Home Workout Plan For Beginners
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This home workout plan for beginners makes you build muscle and needs very little equipment to get started!
Equipment Needed?
If you are new to fitness and just decided to start working out at home, things seem rather confusing. But it’s quite simple: Compound exercises (those that work many muscles at once) and whole body workout routines will build your basic strength.
As hinted, I designed this beginner routine for those of you that work out at home. It requires little to no equipment, not even a pull-up bar, even though pull-ups are an essential part of the plan.
All you need is a place to do pull-ups, which doesn’t have to be a bar; this article has many suggestions for places where you can do pull-ups. If you do want to buy a bar, this one seems like a good deal to me
Before You Start
I know it’s bothersome, but it’s a good idea to visit your doctor. He can make sure everything is a-ok and you are ready to expose your body to this form of stress!
Also keep in mind to ease into working out and to not expect miracles, if this is your first foray into fitness in your life or since Bill Clinton was president. You can feel a difference right after the first workout, but visible results take up to six months!
The Workout Schedule
| Body Part | Exercise | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Chest / Triceps | 3 sets of push-ups, as many as you can do, with 60 seconds rest between sets | The exercise is explained in this video, which also has pointers on what to do when you can’t do a full push-up yet. |
| Back / Biceps | 3 sets of pull-ups, as many as you can do, with 60 seconds rest between sets | If you don’t have a pull-up bar, this article has very many suggestions for possible substitutes. If you can’t do a full pull-up, this video will guide you from negative chin-ups to your first full pull-up and beyond. |
| Legs | Three sets of lunges, as many as you can do, with 60 seconds rest between sets. | An explanation of the exercise is right here. Start with no weight to learn the movement and then gradually add resistance, while making sure you keep good form. When you need additional resistance, you can use dumbbells or, if you don’t have any, milk gallons filled with water. |
| Legs (optional) | Three sets of hamstring curls, 6 – 12 repetitions, with 60 seconds rest between sets | If you feel your hamstrings don’t get enough work from doing lunges, you may add hamstring curls. I explain them in this video. |
| Abs | Three sets of crunches, 6-12 repetitions, with 60 seconds rest between sets | I explain the exercise right here. Note that the hands do not pull on the head; fixate a spot right above you when you do the movement. |
Do every exercise slowly and with controlled form. For push-ups this means you go 2 seconds up and 2 seconds down. For pull-ups it means no swinging or kicking. There are no extra arm exercises because when you do push-ups and pull-ups you do exercise your arms.
Weekly Workout Schedule
Your weekly workout schedule differs depending on your goals: If you want to lose weight, you should spend more time with cardio, as it burns more calories than resistance training. If you are happy with your weight and mainly want to build muscle, the emphasis needs to be on resistance training:
| Day | For Weight Loss | For Building Muscle |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Beginner Workout | Beginner Workout |
| Tuesday | Cardio, 30 – 60 Minutes | Cardio, 30 – 60 Minutes |
| Wednesday | Cardio, 30 – 60 Minutes | Beginner Workout |
| Thursday | Beginner Workout | Cardio, 30 – 60 Minutes |
| Friday | Cardio, 30 – 60 Minutes | Beginner Workout |
| Saturday | Rest | Rest |
| Sunday | Rest | Rest |
A Word About Cardio
A good cardio activity is anything – running, biking, dancing etc. – that gets your pulse to 50 to 75 percent of your maximum heart rate. This maximum you can rougly calculate as 220 – your age. If, for example, you are 40 years old, then your maximum is 180 and your pulse during endurance activities should be between 90 to 135 bpm.
Do not neglect cardio, even if your goal isn’t losing weight. Cardio’s importance for a fit body is as big as that of resistance training.
If you already have a weekly activity that classifies as cardio (tennis, squash, soccer etc.), build the above plan around it, otherwise decide on one which fulfills the criteria and which you’ll enjoy and keep doing. Some tips on how you should start cardio are in this article. You can also do your cardio at home.
Logging Workout Progress
To track how you are progressing in your workouts, it helps a lot to keep a workout log, where you write down when you did your sessions and how you peformed on each exercise. To make this task easy for you, I prepared a PDF you can download, print out and get right started. Right click and choose “save link as”:
Workout Log – Beginner Workout
Beyond Beginner Workouts
Stay with this workout routine until you are able to do 30 consecutive push-ups and 7 consecutive pull-ups, which is my rule for dividing between beginning and intermediate trainees.
Reaching these two milestones takes about six months. After that you are ready for home workouts that target different muscle groups separately. Here is a suitable intermediate home workout plan.
Don’t Forget Nutrition!
Please remember that for building a maximum amount of muscle, you also need to have an eye on your nutrition. I compiled a handy guide on it right here and here is a free complete nutrition plan for an entire week!
Picture courtesy of Elvert Barnes.
279 Comments
Thanks for advice.
Hello,
Thanks for your advice for workout.
And, I have a question?
Is it ok to increase sets from 3 to 5?
I’ve heard doing 5 sets is better.
Also, I’m doing 150 burpees, 150 squats, 150 sit ups for Cardio on Tuesday and Thursday. Is it ok for building muscle?
I have type 1 diabetes and I found that cardio thing good for me, but I’d like to know is it bad or is it good for building muscle.
Anyway, it’s really a good workout program.
Cardio is not for building muscle. Here is an explanation:
https://evilcyber.com/fitness/what-is-cardio/
I think that for a beginner doing three sets is better.
I’m starting this plan this week.. hopefully I’ll stay motivated
Hello,
I have tried some workout in my teen and also in 30s myself but didn’t go well. I have back pain and some shoulder pain (but not much) on the right side. Now I am 40+ and want to start of with simple work out from home. Simple work out programs given in your site is very interesting.
as I want start as a beginner, would like to check whether can I try push up on the floor as per the sequence given in your site?
My idea is to build muscle not to lose weight.
Pls advice.
Thanks.
Hey John, if you can do push-ups in good form on the floor, then it’s ok to do those.
The wall and knee push-ups are for people who have trouble doing regular push-ups and need to work up.
Thank you for your help. I did your plan for 5 months and the results are great!!!
Excellent! 🙂
First of all thank you for this amazing website! Having done very little excercise in my childhood due to medical issues and low self esteem, it was great to find a site to help me be able to do pullups and pushups which I have not been able to do.
I am making steady progress on this workout so far. I am currently doing
15 11(4) 7(8) knee pushups (wall pushups)
5(5) 3(7) 2(7) chinups (negative chinups)
My question is, assuming after 6 months I still can’t do 30 pushups and 7 pullups, what should I do? I think it’s possible for me to hit 7 pullups, but I’m not too certain on the pushups. I have something called pectus excavatum, and I’m not sure on its impact on muscle and strength gain.
Regardless, I will carry on and let you know after I have done the routine for 6 months!
Hey Lucas, you are making steady progress and still worry you won’t hit the goal after 6 months? With your progress so far I think there’s a fair chance you will the goal in time! 🙂
If it really doesn’t happen let me know and we’ll work out something!
Man giving (what at least seems to me like) good advices for free…
MAN, YOU ARE DA REAL MVP!
Thank you! 🙂
I want to try this cause my upper thigh is starting to get to chubby.
also i am 12 and can never do push ups correctly and i am 40-50kgs.
Is the weight good? cant wait to try it out.Thanks!
Hello Matthew, I can’t say if that weight is good or not because it depends on your height. To give you an idea, calculate your BMI over here and see if you’re in the normal range:
https://evilcyber.com/losing-weight/what-is-the-bmi/
Start with the easy push-ups and over time you’ll be able to do the full ones!
is yoga cardio workout ?
No, because yoga doesn’t really raise your heart rate.
Get fit
maan i am FAT!
i want to lose fat fast as i can.
so i am searching for a home routine workout!
please help me.
Hey evilcyber i was wonder, since i’m 20 years old, i weight at about 230 lbs (last time i checked anyway) and was wondering if you had a great workout plan for JUST burning fat and losing weight ( i’ll get to building muscle after i loosed a hundred pounds or so). Now i know that you had a pre-built workout plan on your home page and you differed between loosing weight and building muscle workout plans, but in my opinion (and i don’t mean to discourage you or prove you wrong in anyway) your workout plans seemed a little too vaguely laid out for me or lacking more workouts for me do tryout aside from the ones listed . If you would be so kind as to provide me with a more vivid workout plan(i.e. day to day schedule of what i should do on each day) that would be a very big help, thanks.
P.S: One, sorry about the paragraph persuasion, i’m terrible with wording things out. Second could you maybe include (if it’s not too much of a hassle or troubling for you) to include workouts for me that include having to workout every muscle in my body (or at the very least more exercises to tone my stomach region please). And again sorry for boring you with my dribbling requests; on the bright side of things I guess, I AM using your beginner workout guide for the time being, i’m trying to get into the grove of having to do it everyday…sucks that it takes 66 days to form a habit though, none the less I am trying my best.
And as always until next time bye-bye. =) (I really enjoy your videos by the way very useful. thanks)
i am 12 years old i want home routine i have dumbles but my was broken so can i carry dumbles and the routine for all body
Hello ..
Thank you , I was actually looking for a workout program. Do you have more advanced one ?
i have an habit of taking 2lit water for free motion is it ok to take that much water before workout please answer in brief.
Thank you very much
in the morning time
Thanks so much for the guide! In only 10 weeks, I noticed significant results by strictly following the routine and eating well. It’s very satisfying to know that you don’t need to join a pricey gym to become fit and see some results–the fitness world needs more role models like you!
Time to upgrade to the intermediate routine soon.
Hello!
Your workout plan’s good as I have been following it for about 4 months (I guess) and I reached to do 20 pushups per set, 6 pull ups, 6 lunges and 12 crunches. ( I only increased reps on pushups and crunches )
and I did notice some progress in my body not too much which is good but anyway I got a big problem that the left side of my body i.e. left chest, left arm and left abs are more visible as compared to my right side which is very frustrating. At first I thought my right side will catch up with my left side if I did the exercises perfectly but It didn’t and now I am very confused that I messed up and I even stopped exercising for 3 weeks (I have resumed ) that’s why I’m here so what should I do to fix my self?
Hey, Sir. I wonder about your workout plan. There are 4 different types of exercise you suggest. Should I do those 4 in a day? Or in a different days but in the same week?
Thanks a lot. You’re awesome!
hey can i replace the pull ups with back dumbell rows?
What could be a good at home cardio…..I have a wii tennis game
Do I have to Warm up before starting workout.
And what Warm up should I do.
Is 15 min (walk, brisk walk & jog) is Ok as Warm up or anything else.
Where can I find a ‘diet for begineers’ related to this post?