzer]

I'm doing a Tapout XT2/P90X/Body Beast rotation, I got it off workoutscheduler.net. You can put in any Jillian Michaels, Beach Body, and MMA workouts you are doing that they have listed, pick your day off and ab days, and it does it for you.
I used to not like to plan my workouts, but now for some reason a switch has flipped and I love walking into my workout room, seeing what I have to do, pulling it out and doing it.
At the end, i look to see what tomorrows workout is, get stuff ready for it, and mentally prepare until then.

[donnamp]

Originally Posted by Taramisu

I am going back to basics so to speak, but if I can do weights twice a week, cardio three times a week with yoga and pilates filtered in I would be quite content. I just use the DVDs I have and rotate by instructor.

I have a handful or so of instructors that I use primarily, and anywhere from 4-12 DVDs by each one. I just take an instructor and do their workouts for a few weeks, longer if I have more DVDs from any one person, then move on to the next instructor. Firm, KCM, Tracie Long, Margaret Richard and Cathe are the main ones, but I also have some other one hit wonders that I will filter in there too. Sara Ivanhoe and Yoga Zone are my favorite yoga people, Ana Caban for pilates, Leslie and some step videos for cardio, plus walking outside.

I also really want to do more from Jessica Smith's You Tube channel, same with Jenny Ford. While I don't want to say that I am done buying DVDs, I don't see myself collecting as many going forward. Maybe pick up some here and there but really try and just use what I have and explore YT for more workout options. Once I am done with school I will have a lot more time to devote to exercise!

I like this approach! I tend to over-think my workouts and that actually de-motivates me. So perhaps I should just KISS!

Donna

[SandyT]

I do:
Interval Training
Barre
Cardio
Yoga/Mat
Heavy Toning
Walking
Rest
Repeat

I try to exercise for an hour. If a dvd comes up in my rotation that is less than an hour I supplement with Horizontal Fitness and Kettlebells.

[smilesolovely]

I usually have 2 different rotations. Sometimes I'm on an "instructor kick" and I'll stick to them for a week or two, but I really need flexibility and variety to keep me motivated.

Cardio + lower body
Cardio + upper body
Cardio + Abs
Rest
Cardio + lower body
Cardio + upper body
Cardio + Abs

Or

Total Body
Cardio + Abs
Total Body
Cardio + Abs
Total Body
Rest
Rest