Instructions: How to Make Your First Workout Plan

I hope that you’ve been practicing these different exercises in the gym, but as of now you are still in need of an actual workout plan. There are so many different ways to do this, which makes it difficult to instruct you in an exact way, but I can certainly get you started, and I will include my own beginner’s workout using the exercises I have introduced to you at the end of this post. The following are steps you should follow in order to create your workout routine:

1.       Decide how many days per week you will workout based on your schedule and age. If you’re below 40 years old, work no less than three days per week, and no more than 6. If you are older than 40, workout between two and five days per week. Take into account that the more you workout, the quicker you’ll see results.
2.       Incorporate squats, dead lifts, and bench press into three different days of your workout (other days may include shoulders or core: which hasn’t been talked about).
3.       Add at least 20 minutes of moderate to intense cardio into your workout every day if you’re trying to lose weight.
4.       Start adding complimentary exercises to their respective assigned days. For example, add more back exercises to the day you are doing deadlifts. I even highly recommend combining back with biceps and chest with triceps (put back and chest exercises first). Always keep legs separate.
5.       Assign sets and reps to each of your exercises. If you are a true beginner, start out with a base of 4 sets of 8 for each exercise. For others, reduce reps if you are trying to put on mass quick and up your max weight for lifts (i.e. 4 sets of 4). Never do more than 5 or 6 sets of an exercise.
6.       Decide about what weight you will be doing for each exercise. Hopefully, you’ve been doing some of these, but if not, then this step may take a few weeks to really get set; that’s okay. Do what is challenging, but start out with lower amounts for now.
7.       Find a workout partner. Not only will this make it easier to always have a spotter on hand, but it will make working out more interesting (it can be very boring at times), it will be motivating, and people with workout partners consistently have better results. Also, if they have more experience than you, they will help you progress quicker and easier. If not, then at least you have another beginner to start a regimen with.
8.       Go workout. The longer you wait between making your workout plan and actually doing it, the less chance you have of sticking to it. Be proactive and go achieve your goals with confidence.

My own beginner’s workout for three different days:

Workout every other day while cycling through the following three routines:

Chest & Triceps:

Bench Press                                        4x8

Incline Bench Press                            4x8

Decline Bench Press                           4x8

Dips                                                    4x8

Push Downs                                       Pyramid (reduce weight and add reps each set)

Skull Crushers                                    4x8

Back and Biceps:

Pull Ups                                              4x8

Dead Lifts                                           4x8

Bent Over Rows                                 4x8

Seated Rows                                       4x8

Pull Downs                                         4x8

Bicep Curls                                         4x8

Reverse Grip Curls                             4x8

Legs:

Squats                                                  4x8

Calf Raises                                          2x20

Leg Press                                            4x8

Lunges                                                4x30 (15 on each leg)

I hope all of this has helped you and educated you. I wish you the best of luck in the gym. 

Arms (Triceps/Biceps)

I am going to finish up this series of exercise descriptions with arms, before moving on to help you put together your first workout plan. I have split up arms into two categories: triceps and biceps. Let's begin with triceps. 

The first and best exercise I suggest for triceps is dips. This is the "pull up" of triceps. Brace your body on two parallel bars by locking your arms and allowing your feet to hang loose below you. You may use the assist machine if this exercise is too difficult to preform at first.

Lower your body by letting your arms slowly bend until your upper arms are parallel to the ground as seen above. Try not to let your body move or angle to the front too much. Dips are a great burnout exercise.

Push downs are the exercise seen above. They are a form of triceps extension and work very well with a rope handle. Keep all of your body still and do not rock back and forth while pushing the rope down. Also, keep your elbows stationary and bend your hands out to the side as you push down (also seen above). Your feet should be kept about shoulder length apart as usual.

The last triceps exercise is called a skull crusher. The name makes it sound a lot scarier than it is. As you can see above, the beginning to this exercise is almost identical to that of the bench press. The difference is that the grip is narrower (about shoulder width or even a little narrower). To preform this exercise, lower the weight slowly down to right above your head (behind it if you want to make it more difficult). Keep your elbows in and stationary during this exercise or you will be wasting your time.

Lets move on to biceps exercises. The first of these two bicep exercises is the reverse grip curl. Start by holding the bar as you would at the end of a dead lift but with a little narrower grip (palms facing towards you). Then, to preform the exercise, lift the bar by bending your arms until you've full flexed your biceps. Note: do not rest the bar on your wrists by bending them as seen in the picture above. You want the stress on your biceps at all times. While a great exercise for your biceps, this exercise also works your forearms a great deal. Make sure to, again, keep your elbows stationary and do not rock your body at all.

 The last of these exercises is the traditional curl (palms face the opposite way as reverse curls). Curls are commonly wasted by using sloppy form. Don't use sloppy form. Just like the reverse curl, keep your elbows stationary, don't rock your body and lift the bar until your arm is fully flexed. When brining the bar back down after each rep, do not fully extend your arm so as to maintain constant stress on your muscles.

I hope these arm exercises will come in handy as you begin to feel more comfortable with the other muscle groups and want to add more to your workouts.

Shoulders

Shoulders and arms aren't as important for beginners, so I would suggest sticking to legs, chest, and back for the most part until you become comfortable with them. First, I want to present three shoulder exercises that you can preform together (alternating or in a row). I suggest using a 5lb dumbbell for these and preforming 10-12 reps of each in a row.

The first of these is a front raise. As seen in the picture above, start out with a dumbbell in each of your hands with your arms relaxed in front of you.

Preform a rep by lifting each of your arms straight out in front of you (alternating). Make sure your arm is fully extended (you may keep your elbows slightly bent if this hurts you). Also lift the dumbbell up until your arm is parallel to the ground. Preform these slowly and without rocking your body.

The exercise seen above is a lateral raise with bent elbows. You may also do this exercise with extended arms to make it harder. Regardless, make sure lift until your arms are parallel to the ground and straight out to your sides. If bending your elbows, make sure they remain bent at a right angle. Do not rock or sway your body as tempting as it may be.

The third exercise is an Arnold dumbbell press. It's called this because Arnold Schwarzenegger invented it. It's a very dynamic shoulder exercises and it takes advantage of the way shoulders naturally rotate. Start out with a dumbbell in each of your hands, palms facing inwards held up at chest level. To preform a rep, extend your arms straight up to the ceiling while simultaneously rotating the dumbbells so that your palms face forward at the end of each rep.

 These three exercises, especially if done together as a burnout as suggested before, are a great thing to incorporate into any of your workouts about once a week until you feel comfortable enough to begin adding other shoulder exercises into your routine.

Back

Back exercises are numerous and I recommend trying out a lot of these and working them into your regimen. Backs are full of many different muscles and so, to have a well rounded back workout, you will need to use many different exercises. The back is not as simple as the chest. 

The first, and possibly most useful of these is the dead lift. This is a core lift in which form is crucial. Just like in a squat, you are going to stand with your feet facing forward about shoulder width apart and your back arched upwards. Stay postured up; if you bend or bow your back while preforming this exercise, you risk great injury. Squat down to the point at which your shoulders are back and your arms are fully extended as you grip the bar (same grip as bench press).

To preform a dead lift you simply stand up, lifting the bar without flexing your arms (easy, right?). Not exactly; the dead lift is one of the most misunderstood and dangerous exercises because it is so commonly done incorrectly. You want to try to keep your hips stationary as you lift (make your hips a fulcrum). Keep your knees slightly bent and keep your back straight through the entire lift. Keeping your back rigid, and flexing it backwards even as you finish each rep is very helpful. It will naturally take sometime to get this exercise right, but it is extremely useful and works almost every muscle in the back.

The next exercise is very useful as well. The form is a little easier to learn, but it's a very difficult exercise so start out with very little added weight. The bent over row is preformed by getting into the same starting position as the dead lift. The difference is that you stay in that position, and contract your arms to lift the barbell up to your chest (bring it all the way up).

The trick to maintaining proper form while lifting the barbell in a bent over row is that you have to maintain a straight back. Do not bend your back because again you risk great injury if you do. Keeping your head up, facing forward is a good way to help maintain proper form.

Above is another type of row, the seated row. While useful, it is more of an isolation exercise than the previous two. Although, as with the previous two, form is all about keeping your back straight through the entirety of each rep.

For each rep, pull the cable with the grip seen above towards you until your hands touch your body. It is very tempting to rock your body and use momentum to increase your power, but do not do this. Sit up straight, and don't sway. Also, don't use your legs at all. The goal is to isolate your back and biceps.

The machine exercise seen above is called a pull down. It is a variation of a pull up which follows this. This exercise is self-explanatory and most machines have diagrams to show you how to do the exercise, although some things they won't tell you are to put your thumbs above the bar along with the rest of your fingers (this helps you maintain proper form) and to stay sitting up straight the whole time.

As you can see in the picture above, you want to stay sitting up straight (as stated before) so that you're flexing your upper back and lats. Pull the bar down until it touches your chest for each rep.

Pull ups are a classic exercise, and may be the best upper body exercise you can do. Pull ups are a great  exercise for everyone. Don't rock your body. Preform pull ups slowly with your thumbs on top of the bar; wide grip is preferable.

Don't swing your legs when you lift your body and make sure to lift your chin all the way above the bar (hence them being dually named chin ups). Pull ups are best used at the beginning and/or end of your workout.

I hope that these back exercises help get you started and give you some options to explore as beginners.

Chest

Chest is straightforward. As a beginner, you will want to do bench press as your isolation chest exercise. Start out with low weight (even just the bar at first) if you need to, so that you can concentrate on getting your form correct before adding weight. Below I only have pictures of traditional flat bench press, but I highly recommend including incline and decline presses in your chest routine (It's even okay to do them back to back). Form for flat bench and the other two benches is the same, so don't be afraid to try them out. Also it is very important to use a spotter. Bench press is a dangerous exercise especially if you're not used to doing it, and you will absolutely need to get someone to spot you for your sets with this exercise.

As you can see in the picture above, the guy in the black shirt has spaced his hands on the barbell out a little wider than shoulder-width. This is perfect, you don't want your grip to be too wide or to narrow. Placing your ring finger on the small rings around most barbells is a great way to know how wide to grip and to ensure that your grip is symmetrical.

Once you've established your grip, firmly grasp the barbell with both hands keeping your elbows locked. Make sure your holding the bar straight up (it should be above the bottom tip of your sternum). Take note of your breathing and take a couple deep breaths before beginning your first rep. You should be taking deep breaths in as you lower the bar each time, and exhaling as you lift. Breathing is critical. You will not only be able to lift a lot more with good breathing, but you will also reduce the risk of injury and improve the results of the exercise. Remember to always lift the bar straight up (arms point straight up to the ceiling).

When you bring the bar down for each rep, make sure that you bring it all the way down so that it just touches your chest. This can be a bit daunting for beginners, but it is perfectly safe as long as you control the lowering of the bar. Do not ever use your chest or body to lift or bounce the bar up. This technique in form is not commonly used, and it will dramatically improve the results you see from doing this exercise.

Practice this exercise and when you feel comfortable, start doing incline and decline bench press. These are all you really need to know when starting chest isolation, but you should see huge results if you've never done this before.

Legs

I am starting a series of five exercise posts that will include pictures to help explain how to do some of the most important and useful exercises. The first of these is leg exercises and the following three will be chest, back, arms and shoulders. I am starting out with legs for you all because I believe it to be the most important muscle group for beginners and these exercises will help you see dramatic improvement very quickly. I have presented these in the form of a podcast (below). I apologize in advance for how it cuts off at the end, I don't know how to fix this problem, but it only cut off about 4 seconds, so you're not missing anything significant. In case you can't view the embedded video, here is the youtube link: Leg Exercises

I hope that this podcast was helpful and informative. After explaining to you some of the essential exercises for beginners in the next three posts, I will add instructions on how create your own beginning workout plan, and share mine with you.

Stretching/Warm Up and Cool Down with Mike

Mike Vaccaro -- Worked as a personal trainer at several places currently Snap Fitness. Also working on getting a master’s degree in exercise physiology and interning as a strength and conditioning coach.

P: What is a good way to stretch before doing weight lifting/training?

M: I am a huge supporter of foam rolling and dynamic stretching before workouts. Going into a gym cold using static stretching is not ideal. You want to be warm before a work out so dynamic stretching is a good way to stretch and stay warm. 

P: What are some "don'ts" in stretching?

M: I guess there could be a lot of "don'ts" in stretching, but one is what I mentioned above. The people that come and warm up then go to the stretching area and do their static stretching routine BEFORE a work out. Leave static stretching for AFTER a work out and do your dynamic stretching before. A don't for me is that people DON'T stretch enough or hard enough. A quick little bend over and swing of the arms around a few times before or after a lift doesn't cut it.

P: When are warm-up sets appropriate and what is a good way to do them?

M: I use warm up set before all my core lifts. When I say core lifts I mean my bench, squat, deadlift, and overhead press. These are the lifts I do at the beginning of each work out so I am not completely warmed up yet. I will work my way up a bit to my firs starting weight for that day. On accessory lifts I usually do not have to do a warm up set because I am already warm from my core lift. 

P: What about "cooling down"?

M: A cool down for me is a long foam roll and some static stretching. If I did some cardio I will just drop the intensity down and let my heart rate recover.

P: What is a good amount of sets to do for most heavy-lifting exercises (Bench press, Dead lift, etc.)?

M: This is a tough question. There are so many great programs out there with varying sets and reps. It all boils down to what you are looking to do: if you want strength, hypertrophy, or endurance. Right now I am on a 3x5, 3x3, and 3x1 set rep scheme for my core lifts. Obviously when the reps go down, the weight goes up. When I get to the 1's set I am at about 95% of my 1RM. If you are looking for a little more hypertrophy you could get into something like 5x10 or for endurance you could be in the 12-15 or even 20 rep range.

P: How should a beginner generally structure their workout (i.e. how many exercises per muscle group, order to do them, etc.)?

M: Also a very long answer, but it can go back to the previous question. It all depends what the person wants. If they are just starting out I would suggest being realistic with their weights. You aren't impressing anyone by partial squatting 225 and struggling with that. Work your way up and do the lifts right. A simple rep/set scheme for a beginner wanting to get strong is 5x5. 

P: General tips or warnings for beginners in the gym?

M: Know what you are doing. Don't be that guy or girl who walks in and starts doing curls right away, then decides to do some bench press and maybe a little leg press. Like I said you ARE NOT impressing anyone by doing that. Read a lot and figure out a lifting program. Follow it and you will achieve your goals.