Let’s talk about flexibility. No, I am not talking about doing the splits or touching your toes! I am talking about having a flexible workout plan. Having a flexible work out plan, specifically for weightlifting, will save you years of mistakes that I have made.
We all know that having a plan is effective to reaching our goals right? That goes the same for working out and the fitness goals you have for yourself.
Before I give you the 5 reasons why having a flexible workout plan will help you, let me tell you the mistakes I made by not being flexible. 5 years ago, as a skinny guy, I use to just go to the gym and do what I felt like I was “suppose” to do. If I saw a lot of people using a certain machine or equipment, I thought, “Hmm, I should do it too!”.
I went to the gym, doing exercises that was popular like squats, deadlift, bench press, but never really had a plan. I took mental notes of what I did and just tried to be better than before, or so I thought.
I then tried different workout plans, but only burnt out, because the workout plans had no flexibility. It was like, do this and that, and only that. Honestly, I didn’t really enjoy it either. What’s worse was that I made little to no progress, did not get much stronger, and looked exactly the same for 2 years! Sad life. Having a workout plan that fit my lifestyle, hence flexible, changed my life. I have gained over 30lbs of muscles and increased many of my lifts after I started incorporating a flexible workout plan. And more importantly, it has made my fitness journey a lot more enjoyable.
I no longer stressed about it. My body has changed and has continued to improve. After implementing a more flexible approach, I no longer look at myself in the mirror, wondering why I still look the same. Trust me, I was there before, not knowing where to start. And once you implement this yourself, the sky’s the limit!
Here’s why you should have a flexible workout plan.
1. It gives you a way to track your progress without feeling like a failure
Tracking your workouts is another topic in itself, but let’s talk about how having a flexible plan helps you track your progress without feeling like a failure. When you have a flexible workout plan, it becomes easier to track your progress. You know exactly the exercises you are doing, how many sets, reps, and weights used. It’s like a framework and a sheet of data that you can use to see how you are progressing in the exercises you are doing.
My rule of thumb is, always try to perform just a little better than your previous workout. That is how you are going to get more fit and reach your goals. Any workout plan should have the exercises listed and the metrics you need to hit. You get to see the weekly trends and whether or not you are progressing in the gym in terms of progressively overloading, which is the biggest factor for building muscles.
What if you do not hit your goal? That’s ok!
Having some flexibility, you will not feel like a complete failure every time you do not necessarily hit your target goals. Because you can just adjust and keep going! Didn’t hit your goal? Try again next week! There’s always tomorrow.
2. It allows you to customize it to your ongoing needs.
You may be thinking that you have to follow a workout plan to a tee to make great progress. That is not true. The best workout plans are created with a long-term, customizable approach. What this means is that you do not have to be doing the exact same things every week for the next 10 years. Oh my, who would want that?
What if your schedule changes? What if you want to focus on getting stronger? Or have an event coming up? For example, if you cannot even iterate your workouts or be able to add in some other exercises, you might not follow that workout plan for very long. Curveballs are always thrown at us in life, so it’s good to have a workout plan that is flexible enough for our changing needs and priorities.
If you can only go to the gym 3 days a week now, why would you force yourself to go to 4 days? Having a workout plan to start with gives you the tools to change it on an ongoing basis.
3. It holds you accountable
Having a flexible workout plan that you follow is the ultimate test of holding yourself accountable. It is like a list of tasks that you need to get done with the overall goal of getting more fit and becoming healthier.
And since it adheres to your own lifestyle, the control is on you. It is going to up to you to execute the workout plan, which fits into your lifestyle. It teaches you how to hold yourself accountable. And if you for some reason skip one workout, that’s ok. Just hop back on the horse. The thing you do not want to do is skip a workout and then it becomes 1, 2 3 workouts you skip, what I like to call “negative momentum”. Having a flexible plan will more than likely prevent you from falling off because it fits into your lifestyle. You will build that accountability you have to yourself and more likely to follow the workout plan and execute it.You will develop that sense of responsibility to it because it is something you are confident you
can do and implement.
4. You will reach your fitness goals faster
I remember 5 years ago when I first started going to the gym without a plan. I just did what I thought I was suppose to do. I made no gains, and looked practically the same for 2 years! That is what having a flexible workout plan will do for you. It steers you in the right direction to your fitness goals that fits into your lifestyle.
You’ll be making progress and not get burnt out. You will also have less setbacks because the workout plan is catered to your lifestyle, allowing you to recover properly and remain fresh to make gains. If you do not have a workout plan that you can actually follow, it is like going to the gym with a blindfold on and just hoping you’ll be successful. There is no guarantee you will actually reach your goals because you’ll fall off before you even get to see real progress. For me, after incorporating a flexible workout plan, the gains started to come. I got stronger in the gym, and I was gaining muscles from left to right.
Whether you want get stronger, get lean, or build more muscles, having a workout plan that is flexible to your needs and goals is the best guide you can have to help you get there, faster than if you just wing it.
5. It gives you ownership
This adherence that your workout plan should encompass, whether you have created it yourself or bought one, gives you the ownership that you need. Not only are you invested in it because you have a plan that is sustainable enough to follow, it is now a part of your life.
My workout plan is flexible to my needs and I feel that it has become a part of my life because of it. I feel ownership over it, making me appreciate the journey along the way. If I was on a workout plan that was not flexible, I would not enjoy it, and feel like I was not invested in it. It would just be a means to an end, not a tool that I implemented that transformed my life.
How would it feel to be on a workout plan that doesn’t feel so much as a chore, but something you are excited to do and want to do?!
That my friend, is the power of flexible workout plans.
Final Thoughts:
Having a workout plan is only going to help you reach your fitness goals. Having a workout plan that is flexible and adheres to your lifestyle, will get you there even faster. I cannot stress enough how much that has changed my own life. It took out so much guesswork and hoping. Having a workout plan that works for me has made me enjoy this fitness journey. My mental growth throughout this whole process was just as important.
So now you know why it is important to have a flexible workout plan and why it is awesome. If there is one thing I want you to remember, it’s this: A goal without a plan is just a wish.
Author Bio:
Hi everyone, my name is Kao! I want to help people who are just beginning their fitness journey to build the best version of themselves, through weightlifting. That’s why I have created Lift Stories
