Beginner home workout with no equipment: a simple 4-week plan

You do not need a gym or any equipment to start. You need enough floor for a mat, a sturdy chair or table, and 20 minutes three times a week. This plan works all your main muscles and gets slightly harder each week.

Before you start: if you have a heart condition, an injury, are pregnant or have not exercised for a long time, ask your doctor first. Muscle tiredness is normal. Stop if you feel sharp pain, dizziness or chest pain.

How often and how long

Train on three days with a rest day between them, such as Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The World Health Organization recommends that adults do muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days a week and 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity such as brisk walking, so a daily walk on the other days is a good addition.

Warm up for three minutes

March on the spot for one minute, then do 10 arm circles each way, 10 slow hip circles and 10 slow half squats.

The routine

Do each exercise, rest 45 seconds, and move to the next. When you finish all six, that is one round.

1. Squat, 10 times. Feet shoulder-width apart. Sit back as if onto a chair, keep your heels down, stand up. Easier: actually sit down on a chair each time.
2. Incline push-up, 8 times. Hands on a sturdy table or kitchen counter, body straight, lower your chest and push back. Easier: hands on a wall.
3. Glute bridge, 12 times. Lie on your back, knees bent. Lift your hips until your body is straight from shoulders to knees, and lower slowly.
4. Reverse lunge, 6 per leg. Step back, lower your back knee towards the floor, return. Easier: hold the back of a chair and go only halfway down.
5. Plank, 20 seconds. Forearms on the floor, body straight, do not let your hips sag. Easier: knees on the floor.
6. Bird dog, 6 per side. On hands and knees, stretch out one arm and the opposite leg, hold for two seconds, swap.

The four weeks

• Week 1: 2 rounds. Learn the movements and use the easier versions if you need them.
• Week 2: 3 rounds.
• Week 3: 3 rounds, and shorten the rest to 30 seconds.
• Week 4: 3 rounds, with 2 more repetitions of each exercise and a 30-second plank.

If a week feels too hard, repeat it. Finishing every workout with good form matters more than keeping to the calendar.

How to tell it is working

• The last two repetitions should feel hard but stay clean. If you could do ten more, it is too easy. If your form breaks down, it is too hard.
• Mild soreness a day or two later is normal in the first weeks, and it fades as your body adjusts.
• Write down what you did. Seeing 3 rounds where there were 2 keeps you going better than a mirror does.

Mistakes that stop beginners

• Doing too much on day one. Being too sore to move on Tuesday is how plans end by Thursday.
• Holding your breath. Breathe out on the effort, for example as you stand up.
• Rushing. Slow repetitions are harder and safer than fast ones.
• Skipping rest days. Muscles adapt between workouts, not during them.
• Waiting for motivation. Fix the days and the time, then just start the first exercise.

After the fourth week

Add difficulty rather than more time: lower the surface for your push-ups, slow down your squats, or add a backpack with books. When you want more variety or to add equipment, change one thing at a time.

Let a coach count for you

The DevQuake workout tracker can build a routine like this for you. In the setup choose Beginner, choose Home as your place, and tick no equipment to get body-weight exercises. On the phone it guides you through each workout with a timer and a voice coach, so you do not have to keep looking at the screen, and it records what you finished in a calendar and statistics.

Open the workout tracker · Read the user manual