While there are an infinite number of combinations and variations to form a workout, there are a few patterns that tend to serve better than others.

For example, warming up has been supported by science to be safer for you. Dynamic stretching (arguably ANY stretching) while cold can actually cause lots of damage, so don’t fool yourself that it doesn’t matter when or how you stretch. I can’t resist stretching a bit throughout the day when I feel stiff, but advice I’ve consistently heard is to keep it light and gentle.

With that in mind, and judging from hundreds of workouts that I have done (on my own and with my Kung Fu studio), I started to come up with a generic workflow for a workout. The ‘Salutation’ and ‘Close’ sections might not be relevant if you are working alone rather than with a class or martial arts studio.

High level overview of a workout

Okay, after simplifying my main drawing down it looks a little simple, doesn’t it? It’s still important to start with the basics before getting complicated.The importance of starting with that high-level overview of a workout is that it creates a framework for customizing based on the type of workout you want, for example:

• Cardio-intensive – main focus is cardiovascular health
• Technique or skill-focused (e.g. martial arts, self defense)
• Targeted to legs, arms, core muscles, etc.

You might increase or decrease the amounts of each section to meet different goals – for example you might not be exercising at all if you are revisiting techniques, so the warmup and stretching might be minimal. Or, if you intend to work out high kicks, however, a warmup and stretching segment that focuses on your legs may serve you best.

I’m working on a much more complex version, but the detail work takes time. I’ll post details as I work them out.

So, now that a basic framework has been laid out, it becomes easier to build pieces.

For example, the warmup might involve a few choices such as this:

Example choices for a warmup

A full map of options even in my Kung Fu studio would become a very large tree very fast. For this example, consider the following choices:

• Light intensity
• Targeted to core and arms
  • sit-ups
  • push-ups
  • side crunches
• Type: sets

From that, I might decide to do 5 cycles of 20 each of sit-ups, push-ups, then side crunches.

Go ahead and consider this pattern when you exercise next. Does your routine include all of these items? Are you missing anything?

And of course, if I’m missing anything or if you have other ideas be sure to send me a message and let me know!