Beginner Workout Plan

If you are a beginner then there are certain things you need to be aware about in the workout. Exercing will make your body a bit sore, but you should not stop exercising but continue with them. The soreness of muscles will go away within 2 - 3 days. If you are a beginner, you need to follow a program according to your need, like do you wish to go for a workout routine for weight loss, muscle gain, or to keep in shape.

Workout Plan for Beginners

Here is a chart a beginner should follow, and below are the exercise programs for full body workout and specific body parts.

Cardio Exercises/Full-body Workouts
There are various cardiovascular exercises that one can follow. If you are looking for cardio exercises at home then walking, jogging and skipping are the best workouts. If you are joining a health club then you have more options like walking and jogging on the treadmill, cardio on cross-trainer, bicycle and the hip machine. One can also opt for swimming as a cardio workout.

Strength Training Exercises for Specific Body Parts
A beginner for strength training exercises should start with no weights or light weights. Perform 10 - 15 repetitions of each strength training exercise. If this becomes too much then break up the reps into two sets.

• For shoulders start with overhead presses with light weight, and for chest follow bench press exercises with light weights.
• To perform ab exercises, opt for ab crunch and squats and lunges for lower body exercises.
• Use light weights for hammer curls for biceps and tricep extensions for triceps.
• To perform back exercises, the abdominal muscles need to be strong, so you can start with light weights for back extension.

Stretching Exercises After the Workout
After strength training, it is very important to stretch the muscle group you worked on, to improve your flexibility. Perform these stretching exercises and techniques slowly, with the right posture for a reverse slow count of 10.

• To stretch your shoulders, take your right arm straight across the chest, while curling the left hand around your elbow and start pulling the right arm gently and slowly. Then switch sides.
• For chest stretching exercise, stand in a doorway with your right forearm placed on the side of the doorway wall at the chest level, and the elbow resting at 90 degrees. Now, slowly turn your body to the left till you feel a stretch in your chest, switch sides and repeat.
• For lower body stretches when following a beginner workout routine, standing quadriceps stretch and hamstring stretch work great.
• For biceps take your arms to your sides and slightly behind you, with the thump-up. Now, rotate your thumbs down and back till they are pointing towards the back wall, so that you feel a stretch in your biceps. For triceps, bend the right elbow behind your head and the use the left hand to gently pull the right elbow till you feel a stretch, switch sides and repeat the exercise.
• For stretching your back, clasp your hands together in front of you, you can also hold a pole to be more comfortable. Now round your back towards the floor, and keep pressing your arm away till you feel a stretch.

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1st Week	Cardio session lasting for 45 minutes 5 minutes walk and 10 minutes jogging 15 minutes workout on cross-trainer or skipping 15 minutes workout of bicycling or aerobics	½ an hour of cardio 15 minutes of shoulder exercises 5 minutes stretching	Cardio session lasting for 45 minutes 5 minutes walk and 10 minutes jogging 15 minutes workout on cross-trainer or skipping 15 minutes workout of bicycling or aerobics	½ an hour of cardio 15 minutes chest exercises 5 minutes stretching	Cardio session lasting for 45 minutes 5 minutes walk and 10 minutes jogging 15 minutes workout on cross-trainer or skipping 15 minutes workout of bicycling or aerobics	Rest
2nd Week		½ an hour of cardio 15 minutes of abdominal exercises 5 minutes stretching		½ an hour of cardio 15 minutes of lower body exercises 5 minutes stretching
3rd Week		½ an hour of cardio 15 minutes of triceps and biceps exercises 5 minutes stretching		½ an hour of cardio 15 minutes of back exercises 5 minutes stretching

Important Tips

Here are some tips one needs to keep in mind to personalize the workout plan according to their needs.

• People who want to opt for exercise routines for beginners for the sake of fitness or maintaining their body shape, should stick to less harder cardio exercises, and can follow walking and jogging as a workout. Also, these people should stick to normal weight training exercises and not over workout.
• People on weight loss programs should include running, cross-training and skipping in their cardio workout. These people should also slowly progress from light-weight weight training exercises, to heavy weight advanced weight training exercises.
• People who want to build muscles, should progress slowly to advanced weight training workouts and include more weight training exercises in their workout. They should also increase the amount of protein intake, as proteins help to build muscles.
• For men things to be kept in mind are similar to the people who want to build up muscles, like eating protein rich food and progressing to advanced weight training exercises.
• For women important things to be kept in mind is to improve flexibility and stick to exercises which tone up their chest and abdominal muscles. Women should stick to light exercises for their calves and shoulders.

Always start your workout with a 5 minutes walk and some jogging as this will be your warm up exercise, and prevent any injuries. Also wear good quality shoes to prevent any foot injuries. Follow this above mentioned workout plan and the important tips and maintain good health!