Bowflex ElitePlus Assembly Instructions Manual page 53

Design Your Own Program
You may want to design your own personal program
specifically geared to your goals and lifestyle.
Designing a program is easy, as long as you follow
the guidelines below.
Understand fitness and its components: Improperly
designed programs can be dangerous. Take some
time to review this manual as well as other fitness
guides.
Know your current fitness level: Before you start
any fitness program you should consult a physician
who will help you determine your current abilities.
Identify your goals: Goals are critical to choosing
and designing an exercise program that fits and
enhances your lifestyle, but so is strategy. It's
important not to rush the process and try to
accomplish too much too soon. That will lead to
setbacks and discouragement. Instead, set a series
of smaller achievable goals.
Select complementary exercises: Be sure to pair
exercises that address compound joint movements
and single joint movements. In addition, select
exercises that address complementary muscle groups.
Put first things first: During each session, first
work muscle groups that need the most training.
Remember your cardiovascular component: Any
fitness program must contain a cardiovascular
fitness component to be complete. So complement
your resistance training with aerobic exercise such
as walking, running, or bicycling.
Define Your Goals
Training variables: When designing your own
program there are several variables that, when mixed
properly, will equal the right fitness formula for
you. In order to find out the best formula, you must
experiment with several combinations of variables.
The variables are as follows:
Once you've established a base of fitness, follow
these basic principles:
• Training Frequency:
you train per week. We recommend daily
activity but not daily training of the same
muscle group.
• Training Intensity:
resistance used during your repetition.
• Training Volume:
The number of repetitions
and sets performed.
• Rest intervals:
The time you rest between
sets and the time you rest between workouts.
• Isolate
muscle groups: Focus work on
specific muscle groups.
• Progressive Loading: The gradual systematic
increase of repetitions, resistance and exercise
period.
The number of times
The amount of
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