As of: March 26, 2024, 6:05 p.m
By: Alexandra Grauvogl
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Press
Split
Beginners should incorporate equipment into their training in the gym that stresses the large muscle chains, such as:
B. the leg press.
© IMAGO/Pond5 Images
Registered at the gym and ready to finally tackle your big goal of losing weight - but unfortunately no plan, right?
The training plan for beginners shows how it's done.
Download PDF for free now!
There is hardly a fitness topic that has more theories circulating than the answer to the question: What is the optimal training and diet to lose weight and reduce body fat?
For beginners: Keep it simple!
To achieve this goal, many athletes rely on high-intensity interval training (HIIT), split training in the gym and interval fasting, among other things.
Not without reason: These methods have proven to be extremely effective in studies.
But for fitness beginners they are one thing above all: far too complex!
If you want to lift your first weights in the gym and have little experience with structured training and nutrition, you should keep the entry barriers as low as possible at the beginning of your fitness journey.
This means: Make training and nutrition as simple and clear as possible so as not to overwhelm yourself and not get lost in the details.
Beginners achieve success in losing weight even at low intensity and smaller volumes through consistent training alone.
Nutrition is fundamental to success in losing weight
Even if this article cannot provide a detailed diet plan for losing weight, this aspect should not go unmentioned.
Because one thing is undisputed: proper nutrition is the most important factor for weight loss success.
The training, which we want to go into in more detail here, cannot fix it alone.
The composition of the right diet is a very individual matter and depends, among other things, on nutrient requirements, food preferences and budget.
However, the following steps are fundamental to losing weight:
Determine your daily calorie needs: This depends on age, gender, height, weight, body fat percentage, everyday activity and finally sport.
You can find various calorie requirement calculators online that will determine a rough value.
If you want to know more, you should speak to a certified nutritionist.
Create a calorie deficit: If you eat as many calories as you need every day, you will maintain your weight.
So if you want to lose weight, you should eat less than your daily calorie needs.
Start with a minus of 300 kilocalories.
Adjust your diet accordingly.
Track your food intake: Although this is probably the most annoying task, it is crucial, especially in the beginning, to get certainty about your calorie intake.
Because experience shows that the pi times thumb method is often not enough.
Various (free and paid) food apps make food tracking easier.
In general, you should focus on natural foods in your diet and avoid highly processed foods such as junk food, sugary foods and alcohol.
Lean proteins, vegetables, whole grains, fruit and healthy fats are recommended as they usually have fewer calories and keep you full for longer.
And drink plenty of water and other unsweetened drinks.
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Combination of cardio and strength important
Anyone who knows the nutritional basics described and consistently sticks to them will lose weight.
If you also train regularly, this process will be accelerated.
Training not only increases daily calorie consumption (power turnover), but also builds muscle mass and thus increases the body's basal metabolic rate in the long term.
When it comes to losing weight, many people focus on endurance training, but strength training is just as essential.
In fact, the combination of both can speed up and facilitate weight loss.
It may be tempting as a beginner to immediately start an intensive training program in order to see quick results.
But that would be a mistake.
With hard training that regularly pushes you out of your comfort zone right at the start of your fitness journey, you risk injury because your cardiovascular system, muscles, bones, joints and tissues don't have time to adapt.
In addition, very intensive training is usually not very fun and can therefore lead to beginners quickly giving up training.
The key to losing weight through exercise is consistency.
It's important to find a training mode that you can maintain long-term.
Not just for a week or a month.
HERE you can download the training plan PDF for gym beginners for free.
Fitness to lose weight: This is how the training plan for beginners is structured
From a sports science perspective, the following recommendations apply for strength training to build muscle:
Training frequency for beginners: 2-3 times a week
There should be a whole-body training session with every unit (the focus on individual parts of the body in so-called split training makes sense from an advanced level onwards)
There should be a break of at least 48 hours between strength training sessions.
This means: Do not strength train on two consecutive days!
Between strength training days there is time for recovery and endurance training.
The latter addresses different muscle fiber types than strength training and can therefore be easily completed on “rest days” without causing overload.
Accordingly, the gym training plan for beginners for fat loss can be designed like this:
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
Sunday |
Power |
Endurance |
Power |
Endurance |
Power |
Break |
Break |
It is possible to postpone the individual units and, for example, train on the weekend.
All that matters is that you
don't do strength training two days in a row,
Do full-body strength training at least twice a week
A total of at least 4 training units per week (better five units).
Known? This many repetitions are ideal for building muscle
Strength training – the exercises
As already mentioned, beginner training includes exercises for the whole body.
For complete beginners, exercises on equipment make sense as they guide the movement and allow for fewer mistakes.
Proper technical execution of the exercises is a prerequisite for training success and for avoiding pain and injuries.
Therefore, have trained staff instruct you on the equipment in the gym.
This is usually free or possible for a small fee.
In the brackets you will find exercise variations for advanced beginners (F), who feel confident with free weights and cable pulleys, and for home training (H), if you can't make it to the gym.
Leg Press
(F: Barbell Squat; H: Air Squats)
Back extensor (hyperextension)
(F: deadlift; H: arm-leg raise)
Crunch machine
(F: Kneeling Cable Crunch; H: Crunch/Reverse Crunch/Plank)
Lying or sitting leg curls
(H: prone leg curls with ankle weights)
Chest press
(F: bench press H: push-up)
Seated rowing
(F: rowing with barbell; H: rowing with Thera-Band)
Shoulder Press
(F: Dumbbell Shoulder Press; H: Water Bottle Shoulder Press)
Lat pull-ups
(F/H: pull-ups)
Triceps machine
(F: cable tricep press; H: dips)
Biceps machine
(F: Bicep curls with dumbbells; H: Curls with bottles or heavy backpack)
Download training plan for gym beginners as a PDF
You can find out exactly how the training for gym beginners with a focus on losing weight is structured and how many repetitions and sets have to be completed in the training plan, which you can download here for free as a PDF.
To do this, you must register once and easily with our login service USER.ID.
Fitness beginners who want to work on losing weight in the gym will find a suitable training plan in the PDF library.
© IMAGO/Pond5 Images
Losing weight for fitness beginners: This is what endurance training is all about
When it comes to endurance training for weight loss, it doesn't matter what you do - whether cycling, running, cross trainer, stepper or rowing.
Choose the endurance sport that you enjoy the most.
It doesn't matter whether you do it briefly and painfully using the HIIT method or whether you prefer it to be long and comfortable.
The important thing is that you do it at all!
Endurance training not only burns calories but also strengthens cardiovascular health.
If you go for a casual run or bike ride, you can also relieve the sore muscles that may occur after strength training.
The cardio units can of course also be completed outside the gym in the fresh air.
Heavy athletes should, if necessary, avoid running and prefer joint-friendly alternatives such as cycling or cross trainers.
If you are a beginner and want to train for 5 kilometers in a row, we also have the right training plan for you.
Known? This is what happens to your body when you run every day
This training plan includes at least two cardio sessions per week lasting 20 to 30 minutes.
No intervals are provided.
If you decide to run, you should maintain a moderate pace throughout, reaching around 70 percent of your maximum heart rate.
When cycling, rowing, cross-training, etc., your heart rate should be slightly lower (60 percent).
Calculation of maximum heart rate
The maximum pulse or the maximum heart rate (HRmax) depends, among other things, on age and gender.
Average values can be calculated using different formulas, such as those from Winfried Spanaus:
Men: Maximum pulse = 223 − 0.9 x age (in years)
Women: Maximum pulse = 226 − 1.0 x age (in years)
Important note:
We recommend that people who are new to sports and those returning to sports, but also everyone else, have their fitness for sport checked by a doctor before completing the training program.
In our PDF library you will find numerous other training plan PDFs for download after free registration.
Just make sure you stop by!
The author is a former competitive athlete, certified ski instructor and fitness trainer (B license).