Gym Workouts for Beginners

There are numerous gym workouts on the internet to choose from and follow, which can be confusing for a beginner. But in this article, I'll explain the basics you need to know about working out and strength training. There'll also be a free workout plan later on in this article.

Type of workouts

You mainly go to the gym to build strength and muscle. But you may want to build more muscle to look larger and fill in that t-shirt. Or strength to be able to be able to perform better at your main sport. Some may want to be simple and build both nearly equal to each other. The main things that will change due to these goals are the reps of the exercises and the weight used.

Gym routine for more strength

If you want to get stronger, you need to use heavy weights which are hard to lift, and this will result in you doing 6-7 reps close to failure. Sometimes, you may even go as low as doing 5 reps, which is ok as long as you're doing them with correct form and leaving one rep in reserve.

For your understanding, going to failure wouldn't be beneficial for you, as you would be putting excessive stress on your nervous system and muscles that don't benefit from consistent performance in all your sets, as you'll burn one of the sets you go to failure on, negatively impacting the following sets. Therefore, I say you should leave one rep in reserve, which means that when you complete your set, you would have had the potential to do 1 more rep.

For isolation exercises, like the lateral raise, I recommend you use a weight that gives you a minimum of 8 reps or more because using a heavy weight will put excessive stress on one minor muscle, which could easily cause injury. For instance, on the lateral raise, using heavy weights can give you shoulder pain (it has happened to me). If you find that this happens with more exercises, like bicep curls with weights that give you 7 reps, then use a lighter weight.

You may want a slightly longer rest break between sets than usual when using heavy weights, as they are significantly more taxing on your nervous system and your body than using lighter weights, so you should have at least 2 minutes of rest between sets.

Gym routine for more muscle

You want to be able to exaggerate most of the movements for building muscle, so going a bit more slowly to emphasise that burn. Therefore, you need to use lighter weights so you can better control these movements. Not too light so that it becomes an endurance workout, but you’ll want to use a weight that gives you 12- 13 reps going close to failure (leaving one rep in reserve).

Your rest break between each set should be 1.5 minutes.

Gym routine for both

Some may want a balance between muscle and strength, and in this case, you’ll want to use weights that give you 10-12 reps close to failure.

Your rest between sets should be 1.5 minutes.

Exercises and priorities

Some exercises must be in your routine, no matter your goal, and they are generally compound exercises, as these are usually the most functional exercises, and they also target large muscle groups. Here is a list of those exercises:

Upper body

• Bench press

• Pullups

• Dips

• Shoulder press (on bench, dumbbells)

• Barbell rows

Lower body

• Squats

Here’s a list of some other exercises that will be in your workout:

Upper body

• Pec fly

• Lateral raises (sitting on the bench)

• Overhead tricep extension (with cables)

• Bicep curls (seated on a bench, dumbbells)

Lower body

• Calf raises

Some exercises are on a bench instead of standing because it forces you to only use the muscles that you’re meant to use, increasing the effectiveness of the exercise.

The Workout

Here’s a chest, shoulders and triceps, back, biceps and legs split workout, assuming you’re trying to have a balance between strength and muscle growth.

Chest, shoulders, triceps

*Repeat Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

Benchpress: 5 x 10-11 reps

Dips: 3 x (how many reps you can do, close to failure)

Overhead tricep extension (with cables): 3 x 11-12 reps

Pec fly: 3 x 11-12 reps

Shoulder press (sitting on a bench, dumbbells): 5 x 10-11 reps

Lateral raises (sitting on a bench): 4 x 11-12 reps

Back, biceps, legs

*Repeat Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Barbell back squats (squats): 5 x 10-11 reps

Pullups: 4 x (as many as you can do, close to failure)

Barbell rows: 3 x 10-11 reps

Bicep curls (seated on a bench, dumbbells): 4 x 11-12 reps

Calf raises: 5 x 12 reps

Recommended workout schedules

How often you work out will greatly affect your progress. Working out infrequently means you miss out on opportunities to work out and create micro-tears in your muscles that could recover in time when you next work out. Contrarily, working out too often won’t give your body muscles enough time to physically rebuild and recover, so you won’t be able to perform at your peak. So, avoid working out on back-to-back days.

The best workout frequencies are 2 – 3 times a week with close to even intervals between each workout. Working out thrice a week may be slightly better if you don’t do excessive sets in your workouts. But the schedule you choose should be based on the amount of time you have throughout your week.

Pick your workout schedule:

• 3 upper body, 3 lower body

  • Upper body: Monday, Wednesday, Friday

  • Lower body: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday

  • Since the workouts are close to each other, they’ll be less intense, so reduce the sets of each exercise by one

• 2 upper, 2 lower body

  • Upper body: Monday, Thursday

  • Lower body: Tuesday, Friday

• Full body

  • You can do both upper body and lower body workouts in one workout thrice a week to save time: Monday, Wednesday, Saturday

  • Or twice a week: Tuesday and Saturday

Tips for workout success

Here are some useful points to take away for improving your workout performance and effectiveness:

Warmup

Warming up gets your muscles ready to lift heavier weights, and it gets blood flowing through them so you’re less likely to get injured, and you can also perform better in your workout.

Your warmup set doesn’t count as a real set, and it should be done with a significantly lighter weight. For example, on the benchpress, if you usually bench 60kg in your set, use 40kg for the warmup, and do the number of reps you usually do in your set.

As another example, if you usually use 16kg for your shoulder presses, use 12kg for the warmup.

Full range of motion

Doing the exercise properly ensures you get the most out of the exercise, and it targets your muscles better. So, on the bench press, make sure the bar touches your chest on your way down. For squats, make sure you are down so your glutes are parallel with your knees, or maybe even slightly below. With bicep curls, go all the way down, then return up and squeeze at the top.