No matter how you’re getting fit, there comes a time when you have to sit down and create your own personalized fitness plan. Whether it’s because you aren’t seeing the results you want or you’re trying to figure out how to fit your workouts in between your nine-to-five and the kids’ extracurriculars, ZOZOFIT understands that making a fitness schedule for yourself is an important step in your fitness journey. 

It may seem like you’re starting from scratch when building your fitness plan and that can be overwhelming, but you don’t have to worry. Follow our process to expertly put together a workout schedule that you will swear by. 

Know What Your Goals Are 

Before you create your fitness plan, you need to assess your fitness goals. Be sure to have an “end point” in mind when making your plan as it’s often easiest to work backward from a goal (a 5k or CrossFit competition) than it is to make a plan with no end in sight. 

On the other hand, you might want to complete a measurable goal like running 10 miles every week or lose 1% of body fat every two weeks when you take your body measurements with ZOZOFIT. 

Whatever you decide your goal is, it will help guide you in making your own personalized fitness plan. .  

Look at Your Calendar

When mapping out your plan, keep your calendar handy. It’s important to ensure that your plan is doable around your schedule. Don’t set long runs or intense training sessions on days where you’ll be busy or out-of-town. Instead, find what works with your schedule. 

While most people like to do their longest or hardest workout on Saturday, that might not work for you. But, you might look at your calendar and realize that you’re always free Tuesdays after work — so pencil in that long run! 

As you are developing your fitness plan, it may help for you to “schedule” your training as appointments. If you go ahead and block that time off for yourself you’ll be more likely to honor your commitment to your fitness. 

Be Honest About Your Fitness Level

What is your fitness level? Take time to reflect on your current ability and what is reasonable for you to start with. If you’ve only ever cycled 10 miles at most, don’t start your fitness plan training with 50 miles. 

Meet yourself where you are and play to your strengths. Let each day and each week build upon one another until you reach your overall fitness goal — or the day of the big race. 

Also, know that it is completely okay to change your fitness plan at any time, especially if you need to slow down on scaling up, add more recovery days in the mix, or refine your goal. 

Decide Your Priorities 

Think about what’s most important to you regarding your fitness and let that guide the development of your fitness plan. If you’re an avid yogi, but want to train for a triathlon, prioritize still being able to go to your yoga classes (or complete a home practice) and look for a place (or two) where you can modify your existing schedule to fit with your new goal. 

For example, if you usually go to a yoga class on Thursday, but Thursday is the best day for you to do a long bike ride, then see if you can fit that class in on a different day — or schedule a more restorative yoga practice for Thursdays to complement your bike ride. 

Also keep in mind that your fitness is YOUR fitness. The time you’re setting aside when you create your own personalized fitness plan is time for yourself to do what makes you feel good. 

Add Diversity in Your Workout

Don’t let your workouts be a monolith. It’s important to build diversity — and cross-training — into your workouts so you can achieve a more well-rounded level of fitness. 

Let’s think back to the running example. If you want to become a runner, you should run every day, right? It seems like the answer should be “yes,” but actually it’s more complicated than that. If you’re running, you’ll also want to build in strength training workouts and may be interested in pursuing some other kind of cardio — like cycling — at least once a week. 

Not only is this better for your body and can lead to marked improvement, it also keeps your workouts from being boring and tedious. 

Be Sure to Add Rest Days

Rest days are so important to your overall fitness, so make sure that you add them into your fitness plan. Rest days don’t have to be sedentary. In actuality, it’s important that you do some light movement that allows your body to recover from all the hard work you put in.

Think about what kind of rest feels the best to you: a walk around the neighborhood? a stretching session? something else that isn’t really exercise but feels like it might be?

Whatever you decide for your rest days, make sure that you keep this day sacred! Not resting can easily lead to injury from working too hard. 

Track Your Progress

Tracking your progress can be a great motivator when executing a fitness plan. You might choose an app like Strava that can help you track your mileage or use your ZOZOSUIT and ZOZOFIT’s 3D body scanning technology to track your body measurements over time. 

You’ll see progress as you check off days in your plan, but you can see results through these tracking methods, which is important to better understand how you are doing with the plan and if any adjustments need to be made. 

Choose what kind of tracking works best — and makes the most sense — for you and find a way to keep track of it for yourself so you can see your progress at a glance and be inspired by how far you’ve come.  

Need more help? Consult with experts! 

If you’re struggling to figure out something with your fitness plan, don’t be afraid to reach out to a personal trainer, fitness expert, or training group!

Take your fitness seriously and ask for help when you need it. These experts can point you in the right direction or work alongside you to create a personalized fitness plan that will prioritize you and your goals while being mindful of your current fitness level.