A simple beginner gym plan

Warm up in about ten minutes

Start every session with a short warm-up. It raises your body temperature, loosens stiff joints and lets you rehearse the movements before you add weight. It does not need to be complicated, and it should leave you warm rather than tired.

1. Three to five minutes on a bike, rower or brisk walk, building from easy to moderate.
2. Ten bodyweight squats to a bench, sitting down and standing up under control.
3. Ten hip hinges with your hands on your hips, pushing your bottom back towards the wall behind you.
4. Ten slow arm circles each way, then ten band pull-aparts or wall slides.
5. One or two light sets of your first exercise, using about half your working weight.

On days when you feel stiff, for example after a long drive or a day at a desk, spend an extra few minutes here. It is the cheapest insurance you can buy.

Workout A

1. Goblet squat: 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps. Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell at your chest and sit down between your heels. Our goblet squat guide covers the technique.
2. Dumbbell Romanian deadlift: 3 sets of 8 to 12. Push your hips back with soft knees until you feel a stretch in the hamstrings, then stand tall.
3. Push-up: 3 sets of 6 to 12. Put your hands on a bench or box if full push-ups are not there yet.
4. One-arm dumbbell row: 3 sets of 8 to 12 each side, with one hand and knee supported on a bench.
5. Dead bug: 2 sets of 6 to 8 slow reps each side.

Rest around 90 seconds between sets of the bigger exercises and about 60 seconds on the smaller ones. To save time, pair exercises (squat with row, deadlift with push-up) and alternate between them.

Workout B

1. Split squat or reverse lunge: 3 sets of 8 to 10 each leg. Hold onto something for balance at first if you need to.
2. Glute bridge or hip thrust: 3 sets of 10 to 12.
3. Dumbbell shoulder press: 3 sets of 8 to 12, seated or standing.
4. Lat pulldown or band-assisted pull-up: 3 sets of 8 to 12.
5. Farmers carry: 3 walks of 30 to 40 metres holding a heavy dumbbell or kettlebell in each hand.

Finish either workout with 5 to 10 minutes of easy cardio on a bike or rower if you have the time and energy left. It is a bonus, not a requirement, and it should feel easy.

How hard each set should feel

Stop each set when you have roughly two or three good reps left. Coaches call this reps in reserve, and it is a far better guide for beginners than training to failure. You get most of the benefit, your technique stays clean, and you recover in time for the next session. Our guide to RPE and RIR explains the idea in more depth.

In the first two weeks, go lighter than that. Use the early sessions to learn the movements and find your starting weights. It is normal to feel you are not working hard enough. You are laying groundwork, and easing in keeps the soreness from new exercises manageable.

Write every session down: the exercise, the weight and the reps for each set. A notes app is fine. Without a record you are guessing, and guessing is how people end up lifting the same weights for a year.

How to progress: the double progression rule

Making training gradually harder is what makes any plan work, a principle known as progressive overload. The simplest way to apply it is double progression. Each exercise has a rep range, say 8 to 12. Start with a weight you can lift for 8 good reps on every set, then try to add a rep or two each session.

When you can do all three sets at 12 reps with good form, increase the weight by the smallest jump available, usually 1 to 2.5 kg per dumbbell, and drop back to 8 reps. Then build up again. Progress will not be perfectly smooth, and some weeks you will match last time rather than beat it. That is fine.

The rest of your week, and what comes after 12 weeks

On non-training days, walk. Somewhere around 7,000 to 10,000 steps is a sensible target for most people, but any increase on your current number counts. Walking helps recovery, supports heart health and fat loss, and makes it easy to hit the UK guideline of 150 minutes of moderate activity a week.

Eat enough protein to support the training. For people who lift, roughly 1.6 to 2.2 g per kg of body weight a day is a well-supported target, which works out at around 110 to 155 g for a 70 kg person. Sleep matters just as much as the sets and reps.

After 12 weeks, take an easier week, then reassess. You may be ready to learn the barbell lifts, move to four days a week or join coached strength classes. At Lycan Strength, beginner programmes and a 7-day free trial are there if you would rather have a coach check your technique and adjust the plan as you go.