Free workout plans: pick the one that fits your week

A workout plan is a written answer to four questions: which movements, how many sets and reps at what effort, how you'll progress, and what you'll do when the week falls apart. Every plan on this site answers all four, and every one is free to follow. This page sorts them by the two things that decide the fit: the days you can train and the equipment you have.

New to the words? The training glossary defines them in plain language.

What a workout plan needs

• Movements. A squat, a hinge, a push and a pull at the least, usually with a core move. Each works several muscles at once, so a short list covers the whole body. (Compound exercises, explained.)
• Sets, reps and effort. How many sets, a rep range, and how close to failure each set should end. Most plans here use two or three sets and stop each set with a few good reps left. (How to judge reps left.)
• A rule for progressing. The American College of Sports Medicine's 2009 position stand recommends adding 2 to 10% to the weight once you can do one or two reps more than your target.¹ At home, where the weights jump in steps, add reps first or move to a harder version. (Progressive overload, explained.)
• A floor for bad weeks. A shorter version for the weeks that go sideways, so a bad week shrinks the plan instead of ending it. (Why that matters.)

The research is reassuring about the layout. The American College of Sports Medicine's 2026 position stand makes lifting with high effort at least twice a week, with all major muscle groups trained, its primary recommendation.² And a 2024 meta-analysis of 14 studies found that split and full-body routines built similar strength and muscle when the weekly volume was matched.³ So the plan that fits your week matters more than a clever one.

Whichever you pick, write it down. A 2016 meta-analysis of 138 studies, about goals in general rather than lifting, found that monitoring progress helped people reach their goals, and helped more when the progress was physically recorded.⁴ (A workout log you can copy.)

The full plans

Starting from zero: how to start lifting weights

The first four weeks of lifting, written out: six movements, short full-body sessions, weights that feel too easy at first, and a rule for when to add more. If you've never followed a workout plan for beginners, start here.

• Suits: complete beginners in a gym.
• Equipment: a gym, with free weights and a machine or two.
• Days a week: two or three.

How to start lifting weights

Three days at home: the dumbbell workout plan

Three full-body sessions of about forty minutes, six dumbbell movements each. It assumes a pair of adjustable dumbbells, or two or three fixed pairs, and says what to change once they start to feel light.

• Suits: beginners who train at home.
• Equipment: dumbbells; a bench helps.
• Days a week: three.

The dumbbell workout plan

No equipment: the bodyweight workout

A full-body plan for a living room, with an easier and a harder version of every movement. Sets run from 8 to 20 good reps, and you move to the harder version once 20 gets easy.

• Suits: beginners at home, and anyone without weights.
• Equipment: a floor, a chair and a doorway.
• Days a week: two or three.

The bodyweight workout

Short on time: the 30-minute workout

One full-body session that fits thirty minutes: the squat first, then a push paired with a pull and a hinge paired with a core move. Every exercise has a gym and a home option, and the page says what to cut first.

• Suits: weeks when time is the problem.
• Equipment: a gym, or a dumbbell or a loaded backpack at home.
• Days a week: two or three.

The 30-minute workout

Around a class schedule: the college workout routine

Three full-body sessions fitted around your classes, with a two-day version for exam weeks that holds your weights. Each exercise has a campus-gym and a dorm-room version.

• Suits: students whose week changes every term.
• Equipment: a campus gym, or a dorm room.
• Days a week: three; two in exam weeks.

The college workout routine

On the road: the hotel workout

One full-body session for a hotel room with nothing in it, and the same session for a hotel gym with dumbbells. Two short sessions hold a travel week together.

• Suits: travel weeks.
• Equipment: none, or the hotel gym's dumbbells.
• Days a week: two while you're away.

The hotel workout

Choosing your days and your split

Two guides for the questions that come before a plan.

How often to train

The guide's answer starts small: once a week beats not training at all, and two or three days a week cover general fitness. It helps you pick a number you can repeat for months.

How often to train

Which workout split

Count your days, then pick the layout that fits them: full body for two or three days, upper/lower for four, push/pull/legs for five or six. The guide also covers switching without losing progress.

Which workout split

The pieces: one body part at a time

These six pages aren't whole plans. Each covers one area, with a gym and a home version, so you can build the days of a split or add to a full-body plan.

• Leg day: the front of the thighs, the hamstrings, the glutes and the calves, with a gym session and a dumbbell version.
• Back: a vertical pull, a row and a hinge, one from each slot.
• Chest: a flat press, a low incline press and a fly, counted in hard sets across the week.
• Shoulders: an overhead press, lateral raises for the side, and rows or reverse flies for the rear.
• Arms: count what presses and rows already give your arms, then add a curl and an overhead triceps extension.
• Core: a four-exercise block for the end of a session.

How to pick one

Find the row for the week you actually have, then the column for your equipment.

Not sure how many days you have? Start with fewer. A plan you finish every week beats a bigger one you finish every other week.

Common questions

Is a free workout plan enough?

For most people starting out, yes, if it covers the four parts above and you follow it long enough to read your log. Usually it's the week that breaks, not the plan, which is why the floor for bad weeks matters.

Which plan is right for a beginner?

In a gym, how to start lifting weights. At home, the dumbbell plan if you own dumbbells and the bodyweight workout if you don't. Nervous about the gym itself? Your first day, step by step.

Can you mix plans?

Keep one plan as your base and swap single exercises from the body-part pages. The log only works when the plan holds still, so don't switch the whole plan every few weeks.

Coming back after a long break?

Start below where you left off: getting back into training says how far.

When does coaching make sense?

When what's missing isn't the plan but the adjustments: someone who reads your log, rebuilds the week when your schedule changes, and notices when you go quiet. Here's how coaching works, and what online coaching is if the idea is new.

Pick the plan that fits this week, put the sessions in your calendar, and log the first one. If you'd rather have a plan built around your week, apply here.