Gym workout plan for beginners

GymSensei builds your plan from how many days a week you can train. These are the three plans it uses, exercise by exercise, with the sets, the reps and how it adds weight.

Pick a plan by your days

Rest days fall between sessions wherever the week allows. Two days a week runs the full body plan on Monday and Thursday. Five days runs push / pull / legs Monday to Friday, picking up next week where it left off.

Sets and reps for your goal

Every exercise gets 3 sets. The reps depend on what you're training for:

Big lifts are the ones that move several joints, like squats, presses and rows. Bodyweight exercises go up to 20 reps, because they can't get heavier, and holds like the plank run 30 to 45 seconds.

How it adds weight

On your first session, pick a weight you could lift for the top of the range, and stop each set with two or three reps left in you. Then:

• Each session, try for one more rep per set than last time, at the same weight.
• Once every set reaches the top of the range, add 2.5 kg on dumbbells and barbells or 5 kg on machines and cables, and start again from the bottom of the range.
• On bodyweight exercises, add two reps, or move to a harder version.
• If two sessions in a row fall short of the range at the same weight, drop 10% and build back up.

This is called double progression: reps first, then weight. It keeps you adding a little every week without guessing.

A lighter week every sixth week

Hard training builds up tiredness that one rest day doesn't clear. So every sixth week, each exercise gets one set fewer at the same weights. Every six weeks, too, the smaller exercises rotate to the next option on their list, so your muscles get a new angle, while the main lifts stay the same and keep going up.

Short on time, at home or in a packed gym

Each workout lists seven exercises, most important first. An hour covers the first six, 45 minutes the first five and 30 minutes the first four. In the app, a 30-minute version also pairs exercises into supersets, so less gets cut.

Every plan shows a home version, which uses only a pair of dumbbells and your body weight, with no bench or bar. When the gym is packed, the app rebuilds the workout around one spot with dumbbells and a bench.

How much is enough

For a beginner, 8 to 16 hard sets per muscle a week builds most muscle, and the app shows where each muscle stands. If one has already had 10 or more hard sets in the last two days, it suggests resting it.

The plans

Updated 2 November 2026. General fitness and nutrition guidance, not medical advice.