What should I consider when developing an exercise routine?

Hi Nick,

If you've been training a while - and it looks like you have - then unless you have amazing genetics, it will be unlikely that you can gain muscle without any fat. You can do several gaining phases, each followed by cutting phases and repeat this process and continue to progress without gaining much fat and you can obviously get as lean as before after gaining the muscle.

For developing a routine, it sounds like your "length of routine" is set. When you only have five times per week at 40 minutes each, you're best off doing a 4-day split - something like shoulders/triceps, legs, back/biceps, chest/traps + 1 HIIT/abs day along with 2 other intense15 minute cardio sessions per week. This will ensure you can hit each muscle group thoroughly enough during you short sessions and yet still get just enough cardio.

As far as reps, your work sets should always be between 6 and 20 reps to build muscle. Usually, unless you're trying some kind of unique program, you only do 20 reps on legs/quads but you can do it with other body parts too - don't be fooled by any of this "high reps are for toning" crap...throwing in some high-reps sets can definitely improve results. However, generally 6 to 12 is best but it depends upon the person.

For sets, you should probably vary it. Some weeks you need a rest or you may want to up the intensity/weight - so lower the number of sets (volume). Some days you should focus on doing more volume, which really gets the blood flowing and causes more muscle damage and thus better super-compensation. Check out the concept of "periodization" also, in which you plan your training cycles so that you start off light and gradually crank up the volume and or intensity so that you keep progressing and hitting your target goals throughout the year.

...just type "supercompensation" in the FI search bar in the top right of the screen!