{"id":5220,"date":"2019-12-13T16:36:15","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T23:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/?p=5220"},"modified":"2025-07-29T13:01:48","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T19:01:48","slug":"5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Steps to Create A Smart Exercise Plan That Gets You to the Finish Line"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>5 Steps to Create A Smart Exercise Plan That Gets You to the Finish Line<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>See if this sounds familiar: you&#8217;re a dedicated member of your athletic club, go 4 or 5 times a week, do an hour of free weights followed by another 45 minutes on the treadmill\u2026and nothing. You&#8217;re just not seeing the results you expected. So, what&#8217;s the problem?<\/p>\n<p><strong>DO YOU HAVE A PLAN?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The problem might be you don&#8217;t have an effective exercise plan. Without a plan, your workout routine is going to take longer, waste time and produce less than stellar results. Think of it this way \u2013 if you don&#8217;t have an exercise plan, you&#8217;ll probably finish one exercise and stand around trying to figure out what to do next. Multiply that by several exercises and before long you&#8217;ve wasted a lot of precious minutes. But a sound exercise plan is about much more than simply lining up all your activities to save time. It also means knowing how often to exercise, how to avoid burnout, exercising your whole body and setting realistic goals.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SO, HOW DO YOU PUT TOGETHER A SMART EXERCISE PLAN?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No two people are alike, and everyone has a unique set of fitness goals that requires a different routine. That said, the most effective exercise plans have a few things in common, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wholelifechallenge.com\/how-to-design-your-own-workout-program-a-guide-for-beginners\/\">including the following 5<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>1. SEEK EXPERT ADVICE<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fitness instructors and personal trainers can give you advice and guidance on how to design the best exercise plan to meet your fitness goals.\u00a0 As the<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.acefitness.org\/resources\/everyone\/blog\/6394\/top-10-benefits-of-personal-training\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">American Council on Exercise<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">points out, an experienced instructor will:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Help you create a plan that exercises your whole body<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Give you the motivation to meet your goals<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Increase your confidence level<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hold you accountable to do what you plan to do<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Help you avoid injury<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Help you design a sport-specific plan<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Give you the individual attention you need<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>2. SET REALISTIC GOALS<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Planning to lose 30 pounds in 30 days just isn&#8217;t smart \u2013 and it could be dangerous.\u00a0 Whatever your fitness goals, they need to be reasonable and realistic. This is another place where an expert instructor can help. He or she will tell you (based on experience) what makes sense and what does not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>3. HAVE A PLAN THAT AIMS AT WHOLE BODY FITNESS<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ever see someone at the gym whose upper body is in great shape, but whose legs look like they need a lot of work\u2026or someone who can bench 300 pounds but has no endurance? The best exercise plans include both weight training and cardiovascular health \u2013 and they target all parts of the body, including your core, upper body and lower body.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You should also focus on different parts of the body on different days. This will give the muscles in the other parts of your body time to recover.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>4. FOCUS ON CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT AND SMALL ACHIEVEMENTS<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Establishing realistic goals also includes knowing how long it should take you to get to the finish line. That also means you should know where you need to be at every point along the way. When you&#8217;re not making the progress you should be, you need to tweak your plan (again, getting some good advice from a trained fitness instructor) to ensure you&#8217;re continuously improving.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&#8217;s also important to create a plan targeted to small, incremental accomplishments.\u00a0 Every small step you take is one more step towards achieving your goals, and each one increases your confidence and motivates you to push forward.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>5. INCLUDE REST AND RECOVERY DAYS IN YOUR PLAN<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Multiple studies have shown that allowing your body to rest (in the right way) is just as important as your workout.\u00a0 One of those studies from the<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.canr.msu.edu\/news\/the_importance_of_rest_and_recovery_for_athletes\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">University of Michigan<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">concluded:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Athletes understand the importance of exercise training for optimal performance and improvement. However, rest and recovery is also an important aspect of an exercise program because it allows the body time to repair and strengthen itself in between workouts. It also allows the athlete to recover, both physically and psychologically.&#8221;<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your plan should include an effective combination of (1) workout days, (2) &#8220;active recovery&#8221; days (these are days when you keep moving and repair muscles), and (3) rest days. On workout days, you do your full gym routine. Active recovery days should include activities like a long walk or swimming. And of course, rest days are for rest.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the biggest exercise mistakes is trying to do too much too soon. The fact is, active recovery and rest days, far from slowing down your progress, will help you reach your goals faster and prevent burnout.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>CONCLUSION<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A smart exercise plan will get you to your goals faster and more efficiently, improve your mood, motivate you and increase your confidence level, but it can be challenging to do on your own. Fortunately, there are exercise and<a href=\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/sports-and-wellness-riverpoint\/lifestyle\/our-team\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> fitness experts<\/a> who can give you the advice and guidance you need.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At our clubs<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">our fresh take on fitness focuses on the whole body and helps you achieve your individual fitness goals with dedicated studios, on-site massage and an expert team. To get started, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/contact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">talk with one of our expert trainers today<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>5 Steps to Create A Smart Exercise Plan That Gets You to the Finish Line See if this sounds familiar: you&#8217;re a dedicated member of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fitness-topics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>5 Steps to Create An Exercise Plan | Wellbridge Athletic Clubs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Are you not seeing the results expected at the gym? The problem might be you don&#039;t have an effective exercise plan. Learn 5 steps to creating a smart plan.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Steps to Create An Exercise Plan | Wellbridge Athletic Clubs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Are you not seeing the results expected at the gym? The problem might be you don&#039;t have an effective exercise plan. Learn 5 steps to creating a smart plan.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wellbridge Club Management LLC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-13T23:36:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-29T19:01:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/yogamat_blugren_hero_image.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"wellbridge\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@wellbridgeclubs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@wellbridgeclubs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"wellbridge\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"wellbridge\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d8ff1430f169138eabd8311e4b903340\"},\"headline\":\"5 Steps to Create A Smart Exercise Plan That Gets You to the Finish Line\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-13T23:36:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-29T19:01:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/\"},\"wordCount\":871,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Fitness Topics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/\",\"name\":\"5 Steps to Create An Exercise Plan | Wellbridge Athletic Clubs\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-13T23:36:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-29T19:01:48+00:00\",\"description\":\"Are you not seeing the results expected at the gym? The problem might be you don't have an effective exercise plan. Learn 5 steps to creating a smart plan.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"5 Steps to Create A Smart Exercise Plan That Gets You to the Finish Line\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/\",\"name\":\"Wellbridge Athletic Club\",\"description\":\"Fitness Clubs | Health Clubs | Fitness Gyms\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"Wellbridge\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Wellbridge Club Management LLC\",\"alternateName\":\"Wellbridge\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/wellbridge_696x696.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/wellbridge_696x696.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"Wellbridge Club Management LLC\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/wellbridgeclubs\",\"https:\/\/linkedin.com\/company\/wellbridge\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/wellbridgecompa\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d8ff1430f169138eabd8311e4b903340\",\"name\":\"wellbridge\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 Steps to Create An Exercise Plan | Wellbridge Athletic Clubs","description":"Are you not seeing the results expected at the gym? The problem might be you don't have an effective exercise plan. Learn 5 steps to creating a smart plan.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"5 Steps to Create An Exercise Plan | Wellbridge Athletic Clubs","og_description":"Are you not seeing the results expected at the gym? The problem might be you don't have an effective exercise plan. Learn 5 steps to creating a smart plan.","og_url":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/","og_site_name":"Wellbridge Club Management LLC","article_published_time":"2019-12-13T23:36:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-29T19:01:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":1200,"url":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/yogamat_blugren_hero_image.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"wellbridge","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@wellbridgeclubs","twitter_site":"@wellbridgeclubs","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"wellbridge","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/"},"author":{"name":"wellbridge","@id":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d8ff1430f169138eabd8311e4b903340"},"headline":"5 Steps to Create A Smart Exercise Plan That Gets You to the Finish Line","datePublished":"2019-12-13T23:36:15+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-29T19:01:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/"},"wordCount":871,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Fitness Topics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/","url":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/","name":"5 Steps to Create An Exercise Plan | Wellbridge Athletic Clubs","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-12-13T23:36:15+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-29T19:01:48+00:00","description":"Are you not seeing the results expected at the gym? The problem might be you don't have an effective exercise plan. Learn 5 steps to creating a smart plan.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/fit-like-that\/5-steps-to-create-a-smart-exercise-plan-that-gets-you-to-the-finish-line\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"5 Steps to Create A Smart Exercise Plan That Gets You to the Finish Line"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/","name":"Wellbridge Athletic Club","description":"Fitness Clubs | Health Clubs | Fitness Gyms","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Wellbridge","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/#organization","name":"Wellbridge Club Management LLC","alternateName":"Wellbridge","url":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/wellbridge_696x696.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/wellbridge_696x696.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"Wellbridge Club Management LLC"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/wellbridgeclubs","https:\/\/linkedin.com\/company\/wellbridge","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/wellbridgecompa"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d8ff1430f169138eabd8311e4b903340","name":"wellbridge"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5220\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellbridge.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}