8 Week Gym Workout Plan Pdf

[Consuela Ellett]

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The amount of exercise you need varies depending on your fitness level and goals. However, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the World Health Organization recommend healthy adults ages 18 to 64 aim for the following weekly goals:

For adults over 65 years old, exercises that improve balance can help prevent falls. Meanwhile, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends stretching major muscle groups, such as those in the arms and back, at least two or three times a week to help maintain flexibility.

Imagine your weekly fitness routine is like one of those magnetic puzzle sets you can easily snap together with a variety of different colored geometric shapes. Each color symbolizes a different kind of workout, allowing you to create your own, unique pattern.

An example of a simple schedule may be cardio on Mondays and Thursdays, strength training on Tuesdays and Fridays and balance and flexibility on Wednesdays and Saturdays, plus active rest (walking or stretching) on Sundays.

Petreycik recommends completing two to four sets of eight to 25 repetitions per exercise. The weight you choose and the number of reps depends on your goal, but you should always be able to maintain proper form, he adds. To increase muscle size and strength, he suggests aiming to max out around six to eight reps. For muscle endurance, aim for 12 to 25 reps.

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts feature repeated short bursts of intense activity that alternate between periods of maximum effort and low-intensity exercise or rest. As lack of time can be an obstacle when trying to develop an exercise routine, HIIT workouts can help people stay more engaged and support fitness goals with less of a time commitment, according to research.

See my recommendations in italics to help you achieve similar exercises at home without equipment. If the sets or reps listed below are too difficult, honor your current strength level and work your way up over time.

Your body is the final arbiter and best possible judge of the workouts and fitness schedule that work best for you. To create a workout plan that lasts, the logistics have to be built around the reality of your life.

Get as clear as you can about what kinds of exercise feel good, when and how you can fit them into your days and what might make them easier to do. Reduce obstacles wherever possible and make sure you have comfortable, accessible exercise clothing and equipment, dedicated windows of time and support from friends, family and colleagues to make exercise a non-negotiable part of your routine.

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So, you want to build those muscles? That's great! Building muscle requires a person to commit to regular strength training for a long period of time, with no shortcuts unfortunately. However, you can make this process more efficient with the right nutrition and workouts. If you want to avoid wasting hours in the gym, keep reading.

Gaining muscle, known as muscular hypertrophy, requires some serious strength training. Strength training causes microscopic tears in the muscle fibres, which sounds scary but is actually a prerequisite of growth. As the body repairs these tissues, they get bigger, and when this is repeated again and again this results in visibly bigger muscles.

While all strength training will help to increase strength, there are certain ways to train that will maximise muscular hypertrophy. Read on to learn how to shape a strengthening workout plan that will help you to gain muscle, as well as some of the different approaches you could take. You can also click here to jump straight to the example workout plan for gaining muscle.

Most scientific studies on the matter conclude that a muscle needs to be worked at least two or three times a week in order to see it change and grow. This means you should aim to gym at least two times a week, up to a maximum of six times. It may be tempting to gym every day, but rest days are actually crucial when it comes to build muscle.

The ideal workout volume (the number of reps and sets you do) changes depending on whether your goal is strength, endurance, or hypertrophy. For muscular hypertrophy, 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps per exercise is considered the best approach.

Your workouts need to challenge the muscles enough to create change, which means choosing weights that are heavy enough that the last couple of repetitions are challenging but not impossible, but you would be unable to complete another rep with good form (or at all).

Progressive overload is one of the most important principles of strength training. Our bodies are great at adapting to stimulus, so if we repeatedly do the same number of reps and sets with the same weight, we will plateau. Progressive overload involves increasing the difficulty of an exercise over time, either by increasing the weight, reps, depth, or intensity (by slowing down the tempo, for example).

For hypertrophy, what this might look like is doing 10kg for 3 sets of 8 reps one week, 10 reps, the week after, and 12 reps the week after, and then increasing to a weight you can only manage for 8 reps and repeating the process.

Resistance machines follow a fixed movement path which make them ideal for those who have just started a muscle-building program or are new to the gym. The fixed path makes it easier to perform an exercise as it doesn't rely on technical knowledge of the form, and this helps to ensure the right muscles are engaged while minimising risk of injury. It can also allow heavier weights to be lifted more safely, as there is no risk of dropping the weight. While good for beginners, these machines are also good for advanced lifters who want to really isolate a muscle and perfect their form. You can read more about the benefits of resistance machines, as well as 5 machines for beginners to try, here.

Free weights like dumbbells and barbells require the performer to have good form, and usually a strong core. Exercises with free weights are more challenging as more muscles need to be engaged to stabilise the movement. This extra challenge can fatigue the muscles quicker and help to build more strength and stability.

If you're new to working out, or are struggling to engage the right muscles during exercises with free weights, resistance machines can be a great way to build strength and learn the correct form. Once you're comfortable with the exercise, you can move to free weights and use dumbbells or barbells to replicate the movement. For example, once you've mastered the Seated Chest Press, you can easily perform Lying Dumbbell Presses.

Split workouts involve splitting up the muscles worked across the week, so each workout focuses on one area of the body or one type of exercise, for example doing an upper body day one day, leg day the next, or doing push exercises one day, pull exercises another.

Split workouts are useful when you're training on consecutive days, as you can give the muscles you used yesterday a rest while you work on a different area. Because each muscle group needs to be worked at least twice per week for muscle growth, split workouts work best when you are training at least 3-4 times a week. If you can only commit 2-3 times a week, full body workouts are best.

Rather than focus on body types, a push/pull/leg split (also known as PPL) splits workouts by movement types. Pushing movements typically work chest, shoulders and triceps, while pulling movements work the back, glutes, and hamstrings.

If you are happy with your body fat and want to focus on building muscle, aim to eat in a slight calorie surplus (around 5-10% above your maintenance calories) and aim to get at least 1.4 grams of protein per kg of bodyweight, ideally through nutritious protein sources like lean meats, eggs, legumes, and dairy.

If you have a lot of excess fat stored and are trying to lose weight, you'll be pleased to know it's still possible to build muscle while in a calorie deficit. Protein is even more important when it comes to preserving and building muscle when dieting, as it helps to prevent your body from burning muscle instead of fat.

While food is helpful in recovering from workouts and building muscle, they also play a part in fuelling your workouts. Eating carbohydrates before your workout can boost your energy and ensure you can really deliver your best each workout.

Make sure to include regular rest days. You'll want to wait at least a day between working the same muscle group twice to give your muscles time to repair and grow between sessions, but schedule at least one full rest day a week.

Here, I've pulled together an example gym plan for muscle gain, using the popular push/pull/legs split and aiming for six workouts a week. I've included links for each exercise, so you can find out how to perform each with good form.

Building muscle is hard, but simple. Work each muscle group at least twice a week, taking your exercises close to failure. Make sure you are getting enough rest to allow the muscles to recover and rebuild, and eat a diet that is rich in protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrate. While it can take months to build noticeable mass, you should start to see and feel a difference much quicker than that.

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