Maddie There are many reasons why working out at home for beginners is an appealing option in terms of exercise: it’s simple, convenient, there is no gym anxiety involved, and you don’t have to pay for expensive gym memberships.
I know of sooo many people who want to start working out but don’t end up doing it because they just can’t bring themselves into a gym. And I completely understand; I’ve been there.
As someone who has lost a lot of weight and has gained tons of muscle at home, I feel that I have a plethora of useful insights to share with you.
This post is all about the best way you can begin working out at home for beginners.
*Note: This post includes several Amazon affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my link (at no extra cost to you). Please read full disclosure here. Also, I am not a doctor or dietician. I am a personal trainer. It’s always best to speak with your doctor before making any changes to your diet and/or lifestyle.
The ultimate guide to working out at home for beginners:
What we’ll cover…
- Benefits of strength training
- Difference between home & gym workouts
- Necessary equipment
- Bodyweight exercises
- Compound vs. isolation exercises
- How to structure home workouts
- Example bodyweight & equipment routine
After reading this post, don’t forget to check out…
4 Valuable Benefits of Resistance Training: Does Weight Lifting Burn Fat?
49 Awesome Fat-Burning Exercises: What Exercises Burn the Most Calories?
6 of the BEST Exercises for Strength Training
The benefits of strength training
Before we start with the ins and outs of how to start working out for beginners at home, I feel it’s worth briefly explaining the benefits of strength training (there are SO many)!
The most obvious benefit is that lifting weights makes you stronger—this is important because it allows you to perform everyday tasks easier such as moving furniture or hauling in groceries.
Another benefit—and possibly my favorite one—is that having more muscle means your body will burn calories more efficiently. In other words, it makes weight loss easier, and you get to eat more food without gaining fat.
A few other benefits include increased bone density (which is hugely important as we age), improved heart health, lowered chances of injury, and of course, it will give your body a toned, sculpted look.
Home vs. gym workouts
The biggest difference between a workout routine at home and gym workouts is the availability and versatility of the equipment. I personally prefer gym workouts because I truly appreciate everything a gym environment has to offer—my workouts feel very limited at home.
Plus, I LOVE to lift heavy, and doing so is very difficult without a barbell and some plates. However, when the Covid pandemic began in early 2020, I had no other choice but to make do without a gym.
AND I was able to make some pretty awesome progress! I will insert a photo from January 2020 and a photo from July 2020 (when my gym reopened):
What about equipment?
Strength training at home can be effective, especially if you invest in some good equipment. However, if for whatever reason you can’t get any equipment, there are some great bodyweight exercises for you to utilize—I will further discuss those specific exercises below.
Otherwise, if you are able to purchase some equipment, it’s a good idea to have dumbbells and resistance bands at a minimum. You could also invest in a kettlebell (they have super nice adjustable ones), a suspension training kit (TRX), a mat, and whatever other home equipment interests you.
Bodyweight exercises
Bodyweight exercises are movements that require no equipment—they use the resistance of your own weight against gravity. Bodyweight exercises can allow for a workout at home without equipment. Some great examples include (knee) push-ups, squats, planks, lunges, tricep dips, burpees, pull-ups, glute bridges, and wall sits.
I only named a few of the MANY options out there; lots of bodyweight exercises include variations of the movements I listed above. In addition to bodyweight exercises, you can try to get creative by using household items as a form of resistance.
For example, filling an old milk carton with water and using it to do bicep curls.
Compound vs. isolation exercises
My other post, Strength Training to Lose Weight, has an entire section explaining compound and isolation exercises, so I will just paste a snippet of that same information here:
“Compound exercises are movements that involve more than one muscle group at a time, whereas isolation exercises are the opposite: they only target one specific muscle group. Compounds are known to have the most “bang for your buck”–burning more calories and building greater strength overall, but isolation exercises do have their own benefits as well. Generally speaking, you’ll start your workouts with compounds and end them with isolation movements.“
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Typically you’ll want to include both compound and isolation movements into your home routine, but compounds should be your first priority.
Most bodyweight exercises are compounds because of their inherent nature, whereas some weighted dumbbell movements better allow for muscle isolation.
Here are some good choices in regards to exercise for beginners to lose weight at home:
| COMPOUNDS | ISOLATION |
| Dumbbell Floor Press | Hammer Curls |
| Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts | Lateral/Front Raises |
| Arnold Press | Tricep Kickbacks |
| Walking Lunges | Lying Dumbbell Flys |
| Renegade Rows | Crunches |
| Goblet Squats | Standing Calf Raises |
| Dumbbell Hip Thrusts | Banded Leg Extensions |
How to structure your home workouts
I have an entire blog post dedicated to creating an effective strength training plan; I go into so much more detail than I possibly could here. The information provided isn’t specific to a home workout plan for beginners female, but all of the basic principles remain the same for both gym and home workouts.
If you are short on time and can’t read through the post, I will very briefly summarize the main points below.
- You can make tons of progress by working out at home just 2-3 times per week as a beginner
- You can choose to do full-body workouts, or you can choose to split up muscle groups between days
- Compound movements should come first in your workouts (followed by isolation movements)
- Your workouts should include 5-8 exercises
- 3 sets of 8-12 reps for each exercise is a good starting point
- You should rest about 30-90 seconds between sets depending on the exercise
- You need to continually apply progressive overload in your strength training routine to keep making progress
- For adequate muscle recovery, space out your workouts with at least one day of rest between
Fitness Planner
You can never go wrong with a good-quality workout planner! We absolutely love this particular Fitness Journal on Amazon!
Example Routines
BODYWEIGHT WORKOUT
Here is an example beginner at-home workout plan without equipment:
| SETS/REPS | EXERCISES |
| 3X8 | PULSE SQUATS |
| 3X8 | INCLINE PUSH-UPS |
| 3X12 | WALKING LUNGES |
| 3X12 | TRICEP DIPS |
| 3X30 Sec. | PLANK |
EQUIPMENT-BASED WORKOUT
Here is an example full body workout at home for beginners with equipment:
| SETS/REPS | EXERCISES |
| 3X8 | DUMBBELL GOBLET SQUATS |
| 3X8 | DUMBBELL RDLS |
| 3X8 | LYING FLOOR PRESS |
| 3X12 | BANDED LEG EXTENSIONS |
| 3X12 | DUMBBELL TRICEP EXTENSIONS |
The takeaway
Strength training has many great benefits that make doing it SO worth your time! Gym workouts allow for more variety, but home workouts can be effective too.
Having some equipment is ideal when strength training at home (if necessary, you can use household items as a form of resistance). There are also many great bodyweight exercises out there that are awesome exercise for beginners to lose weight at home.
Compound exercises take priority over isolation exercises, and the way in which you should structure your strength workouts is linked in another post above.
