A Muscle-Building Workout Plan for Beginners: It's Never Too Late to Get Into Fitness

The fitness folk of Instagram has made weightlifting seem intimidating. Their massive muscles shiny with sweat and loud and huffing grunts breaking the monotony of giant barbells clanking on the rack are enough to make you cower in a corner. Suddenly you feel nervous that perhaps your lank frame isn’t meant for bulking up. Stop! Even the burliest guy at the gym started somewhere. If you want to grow some mass, then follow a muscle-building workout plan for beginners.

You don’t have to start bench-pressing 220s right away. Unless you were exposed to gamma radiation or bitten by a radioactive spider, that would be pretty impossible. Instead, start with what you have – that is, your body!

According to a 2015 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, press-ups are just as effective as bench presses for developing strength. More research in the 2016 edition of Physiology & Behavior also points out that bodyweight exercises can bolster muscle hypertrophy (growth) so long as they’re performed correctly and in their full range of motion.

Bodyweight workouts are an ideal workout plan for beginners because they promise a trove of benefits on top of muscle mass. They help improve other components of fitness, such as agility, balance, and flexibility. They’re also great cardio. Talk about gains!

Here are some bodyweight beginner workout ideas to get you started:

Press-ups

Squats

Dips

Planks

Burpees

Crawls

Some people are genetically predisposed to building muscle, while others are not. However, this does not mean you can’t get jacked if you’re in the latter category. You just have to work harder. Developing muscles and sustaining them take a lot of maintenance. Have you seen what The Rock eats? Or Henry Cavill’s Superman workout?

Depending on how you want your muscles to look (do you want a few cuts here and there or do you want to get seriously ripped?), your diet must consist of proper proportions of protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Body-building diet staples include salmon, chicken breast, lean beef, and yogurt. You can also drink protein shakes.

Even a workout plan for beginners will need to go beyond bodyweight at some point. Either invest in a gym membership or purchase some dumbbells or kettlebells.

Bodyweight exercises can only take you so far. To start bulking up, you’re going to need to lug around more than your weight. Consider investing in a pair of dumbbells or a few kettlebells to take your training up a notch. Both are not only affordable and versatile, but they also work various parts of your body.

As you move past workout routines for beginners, you must also experiment with different types of equipment and exercises to keep yourself interested and your muscles challenged.

If you don’t know where to start, you can hire a personal trainer or find a program online. Lifting weights requires precision, such as the proper form to reap its full benefits and avoid injury. A coach can help you perfect these until you can do them on your own. Having a specific plan – and the fact that you’ve paid for one – will also keep you accountable and motivated.

If you’re a dilettante bodybuilder who finally wants to sit down and get serious, come up with a fixed schedule for strength-building exercises. Also, make sure to start your workout with an exercise agenda in mind.

Having a specific program does not just guide fitness noobs. It also keeps you in line. If you’re overenthusiastic about getting that swole body, you might overdo it. Building strength takes time and you must take the necessary steps.

Speaking of overdoing things, building muscle isn’t an instant process – unless you’re an actor who has all the money and trainers he needs to bulk up for a role. There is no shortcut to gaining mass if you want to do it healthily. Make your workouts sustainable by taking a day off once a week (more if you’re new).

Your muscles need time to recover and you must also replenish your impetus. This way, you can avoid injury and burnout. After all, you wouldn’t want to strain a bicep and be on the bench after mustering up all that motivation to start exercising in the first place.

When coming up with a workout plan for beginners, you have to think of more than the physical prep. You also have to be mentally driven to pursue and stay committed to your fitness goal.

Find a workout buddy in Rexona Men Ice Cool Roll-on Antiperspirant Deodorant. This Rexona Men roll-on offers 48-hour protection and MotionSense technology that can keep up as your workout intensifies. Movement triggers a release of freshness, meaning the harder you work, the fresher you become. It protects you from sweat and odor the more you get jacked.