If you’re serious about building big muscles, getting strong, or simply taking your toning to the next level, your quest will lead you to the gym. Home bodyweight workouts can only take you so far.
Download our gym workout plan for beginners PDF here.
We all start somewhere.
The commercial gym can be an intimidating place. How does a beginner figure out what to use and how, and not look crazy-awkward in the process? And how do you sort through all the free advice you get? Who do you believe?
What you need is a plan from a credible source. We have a beginner’s gym workout plan that will work for you with a printable PDF for handy reference.
Table Of Contents| Program style | Strength training and bodybuilding |
| Program structure | Upper-Lower split |
| Program duration | 8 weeks |
| Workout duration | 1 hour |
| Scheduling | Wk 1-4: 4 day split Wk 5-8: 6 day split |
| Goal | Increase strength and hypertrophy |
| Level | Beginner |
| Target Gender | Male, Female |
| Equipment needed | Dumbbells, barbells, weight plates, cable machines, pull bar, chest press machine, hex bar, leg extension machine, leg curl machine, riser, adjustable bench |
We are strong advocates for focusing first on learning proper exercise form before worrying about the amount you’re lifting. This applies to all levels of gym goers , not just beginners.
Beginners will benefit from this program because it is easy to follow using easy to learn exercises .
Benefits you can expect:
In addition to the gains you’ll see (yes, newbie gains are real, especially for people under 30) the plan lays a necessary foundation a beginner can build upon, and takes into account that more complex exercises that take literally years to master, and often require a coach nearby to assure proper performance.
Almost all elite lifters and bodybuilders started out with a similar program. Our program here incorporates lessons learned from those champions. The better you get, the fewer exercises you’ll need.
It’s still good for a beginner to know a variety of exercise variations to be able to fine-tune their workout program so that as they progress over time. At the start, it’s better to focus and build a solid base.
Follow the plan and you will definitely build muscle. Don’t skip the rest days and remember to eat right, and get 7 to 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep nightly minimum.
Why this program will work:
No, not by itself.
This program can help you establish a fitness mindset that can then lead to better body composition, less-fat-more-muscle. Unless you get it together in the kitchen, don’t expect to lose fat. In fact, if your nutrition is really bad, you may continue to gain fat.
General advice on diet and nutrition. Eating the right foods in lesser quantities over time will lead to losing fat and keeping it off. “Calorie deficit” is the simplest term to use.
Cutting out processed foods and sugary drinks (including any preworkout or recovery drink that’s got any sugar) also makes a good first step to losing fat.
Our beginner workout plan utilizes an Upper-Lower Split structure.
Splits are a popular way to organize exercises into workouts which are performed on specified days. Those can be specific calendar days (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) or simply Day 1, Day 2 and so forth. The latter is helpful for people whose work or school schedules vary week to week.
Upper-Lower splits divide the body at the waist, generally speaking. Chest, shoulders, back, arms, and core are “Upper”, and legs are “Lower” with the exception that some leg exercises involve the back and arms.
Upper body is broken into two workouts: Upper 1 and Upper 2 due to the number of exercises the upper body includes.
Lower body days include fewer movements, so it is contained to a single workout day.
The workout plan is divided into two 4-week blocks with each block having a 7 day rotation cycle.
The first 4 weeks uses a 4 day split schedule. This means you’ll be working out for 2 days, resting for 1 day, working out for another 2 days, and then resting for 2 days. Rinse and repeat.
| Day | Split | Body Part |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper 1 | Chest, Arms |
| 2 | Lower 1 | Legs, Core |
| 3 | REST | |
| 4 | Upper 2 | Shoulders, Back |
| 5 | Lower 2 | Legs, Core |
| 6 | REST | |
| 7 | REST |
For the second 4-week block, the scheduling load intensifies with a 6 day split. Your body would have adapted to the program and should be ready for an increased workload. In this period, you’ll be working out for 3 days, resting 1 day, and then working out for another 3 days. Rinse and repeat.
| Day | Split | Body Part |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper 1 | Chest, Arms |
| 2 | Lower 1 | Legs, Core |
| 3 | Upper 2 | Shoulders, Back |
| 4 | REST | |
| 5 | Upper 1 | Chest, Arms |
| 6 | Lower 2 | Legs, Core |
| 7 | Upper 2 | Shoulders, Back |
Apply progressive overload and do this program for years. The exercises are perennials and are used by advanced lifters.
Your 8 week calendar will be as follows:
| Day | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | Upper 1 | Lower 1 | REST | Upper 2 | Lower 2 | REST | REST |
| Wk 2 | Upper 1 | Lower 1 | REST | Upper 2 | Lower 2 | REST | REST |
| Wk 3 | Upper 1 | Lower 1 | REST | Upper 2 | Lower 2 | REST | REST |
| Wk 4 | Upper 1 | Lower 1 | REST | Upper 2 | Lower 2 | REST | REST |
| Wk 5 | Upper 1 | Lower 1 | Upper 2 | REST | Upper 1 | Lower 2 | Upper 2 |
| Wk 6 | Upper 1 | Lower 1 | Upper 2 | REST | Upper 1 | Lower 2 | Upper 2 |
| Wk 7 | Upper 1 | Lower 1 | Upper 2 | REST | Upper 1 | Lower 2 | Upper 2 |
| Wk 8 | Upper 1 | Lower 1 | Upper 2 | REST | Upper 1 | Lower 2 | Upper 2 |
The program has been intentionally designed to ease a complete beginner into the gym lifestyle and to aid in recovery. The generous 3 days of rest per week is there to cater for the insane DOMS you will inevitably experience as a first time gym goer.
DOMS stands for “Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness” and is the soreness associated with the muscle fibers being broken down and stressed as a result of heavy resistance training it is being put through. During the repair process, the muscles fibers fuse together resulting in more muscle mass and size.
Don’t worry, the level of pain that comes with DOMS diminishes over time as your body adapts and becomes more accustomed to this break down process. That’s why we’ve made sure that the first 4 weeks are scheduled with plenty of rest days.
NOTE: There is a fine line between DOMS and actually being injured. If the pain doesn’t subside after 5 days, please consult a qualified health care professional.
Your rest days should be enjoyable. Rest means rest. This is when your muscles respond to your workouts and grow.
It’s also OK to do some kind of light activity like light housework or walking. However, if you’re hitting it hard in the gym, you need to be taking it easy on your rest days and let your body do its thing.
Keep an eye on nutrition and sleep. Make sure to eat enough protein and calories, and to get your 7-8 hours of sleep a night in if you can.
You can also substitute one active recovery day for one rest day each week.
Active recovery days are kinda-sorta rest days, when you can do exercises that are less intense than your workout days, and also shorter in duration.
Examples of active recovery:
Use an active recovery day for rest days when you have loads of energy , are not sore at all , and when you’re getting enough sleep.
In general though, a rest day should be for rest and letting your muscles recover from the hard work you’ve put in.
Warm up before your workout to prevent injury and practice the movements. Warm-ups are important for anyone and even more crucial for older adults. If you’re a newcomer to the gym but a veteran in another sport, you’ll already understand the value of a good warm-up.
For all exercises, use a rhythmic pumping motion. Do not jerk the weights or sacrifice form. If your form isn’t perfect using the weight you selected, pick a lighter weight. Don’t be impatient…you’ll get there faster if you practice doing the movements the right way.
Focus first on learning proper exercise form before worrying about the amount you’re lifting.
This program considers people in generally good health. Special populations recovering from injury or dealing with health issues should consult a medical professional before beginning.
It’s easy to overtrain when you’re starting out, when enthusiasm is high. If you are overly-sore during weeks 5 through 8, go back to the Week 1 through 4 sequence. Remember that you grow during rest anyway.
Your warm-up should be composed of very light sets of the movements you’ll be doing during the workout. (This applies the SAID Principle: Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands).
Begin with a weight light enough to do 40 to 50 reps with absolutely perfect form. Reps 1 through 10 should be performed slowly and with partial ranges of motion (ROM), increasing the ROM as you approach 10 reps.
Once you’ve done that very very light set for reps with excellent form, select a slightly heavier weight and do another set for 25 to 30 reps. Then, a third at 20 reps with a still slightly heavier weight.
Here’s a sample warmup for the Dumbbell Chest Press:
| Warm up Set | Equipment | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5kg (10lb) dumbbells | 40 – 50 |
| 2 | 7.5kg (15lb) dumbbells | 25 – 30 |
| 3 | 10kg (25lb) dumbbells | 20 |
Only you will know when you’re warmed up. Your muscles should be getting a little pumped and your joints should feel loose. The reps should be coming easy and you should feel ready for the real work.
Don’t start your working sets before you’re completely warmed up, and don’t spend unnecessary energy on your warm-up either. If you need to add a warm-up set, do it. And don’t use heavier weight than you need or do more warm-up sets than you need.
If you have to err, err on the side of the more warm-ups.
The movements included in our gym workout plan address all the major skeletal muscle groups in the body.
These exercises are gym staples you can do for years. They’re not just for beginners. Master them and you’ll be able to use them for a lifetime.
There are dozens of exercises you can do for a body part; we had to draw the line somewhere. We stuck with the basics and classics.
Exercises fall into one of two categories: isolation, or compound.
Some here are isolation exercises, meaning they work a single muscle or a synergist group and require movement at only one joint. For example: working the biceps even in isolation also works the brachialis and brachioradialis muscles.
Isolation exercise is preferred by elite bodybuilders because they allow emphasis on a single muscle that requires focus.
Other exercises in our workout plan are compound. Compound exercises require more than one joint to move and work muscle groups. Powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting exercises are examples of compound movements.
We used three criteria in selecting the exercises in our workout plan for beginners:
