How to Build Your Workout Routine | Dr. Andy Galpin

Key wellness / training strategies (program development framework)

Dr. Andy Galpin explains how to build an effective workout routine by treating training as intentional “program development”—choosing and balancing variables to drive a specific outcome.

1) Frequency (days per week you can realistically train)

• Determine how many days/week you can train based on lifestyle, goals, and experience—don’t start by picking exercises first.
• Quick rule of thumb:
  • Take the number of days you think is realistic, subtract 1, and build the program around that.
  • If you can do the extra day later, great. Otherwise, this reduces the risk of repeatedly missing planned sessions.
• Avoid programs that are too ambitious:
  • If your plan assumes 4 days but you consistently skip one, results will likely suffer due to broken consistency.

2) Exercise selection (choose based on the goal and the “fit”)

Exercises don’t automatically create results—how you perform them determines adaptation (technique, range of motion, reps, and other training variables).

Choose exercises by considering:

• Joint condition and pain triggers (e.g., wrist/knee issues)
• Equipment you have access to
• Realism for your situation
• Personal dislikes
• Which muscles you’re targeting and the required range of motion

Mindset to keep:

• Don’t think “I want muscle X, therefore I must do exercise Y.”
• Instead, match the exercise to the adaptation you want and your mechanics.

Example tradeoffs (not strict rules):

• Deadlifts: generally not ideal for developing speed, but can be good for hypertrophy and lower-back health.
• Rowing machine / ski ergometer: often great for many conditioning goals, but not usually the best for hypertrophy.

3) Balance and symmetry (don’t create disadvantages)

Ensure your selections don’t leave major gaps. Example: only doing upper-body pressing (bench/incline press) with no deadlifts can create an exercise-selection imbalance.

4) Exercise order (match it to skill and priorities)

• Order should follow the goal and what’s most important to you first.
• If doing cardio + strength the same day:
  • Do the part you care about most first.
  • For strength, skill development is harder when you’re tired from cardio.
• Use pre-fatigue when appropriate:
  • Fatigue a smaller muscle group with isolation first, then train the compound movement.
  • Examples:
    • Bicep curls before pull-ups to fatigue biceps for back work
    • Leg raises before squats to fatigue quads (supported by research and practice)
• If your goal isn’t isolation/hypertrophy-targeting:
  • Prioritize big movements first, and leave isolation for last.

5) Intensity, volume, and rest intervals (how hard, how much, and how long)

Intensity

• Define workload in practical terms:
  • Often % of 1RM or % max effort (lifting)
  • Or % speed / heart rate reserve / VO2 max (cardio)

Volume

• Volume is largely constrained by intensity:
  • If you lift extremely heavy (e.g., >90% max), you can’t realistically do high reps per set.
  • A common implication: max-effort days may require lower volume.

Rest intervals

• Rest length controls the fatigue tradeoff:
  • Short rest → more fatigue → less work possible
  • Long rest → more ability to work at higher quality

Work-to-rest ratios

• Can be dictated by sport/goal:
  • Example: wrestling often uses roughly 1:1 or shorter work-to-rest ratios (e.g., 30s hard, 15–20s recovery).

Self-regulate + plan ahead

• After building the program, scan for likely failure points:
  • Too many hard workouts
  • Too many exercises per day
  • Too many lower-body days
  • Motivation drop in 3–4 weeks
• Adjust before issues cause injury or derail adherence.

6) Adherence and injury prevention through “realistic fixes”

If you hate a required component (e.g., pelvic floor exercises):

• Don’t just tolerate it.
• Build it into the plan in a way that’s sustainable—so you’re less likely to quit early and get injured later.

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Presenters or sources

• Dr. Andy Galpin
• Reference mention (likely from his series): Perform (linked episode discussed about asymmetries and imbalances)