How to choose a program: place, time, days, level
The program based on the method is built around five answers: where you train, how many minutes you have for one workout, how many days a week, what your experience is, and whether you have any health limitations. Get any one of them wrong, and the program will either overwhelm you or bore you. Below is how to answer each question honestly, what to choose if your available time varies, why it is better to underestimate your level, and when it is worth changing the program.
5
questions
20-60 min
time for a workout
1-6
days per week
6
program stages
Location: home, gym, outdoors
Home is the primary format of the method: a mat, a chair, no commuting or membership. Home programs are built around bodyweight exercises with a progression of difficulty, and they are enough for months. The gym is for those who like it and actually go: if you have a membership but go once every two weeks, choose home. Outdoors means walking, stairs, a pull-up bar and a bench; in summer, it is a full replacement for home for light and moderate workouts.
The honest answer to this question is more important than all the others: a program designed for the gym that you do at home “as best you can” is not a program. How home workouts are structured and why they last for years — the “Home Workouts” section.
Time: how many minutes you really have
Options are 20, 30, 45, and 60 minutes. Rule: choose what you have on the worst day of the week, not the best. If you have an hour free on Tuesday but twenty minutes on Thursday, the program should be 20-30. A 45-minute workout that you skip twice a week is worse than a 20-minute workout you always do.
What fits: 20 minutes — three movements for three sets; 30 — five movements, a complete set of basic exercises; 45 — five movements for four sets plus mobility; 60 — the same with a warm-up and stretching without rushing. The first 20-minute workout, broken down minute by minute, is the first home workout.
What to choose based on time and experience
| Experience | Time | Days | First program |
|---|---|---|---|
| No experience | 20 min | 2 | posture, back and core; three basic movements |
| Beginner (up to six months) | 20-30 min | 3 | five basic movements, full body |
| Intermediate (regularly for 1+ year) | 30-45 min | 3-4 | upper/lower body or full body with progressions |
| Experienced | 45-60 min | 4-5 | based on goals, with equipment |
Days per week: no more than you can sustain
Two days is the minimum for building strength. Three is the standard: full-body workouts each time, every other day. Four means alternating upper- and lower-body sessions, for those who enjoy it. Five or six is only for experienced people with a specific goal; at home, almost nobody needs it. For beginners, two or three: muscles grow during rest, and “every day” is the most common reason to quit by the third week.
Choose days that are always available: not “whenever you can,” but Tuesday and Friday. How to schedule them and what to do on the other days — how many times a week to work out.
The program is tailored to your questionnaire: location, time, days, experience, and limitations. Honest answers are half the result.
Experience: why it’s better to underestimate
Going to the gym five years ago means “no experience,” not “intermediate.” Experience is based on the last year: regularly, two or three times a week, without breaks longer than a month. Overestimating your level gives you a program that feels overwhelming from the first week, leading to the conclusion “it’s not for me.” Underestimating it gives you a program that will become easy in two weeks and will simply be moved to the next stage. The latter is safer and faster.
The program level is not an assessment of you, but a starting point. The program progresses in stages: adaptation and technique, then strength and endurance, the main result, consolidation, and maintenance. How to understand that a stage has been completed — progress without records.
Back, knees, shoulders, blood pressure, pregnancy — mark everything that applies. Movements with contraindications are not included in the program; safe alternatives are selected instead. Keeping quiet means getting exercises in the program that cause you pain. For details — see the article “Training when your back or knees hurt”.
A mat and a chair are the basic set. If you have dumbbells, resistance bands, or a pull-up bar, mark them: the program will use them. If not, the program is no worse without them; the load simply increases differently.
Hate burpees — say so. A program you do reluctantly lasts two weeks. There is always a replacement.
In the morning on an empty stomach — light and moderate programs. In the evening — any programs, but not later than three hours before bedtime. This is covered in the article “Fasting and workouts”.
When it's time to change the program
Three signals. First—it has become easy: the last repetitions require no effort, sets end by count, not by quality; this means the stage is complete and the next one is needed. Second—it has become difficult for no reason: less energy throughout the day after a workout, worse sleep, cravings for sweets; this is overdoing it, and the program is rolled back one step. Third—circumstances have changed: you moved, changed your schedule, or developed an injury—the questionnaire is filled out again.
Not a signal: getting bored after a week. The program works in cycles lasting several weeks, and “tired of it” on the seventh day is about habit, not the program. How to keep movement in your life — how much time the method takes.
Mistakes when choosing
- Choose a time based on your best day, not your worst
- Overstate your experience “to progress faster”
- Five days a week at the start
- Fail to mention a bad back or knees
- Choose a gym you do not go to
- Change the program every week
Frequently asked questions
Can I start with 20 minutes and then move on to 45?
Yes, that's a common path. After a month or two, when 20 minutes has become a habit, the time increases, not the other way around.
I have one free day a week. Is it worthwhile?
One day is better than none: strength is maintained but doesn't grow. Add walking every day and a second short day at home — 15 minutes in the morning.
Gym or home — which is more effective?
The place you show up to. During the first year, bodyweight training at home is enough for strength and shape. The gym offers more options for loading the legs after a year.
What if my limitation isn't listed in the questionnaire?
Describe it in the free-text field — it will reach the assistant, and the program will take into account what can be taken into account. If in doubt, see a doctor first.
- Getting Started with Training
- Home Workouts
- Movement in Everyday Life
Reviewed by Anastasia Zhukova, Fitness Trainer • Author of a Nutrition and Training System • Creator of an AI Personal Support Platform
A human has reviewed this material against the method and real client practice.