If you’re just getting started exercising, a full-body workout for beginners that keeps it simple might just be a solid way into an exercise program. Working out can sound complicated, and can raise a ton of questions—should you have a dedicated leg day, do you need to do EMOMs, how the heck do you do a barbell deadlift—but it doesn’t need to be nearly that complex.
Enter: a full-body workout for beginners that hits all of your major muscles, includes just six exercises, and keeps the moves straight-forward and efficient. And you don’t even need any weights to get it done.
“Bodyweight exercises are very versatile, very convenient, and very important for everyday life,” ACE-certified personal trainer Sivan Fagan, owner of Strong With Sivan, tells SELF. “Look at these moves as the basics, the ones that help you master foundational movement patterns, which will help you progress in more advanced exercises as you become more comfortable.”
In this workout Fagan created, you’ll be focusing on foundational movements for your upper body, lower body, and core. For your upper body, you’ll work the pushing movement with an incline push-up and a pulling movement with a Superman pull-down. You’ll also work on shoulder stability—an often-overlooked part of many workout plans that guards against injury and improves mobility—with the I-Y-T raise. You’ll use a unilateral (single-leg) squat variation with the reverse lunge and a horizontal hip extension exercise with the glute bridge to work your lower body. Then for your core, you’ll work it isometrically (without movement) with a high plank.
The exercises Fagan chose here also help you hone your mind-muscle connection, which is important as you continue to work out. This will make sure you’re engaging the muscles that should be working when you do a certain movement, rather than allowing other muscles swoop in and take over.
In this routine, you’ll be working with two trisets, which just means three exercises grouped together without rest. While the goal is to move from one to the next without resting, you should always feel free to take a breather if you need it, especially if you feel like your form is starting to falter.
Ready to get-started? Here’s what you need for a full-body workout for beginners that’s going to set you up for fitness success—both during this workout and down the line.
The Workout
What you need: An exercise mat for comfort and a sturdy box or low step.
Exercises
Triset 1
- Glute bridge
- Incline push-up
- I-Y-T raise
Triset 2
- Alternating reverse lunge
- Superman pull-down
- High plank
Directions
- In Triset 1, complete 12-15 reps of the first two exercises, and then 6-8 reps per letter of the I-Y-T raise. Complete 2-3 rounds total. Rest for 1-2 minutes after all rounds are completed.
- In Triset 2, complete 12-15 reps per side of the first exercise and 12-15 reps of the second. Hold the high plank for 30-60 seconds. Complete 2-3 rounds total.
Demoing the moves below are Nikki Pebbles (GIF 1), an AFAA- and NCCPT-certified personal trainer and group fitness trainer based in New York City; Amanda Wheeler (GIF 2), a certified strength and conditioning specialist and co-founder of Formation Strength; Erica Gibbons (GIF 3 and 6), a California-based personal trainer and graduate student becoming licensed as a marriage and family therapist; Delise Johnson (GIF 4), CEO and strength coach at Wellness and Weights; and Cookie Janee (GIF 4), a background investigator and security forces specialist in the Air Force Reserve.
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Katie Thompson1 Glute Bridge
- Lie faceup with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor, and heels a few inches away from your butt so that your fingertips graze your heels when arms are at your sides.
- Squeeze your glutes and abs and push through your heels to lift your hips off the floor until your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.
- Pause and squeeze your glutes at the top, then slowly lower your hips to return to the starting position.
- Complete 12-15 reps.
The glute bridge is a hip extension exercise done from a horizontal position, which really works your glutes and your hamstrings.
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Katie Thompson2 Incline Push-Up
- Place your hands shoulder-width apart on a low box, a chair, or a table and assume a high plank position with your feet, knees, hips, and shoulders in a straight line. Brace your core and keep your elbows tucked in close to the sides of your torso. This is the starting position.
- Bend your elbows and pull shoulder blades together to lower your chest to the box.
- Press through your palms to straighten your arms back to starting position. This is 1 rep.
- Complete 12-15 reps.
Elevating your hands makes this move (which works your chest and shoulder muscles) easier than a traditional push-up—the higher you place your hands, the easier it will be.
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3 I-Y-T Raise
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, and with your core engaged, send your hips back.
- Press your shoulders down to engage your shoulder blades, then lift your arms overhead, keeping your biceps close to your ears, making an I shape with your thumbs facing up. Slowly lower arms to sides.
- Lift your arms again, this time into a wide Y shape, framing either side of your head with thumbs facing up. Slowly lower your arms to your sides.
- This time, lift your arms out to sides into a T shape. Lower back to your sides. This sequence is 1 rep.
- Complete 6-8 reps.
This exercise helps build strength in your rhomboids and lower-to-mid trap muscles in your back. This improves your shoulder blade stability, which will help your muscles move more efficiently (and in a safer position) when you do moves like rows and overhead presses later on, says Fagan.
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Katie Thompson4 Alternating Reverse Lunge
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and core engaged.
- Step back with your right foot and bend both knees to sink into a lunge. Keep your core engaged, hips tucked, and back straight.
- Return to your starting position by pushing off your left foot and stepping forward.
- Repeat on the other side. This is 1 rep.
- Continue to alternate sides for 12-15 reps.
The reverse lunge works your glutes and your quads. Many beginners find this variation easier to master than the forward lunge, which also can feel more stressful to your knees.
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Katie Thompson5 Superman Pull-Down
- Lie on your stomach with your arms extended overhead by your ears.
- Lift your chest, arms, and legs off the ground and squeeze your butt.
- Keeping your arms and legs off the ground, pull your elbows in toward your sides, then punch overhead. Repeat this punching motion, hovering your arms and legs above the ground and engaging your glutes the entire time.
- Complete 12-15 reps.
To make this easier, bring your arms and legs back to the floor between reps. This move works the back of your body, and is “an excellent way to teach yourself how to pull your shoulder blades back and down and really engage your lats,” says Fagan.
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Kelsey McClellan6 High Plank
- Place your palms on the floor, elbows directly underneath your shoulders, hands facing forward so that your arms are parallel. Extend your legs behind you, feet hip-width apart. Tuck your tailbone and engage your core, butt, and quads.
- Hold for 30 to 60 seconds.
Like a forearm plank, the high plank works your core muscles and your shoulders, but is easier on your core than the forearm version, says Fagan.
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