How I Design Programs for My Clients
There’s an art to program design. It’s not as simple as “squat, bench, deadlift” or splitting the week into upper, lower, and accessory days. You can Google a workout plan and find success in the short term, but real, lasting change comes from consistency.
And consistency only happens when the program is built for you, your values, goals, movement quality, and readiness to change.
It Starts with the Human in Front of Me
Program design doesn’t start with exercises; it starts with the person.
Before I write a single set or rep, I want to understand who I’m dealing with. What motivates this person? What are their goals? What’s their movement history, injury background, and mindset toward change?
My job is to meet them where they need to be met, to challenge them just enough to create growth while helping them feel successful. Success breeds consistency, and consistency builds results.
Assess, Then Design
Everyone’s body moves differently. Age, injury history, lifestyle, and posture all play a role. Posture, for example, is an expression of how your body tolerates its environment. And your body, by design, is lazy. It’s built to find the path of least resistance.
That’s why assessment is non-negotiable.
How someone moves dictates how I’ll program for them. The goal is to intelligently target their weaknesses while amplifying their strengths. If someone struggles to touch their toes, I’m not going to make deadlifts the cornerstone of their program. That’s not smart programming; it’s reckless.
Function Before FitnesS
One of my core principles is function before fitness.
It’s not that I don’t want someone doing a particular exercise. It’s that we first need to train their body’s ability to do it well.
Take the toe-touch example again. If someone can’t touch their toes, that tells me their pelvis likely struggles to internally rotate and compress—two essential mechanics for a hinge pattern. And a hinge pattern is the foundation of a proper deadlift.
So before I load a barbell, I need to address why that pattern isn’t functioning well. That’s where corrective exercise strategies come in, drills that restore movement competency and teach the body how to hinge safely.
Once that foundation is built, we can load it. That’s when strength, performance, and confidence start to grow.
That process evolves over time. It’s fluid but intentional. And that’s the real value of working with a personal trainer: to bridge the gap between where your body is today and where you want it to be.
Movement Before Muscles
I don’t think in terms of muscle groups. I think in terms of movements.
There are four pillars of human movement that guide my programming:
- Push: pressing something away from the body (push-ups, bench press, shoulder press)
- Pull: drawing something toward the body (rows, pull-ups, pulldowns)
- Level Change: lowering or raising the body’s center of mass (squats, hinges, lunges)
- Locomotion and Rotation: moving through space and across planes (walking, carrying, twisting, running)
We don’t move in straight lines in life, so we shouldn’t train like we do. Real life is multi-directional. Training should reflect that.
Efficiency Over Excess
People hear the word “circuit” and think “high intensity.” But to me, circuits are about efficiency.
For example, say we’re focusing on lower body work such as squats, lunges, and step-ups. Instead of sitting idle between sets, I’ll pair each movement with an active recovery exercise:
- Squat paired with TRX Row
- Lunge paired with Plank Hold
- Step-Up paired with Core or Mobility Work
That structure maximizes time, maintains intensity, and keeps the heart rate elevated without compromising the focus of each main movement.
Simplicity Wins
The magic isn’t in variety; it’s in mastery.
I’d rather have a client do the basics extremely well than chase endless novelty and do everything poorly. My goal is always quality movement done consistently and intentionally. On purpose and with purpose.
When clients understand the “why” behind what they’re doing, buy-in skyrockets—and so do results.
Because fitness doesn’t have to be complicated. It just has to be purposeful, efficient, and consistent.