Your first 8 weeks in the gym: a beginner plan

Starting out is when you make the fastest progress you'll ever make. You don't need a complicated program. You need a few good lifts, three days a week, and a clear way to add weight.

The plan

Train three non-consecutive days (Monday, Wednesday, Friday works). Alternate two workouts:

Workout A: goblet squat 3×8 to 12, dumbbell bench press 3×8 to 12, one-arm dumbbell row 3×8 to 12, plank 3×30 s.

Workout B: Romanian deadlift with dumbbells 3×8 to 12, lat pulldown 3×8 to 12, seated dumbbell press 3×8 to 12, reverse lunge 2×10 each leg.

Rest about 2 minutes between sets. Each session takes 45 to 60 minutes with a warm-up.

Picking your starting weights

Start lighter than you think. Your first two weeks are practice. Pick a weight you could lift for about 12 to 14 reps and do 10. If it felt easy, go up next time. Nobody gets hurt from starting too light.

Adding weight

Use double progression: when you hit 12 reps on every set, add the smallest weight jump and go back to 8. Most beginners add weight every week or two on every lift for months.

After 8 weeks

Once the movements feel natural, start moving to barbell lifts: the back squat, bench press and deadlift. They let you load more weight in small steps for years.

Tip: Write everything down. Beginners progress fast enough that guessing last week's numbers means you're lifting too light or too heavy.

Skip the planning

Tell Liftsmith you're new, what equipment you have and how many days you can train, and it builds each workout for you, with starting weights estimated from your body weight and experience, set on the light side for your first session. If that first session shows it was too light, the next one catches up straight away.