When you start looking for a new workout program, it can easily turn into “go big or go home” pretty damn quickly. This kicks off a fitness trajectory I’ve seen all too often: A headfirst dive into working out, cramming routines into days that just can’t fit them, chasing sweat and soreness as proof you’re all-in, and burning out before your body has even gotten a chance to adjust to the new demands.
It doesn’t have to be this way. For fitness to “work,” it’s got to be sustainable. It has to fit around your life—not the other way around. And it’s got to be something that makes you feel better, not worse, and not like you’re failing to meet some arbitrary guideline for what exercise “should” look like. Our bodies, schedules, commitments, and goals are all different, so why should a workout program be the same for everyone?
Enter: 6 Weeks to Stronger. As SELF’s fitness director and an ACE-certified personal trainer, I created this program along with Francine Delgado-Lugo, CPT, cofounder of FORM Fitness Brooklyn, to put you in the driver’s seat for your fitness journey—and come out on the other side healthier, more confident, and ready to keep crushing whatever’s next for you. The focus of this program is building strength, which helps you not only rack up some impressive gym room personal records but also simply move through the daily tasks of life a little more easily (and without a lot of the aches and pains that can sometimes pop up).
Here’s what sets 6 Weeks to Stronger apart from other programs out there:
We’re not telling you how many days a week you “should” work out.
Probably the biggest fitness fallacy out there is that “everyone has the same 24 hours.” Sorry, but no. You pick the number of days you want to work out per week—and can comfortably fit into your schedule—and we’ll provide the plan. Simply choose the one, two, three, or four days per week option and follow along for a routine that works for your life. While current guidelines consider training each muscle group at least twice per week to be optimal, a 2022 study published in Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport suggests working out just once a week can still lead to rapid strength gains in the first year or two, with more modest improvements after that.
You’ll repeat the same workouts for the entire six weeks.
We don’t have you switching it up every day here, and that’s completely intentional! This follows in line with a theory called periodization, a.k.a. planned changes in programming to help drive physical adaptations. Six weeks falls right into the sweet spot there—it’s enough time to gain mastery over specific moves and improve on them week after week so you can continue challenging your muscles to rise to the task.
You’ll use progressive overload so things don’t get stale (and you get stronger).
Even though you’ll be doing the same routines throughout the program, they won’t be exactly the same. That’s because we encourage you to use progressive overload throughout—this is the vital tenet behind building strength. As for how to put it into practice? You’ll choose a weight that feels challenging for you but allows you to complete the number of reps included in the range we’ll give. You should really feel like the last two are hard, and you might struggle a bit to finish up your set. Week after week, this will get easier, so much so that you’ll gradually be able to add more reps. Once you’re able to do more than the recommended rep range, it’s time to bump up your weight! When you do so, you’ll naturally lower your rep range. Then you’ll continue week after week with your new weight until you’re again able to hit the high end of that range. Then you’ll repeat the cycle all over again.
Big compound moves are key.
Most of what you see programmed here are compound exercises, meaning they recruit multiple muscle groups instead of just one small area. Compare a row—where your lats, rhomboids, and biceps are working—to a biceps curl, which, as its name suggests, zeros in on only the muscles in the top of your upper arms. This focus on compound moves provides more bang for your exercise buck and also works to build the kind of functional fitness that’ll help you move better in daily life too. Now, that’s not to say we won’t have you hitting the smaller muscles in this program—just that those isolation moves will serve supporting roles once your bigger muscles have already done the hard work.
You’ll lift heavy—and rest hard.
Each of these workouts will start with at least one “main” exercise; we encourage you to really give it your all with weight that feels heavy to you, which is why the suggested rep range (5 to 8) is lower than you might expect. You’ll also rest amply after your main lift—between 2 to 3 minutes—which will allow your muscles to come back for the next set and repeat all that hard work. This is how you really build strength! Your main lift will be followed by several other compound exercises, which will employ a slightly larger rep range and shorter rest period to further build strength and muscle. Then you’ll finish out each workout with some isolation exercises, which will have the most reps and the shortest rest. You probably won’t be dripping with sweat during your workouts here, but that definitely doesn’t mean your muscles aren’t working!
Each workout is packed with only the essentials.
Another fitness fallacy is that you need to cram a bunch of exercises into each routine. Nope! These workouts max out on seven moves, and that’s for the one-day-a-week folks. The others stick to around five or six—and of those, only four or so are the compound moves. This allows you to give the biggies your utmost attention and effort, which is where gains really happen.
Your exercises have been carefully selected for functional benefits.
All of the main movement patterns are represented in your routines: upper-body push and pull, and lower-body push and pull, plus some single-leg or single-arm work to help build balanced strength and ward off muscle imbalances from side to side. This addresses how we move in everyday life—and preps us better for it.
You can do it at home or at the gym.
You can do this program with dumbbells, but if you have access to them and feel comfortable with them, barbells would be great for some exercises too. Other equipment includes a mini-band, a step, and a weight bench. Don’t have any of these handy? Don’t worry—we’ll help you modify it in a way that utilizes what you’ve got!
Ready to give 6 Weeks to Stronger a shot? Pick how many days you want to get working, and head over to our package to get started. There, you’ll find your weekly workouts that’ll take you through the duration of the program, along with some tips to keep in mind, modifications to know, and how to get scheduling.
Join us for the next six weeks to build your strength, confidence, and general badassery. As for what comes next after that? Feel free to repeat the program for another block—the same one is great (you’ll keep adding weight, yes?!), but if your sitch changes in any way, you can always try the program for a different number of days a week to fit with where you’re at!
Happy lifting!
Christa Sgobba
SELF’s fitness director
Francince Delgado-Lugo
Co-owner of FORM Fitness, Brooklyn
