Weight Loss Exercise Program For Beginners

In the beginning weight loss workout program you will do a full body workout routine 3X per week. For those of you who have worked out before, this type of program is probably a little unique.

Generally speaking, in gyms across America, most people follow some sort of body building derived program. These workouts come from fitness magazines, books, and advice from well intentioned friends. These workouts tend to focus on individual body parts, such as a day of working on shoulders and back, or a day of chest and biceps.

While exercise programs might be fine, if you are looking for added muscle size and sculpting, it has little applicability to weight loss. Isolating body parts is less demanding, and less likely to produce a strong calorie after burn like we get with full body compound movements.

To lose weight, exercise with full body, compound exercises

Full body, compound exercises require a higher level of intensity. These workouts are tough-  but, on the plus side, the workouts are also shorter. You won't need to spend hours in the gym perfecting your biceps. Which is ideal, if you're a busy person with a lot of time constraints.

One of the reasons the workouts are shorter is that the full body exercises use multiple muscles to perform the lift. There's no need to isolate individual muscles.The squat for example, uses the quads, hamstrings, and glutes (the butt). And, it also uses the back and the abdominal muscles for stability.

Contrast that with a bicep curl, which uses just a few small muscles.

Also, because so many muscles get involved, these compound movements are more calorie demanding. With this exercise program, you will work harder, which will force your body to burn more calories...Which is exactly what we want in a weight loss and exercise program.

Cardio exercise for weight loss

Some people have questioned why there is no cardio exercises in the beginners program. At this stage, most beginners don't need to add cardio. Simply doing the exercise prescribed here will provide the right amount of exercise for a beginner.

In fact, this workout is structured so that you will get the benefit of both a cardio workout and a strength workout at the same time. That's because these workouts will be done in superset fashion...meaning, you will do two or more exercises back to back and then rest.

Think of these supersets as 1 to 1-1/2 minute sprints. I use the sprinting analogy because you'll work very hard with these exercises, almost like you would if you were doing interval sprints. Then you will rest.

You'll see that after you do your set, you will be quite winded and your heart rate will have jump considerably. Mine tends to rise to about 70-80% of my maximum heart rate, when I am working out with intensity.

This isn't the type of workout where you see people chit chatting in the weight room or watching TV between sets. You're going to be a bit out of breath when you do these supersets.

The Weight Loss Workout For Beginners

Do the following two workouts 3 times per week, alternating each workout. For example, do Workout A on Monday and Friday, and Workout B on Wednesday. Just make sure that you have a day of rest in between workouts...Remember, that rest and recovery is important to losing weight.

Workout A

A1: Squat

A2: Dumbell Overhead Press Rest 60 seconds

Rest 60 seconds

B1: Step up

B2: Bent over row Rest 60 seconds

Rest 60 seconds

C1: Push up

C2: Forward lunge

Rest 60 seconds

D1: Bridge on swiss ball (hold for 20 seconds)

D2: Swiss ball crunch

The way to perform this workout is to do the exercises in each set, back to back. Then rest a minute  and performing the same superset again until you have done the exercises a total of 3 times.

So, the way it is written here, A1 and A2 are one superset consisting of two exercises, done back to back. This means that you would do exercise A1 (The squat) and then immediately proceed to exercise A2 (The dumbell overhead press).

Once you have completed A2, then rest for the perscribed amount, in this case, a minute.

In this weight loss workout program, perform each superset 3X before moving on to the next superset. This means you would do superset A 3X before starting superset B. (Just make sure to take your rest between after superset)

Do 10 repetitions of each exercise. This means that when you have completed superset A, you will have done a total of 30 squats (3 sets X 10 repetitions) and a total of 30 overhead presses (3 sets X 10 repetitions).

Note, the bridge on the swiss ball is a isometric exercise. That means that you won't be doing repititions of this exercise.
Rather, your goal is to hold the position for 20 seconds.

Workout B

A1: Romanian deadlift

A2: Lat pull down

Rest 60 seconds

B1: Incline Bench Press

B2: Backward Lunge

Rest 60 seconds

C1: Side bridge - hold for 20 seconds

C2: Swiss ball reverse crunch

Rest 60 seconds

D1: Supine bridge - hold for 20 seconds

Again, do each exercise 10 times and do each superset 3X.

Notice that there is only one exercise in superset D. This is not technically a superset, but a set. Also, the supine bridge and the side bridges are isometric exercises and should be held for 20 seconds each.

Regardless of whether you are doing Workout A or B, use a weight that allows you to do the required number of repetitions. Don't go too heavy, because you will not be able to complete 10 repetitions. But, don't go too light, or the exercise will be too easy. The right weight is a weight that you can do for 10 reps but cannot do for 11 or 12 reps.

I hope you enjoy the weight loss workout program for beginners. Once you have mastered this workout, try moving on to one of our other free weight loss workout programs.