5 Workouts for Beginners: Workouts to Jump-Start Your Fitness Journey 

If you’re getting into fitness or are working out for the first time, you’ll want to start with beginner-friendly exercises. Since trying to jump to more advanced workouts too fast can end up overwhelming, overworking, or injuring yourself, it’s best to go with simpler exercises at the beginning. As you get started on your fitness journey, you can benefit from incorporating a few tried and true beginner workouts into your routine.

5 Beginners Workouts 

When you’re first starting to work out, it’s important to challenge your body in different ways. A mix of cardio, strength training, and mobility-based workouts is essential for overall wellness and fitness. By mixing these workout types, you can improve your heart health, raise your overall strength, and increase your range of movement. While you try to put together a workout plan that targets mobility, strength, and cardio, learn more about five of the best workouts for beginners below:

1. Treadmill Workout for Beginners

Treadmill workouts are a great way to get started with cardio, as you can adjust things like speed, incline, and even resistance with the press of a button. For folks who are just getting started, don’t worry too much about how far and fast you’re going. Just focus on getting your body moving and getting your heart rate up. 

When doing a beginner treadmill workout, you don’t have to start jogging immediately. Instead, it’s a good idea to simply walk at a faster pace than you normally would for around 30 minutes to begin improving your cardiovascular health. For example, a sample beginner treadmill workout could look something like the following:

• 5 minutes of walking at a comfortable pace to warm up
• 20 minutes of brisk walking, increasing the speed every 5 minutes
• 5 minutes of slow walking to cool down.

Once you get more comfortable with walking workouts on the treadmill, you can slowly add jogging to the mix. With jogging added, you might warm up for five minutes and then alternate between jogging and brisk walking at five-minute intervals.

2. Calisthenics Workout For Beginners

Unlike other workouts that require equipment, calisthenics don’t require them. Instead, calisthenics use your body weight as the resistance element, making these exercises a great choice for someone who doesn’t have enough time in their lives to get to the gym most days of the week. 

Calisthenics workouts can also be easily adjusted if you can’t perform the exercise. Review a sample beginner’s calisthenics routine below:

• 5 minutes of light cardio like jumping jacks
• 3 sets of 10-15 squats
• 3 sets of 8-12 pushups
• 3 sets of 10 lunges per leg
• 3 sets of a 20-30 second plank
• 3 sets of 8-10 burpees
• 5 minutes of stretching to cool down

This workout hits most of the major muscle groups in the body and is a great introduction to using your body as your weight. Be sure to pay attention to proper form when doing these exercises, as bad form can lead to injury and make you progress slower than you normally would. 

If you have trouble with any of the above exercises, feel free to modify them or take them out completely! As long as you’re trying your best and getting a sweat in, you’re making gains.

3. Arm Workout for Beginners

Most people think of lifting weights when they go to the gym, and there’s a good reason for that! Weight training is a tried and true way to get strong in a more regimented and consistent way. You always know how much you’re lifting when it comes to weights, and you have easily trackable stats to see how you’re progressing. 

Besides making you look great, training your arms can help you feel stronger in your daily life, and most gyms have plenty of equipment designed to train your arms. If you’re interested in adding strength training into your routine, check out the following beginner arm workout with weights:

• 5 minutes of light cardio and arm circles to warm up
• 3 sets of 10-15 bicep curls
• 3 sets of 10-15 tricep extensions 
• 3 sets of 10-15 shoulder press
• 3 sets of 10-15 lateral raises 
• 3 sets of 10-15 hammer curls
• 5 minutes of stretching to cool down

If you decide that you want to try lifting weights, grab a pair of dumbbells that feel like they might be too easy to start out with. Just because you can lift two weights once or twice doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to get all the reps that make a solid workout. If you don’t feel like you’re working your muscles enough after your first set, go up another five pounds to see if that helps.

Also, be sure your lifting technique is correct while you do your beginner’s arms workout. If you’re confused about the movements you’re performing, feel free to ask one of the employees at your gym for help getting the motion right. Also, if you feel any pain at any point in time, stop the lift. You don’t want to injure yourself right at the beginning of your journey! 

4. Yoga for Beginners

Yoga is an extremely popular way to get in shape, improve flexibility, and relax the mind. Yoga routines will help with balance, flexibility, strength, and overall fitness by targeting certain body areas and working the muscle groups to build mobility and strength.

Yoga can be performed at a gym, in a workout class, or in the comfort of your home. If you’re just getting started, it might be a good idea to go to a few yoga classes so you can get some direction. Once you’re comfortable with some basic poses, you can modify routines as you see fit, focusing on parts of your body that may need a little more attention than others. 

5. Elliptical Workout for Beginners

If you want a lower-impact cardio alternative to a treadmill, an elliptical is a great machine to use when you’re getting started with cardio. Like treadmills, ellipticals will help with cardiovascular health and can be a great way to shed some pounds if losing weight is your goal! 

A simple beginner’s elliptical workout will usually look something like the following:

• 5 minutes of slow work on the elliptical
• 20 minutes of stepping at a higher resistance
• 5 minutes of slow stepping to cool down

Ellipticals are easier on the knees and lower body than a treadmill. As a result, if you’re older, have joint issues, or have suffered injuries in the past, an elliptical workout is often a better cardio alternative than jogging on a treadmill. When you want to make an elliptical workout more difficult, turn it into an elliptical HIIT workout instead!

Start Your Journey at Physiq Fitness

If you’re looking for a beginner’s friendly gym in Salem, Keizer, Albany, or Lancaster, Oregon, Physiq Fitness has you covered. Our gyms are filled with everything you need to get started and keep progressing. If you think that a fitness class might be a good choice for you, QFIT Team Training is our cutting-edge small-group fitness program that offers five different styles of HIIT classes. We also offer many larger group fitness classes to ensure beginners have a place to learn proper form and all of our members’ fitness needs are met.

Learn more about QFIT Team Training and our membership options today! With five convenient locations in the Salem area, we’d love to help you on your way to a happier, healthier lifestyle. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out and ask! 

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Brandon Bennett, VP of Fitness Operations at Physiq Fitness, is a passionate and results-driven professional with over 20 years of experience in the fitness industry, holding 17 certifications from NASM, Precision Nutrition, Certified Functional Strength Coach, and others. Skilled in team training environments, he excels in crafting tailored programs for optimal performance and injury prevention. He has mentored over 100 trainers throughout his career and has worked at Physiq Fitness for over 10 years.