What I usually recommend for beginners is to start with three days a week. Sure you may be super motivated and you want to go more and that’s fine! You also want to be careful not to overwhelm yourself with going 6 days out of the week right off the bat. When you start something new, it is a new muscle stimulus and your body won’t be used to it. So, you may end up super sore and it will be difficult to train when your body is sore. As a beginner, you will see results with just 3 days a week and it will give you time to allow your body to recover properly until you begin to get used to it. From there, you can add in a fourth day and so on.
Start with three full body workouts, focusing on isolating each muscle group through the use of machines and dumbbells. Once you have gotten comfortable with that and have been progressing in strength through progressive overload, then I would have you begin to learn bigger compound movements like Barbel squats. I always like to have my clients understand their bodies first and make sure they have proper form and can fire their muscles correctly before attempting bigger, more complex exercises.
I also suggest writing your workouts down! Sit down a create or hire a coach, like me, to create 3 separate, but full body workouts. Then, when you go to the gym, you no longer have to think about what to do but just get in and execute your plan. I would do the same workouts for about 6 to 12 week depending on how fast you progress. Remember, try not to do the same reps or weight each time. Progressive overload is the increase of reps and then weight overtime. So as an example. Say your doing dumbbell curls with 10 pounds and you can only do it for 10 reps. Keep working with 10lbs until you can complete 12 reps.. and then 15 reps and then increase the weight to 12lbs and start back at 10 reps. Make sense?
Also be sure to pay attention to how each exercise feels. Our bodies are all different and all have different body mechanics, so there may be exercises that just don’t feel good with your body. If so, replace it with an exercise that still hits the same body part.
As far as cardio goes, it is very dependent on your goals in the gym. If you’re trying to lose weight, than I would add small bits of cardio in and increase it over time. If your trying to gain muscle or size, I don’t suggest cardio at all. This coincides with your health status and diet and is a topic for a whole other post.
If you finished reading this and are still overwhelmed or don’t know where to start, please email me. I am also an online trainer and would be happy to create your first set of workouts for you and help you with form as well as give you a cardio plan (if needed). My workout plans are not cookie cutter and are tailored specifically for you. Email me now to receive a questionnaire that will help me create a tailored plan just for you.
Truefitnessandwellness@gmail.com