The best books to help you learn to construct your own fitness routines

You didn’t expect to see this book, did you? Well, the #1 thing with anything in life if you want to be successful is consistency. Most people who fail to meet their goals relied solely on motivation which is based on feelings that come and go rather than building disciplined habits into their life. Consistency is important with almost everything, but it is especially important for starting and maintaining an exercise routine. One must align their habits and their life to be successful with training. 

Practical programming is a very good introduction to programming and periodization methods that beginners and intermediates can easily implement to be effective in their own routines. Unlike some of the later recommended books, Practical Programming gives templates which the reader can use as their own program while explaining why they work which can eliminate some of the guesswork and confusion of trying to apply concepts to make their own routine. Only once it gets into the advanced section does it become more theoretical in nature and ask you to apply the concepts you learn to your own training. In conclusion, this book helps to bridge the gaps from using routines to making your own routines well. 

The Science and Practice of Strength Training is an intermediate to elite book aimed at understanding periodization concepts as how they best apply to specific tissues, adaptations, and populations. This deeper understanding will allow the reader to understand the reasons why they are implementing exercises, sets, repetitions, rest times, and so on into their routines and how that can play out with long-term progress. The specific populations mentioned are training for women, young adults, and seniors, so it's applicable to a broad range of people not just your regular athletes or recreational athletes wanting to know more. 

Periodization training for sports is one of the best books in terms of understanding how everything comes together into a full plan (“cycle”). Like some of the other books, it also delves into the anatomy and physiology of strength training and tissue adaptations, but where this book shines is the focus on understanding the various manipulation of training variables to progress. It covers short term, medium, and long term which are usually weekly, about 1-2 months, and yearly plans respectively. 

This book is a little off the beaten path too. One of the big issues that make athletes and recreational athletes quit their fitness journey is injuries. Supple Leopard aims to help an athlete use prehabilitation (“pre-rehabilitation”) methods to prevent pain and injuries. Often athletes may neglect their flexibility or mobility which leaves them with excessive tightness and sometimes dysfunction. One small fault in reading is that it’s easy to overemphasize using certain methods in this book to attempt to fix their issues (e.g. pain, tightness, lack of mobility) and neglect specifically targeted exercises addressing underlying issues like weakness, lack of endurance, and instability which can resolve them. These should be done at the same time rather than one or the other.