How much time should you spend on each part of the workout?

When planning out a session, how much time should be dedicated to warming up? To working out? To fitness games? To high intensity training?

If you’ve been following Bootcamp Ideas for a while or have attended one of our workshops, you would have seen me break down how much time to spend on each part of the workout using the rough template below:

1. 10-15 minutes on warming up (a warm up drill and maybe a game).
2. 30-40 minutes of working out (broken into 1 to 3 drills).
3. 5-10 minutes of something fun, hard or both (finisher drill or game).

While that is a great general formula to follow, I realised that when it came to actually planning the workout I was often much more specific in my approach. How much time I dedicated to each part of the workout depended on this question:

What the hell am I trying to achieve in this workout?

It’s so important when creating a workout that flows well for both you and your clients, that it has a goal or direction. This way you can choose the right drills and exercises to go together. Not to mention work out how much time you want to allow between drills for rest and set up.

Today I want to share with you a pretty accurate breakdown for each type of workout I used to plan. There are no drills here, just the timings which you can then add your own drills to (BootCraft, anyone?).

All the templates below are for 45 minute workouts with the exception of the Post Natal workout.

Boxing Workout:

1. 10 min. Warm Up
2. 10 min. Intro Drill – includes basic boxing movements and combos
3. 15 min. Hard Drill – more complex combos and/or tougher intervals and/or higher rep
4. 10 min. Group Finisher – something fun and hard to end the session

HIT Workout:

1. 10 min. Warm Up
2. 10 min. High Energy Game – get everyone pumped up for the hard part coming
3. 20 min. HIT Drill – if your clients are working out properly, 20 minutes of HIT should be plenty

Post Natal Workout: (60 minutes)

1. 10 min. Warm Up
2. 10 min. Pelvic Floor focused exercises/drills – I do these at the start so clients know what feeling to go for during the rest of the workout
3. 20 min. Strength Drill
4. 10 min. Heart Raiser – not quite as intense as a finisher, but with the same intention
5. 10 min. Cooldown

Strength Workout:

1. 10 min. Warm Up
2. 15 min. Strength Drill #1 – lot’s of rest built into the strength drills
3. 10 min. Strength Drill #2
4. 5-10 min. HIT Finisher

Running/Endurance Workout:

1. 5 min. Warm Up
2. 10 min. Easy Drill – a continuation of the warm up involving light running, a game or a drill with mobility exercises
3. 25 min. Steady State Drill – rather than intervals, focus on keep clients heart rates elevated for the entire drill

There you go, I hope that helps with planning out your sessions this week!

Kyle Wood

Kyle Wood created Bootcamp Ideas in 2010 when he was hunting around on the internet for workout ideas. He ran a successful bootcamp in Victoria, Australia and spends his spare time managing this site, adventuring (or lazying) with his wife and find new ways to make bootcamps even better.