The Plan
This is the most personal part of your training. The plan is unique to you as it has to fit in with your life, commitments, fitness level, weakest discipline and so forth. There are many examples of plans available and services to help you build a plan.
I don't tend to stipulate warm-ups, cool downs and session lengths as you'll see in other plans. Instead I'll go to the gym with either a specific weights or pyramid set in mind and do 10 mins of cardio to warm up. This allows you to see what equipment is available and you can adapt to your surroundings. It avoids the frustration you feel when you can't do a session you planned for due to an unexpected busy period.
It happens.
Club Sessions: For non-club members you can use these as extra little sessions you want to get in. I have the advantage of being able to train through the day and go to a club on an evening. Obviously just adapt the plan to your specific time-limits and needs.
You will hear the phrase "have a plan and stick to it". Fine, but illness, injury, the weather, a hangover and a myriad of other little things will conspire against you so don't be discouraged if you don't stick wholly to what you've planned. Chances are you've underestimated how far you'll develop, change your plan and overestimate what you can achieve. So keep it fluid and have a backup session in mind in case you can't do what you've planned.
The only advice I'll give you is try not to do the same discipline consecutively, follow a hard session with an easy session, take at least one day off a week and stick to your recovery (easy) weeks to avoid over-training. I've also included the "rules" I'm loosely following to build my plan to give an idea of what I've learned over the last few years.
I don't tend to stipulate warm-ups, cool downs and session lengths as you'll see in other plans. Instead I'll go to the gym with either a specific weights or pyramid set in mind and do 10 mins of cardio to warm up. This allows you to see what equipment is available and you can adapt to your surroundings. It avoids the frustration you feel when you can't do a session you planned for due to an unexpected busy period.
It happens.
Club Sessions: For non-club members you can use these as extra little sessions you want to get in. I have the advantage of being able to train through the day and go to a club on an evening. Obviously just adapt the plan to your specific time-limits and needs.
You will hear the phrase "have a plan and stick to it". Fine, but illness, injury, the weather, a hangover and a myriad of other little things will conspire against you so don't be discouraged if you don't stick wholly to what you've planned. Chances are you've underestimated how far you'll develop, change your plan and overestimate what you can achieve. So keep it fluid and have a backup session in mind in case you can't do what you've planned.
The only advice I'll give you is try not to do the same discipline consecutively, follow a hard session with an easy session, take at least one day off a week and stick to your recovery (easy) weeks to avoid over-training. I've also included the "rules" I'm loosely following to build my plan to give an idea of what I've learned over the last few years.