Whether you are a beginner to the gym or coming back after a long break, it can be a little daunting on where to start. Especially when you’ve been working out for years, follow a bunch of fitness influencers online and overthink every decision you could possibly make in deciding where to start.
But my goal is to show you a simple 4 week full body gym program to help you build your confidence and strength in the gym to keep going.
With so many suggestions going on in the health and fitness space, and even more once you go online, it can be so confusing on where to start.
One person will say how bad running is for you while another swears by it.
Intense CrossFit and Hyrox workouts are always popular unless you’re in your “soft girl era” and doing the wall pilates challenge I’m seeing everywhere.
And then the gym rats that have never left the dumbbell rack will talk down on the girl just trying to understand the weight machines.
I get it.
My goal when writing this workout plan was to keep it simple. And in all honesty, it’s what I used when I was transitioning back to the gym after a few months of inconsistency and also training in a CrossFit gym for about 5 years.
Sometimes keeping things simple is what you need to focus on to get your confidence back in the gym.
It’s not a complicated plan, and may seem a little boring at times. But my goal in writing and completing workouts, is to create consistency and a habit.
Your 4 Week Full Body Gym Plan
This is a 3 day workout split. The simplest way is to do this is to go to the gym on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
On the days you aren’t working out, I’d strongly recommend at least getting in a long walk. This can be aiming for 10k steps, getting a mile or 2 in, or listening to your favorite podcast (I’d recommend the Health and Hobbies Diary!) or current audiobook.
Another option, and this is only for later on, is if you want to take a yoga or other fitness class, you could easily add that in on the days you aren’t doing the beginner full body plan.
I would only recommend doing that after the initial 4 weeks to get a full picture on how you’re feeling.
You can keep doing this split as long as you’d like! It’s a great base to build on and you can always adjust later on. But for the first 4 weeks, I’d stick with the 3 days a week of gym training, and long walks on the other days.
Once you’ve completed the 4 weeks, you can check out my Fitness Series where I show you how to progress from this initial program and go to 5 days in the gym.
There’s also a BUNCH of other workout ideas, so check it out when you’re ready!
For the full body training plan we’re talking about today though, I recommend aiming for 3-5 rounds of each exercise, and performing 8-12 reps of each as well. For something like the Farmers Carry where it’s more distance or the plank hold, you could set a timer for 45-60 seconds and see how far you can walk or how long you can hold the plank.
Focus on building up in weight where it’s manageable but still enough of a challenge when you get near the end of the reps. You can also superset each exercise with the one listed after if you’re short on time or want to make it a bit more challenging.
Now, let’s dive into your full body gym program!
Check out Progressive Overload for a bigger break down on this
Lower
Squat
Bulgarian Split Squat
Leg Extension
Leg Curls
Glute Kickback
Calf Raises
Upper
Bench Press
Lat Pulldown
Seated Shoulder Press
Machine Press
Single Arm Cable Row
Lateral Raise Pyramid
Full Body
Weighted Step Up w/ Bicep Curl
Push Up -> Row
Seated In and Outs -> Dips
Thrusters
Farmer Carry -> Plank Hold
Things To Keep In Mind While Starting
Getting a plan is half the battle. Now it’s actually doing the work. Even if you’ve gone to the gym in the past, it will still take some time when switching things up or getting back into a routine.
Don’t beat yourself up in the meantime. The more you can accept the process and be open to however it looks, the better off you’ll be.
Check out What Counts As Exercise? for a full breakdown on how to approach the gym differently this time
It Will Take Time
I always plan on 2 weeks of consistency to get back on track, feel like I have a good routine going and a habit forming. It will be rough and frustrating the whole time, but check out this YouTube video where I talk through the frustrations myself.
Even after coming back from a longer vacation or going back to the gym after being sick, it takes time.
It’s annoying how quickly your body can fall back to old habits or enjoy being lazy, but once you accept that it’s a process you’re going to work through, it’ll make it a LOT better.
This is also where the Experimental Mindset comes in to help with this in a major way in changing how you approach health and fitness.
New habits and change aren’t easy, and I’ll never say it’s easy to start something new.
However, it doesn’t have to be extremely difficult, time consuming and become your new personality. I’m all about balance and flexibility over here, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t choices you have to make in order to see the change.
I don’t always want to get up early, but if I want to make time for my workouts, extra walks or little morning routine, then I need to make the choice.
I don’t always want to go to the gym after an 8-10 hour shift at work, but if I want to get stronger and build the body I want, then I need to do it.
And starting with this program was the best choice for me, as I hope it is for you.
Consistency over Perfection
We aren’t about perfection, no-days-off or putting the gym as the #1 priority each day here.
I would love for you to get some kind of movement each day and to consistently get to the gym all 3 days each week, but that doesn’t always happen.
You’ll have seasons where the gym is a big part of your life and you go all the time. Then you’ll have seasons where too much is going on in life, good or bad, and you need to take care of yourself or others first.
I want you to get to a point where you always come back to the gym and fitness in some way though, but that won’t always look the same.
I’ve done bodybuilder style training for years, CrossFit for years, group fitness classes for years, walking for years, and random workout for years. I always hoped I could be the person to look back and say I trained for 40 years straight, but I won’t be her.
I’ll be the person that moves consistently, changes often when I want to, but is always looking to be better and take care of herself.
And that’s what I want for you! To have this help you get to a spot in life where you see how much fitness and movement helps you all around and choose to come back and explore it.
So don’t stress about getting this perfect right away. We all start somewhere, and I hope this is a helpful starting point for you.
I hope you found this helpful and feel ready to get back into the gym with this simple full body workout plan to build up your confidence and strength again.
Be sure to save this to your Pinterest board so you have easy access to it. I will also be having more workout programs and ideas coming soon, so be sure to join the newsletter and grab some of the freebies included in the meantime!
You can also check out the Shop to see what’s available now.
Otherwise, here are some Quick and Effective 20 Minute Workouts if you’re interested in adding something on your off days, or to swap out a day when you’re short on time.
If you’re still feeling lost and frustrated with next steps and making sure you stick with this plan you want, I’d love to chat!
You can book a 1:1 coaching call where we’ll go over where you’re at, where you want to be, and a few simple tasks to focus on to help get you there. Not everything all at once, but simple goals to actually create the life you want.
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