While bodyweight exercises can take you far, if you’re able to add weights to your routine, you should. And this lower body workout with weights is a great place to start, since it takes exercises you may already be familiar with – air squats, lateral lunges, step-ups – and just adds resistance.
But first, a primer on the benefits of strength training. While many people focus on the aesthetic benefits of strength training, resistance training has other upsides. “Strength training builds bone density,” says Bertha Muñoz-Lewis, a certified strength and conditioning specialist. It also strengthens muscles, and “strong muscles protect joints, tendons, and ligaments,” she adds. Weight training can improve balance and coordination, reducing your risk of falling or injuring yourself. In short, “It’s imperative for women of all ages to add a true resistance training program to their workout routine in order for their bodies to be resilient, durable, capable, and functional as they age,” says Muñoz-Lewis. “It’s our body armor.”
A lower body workout with weights can activate the glutes and muscles surrounding the hips, along with the quadriceps and hamstrings. These are key muscle groups of the posterior chain that help make up the foundation of the body. We use them not just in the gym, but in many of our daily movements – everything from picking up groceries to dancing or playing sports.
If you’re totally new to fitness, consider checking in with your doctor or healthcare provider before trying this workout to make sure you don’t have any injuries or limitations that would prevent you from being able to complete it. If you’re ready to dive in, start with a dynamic warm-up including five minutes of low-intensity cardiovascular activity, such as a light jog, indoor cycling, jump rope, or jumping jacks. Then check out our guide about how to choose the right weight and get started.
Expert Featured in This Article
Bertha Muñoz-Lewis, MS, CSCS, is a certified strength and conditioning specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), and the co-owner of House of Champs in Felton, DE. She creates and oversees the strength programs for student-athletes from elementary school age through the collegiate level, and also runs her women’s strength program known as B.yond Strength.
Lower Body Workout With Weights
Equipment needed: Dumbbells or Kettlebells. As a starter weight set, we like the PS Neoprene Dumbbell ($7-$20), available in three, five-, eight-, and ten-pound increments, or the Stakt Weights ($98), which can be adjusted to clock in at two, four, and six pounds each.
Directions: Perform eight to 10 repetitions of each of the first five exercise, moving directly from one to the next with no rest between each move. After completing all five lower-body exercises with weights, finish with the core burner: choose one, two, or all three of the core exercises from the options listed below and perform them for 25 to 45 seconds each to finish each set. Then, rest for one minute. Repeat the entire sequence again for two to three sets.
Lower Body Exercises With Weights:
Goblet Squat
Kettlebell Deadlift
Lateral Lunge
Step Ups
Glute Bridges
Core Burner. Choose between one to three of the following core moves: Dumbbell Drag from Plank Position, Mountain Climbers or Plank Jacks.
Read on for explanations of how to do each exercise, including form and technique tips.
Walking into the gym for the first time can be intimidating, not just because you want to fit in amongst a sea of regular gym goers. There may be machines you’ve never heard of that you want to try, and even choosing the right free weights can seem daunting if you’ve never lifted before. That’s where this gym workout plan for beginners comes into play. Created with Holly Roser, an NASM-certified personal trainer and owner of Holly Roser Fitness in San Matteo, CA, this gym plan for beginners provides a week’s worth of newbie gym workouts to get you started, and you can build on this routine to keep challenging yourself and get stronger over time.
This gym workout routine is not only great for people who are heading to the gym for the first time, but also for those who haven’t worked out in a while. The gym workout plan contains two strength circuits, three days of cardio, and two days of active recovery. “For the first two weeks, your new program should have two strength training days that are three days apart, with cardio days in between,” Roser tells POPSUGAR. As you build your endurance, move up to three cardio days and three strength training days. For the latter, you can use a mix of moves from the circuits in this plan, or check out other strength training workouts such as this basic dumbbell workout or this full-body circuit workout. (You can probably take that step about three weeks after getting comfortable with this routine, Holly says.) Make sure to switch up your forms of cardio, rotating between exercises like running, swimming, dance cardio, and indoor cycling to hit different muscle groups and keep from getting bored.
Ready to move? Follow this gym workout plan for beginners, and you’re sure to feel like a pro in no time.
– Additional reporting by Lauren Mazzo and Alexis Jones
We’ve all been there: obsessed with one specific workout, whether it’s a so-hard-it-hurts HIIT class, a makes-your-bod-rock Pilates class, a zen-AF yoga class, or a gives-you-literal-life regular run. It’s not always easy to exercise, but looking forward to this particular workout helps with motivation, so it’s pretty much the only workout that gets done. But is repeating the exact same series of exercises every time you break a sweat bad for your body?
“Finding a type of exercise you enjoy so much that you want to do it every day is a gift,” says certified personal trainer and fitness nutrition specialist Rachel Trotta. “But it’s smart to plan your week intelligently, so that your recovery is built in, and you can see the results you really want without burning out.”
In other words, if you’ve found a workout you love, hurray! Research shows enjoyment is one of the main reasons people adhere to a workout regimen, and anything that motivates you to move your body is a good thing. And when it comes to certain workouts, like strength-training, repetition can be key. But there are reasons to at least try to mix other workouts in with your favorite go-to. Below, experts unpack some of the arguments for variety when it comes to designing your exercise regimen and offer suggestions for mixing it up like a pro trainer.
The Downsides of Doing the Same Workout Every Day
1. You’re Not Allowing Time for Recovery
If you’re repeating the same workout every single day, you may not be giving your body adequate time to recover, which can end up working against your fitness goals.
But just how important recovery is depends on the type of workout you’re repeating, says Trotta. For example, if it’s a well-balanced strength-training regimen or a daily yoga class that hits a variety of muscle groups, you may not have to worry about recovery as much as you need to if your workout is higher in intensity, such as distance running or a high-octane HIIT class.
“Some kinds of exercise tax the nervous system, but this isn’t a bad thing as long as sufficient recovery happens – you tend to come back stronger and more resilient,” says Trotta. “But if you’re exerting this stress literally every day, or almost every day, you might experience the opposite effect from overdoing it. Your performance will suffer, you’ll feel more lethargic, random injuries will pop up, and you’ll probably even see unwanted changes in body composition.”
In Trotta’s experience, the most common culprit for “overuse” injury from repetition is running. “It’s important to know that running is a unique type of cardio exercise because of the power and impact involved. Your muscles have to absorb and translate a lot of force, especially at faster speeds,” she says. “If someone’s primary mode of exercise is running, it’s critical that they take one to two rest days a week, and vary the intensity of their training day to day.”
With strength training, however, progress actually requires repetition. So Trotta says it’s important to build a routine that allows you to switch up your target muscles throughout the week. “With strength training, for example, overuse only tends to happen if someone is training the same muscle groups too frequently – like doing back-to-back leg days – and is overreaching their abilities every time they walk in the gym,” she says. “Even then, I wouldn’t necessarily use the word ‘overuse’ – it’s just not very organized programming, which should allow for ups and downs in intensity and proper rest between training days.”
If you do the same workout every day, your body will adapt to the workout over time. “Repeating a workout is great in the beginning, especially as motivation. You start to get good at those specific movements and with that comes not only physical, but mental changes as well. However, your body will eventually hit a plateau,” says Nike Well Collective trainer Julia Brown. “You then slowly lose the motivation because you no longer see the results and begin to feel discouraged.”
Strength training, says Brown, provides a great example of this. If you’re constantly doing the exact same workout and not adding the proper progressions, you won’t see results. “Any movement is a plus; however, if you have specific goals in mind, they might not be as achievable doing the same workout three to four times a week compared to following a tailored program,” she says. “Having the proper balance in your workout regime allows you to not only move better, but continuously challenges yourself mentally and physically.”
3. You May Get Bored
While you can reap the psychological benefits of engaging in a workout you love long after your body has adapted, you may eventually adapt mentally as well and grow bored. This can cause you to be less mindful in your movements, and eventually lose motivation to hit the gym altogether.
4. It Could Lead to Over-Exercising
In some cases, says Trotta, repetitive exercise can become a compulsion of sorts. “Sometimes, people over-exercise in pursuit of weight loss, or they do a specific type of exercise because they’ve heard that it will ‘give them’ the body they idealize,” she says. “Body image anxiety can strongly influence exercise behaviors, causing people to tune out important clues about overtraining, like excessive fatigue or pesky injuries. I especially find this with running or HIIT classes – it can turn into a ball-and-chain routine that must be done to prevent weight gain.”
To figure out if you’re over-exercising or exercising too repetitively, Trotta recommends clarifying your goals. “Are you trying to get stronger? Build muscle? Boost your mental health? Manage your weight?” she says. “Simply knowing why you’re exercising can help you create a healthy roadmap that avoids burnout.”
When it comes to optimally training your body, there is actually a formula of sorts to follow, says Trotta. “When we’re trying to create a healthy and effective weekly exercise schedule, we’re not just looking at frequency or the type of exercise – we’re thinking about undulations in intensity as well,” she says. “A smart ‘recipe’ is to have a large base of low-intensity movement, like lots of walking, two to three days a week of moderately vigorous exercise, and one to two days a week of high-intensity exercise.”
This means, Trotta says, that you don’t necessarily have to do completely different workouts throughout the week to add the variety your body needs. For example, if someone loves to run, they can get a lot of miles in every week without injury if they’re intentional about the types of runs they’re doing: mixing it up between easy paces, speed runs, intervals, etc.
“If someone loves high-intensity classes, they can go to that class a lot if they mindfully push themselves harder on some days while coasting on other days,” she says. “Even with a Peloton bike or treadmill, you can choose shorter HIIT workouts a few days a week, with easier intervals, runs, and paces on other days.”
In some cases, you do need to change things up a bit more, however. For strength-training clients, Trotta recommends vigorous strength training three to four days per week, with walking and various forms of cardio mixed in on the other days.
But there is one caveat. “If someone uses running as their cardio between strength-training days, it’s important to ‘pick a lane’ and commit to which sport they’re trying to improve at the moment, because one needs to be moderate to allow the other to make organized progress,” she says.
Trotta reiterates the importance of incorporating specific types of variety within a strength-training regimen, too. “You can vary the exercises used for a specific muscle group, and this can be effective in terms of varying intensity,” she says. “For example, if you’re working on squats, you might be focusing on barbell back squats. But it can be smart to just do barbell back squats at your max once a week, and work squats in other ways on other days – Smith machine front squats, leg presses, heavy goblet squats, and more.”
Working the same muscles from different angles and at different intensities can somewhat help with injury prevention by stimulating different parts of the muscle to engage. “I write most of my clients’ programs with this kind of variety built in – it gives them more flexibility at the gym, and also helps to prevent mental burnout,” Trotta says. “But you have to be careful about too much variety, because you won’t make progress if you don’t repeat a particular exercise often enough.” For example, if you only do barbell back squats once a month, you’re probably not going to make significant progress in increasing the weight you’re lifting.
If you’re unsure of whether or not you’re properly varying your strength-training regimen or allowing for adequate muscle recovery, Trotta says there are a few questions you can ask yourself. “Is the weight too heavy? Are there at least two days between the same muscle group being worked strenuously? Are you clearing soreness by the time the next workout rolls around?” she says. “On the lifestyle side of the equation, you can also take a look at sleep and nutrition, to ensure that you’re providing yourself with sufficient recovery.”
Ultimately, Any Exercise Is Good Exercise
While the ideal workout regimen includes a significant amount of variety (for all the reasons listed above), it’s important to remember that some movement is better than no movement. So, if mixing it up is going to demotivate you, it’s better to be a creature of habit then to end up with no exercise habit at all.
“The statistical reality is that most people don’t get enough physical activity, and it’s incredibly easy for people to fall off the wagon with their exercise,” says Trotta. “So if someone is highly motivated by a specific class and essentially won’t exercise otherwise, I understand why they might go every day, even if, in some ways, it’s not in their best interests.”
Her advice for these folks is to “go hard” with their chosen workout a few days a week, “go easy” with it on the other days, and plan to rest one day per week. “While it might not be an ideal arrangement from the point of view of perfect exercise science, it’s miles better than not exercising at all,” she says.
I get multiple emails and messages per day asking:
“Steve, what should I do for a workout?”
Well, partner, today is your lucky day.
I’m gonna help build you a custom workout program, step-by-step!
After all, a workout should be developed around a person’s age, goals, nutritional strategy, free time, etc.
Not only that, but it’s easy to overcomplicate this process – there are an infinite number of exercises, sets, reps, and programs to choose from.
Now, if you’re somebody that wants to skip all of that, and JUST want to be told what exactly to do:
We build customized workouts for our Online Coaching Clientsand would love to have you. We get to know your story and struggles, your goals, and your lifestyle, and develop a workout plan that fits your schedule.
Now, if you’re more of a “figure this stuff out on my own” kind of person – we’re going to dig into how to build your own workout plan today!
We’ve also created a free resource for folks who want to build their own workout but would love some more specific direction and instruction.
You can download our free guide, Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know, which covers all of this stuff in a single guide:
Download our comprehensive guide
Everything you need to know about getting strong.
Workout routines for bodyweight AND weight training.
How to find the right gym and train properly in one.
OKAY! Are you ready to start building your own routine and want to know how it’s done?
As Coach Staci lays out in the video above, we need to answer a few key questions when designing a workout:
QUESTION 1: What are your goals?
Whatever your goals are, it’s good to write them down and be aware of what you’re trying to accomplish.
These goals will shape HOW you build your workout.
An effective way to create goals is by using the SMART method, which stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely.[1]
Specific – Your goals must specifically state what is to be accomplished. They must be clear and easy to understand.
Measurable – Your goals must be measurable so you can tell if you’re making progress or not. For example, I want to gain 5 pounds of muscle. To track your progress you will need body composition equipment that is designed to assess your fat and muscle mass.
Attainable – Your goals should be realistically attainable. Remember, a realistic amount of muscle mass to gain per week is about 0.5 pounds. For example, gaining 5 pounds of muscle should realistically take about 10 weeks
Relevant – Your goals must be relevant to your particular interests, needs, likes/dislikes, and abilities. Another thing to remember is that your goals need to be generated by you and you alone!
Timely – Your goals must have a timeline for completion. If your goal is to gain 5 pounds of muscle then a reasonable end-point should be at minimum 10 weeks.
A SMART goal is a good goal.
QUESTION 2: How much time can you devote to exercise?
If you can do an hour a day, that’s fantastic.
But maybe you have a wife or husband, three kids, a dog, two jobs, and no robot butler…
…then maybe you only have thirty minutes, twice a week.
That’s fine too!
Also, break up your workout! According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), if you accumulate three 10-minute bouts of exercise throughout the day to total 30-minutes of exercise, then that is as effective as someone who does one 30-minute bout of exercise.[2]
Now, no matter how much time you have, developing the most efficient workout is crucial.
Why spend two hours in a gym when you can get just as much accomplished in 30 minutes, right?
So whether you are building muscle or looking to lose weight, a strength training workout will get you the results you’re after (when combined with the right eating strategy!)
While we’re talking about time, let me quickly mention something important:
As we mention in that guide, here are some realistic timeframes for weight loss or muscle gain:[3]
If you are trying to lose weight it is recommended that you seek a calorie deficit by consuming 250-500 fewer calories per day below your typical calorie intake. This will result in a realistic weight loss goal of 1-2 pounds per week
If you’re trying to gain muscle mass, then it is recommended that you seek a calorie surplus by consuming 250-500 additional calories above your typical calorie intake. This will result in a realistic gain in lean muscle mass of about 0.5 pounds per week.
Unless you’ve been strength training for years and know what you’re doing, we recommend that you pick a full-body routine that you can do 2-3 times a week.
You want a workout routine that has at least one exercise for your:
Quads (front of your legs).
Butt and hamstrings (back of your legs).
Chest, shoulders, and triceps: (“push” muscles).
Back, biceps, and grip ( “pull” muscles).
Core (abdominals and lower back).
I have a trick for you: by targeting compound movements that recruit multiple muscles at the same time, you can build a full-body routine that uses only four or five exercises.
How’s THAT for efficiency!?!
A compound exercise would be the yin to the yang of the isolation exercise.
Think of a push-up (compound):
Compared to bicep curls through a machine (isolation):
Compound exercises have been found to result in improvements in aerobic endurance, muscular fitness, and flexibility, since you’re recruiting all sorts of muscle groups at once.[5]
Where an isolation exercise would be a single-joint movement involving only one single muscle group, like the biceps, in our example above.
I will say, there is a time and place for implementing compound and isolation exercises.
You don’t need to make things more complicated than this!
(Not that we humans have a tendency to overcomplicate things to the point of paralysis and inaction…)
Ahem.
If you’re not sure how to do any of the movements above, click on their links for thorough write-ups and video demonstrations.
Pick one exercise from EACH category above, specifically ones that scare you the least, and that will be your workout every other day for the next week.
Get really good at these basic movements and focus on getting stronger each week (I’ll cover how below).
If you get really strong at squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, and push-ups, you will build an incredible physique to be proud of.
Plus, building strength with these exercises will also help in other areas such as improving your performance in sports, decreasing your risk of chronic diseases (e.g., CVD) and premature mortality (an early death).[6]
*mic drop*
**picks up mic**
Then, once you get confident in those movements, feel free to add some variety.
Why?
If you do the same exact routine, three days a week, for months and months, you might get bored, and start slacking…
So if you find yourself getting bored, feel free to stick with the above ‘formula,’ but change the ingredients:
If you hit a plateau or find yourself getting bored, pick a different exercise to improve so you’ll stay challenged, and you’ll actually DO the workout!
I know it’s really easy to overcomplicate this process as there’s an infinite number of exercises, sets, reps, and programs to choose from.
And yes, we have a solution for people that JUST want to be told what exactly to do: our uber-popular 1-on-1 coaching program pairs you with your own Nerd Fitness Coach who will get to know you, your goals, and your lifestyle, and develop a workout plan that’s specific to not only your body, but also to your schedule and life:
If you can do more than 15 reps without much of a challenge, consider increasing the weight or the difficulty of the movement. This is true for things like lunges, bodyweight squats, push-ups, pull-ups, etc.
There are some other generally accepted ‘rules’ – as pointed out in Starting Strength – about how to determine how many reps you should target per set, based on your goals:
Reps in the 1-5 range build super dense muscle and strength (called myofibrillar hypertrophy).
Reps in the 6-12 range build a somewhat equal amount of muscular strength and muscular size (this is called sarcoplasmic hypertrophy).
Reps in the 12+ range build muscular endurance.
A 2015 study [10] called into question the best rep strategy for building muscle or size:
It appears that high-intensity resistance (sets of 3-5 reps) training stimulates greater improvements in some measures of strength and hypertrophy in resistance-trained men during a short-term training period [compared to sets of 8-10 reps].
What this means: Do not freak yourself out by worrying if you should do 4 sets or 5 sets of 8 reps or 10 reps.
Our advice would be to START with lighter weight and more reps as you learn the movement, and then decide if you want to stay at higher reps and lower weight or vice versa.
You do you, because either way will get you results!
The only thing you need to worry about: get stronger the next time you do that movement.
Either pick up a heavier weight, or do 1 more repetition than last time.
“JUST GIVE ME THE ANSWER!”
Keep your TOTAL (all exercises combined) workout number of sets for all exercises in the 15-25 set range, with 8-10 reps per set:
5 exercises total, each with 4 “work sets” is a good start.
Remember, the most important part is to get started – you’ll learn how your body responds and you can adapt as you go.
What you DON’T need to do: multiple exercises for each body part with 10 sets.
This will result in significant fatigue during your workout increasing your risk for sustaining an injury. It can also result in overtraining, in which you will experience a decrease in performance and plateauing (will not see muscular improvements).[11]
So calm down you eager beaver.
A BIG CAVEAT:How you eat will determine if you get bigger or stronger. Nutrition is 80-90% of the equation. So pick a range that feels good, and then focus on nutrition.
And if you don’t want to figure any of this out and just want to be told exactly how what exercises, sets, and reps to do, our online coaches can take care of that for you.
Adequate rest in-between sets will allow your body to regenerate energy, so you can execute the next set of reps with good form and technique, therefore, decreasing your risk of injury.
I’ll provide some guidelines for how long to rest based on how heavy you’re lifting (not rules set in stone!):
1-3 Reps (lifting heavy for strength/power): Rest for 3 to 5 minutes between sets.
4-7 Reps (lifting for strength): Rest for 2 to 3 minutes between sets.
8-12 Reps (lifting for size/strength): Rest for 1 to 2 minutes between sets.
13 Reps+ (lifting for endurance): Rest long enough to recover to allow you to do the next long-ass set!
If you need more or less rest than the above recommendations, that’s fine.[13]
Do the best you can, record how long it takes you to rest between sets, and try to rest for shorter periods in the future.
Your body will adjust as you get stronger and healthier!
If you want more information on how much you should lift, how many reps, and when to scale certain movements or adjust your workout, check out our Strength 101: Everything You Need to Know.
It’s free when you join the Rebellion with your email in the box below:
Download our comprehensive guide
Everything you need to know about getting strong.
Workout routines for bodyweight AND weight training.
How to find the right gym and train properly in one.
The simple-to-learn but tough-to-implement answer:
Lift enough so that you can get through the set, but not too much that you have NO fuel left in the tank at the end.
How do you determine how much that is?
Trial and error.
ALWAYS err on the side of “too light” versus “too heavy” when starting out.
It’s better to say “I bet I could have done more!” instead of “that was too much, and now I need to go to the hospital!”
Plus, when you start working out, you’re actually programming your neuromuscular systems to do the movement correctly.[14] You can’t rush this, so it’s best not to start off too heavy.[15]
If a person can do two reps (or more) over their set goal, then they should increase the load.
How much should you increase weight by?
For less trained people (i.e., beginners), it is recommended that for upper body exercises you increase the load by 2 – 5 pounds and by 5 – 10 pounds for lower body exercises.
For more trained people (i.e., advanced), it is recommended that for upper body exercises you increase the load by 5 – 10 pounds or more and by 10 – 15 pounds or more for lower body exercises
I will say, if you’re doing exercises with just your body weight, you need to make each exercise more difficult as you get in shape – once you get past 20 reps for a particular exercise and you’re not gassed, it’s time to mix things up.
20 bodyweight squats too easy? Hold some weights high above your head as you do the next set. Eventually, you can scale up to do exercises like the pistol squat:
Longer answer: If you’re doing 15-25 sets of total exercise (3-5 sets for your 5 exercises), you should be able to get everything done within that 45-minute block.[17]
Now, factor in a five or ten-minute warm-up, and then some stretching afterward, and the workout can go a little bit longer.[18]
If you can go for over an hour and you’re not completely worn out, try increasing the intensity.
You’re getting a cardiovascular workout by consistently moving from exercise to exercise.
You’re exercising different muscles back to back, giving each muscle group a chance to recover, but in a condensed amount of time. Efficiency for the win!
If you’re familiar with CrossFit, many of the workouts are built on circuit principles.
This is also the most effective way to make you involuntarily swear at inanimate objects because you’re so tired and beat up.
We get this question quite a bit, usually from overeager beavers who decide they are going to go from “sitting on the couch watching The Office on repeat” to “exercising 7 days per week.”
I would advise something different.
I mean you can still watch The Office…
…but you don’t need to be training 7 days a week!
We don’t want you burning out quickly and falling back to square one, a concern we mention in our guide “How Often Should I Work Out?“
Just pick “exercise” that’s fun for you and that won’t exhaust your muscles.[26][[26]]However, don’t forget that recovery is key to preventing injuries and allowing the body to rebuild itself after the stress of exercise. If you are looking to exercise on your off days we suggest that you cross-train. Cross-training involves engaging in a training routine or exercises that are different from what you normally would do. For example, if you always run for cardio, we would suggest that you change things up and go on the elliptical or bike. This allows you to stay active on your off days while also allowing the muscles that are always stressed from running to rest and recuperate. (Haff G, Triplett NT. (2016). Essentials of strength training and conditioning. Fourth edition. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics).[[25]]
Also, here’s a lifehack: Program your workouts INTO your Google calendar (or Outlook).
You’re much more likely to do a workout that has been planned for in your work week!
Alternatively, you can hire a coach to program your workouts for you, so every day you know exactly what you need to do!
If you want to build from scratch, great! Let’s break it down into easy chunks with this recap:
ALWAYS warm up – 5-10 minutes on a bike, rowing machine, jumping jacks, run up and down your stairs, etc. Get the blood flowing and your muscles warm.[29]
Pick one exercise for each big muscle group – quads, butt and hamstrings, push, pull, and core.[30]
Do 3-5 sets for each exercise.
Do 5-10 reps per set for each exercise.
Determine how many reps and how long you’ll wait between sets for each exercise. Keep it simple. 60 seconds.[31]
Increase your efficiency and work your heart by doing supersets or circuits. This results in a higher EPOC meaning greater caloric expenditure and weight loss!
Give yourself permission to mess up, learn a little, and keep improving as you train more regularly!
More often than not, when I email people back and tell them how to build their own workout, they generally respond with:
“Steve, can’t you just TELL me what to do? I’m afraid of building a crappy workout.”
Why we built THREE options for people like that:
1) If you are somebody that wants to know they are following a program that is tailor-made for their life and situation and goals, check out our Online Coaching Program.
You’ll work with our certified NF instructors who will get to know you better than you know yourself and program your workouts and nutrition for you.
2) Exercising at home and need a plan to follow? Check out Nerd Fitness Journey!
Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally). Plus, NF Journey will build a workout for you!
Try your free trial right here:
3) Join the Rebellion (our free community) and I’ll send you free guides, workouts, and worksheets that you can read at your leisure.
We need good people like you!
Download our comprehensive guide
Everything you need to know about getting strong.
Workout routines for bodyweight AND weight training.
How to find the right gym and train properly in one.
I certainly encourage you to try and build your own workout routine.
It can really help you develop a sense of excitement and pride when you start to get in shape based on your workout!
If you have more questions, or have a workout program you’re really proud of, share it in the comments below!
-Steve
PS: Check out the rest of our beginner content. I promise, it kicks ass 🙂
