Body: excerpt from She's a Fit Chick blog

Image via Wikipedia

How to make a fitness plan:

Failure to plan is planning to fail.

Every Sunday (or whichever day you chose) sit down with your weekly calendar and decide how many days of exercise you can commit to based on your goals and schedule.


Keep a fitness journal and hold yourself accountable for your workouts. (Sometimes even posting about it online, or asking a friend to follow up gives you that extra motivation to not skip a workout).


Schedule rest days! Always listen to your body.


Mix it up and try new things. I often will schedule Zumba, TurboJam, P90x, or Yoga into my week to keep things fresh!


Put it somewhere you will see it every day. I write mine right into my planner so I have to cross it off just like any other item on my to-do list.


As always, consult a physician before starting any fitness regimen.


Be sure your schedule includes a mix of:
Cardiovascular
Strength Training
Flexibility (stretching)


Tips for the cardiovascular part of your workout:
Include a warm up.
Keep your heart rate up for at least 20 minutes if possible.
Include a cool down.
Give intervals a try if your goal is to lose weight.


Tips for the strength training part of your workout:
Be sure to include a 5 minute warm up.
Don’t have time to work every muscle group in one workout? No problem! Try breaking your workouts into “A” days and “B” days, with A focusing on upper body and core, and B focuses on lower body and core.
Be sure to include a 5 minute cool down (this is crucial for strength training, as failure to do so may cause dizziness or even fainting).

* I found this to be very similar to what I do to set up my own work-out schedule.