Home Workout Plan for Beginners

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Home Workout Plan for Beginners

A year ago, I had to start my fitness journey from scratch. You can read the complete story here ( 7 Simple Steps to get from Skinny to Brawny in 12 months – My Transformation Story ). And for the first 4 months, I gained muscle and strength without using any equipment / weights ( except for a pull up bar ).

Let me share the simple and effective home workout plan that helped me as a beginner. This can be followed at home by anyone who doesn’t have the time to go to a commercial gym. The only equipment you’ll need is a good pull up bar, a workout timer app and gravity.

Note : Following this home workout plan, in just a few months, I was able to reach unbroken sets of 50 pushups, 20 pull ups, one legged squats and 12 handstand pushups. And this is before even joining a gym !!!

The Workout Plan

This is a 6 days per week plan split into 4 movement based sessions and 2 cardio/conditioning sessions. You get a day off on Sundays.

Note : Reps = No.of times you perform an exercise, Sets = A collection of reps that you do in a row

Monday – Squats

Warm Up

8 Sets of a Squat Variant – 2 Minutes of rest between sets

3 Sets of Crunches – 1 Minute rest between sets

2 Minutes of Burpees

Tuesday – Push Ups

Warm Up

8 Sets of a Push Up Variant – 2 Minutes of rest between sets

3 Sets of Leg Raises – 1 Minute rest between sets

2 Minutes of Burpees

Wednesday – Pull Ups

Warm Up

8 Sets of a Pull Up Variant – 2 Minutes of rest between sets

3 Sets of V Ups – 1 Minute rest between sets

2 Minutes of Burpees

Thursday – Handstands

Warm Up

8 Sets of a Handstand Variant – 2 Minutes of rest between sets

3 Sets of 2 minute Planks – 1 Minute of rest between sets

2 Minutes of Burpees

Friday – Conditioning

Warm Up

5 Reps of a Pull Up Variant

10 Reps of a Push Up Variant

15 Reps of a Squat Variant

This is one round. Repeat for as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes with little to no rest in between.

Saturday – Cardio

Go for a walk/jog/run/swim/play a sport 

Sunday – Rest Day

Rest day is optional. If possible, do more cardio on this day

The Warm Up Routine

60 sec Jumping Jacks

Pull Up Variant – 30 sec

Push Up Variant – 30 sec

Squat Variant – 30 sec

60 sec Jumping Jacks

The Exercise Variants

Don’t worry if you can’t do a full pull up / push up / squat right away, here I list out the variations of each movement in their order of difficulty. Start with the easy variant and work your way up the list.

Squat Variants

Half Squats

Lunges

Full Squats

Weighted / One Legged Squats

Push Up Variants

Wall Push Ups

Incline Push Ups

Kneeling Push Ups

PushUps

Feet Elevated Push Ups

Dips

Weighted Push Ups / Dips

Pull Up Variants

Dead Hangs for time

Half Pull Ups

Full Pull Ups

Weighted / One Arm Pull Ups

Hand Stand Variants

Hand Stand Hold ( Wall Facing ). Start farther from the wall and work your way back

Hand Stand Hold ( Facing Away from Wall )

Hand Stand Negatives

Hand Stand Push Ups

Progression

Progression is the most important step of the plan. You have to make a note of the number of reps every workout. Do more reps in the next workout.

Once you’re able to do more than 12 reps in all the sets, move on to a tougher exercise variant.

Summary

Whether you are a beginner or someone resuming your fitness routine after a long gap, this home workout plan will work for you.

Having said that, exercise is just a part of the equation. You must follow a clean diet as well to get the best results.

Proper form is mandatory for all exercises, otherwise you WILL get injured. Seek guidance from reputed online resources or personal trainers.

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References

  1. Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual by Jocko Willink
  2. Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness-Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength by Paul Wade
  3. CrossFit WOD – Cindy

Product @ Kotak Cherry, CFA , CFP, Kotak Young Leaders Council Member 2021, Blogger, ACE Certified Personal Trainer, Chess Player, Powerlifter and a Foodie

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