My Current Workout Routine – Spring 2024

My current workout routine is focused on strengthening my whole body, while supporting better hip, knee and shoulder health. I noticed over the winter that each of these joints were more susceptible to injury and have spent most of the new year with my right knee taped. I also find I don’t feel as strong as I used to in the summer of 2023 when I was training more frequently, so I really want to get back in the routine so I am feeling better than ever for my 30th birthday in June!

Truthfully, this winter has been rough in terms of staying consistent at the gym. Between traveling, getting sick, and dog-sitting, I haven’t been able to get into the groove. But most of the long-term dog sitting gigs that I had are done and with the weather getting better, I won’t be as susceptible to getting little colds that knock out my energy.

I think it is important to remind you that I have a diploma in fitness health promotion and worked as a personal trainer for 2.5 years before the pandemic. I have been active my whole life, playing competitive sports and training with trainers as part of our conditioning program. I have been designing programs for myself for over 5 years, and have successfully trained both family and clients, helping them achieve their fitness goals (both aesthetic and strength and conditioning goals).

I also want to mention that the workouts I am sharing below are for week 1 of my program. This program will likely evolve as I get stronger or need to modify once i’ve identified weaknesses that need to be corrected. I do my best to explain the why behind my exercise selection, but if you have any questions, leave me a comment below.

Alright, without further adieu, here’s the program I have designed for myself for get in great shape for my 30th birthday in June.

Day 1: Squat Day

I have been starting my week with squats for years. There’s something about starting the week with this exercise that helps me get it out of the way! Not expecting that? Well, surprise, surprise, I am not a squat girlie.

This has to do with some long-standing hip, knee and ankle issues that I have had since I was a teenager. I won’t go into too much detail, but my feet pronate (collapse inwards), which screws up the alignment of my knees, and my left hip sits off to the side of the socket in my hip. Since squats require fiit stability, ankle mobility, knee mobility and stability, and hip mobility – it makes squats very uncomfortable for me. 

But I start the week with them because this workout is actually pretty gentle compared to my deadlift day and I like to know that I have dedicated at least 1 day per week trying to improve this movement. I’ll be sitting and standing for the rest of my life, so it’s a good idea to get good at it now so I can do it into my 90’s.

Set Scheme	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Weight	Rest
SS	Step ups	3	10	BW	30s – 1min
SS	KB Split Squats	3	10	20
Circuit 1	Clam shells	3	10	BW	30s – 1 min
Circuit 1	Hip thrusts with a ball	3	10	BW
Circuit 1	KB Sumo squats	3	10	20
Circuit 1	Deadbug	3	20	BW

Some key terms to learn here:

• Set Scheme: there are many ways to organize a set. For this workout I am organizing it into circuits and supersets (SS).
  • A circuit is a collection of exercises performed one after the other. Between exercises you should limit rest, but if you need more time between exercises, you can take them. Them take your full 30s – 1 min rest after all exercises are completed. That’s 1 set. Repeat the exercises to complete this section of the workout.
  • A superset is similar to a circuit, but it pairs 2 exercises together and they are to be done with very little rest between them. I used to work at a gym that only had 30 minute sessions, so supersets were a really helpful tool to get the most out of the short training time.
• Exercise: this is the exercise you’ll be performing. Exercises include squats, push-ups, jumping jacks, step-ups – you name it! If your body is performing a movement repetitively, that’s an exercise.
• Sets: This is how you will count the number of times you’ll complete a round of an exercise, or a round of a circuit or superset, etc. If I was doing a straight set with just one exercise, I would do 10 squats, rest, and then do 10 squats, rest again, and then do 10 squats again and that would equal 3 sets of 10 squats.
• Reps: Reps is short for repetitions. So as explained above, you will perform a set of exercises for a certain number of repetitions. I go into more detail about how to set your repetitions in this article.
• Weight: Sometimes referred to as load, this is the amount of weight you’ll be lifting for the set.
  • BW = bodyweight
  • If an exercise has KB (kettlebell), DB (dumbbell), I put the weight of 1 of those. So if I am doing DB bench press, or dumbbell bench press, I’ll put 15, instread of 30, so I know which set of dumbbells I am grabbing.
    • If an exercise has SL or SA before it, that means it is single leg or single arm
• Rest: and finally, rest. This is the time you will rest between sets. Rest is crucial and I have a whole article on why rest is crucial, so go and check that out if you’re interested in learning how rest can make you stronger.

Like I said, my squat workout is more about strengthening the weak areas of my squat so that I can move up to a full barbell squat with confidence. It is so important to get the technique right before trying to lift heavy, so if you find you are always in pain after doing squats, maybe have a friend or phsyio check out your technique so you can address the weaknesses that may be impacting technique. 

Day 2: Chest and Shoulders

I follow squat day with an upper body day. I don’t know why but Tuesday is a chest day. When I think Tuesday, I think bench press. Maybe it is because I have been doing bench press on Tuesdays/day 2 of my workouts for years, but when I think Tuesday, I think chest workout. 

Before sharing the workout plan for day 2, I want to mention that bench press is the final level of chest exercises. If you find you have a weak chest, start with push-ups and maybe light-weight dumbbell chest press. You really want to work your way up to a barbell bench press so you have the musculature, strength and mobility to do this exercise properly. There’s nothing worse that getting stuck under the bar during a bench press, and the best way to avoid that is by ensuring you have trained your body to be ready for the bench press.

Set Scheme	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Weight	Rest
Straight	BB Bench Press	5	8, 6, 6, 6,	45, 65, 65, 65	45s – 1.5min
SS	Inclined bench DB Chest press	4	10	20	45s – 1 min
SS	Seated DB shoulder press	4	10	10
Circuit	Inclined bench DB reverse fly	3	10	10	30s – 45s
Circuit	Supinated DB lateral raises	3	15	5
Circuit	Leg raises (abs)	3	10	BW

You’ll se some familiar set schemes here with SS (superset) and Circuit, but I also have a straight set here as well. I typically reserve straight sets for my compound movements (multi-joint, highly technical exercises). 

You’ll also see in the straight set that I have noted different reps and weights. This is because I give myself a set or two to warm-up the movement and then use the final few sets to push myself. 

For the major compound movements (squat, bench press, deadlift, overhead press, pull-ups, rows) I find that training this way helps me assess my strength for that day and also progress more quickly. Sometimes I do a straight set of all the same weight, and sometimes my body is feeling strong that day so I will increase the weight. 

In this situation, I do try to keep the reps within a certain range. Again, I go into more detail about how to set your reps for a set in this article, but the goal is to push the weight within a certain rep range to achieve a certain goal (strength, hypertrophy, endrance, etc.).

Day 3: Active Rest Day

If you’ve read my article on the importance of rest, you’ll know why I always schedule in rest days in to my workout. But with my busy schedule, it is always an active rest day. 

When I’ve been working hard in the gym, my muscles are sometimes sore after the workout so it can be difficult to find the motivation to do too much when I’m nursing sore muscles, but, active rest is a great way to help improve your recovery time between workouts.

Here’s a quickie lesson on recovery:

• When you workout, you break down the muscles in your body. 
• By breaking down the muscles, your body then has to repair those muscles. 
• It repairs those muscles using the food and water your consume after your workout
• This repair process is accelerated during sleep, so make sure you are getting good sleep!
• When you are sedentary during the day, all of the processes in your body move a little slower. Your body loves to conserve energy, so it isn’t working too hard to repair the muscles you broke down in your previous workout
• But if you get up and go for a walk, or do some light stretching or yoga, you ask your body to increase the rate at which it is doing all of its jobs. 
• Movement encourages faster recovery because your body is completing it’s regular processes with more pressure than if you were to sit all day
• So sedentary = slow recovery. Active rest = slightly faster recovery

It’s also great to build daily physical activity into your day. So even when you aren’t doing a big workout, make it a habit to do something for at least 30 minutes on your rest days. But don’t go too crazy. Remember, this is still a rest day. So don’t try and go to a hardcore spin class on your rest day.

Day 4: Back, Abs and Biceps

As we get towards the end of the workweek, it can be tough to stay motivated to keep going to the gym. This is why I put my favourite days towards the end of the week. Starting with back, abs and biceps. 

There’s something super satisfying about working back. Especially as someone who works at a desk all day where the front of my body, or the anterior chain, is overworked. When I get to back day, I feel like I am balancing that out. Plus the muscles in your back are big, strong muscles, so it can be really rewarding to build up strength here.

The goal with back is always to get to a pull up. But for now I am focused on strengthening my seated row (rhomboids, mid traps, posterior rotator cuff muscles) and my lat pull down (primarily targeting the lats, with some support from rotator cuff muscles and biceps). I’ll be adding in a pull-up training routine further into this program once I have built up more strength and hopefully lowered my body weight a little as well.

Set scheme	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Weight	Rest
SS1	Wide grip lat pull down	4	10	60	1 – 1.5min
SS1	Half kneeling Cable face pulls	4	10	50
SS2	Seated row	4	10	60	1 – 1.5min
SS2	Cable bicep curl	4	10	30
SS3	Palloff Press	3	10	40	45s – 1 min
SS3	Upright shoulder row – EZ Bar	3	10	25
Abs1	SL Extended Crunch with med ball	3	16	16	30s
Abs2	Plank taps to the med ball	3	20	BW

This workout is filled with supersets. It is fun to support the big movement (lat pull down and row) with a more targeted exercise (face pulls, bicep curl). This is also a common way to pair exercises in a superset. 

All weight is in pounds and I am using a cable machine for most of these exercises. It is important to note that if your gym has multiple different kinds of cable machines that you try to use the same one everytime you workout. 

Different cable machine with have different pulley set-ups. The more pulley’s, the easier it is to move the same 60lbs plate. The fewer pulley’s, the heavier that 60lbs plate will feel. So try to keep it consistent. But if you have to switch cable machines one day, make note of this in your workout plan, and adjust the weight accordingly.

It is also really important to focus on your tempo with back exercises. I like to keep it nice and slow and steady. Back exercises can very easily lose their full potential when done too quickly as muscles in the anterior chain can take over to compensate. 

I stick to a 2:2:2:2 tempo, but if I want to work on strengthening a weak point in the movement (puling down or returning to start position), I’ll slow this down even more. You can learn more about how tempo changes an exercise here.

Day 5: Deadlift day (the best day of the week)

We have finally arrived at my favourite day of the week – deadlift day/Friday. When I learned how to properly do a deadlift, I never looked back. I became a deadlift girlie. I am an ambassador for deadlifting. It is my favourite exercise and that’s why I save it for the end of the week so I always have something to look forward to at the end of the week. 

The other thing with my deadlift workout is that it uses a lot of mental energy. I try to make Friday’s an easy day at work because my brain is mush after a deadlift workout. I’ve dedicated an entire article to deadlifting, so you can learn more about why deadlifting is so mentally taxing, but just know that I really prioritize water, protein, and adding in some extra fats and carbs on deadlift day so I support recovery.

One other thing I would like to mention is that deadlifting is another one of those exercises where you really want to perfect your technique before you go in for the full romanian deadlift, pulling a barbell from the floor. So pleast speak with someone you trust or a personal trainer to help you get your deadlift technique right before attempting one.

Set Scheme	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Weight	Rest
Straight	Deadlift	4	10, 5, 2, 2	65, 115, 165, 165	2 – 3mins
SS1	Hip thrust	3	10	70	45s – 1min
SS1	KB Bulgarian split squat	3	8	20
SS2	Hamstring Curls (swiss ball)	3	10	BW	45s – 1min
SS2	Single Leg kickstand Deadlifts	3	10	20

You’ll notice that this workout has the least number of exercises. That is intentional and goes back to what I said at the beginning of the article and in my 5 to 9 article. I need my workouts to be efficient. I do as much as I think I need to do to achieve my goals – no more, no less. Because I start the workout with 4 sets of deadlifts and up to 3 minutes of rest, this uses up close to half of my workout.

Beyond how much time it takes, my posterior chain and my nervous system has been worked in the deadlift section. So I just add in a few extra exercises to make sure the glutes and hamstrings are really worked and then call it a day. The second superset is sometimes optional if I feel like my body is really tired after the first superset.

If you are a girlie who is looking for strong glutes and well-defined legs, this is the day for it. I feel like my life is together when I am consistently deadlifting every week, so that’s the real target here with this program. Find a way to make sure the deadlift day gets done.

Optional Workouts:

Sometimes I have weeks where I feel like I can do more. With the current workout structure, it leaves my weekends open. This is because I am my busiest on weekends and typically go out at least once per weekend, which means I have at least 1 recovery day.

But on weekends when I keep things low-key, I’ll wake up on a Saturday or Sunday feeling like I could do another workout. So I do! 

I want to remind you that I have been working out for over 15 years so I have a massive library of exercises in my braind that I can call on for these bonus days. The key with a bonus workout is that it won’t impact the progress of the main workout program.

So I wouldn’t go in on the weekend and do a huge leg workout knowing that I have my squat workout on Monday. However, I could do some exercises that will help support better technique and could help my regular squat workout progress faster. 

But what I typically do is put together a 2-3 circuits of HIIT exercises, or exercises that have me moving in way I don’t usually move. Exercises like tossing a weighted ball over my shoulder, picking it up and repeating. It’s a funny exercise, but it is important to keep pushing your body to try new things.

Things like lateral movements (side to side), working with unstable surfaces (bosu ball, wobble board), suspension trainers like TRX and alternative cardio equipment like the sled or battle roles are all great ways to get in a workout while also getting your body to do movements outside of the normal selection of movements.

If you are someone who watches a lot of workout videos or “try this exercise” videos online, these bonus days can be a great day to try those out and see if they’re worth adding to the regular schedule.

Cardio

I did mention in my 5-9 article that I always make time for cardio in my workouts. I didn’t include the different cardio exercises here because they change everytime I am in the gym. But I thought I’d include a section here that highlights some of my favourite ways to incorporate cardio into the end of my workout:

• Treadmill intervals: whether the intervals are a steady pace and changing incline, or steady incline and walking : sprinting intervals, I love this workout because it really helps to pass the time. So if I only have 10 minutes left in my workout, I’ll do a more high intensity interval like walking for 1 min, sprinting for 30s. But if I have more time, I love to work incline into a walk:run interval workout
• Rowing machine: I typically spend around 10 mins on the rowing machine. I’ll either do a steady 10 minutes, or, if I have the energy, I’ll do 2 minutes steady, 1 minute sprint and see how far I can get in 10 minutes.
• Stairmaster: This is another machine where you can play around with what you do on the stairmaster depending on your energy and how much time you have. If you have the energy and the time, a 20min workout on the stairmaster is a great workout. If you are short on time, try doing a 1min:30s 5:10 speed interval
• Jacob’s Ladder: When I am really short on time, I’ll set my timer to 1 minute and do 4 sets of 1 minute climbing, followed by 1 minute rest. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but trust me, it is a good workout
• Cardio Finishers: this is something that I picked up when I was working with a group of kinesiologists as part of my co-op placement in school. Think tabatta sets, or burpees. This is a timed combination of exercises, with limited rest, that gets every last drop of energy out of you. I found when I was my most consistent at the gym, these were a fun and challenging way to finish my workouts and kept me in great shape.

So there you have it! My workout routine for spring 2024. Again the goal is to get strong, balance some imbalances, and ultimately be in great shape for my 30th birthday in June. If you’d like more of these types of posts, let me know in the comments. If you’d find a template workout program would be helpful, let me know!