Beginner's Workout Routine Guide: Where To Start?

A Workout Guide To Understand Everything About Weight Lifting

You just got a gym membership, but when you get in the weight room you don't know what to do. This is a common problem we find in people who just started fitness. However, don't worry every legend was once a beginner.

Before putting your hands on the barbell, you will need to know some training principles. Whether you want to become a fitness model or tone your body, you must apply the same workout principles. 

Gymaholic gives you the beginner workout routine guide, so you can get started with weight lifting quickly.

Muscle Growth Happens While You Rest

Before starting any workout, you first need to understand that muscles growth happens while you rest after a workout. So it's important to eat carbohydrates and proteins just after your weight training session to let your muscles grow and recover. Learn what you must eat before and after your workout there.

Don't Workout The Same Muscle Group 2 Days In A Row

Like said just above, your muscles need rest in order to grow and recover. It's recommended to give 48h rest to a muscle group you just trained. Forget the sentence "you can work this muscle everyday", this is generally not true.

Come To The Gym With A Workout Plan

Whether you're a woman craving for a rounded butt or a man who wants a bigger chest, you will have to come to the gym with a workout plan. You're here to get a better body and you will have to work for it. 

"A goal without a plan is just a wish."

Compound Movements For Better Results

When you will start lifting weights in the gym, you will often hear people talking about compound exercises or isolation exercises:

• Compound exercises: They are multi-joints movements that use more than one muscle group to perform a repetition. Compound exercises are popular because they help you increase your strength while making your muscles grow. 

Here are examples of compound exercises:

• Push Ups
• Pull Ups
• Squats
• Isolation exercises: In the other hand, isolation exercises place an emphasis on a single muscle group. They are often used at the end of a workout to correct muscle weaknesses.

Here are examples of isolation exercises:

• Biceps Curls
• Lateral Raises
• Leg Extensions

If you want to tone and build your muscle, your workout plan must be mainly composed of compound movements. The beginner workout routine will focus on compound exercises and finish with a few isolation exercises.

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Warm Up Your Muscles

When a beginner get to the gym, he often starts his workout with cold muscles. However,it's very important to warm up before starting your workout. Warming up will help you increase the blood flow to the muscles and more importantly, it will help you prevent injuries. So if you're doing bench press for example, you will have to warm up for 3-4 sets with no weights or light weights, in order to be ready to lift.

Get A Good Form Before Adding More Weights

Whether you're a beginner or advanced in fitness, one basic principle you must keep in mind; you must always execute each movement with a good form. In the gym, you'll see many people adding more weight, but doing exercises with a bad form. Don't let your ego get ahead of you, it won't help you achieve your fitness goals and it can lead to serious injuries.

Number Of Exercises Per Muscle Group

You should always focus on having at least 3 exercises per muscle group if you want to get some results. People in fitness often do 3-4 exercises, but if you lack of a certain muscle you can add more exercises.

Number Of Sets Per Exercise

The number of sets depends on your number of exercise you have in your workout and how you feel about it. 3-4 sets per exercise is good number in order to obtain this fit body!

Rep Range For Muscle Growth And Definition

"Low rep range is for big muscles, high rep range is for lean muscles." Neither of them is true, firstly because the size of your muscle mainly depends more on your nutrition than your workouts. 

However, there is still a difference working with various rep range:

• Strength - Low Rep Range (4-6 reps): Performing low reps with heavy weights will mainly focus on getting more strength. Having more strength will help you get better performance, which help to gain muscle mass. This rep range is often used by lifters who are in a bulking period.

• Hypertrophy - Moderate Rep Range (8-12 reps and 12-15 for legs): Whether you want to tone your body or get bigger, this is the rep range you must aim for. Slow and controlled reps with moderate weights (75% of your one-rep max) is the key to obtain the best results.

• Endurance - High Rep Range (12-15+ reps): Executing exercises with high reps can very difficult even if the weights are very light. People tend to think that it will help you get toned and lean muscle, which is not the reality. In order to make your muscles grow, you must lift at least lift 75 percent of your one-rep max (Moderate Rep Range). High rep range is more suited for people who need muscular endurance.

Rest Time Between Each Set And Exercise

Your body needs some rest time after each set to let your muscles recover. The best amount of rest time between your sets depends on how you're training:

• Strength (4-6 reps): 2-5 minutes

• Hypertrophy (8-12 reps): 1-2 minutes

• Endurance (12-15+ reps): 30-45 seconds

For the beginner workout routine we will aim for 1-2 minutes between each set and 2-3 minutes after each exercise.

Focus On A Short And Intense Workout

• You must never let your muscles become cold due to a long rest time. It's important to always keep a certain intensity during your workout, so you can stay focused and build muscle. 

• "Less is more". I strongly recommend you to keep your workouts short; between 45 minutes and 1 hour. It's always better to keep them short and intense than long and boring. If you don't have enough energy, long workouts can lead to enter into a catabolic state (using muscle tissue as a source of energy -> muscle loss).

Workout Routine For Men

Gymaholic prepared you a men's workout routine in order to get big and ripped!

Workout Routine For Women

Here's the women's workout routine in order to get lean and toned.

In Conclusion

We gave you the beginner workout routine guide so you don't feel completely lost in the gym. Now you know where to start! 

Here is a little summary of what we've just learned:

• Get in the gym with a plan, you're here for 1 hour. Make it worth it!
• Train with compound exercises, they are the best for muscle toning and muscle growth.
• Leave your ego at the door and lift with a good form.
• Do 3-4 exercises per muscle group.
• Perform 3-4 sets per exercise.
• 8-12 rep is what will make your body fit.
• Rest between each set is important! 1-2 minutes is the perfect rest time.
• 2-3 minutes between each exercise.
• Keep your workouts short and intense (45 minutes to 1 hour).

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