8 Weeks Workout Program For Beginners
Are you a beginner? This 8 week workout programme for beginners covers
all of the basics needed to build lean muscle mass! Building your desired
physique isn’t all that complicated. But simple doesn’t mean easy.
Keep the ‘rules’ that have been outlined in mind and in your workouts,
and soon, you won’t be a beginner in the gym. Keep pushing through and
keep trusting the process. The results won’t come over night. I wish that
they did, but that’s not the case. If it was, then everyone would be doing
it and there would not be any admiration for a good physique.
You need a solid, basic workout program to help you build muscle!
Start this workout to kick start your muscle building quest, and with a
little patience and a huge serving of hard work, you’ll say goodbye to the
beginner and be on the road to your ideal physique.
1. Workouts Will Be Split
For the first 4 weeks of this 8 week workout programme, you will follow a
2 day split, work out for 2 days followed by 1 day of rest and then rest
on weekends. By following this split, you’ll provide your body with
adequate rest, allowing it to recover from the workouts.
From week 5 onward, you will work out for 3 consecutive days followed by
a rest day and then work out for another 2 days, totalling at 5 workouts a
week.
2. Add Little Weight Increments
This is one of the biggest mistakes that gym novices make, adding too
much weight, too soon. Adding too much weight to what you can lift before
your muscles have had enough time to develop and grow stronger, will only
increase the risk for injury.
Making small weight increments to your lifts (or even isolation
movements) will allow your body to grow and adapt to progressive overload.
This is one of the most basic ways to grow stronger and bigger.
3. Practice Your Form
If you practice your form with lighter weight, you’ll be able to execute
near-perfect form with the heavier weights. Also, training with bad form
will not only increase your risk of injury, but you won’t get the most out
of the muscle group that you’re training.
That’s why the first 4 weeks of this beginner workout programme should be
focused on executing your movements with great form. This doesn’t mean
that you’ll only be training with light weights, it just means that there
will be a special emphasis placed on your form.
4. Train To Fail
Though the first 4 weeks of this programme will place more emphasis on
training with the correct form, the last 4 weeks will be a test of your
will power.
During the last 4 weeks, you’ll have to push yourself both mentally and
physically to train to failure. However, training to failure doesn’t mean
that you train until you can’t train anymore. It simply means that you
should use a weight that would allow you to fail at a number of
reps.
The 8-Week Beginner Workout Programme
Phase 1: Weeks 1-4
Key Points:
- Train 2 days on, 1 day off. Rest weekends.
- Rest 1-2 minutes between sets.
- Emphasise on form over weight.
- Warm-up sets are not included. Perform 2-3 warm-up sets.
- Increase weight by 2-5 pounds each week.
- Perform workouts as upper body day, lower body day, etc.
- Never perform two consecutive upper or lower body workouts.
Workout 1: Upper Body
- Flat Bench Press: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Incline dumbbell Press: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Flat Bench dumbbell Flyes: 3 sets, 10-15 reps
- Seated Overhead dumbbell Press: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Upright Row: 3 sets, 12-15 reps
- Side Lateral Raises: 3 sets, 15 reps
Workout 2: Lower Body
- Barbell Squats: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Leg Press: 3 sets, 10 reps
- Hack Squat: 3 sets, 12-15 reps
- Leg Extensions: 3 sets, 12-15 reps
- Planking: 3 sets, 30 seconds
Workout 3: Upper Body
- Bent-over Barbell Row: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Pulldowns: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Seated Cable Row: 3 sets, 10-12 reps
- Barbell Curl: 3 sets, 10-15 reps
- Concentration Curl: 3 sets, 12-15 reps
- Close-grip Bench Press: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Rope Pressdowns: 3 sets, 12-15 reps
Workout 4: Lower Body
- Stiff-leg Deadlift: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Lying Leg Curls: 3 sets, 12-15 reps
- Seated Leg Curls: 3 sets, 12-15 reps
- Standing Calf Raises: 3 sets, 15-20 reps
- Donkey/Seated Calf Raises: 3 sets, 15-20 reps
- Planking: 3 sets, 30 seconds
Phase 2: Weeks 5-8
Key Points:
Train 3 days on, 1 day off, 2 days on. You’ll be training for a total of
5 days a week, which could be Sun, Mon, Tues, Wed (Rest), Thurs, Fri, Sat
(Rest).
Rest 1-2 minutes between sets.
Keep form in mind, but train to failure on two isolation exercises per
workout.
Warm-up sets are not included. Perform 2-3 warm-up sets.
Keep increasing the weight by 2-5 pounds each week.
Keep performing the workouts as upper body day, lower body day,
etc.
Never perform two consecutive upper or lower body workouts.
Workout 1: Upper Body
- Flat Bench dumbbell Press: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Incline Barbell Press: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Incline dumbell Flyes; 3 sets, 10-15 reps
- Bent-over Barbell Row: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Pullups: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Seated Cable Row: 3 sets, 10-12 reps
Workout 2: Lower Body
- Barbell Squats: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Leg Press: 3 sets, 10 reps
- Stiff-leg Deadlift: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Lying Leg Curls: 3 sets, 12-15 reps
- Seated Leg Curls: 3 sets, 12-15 reps
- Planking: 3 sets, 45 seconds
Workout 3: Upper Body
- Seated Overhead Barbell Press: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Upright Row: 3 sets, 12-15 reps
- Front dumbbell Raises: 3 sets, 15 reps
- Dumbbell Curl: 3 sets, 10-15 reps
- Hammer Curl: 3 sets, 12-15 reps
- Bench Dips: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Dumbbell Skull Crushers: 3 sets, 12-15 reps
Workout 4: Lower Body
- Hack Squat: 3 sets, 12-15 reps
- Lunges: 3 sets, 12 reps per foot
- Leg Extensions: 3 sets, 12-15 reps
- Standing Calf Raises: 3 sets, 15-20 reps
- Donkey Calf Raises: 3 sets, 15-20 reps
- Seated Calf Raises: 3 sets, 15-20 reps
- Planking: 3 sets, 30 seconds
ADVICE:
Keep the ‘rules’ that have been outlined in mind and in your
workouts, and soon, you won’t be a beginner in the gym.
Keep pushing through and keep trusting the process.
The results won’t come over night.
Honestly, I wish that they did, but that’s not the case.
If it was, then everyone would be doing it and there would not be any
admiration for a good physique.
