The Complete Guide I Wish I Had When I Started The Gym
Introduction
Starting the gym can be exciting, but it can also feel intimidating. For many people, joining a gym isn’t just a new activity — it marks the beginning of a lifestyle shift. New habits are formed, routines change, and a new trajectory begins. Most people start with a goal in mind: getting stronger, losing weight, improving health, or simply becoming more active. But no matter the reason, many beginners overlook the essentials that make fitness a sustainable and lasting part of their lives. This article is designed to help you create permanent change by breaking down everything you need to build a routine that sticks, make real progress, and walk into the gym with confidence.
One of the first questions people ask themselves is: When should I go? How often should I train? What should I even do once I’m there? The truth is the answers depend on your goals and your life outside the gym. A major reason people quit is because their routine isn’t realistic for their schedule — it becomes a burden instead of a habit. Others follow the wrong plan entirely, preventing them from making progress toward the very goal that motivated them to start.
In this article, I’ll break down how to build a complete sustainable routine (nutrition, workout plan, frequency, time management, mindset) based on the most common fitness goals, and what you can do to set yourself up for long‑term success.
Ground Zero - Identify your goal
Once you understand why you want to start the gym, define it clearly. Give your goal a name, make it specific, and attach a timeline to it. This matters more than most people realize, especially because nearly half of new gym members stop going within their first six months. One major reason is that they start without a clear and structured plan.
This is where SMART goals become incredibly valuable. Research shows that SMART goals improve clarity, motivation, and follow‑through compared to vague goal‑setting. Regular goals can work, but SMART goals give you the highest chance of staying consistent and actually achieving the result you want.
SMART Goal Framework
S — Specific
M — Measurable
A — Achievable
R — Relevant
T — Time‑Specific
Example: Regular Goal vs SMART Goal
Regular Goal: “I want to lose weight.”
This is a common goal — but it’s vague. There’s no timeline, no structure, and no way to measure progress.
SMART Goal: “I want to lose 10 pounds in the next 12 weeks by going to the gym 3 times per week and tracking my calorie intake.”
This version is:
Specific: Lose 10 pounds
Measurable: 10 pounds is trackable
Achievable: Realistic for a beginner
Relevant: Tied to their reason for starting
Time‑Specific: 12‑week deadline (Sustainable Rate of fat loss is anywhere from .25lb - 2lb / week)
SMART goals turn a general desire into a clear plan. They remove guesswork, increase accountability, and dramatically improve your chances of sticking with your routine — which is exactly what most beginners struggle with.
Figure out when you will go and what you will do
Now that you have your immediate goal, you have direction to figure out your schedule. This is going to determine the frequency, type of exercises, and what days are dedicated to different workouts. If your goal is to build muscle. Getting on a proper plan that prioritizes different areas of the body while allowing for rest and recovery in the gym is essential. Most people think about losing weight instead of altering body composition. Losing fat is simply losing fat but losing fat while building muscle will change your look completely. Overall, most people will see results going to the gym 3 times a week. But if you are dedicated and have the ability, five times a week is great. Once you establish your goal, identify what days will be assigned to what workout, and what days during the week are going to be best for you schedule wise.
Don’t try to be so extreme when you start the gym you don’t want it to be overbearing. You can always increase the load and days as you progress but keeping it at three days is enough to see progress, and ultimately better if it keeps you from being burnt out and able to remain consistent. Consider Monday, Wednesday, and Friday if you want weekends off. Or Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday if your week is busy. It is a good idea to have a day of rest in between sessions if you’re doing three days a week. This way you can recover. There’s nothing wrong with training multiple days in a row, as long as you are training different muscle groups, and avoid training muscle groups when they are sore. Once you figure out the days you will be going, then figure out what you will be targeting on those days. Enter your training split.
Training Split for Your Goals
Common beginner training splits are PPL, and upper lower, bro split, and full body.
PPL - Push, Pull, Legs
Push - push movements. Trained body parts - chest, shoulders, triceps. Typical exercises - bench press, chest fly, dumbbell chest and shoulder press, lateral raise, rear delt fly, tricep extensions
Pull - pull movements. Trained body parts - traps, rhomboids, lats, erectors, biceps. Typical exercises - lat pull down, row variations, pull ups, deadlift, bicep curls.
Legs - trained body parts - glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves. Typical exercises - squat variations, leg press, leg extensions, leg curls, RDLs, abductions, hip thrusts, step ups, calf raises.
Upper/Lower Split
The upper/lower split is exactly what it sounds like. It’s alternating between upper‑body and lower‑body training sessions. Even if you train only three times per week, the pattern still rotates. For example, week one might look like upper–lower–upper, while week two becomes lower–upper–lower. Over time, both halves of the body receive equal training frequency.
When a week includes two upper‑body sessions, you can divide them for better balance and recovery. One day can emphasize chest and shoulders—similar to a push‑focused session—while the other targets back and biceps. It may seem like this resembles a PPL split, but the difference becomes clear once you reach the lower‑body days. With two leg sessions in a week, dedicate one to glutes and hamstrings and the other to quads. If glute growth is a priority, you can still include additional glute work on your quad‑focused day.
While you can train the entire upper body in one session and the entire lower body in another, dividing the days allows for more targeted volume. Instead of squeezing in only one or two exercises per muscle group, you can program three or four, leading to better fatigue, better stimulus, and ultimately better progress.
Bro Split
The bro split is a classic training style where each workout is dedicated to a specific muscle group. It’s the approach many bodybuilders—including myself—gravitate toward because it allows you to direct all your energy and volume into one area at a time. This split works best when you’re training at a higher weekly frequency, typically five days per week. With only three sessions, you’d be forced to combine muscle groups, which is why structures like PPL or upper/lower are more practical at lower frequencies.
A typical bro split might look like glutes and hamstrings, shoulders, chest, back, and quads and calves. The goal is complete separation, so each muscle group receives focused attention. You can even break the lower body down further—for example: glutes, shoulders and chest, back, hamstrings, and quads—as long as recovery is built into the plan.
At this level of volume, intra‑week rest days become essential. Rest isn’t just something you schedule around your life; it’s something you program intentionally for recovery. Instead of placing rest days on your least busy days, you place them where your body needs them most. For example, after a heavy glute session, it’s not ideal to train hamstrings the very next day. Strategic rest days help prevent overlap, reduce fatigue, and keep performance high across all five training sessions.
Consistency Over Perfection
The training split you choose matters, but nothing outweighs the importance of consistent effort. Showing up regularly, pushing yourself during each session, and avoiding long stretches of missed workouts will drive far more progress than obsessing over the “perfect” program. A well‑designed split can absolutely support recovery and help you train more efficiently, but you don’t need a flawless setup to see meaningful results. What truly moves the needle is commitment, intensity, and sticking with your routine over time.
How long it takes to see noticeable differences
For most gym progress to be noticeable, whether it’s an increase in strength, or an improvement in body composition, progress takes time. For newbies, recognizable difference can be seen in roughly three months. while the best transformations taking several to many years. While your adaptation to the sore phase, significantly decreasing after the first few weeks. Of course, people are eager to see results after their efforts have been put in. However, it is important to note that the journey to the best body you have ever had, is constant and ongoing. Meaning that you can’t return to the same behaviors before starting the gym and expect to maintain your results.
If you want to be healthy and strong your body will continue to need frequent exposure to stimulus. Muscles that you once grew will atrophy if the tissue is no longer required by your body. When you start working out you put a demand on your body to perform, you place a requirement for your body to adapt. If you no longer are using the additional muscle you have put on, your body will get rid of it. It is very inefficient for the body to keep additional muscle because it uses up additional calories. In order to maintain it, you must continue to signal the body that it needs it. This comes from the continued applied stimulus from lifting weights, and the intake of protein.
Some people might get discouraged if they believed they had to keep up a workout routine and eating healthy for the foreseeable future. but it is important to note that working out isn’t just about aesthetics. But working out builds bone density, improves heart health, helps with hormones and emotional regulation, and is a strong predictor of longevity and avoiding terminal illnesses. People who continue to work out in old age significantly improve the quality of their life and decrease the risk of falling and injuries. Many of them holding onto independence for much longer. Women also stop building bone density and working out increases bone density and significantly reduces the risk of osteoporosis, and the chance of breaking, fracturing, or injuring bones in the future.
Simply working out three times a week and keeping activity and movement a priority, while learning how to eat to prioritize health and maintain a healthy level of body fat is the golden ticket to results that last and can be carried throughout the remainder of your life. While it is my goal to help people accomplish their goals, look, eat, and feel better. Working out is simply much more than just achieving the immediate result.
How to organize exercises in your workout
Start with the most fatiguing exercise, then end with the least fatiguing. This way you have energy and power in your muscles to get the most out of the more intense exercises. More intense exercises are going to be things like squats and squat variations (front squat, smith machine squats, RDL, hack squat, pendulum squat, belt squat) less fatiguing would be leg extension, leg press, calf raise, leg curl, abduction, adduction, etc.
For upper body things like pull ups, pushups, bench press, lat pull downs, bent over rows, shoulder press are going to be more fatiguing. Things like bicep curls, tricep extensions, cable work, lateral raises, are going to be less fatiguing. Start with these exercises first and then finish on less fatiguing exercises. Not only will this allow you to get the most out of the harder exercises but is a good way to prevent injury. if you were to start out with saving the most fatiguing exercise for last you wouldn’t be able to do as much weight, or as many reps, with as good form. Since more fatiguing exercises pose more in terms of calorie burn and muscular growth, you want to make sure you are going into these exercises fresh.
For leg day I would start with a squat or squat variation, then move into a leg press, hip thrusts, do some machine work like leg extension and leg curls, and finish with a calf raise.
For an upper body day, I would start with the bench or chest press, bent over row, pushups or pull ups, as a recommended sequence.
It is also important to note that working out with more fatiguing lifts first (compound movements) generally activate and recruit multiple muscle groups. if you start with tricep extensions before you bench the quality of your bench press will significantly go down. It is common practice to fatigue and workout muscles the require smaller muscles to activate or stabilize them like chest, back, and shoulders before moving into smaller ones like triceps or biceps.
Sets, Reps, and Program Duration
Muscles generally grow best with 10–20 sets per muscle group per week. A set is simply a “round” of an exercise performed for a specific number of repetitions. Common rep ranges include 6–8, 8–12, and 10–15 reps. Research consistently shows that all rep ranges can build similar amounts of muscle as long as you’re training with effort. The key is pushing close to your limit. If you can easily hit the top of your rep range—like 12 reps in an 8–12 range—it’s time to increase the weight. Your goal isn’t just to reach the rep range; it’s to ensure that your maximum effort falls within that range.
Training volume also depends on how often you work a muscle each week.
Three exercises of 4 sets is ideal when training a muscle once per week.
Two exercises of 4 sets per session is usually enough when training a muscle multiple times per week, since the weekly volume adds up.
Compound lifts also count toward your weekly sets for multiple muscle groups. A chest press, for example, doesn’t just train the chest—it also works the shoulders and triceps. Squats hit the quads, hamstrings, and glutes all at once. When tracking your weekly sets, include these compound movements so you don’t accidentally overshoot your volume or undertrain a muscle without realizing it.
Sticking with your program—your split, your exercises, your sets, and your rep ranges—for an extended period is just as important. All of these elements together form your training plan, and that plan needs time to work. Most programs only need to be adjusted every 10–16 weeks. This window gives your body time to adapt, grow, and respond before you introduce new variables.
When you do make changes, use your recovery as your guide. Keep the exercises you love and that feel good for your body but consider adding new movements or increasing volume for muscles you want to prioritize or feel could use more attention. Small, intentional adjustments rather than constant overhauls, are what keep progress moving forward.
Nutrition
Nutrition is a pillar of progress, and it cannot be overlooked. Eating in a caloric deficit is essential for fat loss and pairing that deficit with weight training is what makes body recomposition possible—the simultaneous reduction of body fat and increase of muscle. No matter how “clean” or “healthy” your food choices are, fat loss only occurs when you burn more calories than you consume. When that happens, your body turns to stored energy (body fat) to make up the difference.
This is where many people get stuck. They start by simply making “healthy switches”—cutting out fast food, drinking more water, cooking at home, choosing whole foods. These habits are excellent for overall health, but they don’t guarantee weight loss. Healthy foods can still be calorie‑dense, and without structure, it’s easy to eat more than you realize. That’s why relying on guessing or intuition often leads to frustration. You may feel like you’re “doing everything right,” yet the scale doesn’t move. This usually results in over‑restriction, burnout, and eventually quitting—not because you lack discipline, but because you lack accurate information.
A more sustainable approach is to use a calorie‑tracking app. Once you determine your maintenance calories, you can choose to eat at maintenance, in a surplus to build muscle, or in a deficit to lose fat. Understanding your macros—especially protein—helps you support your training and recovery.
If tracking every detail feels overwhelming, start simple:
choose mostly whole, nutrient‑dense foods,
track your protein, and
keep your overall calories within your target range.
For example, if your calorie deficit is 1800 calories and your protein target is 160 grams, focus on hitting those 160 grams first. Then fill the rest of your calories with foods you enjoy—ideally mostly clean, nutrient‑dense options—just don’t exceed the 1800‑calorie limit. This is exactly why using a tracking app is such a powerful tool: it gives you flexibility without losing accuracy.
If you want to take things a step further and optimize your recovery, training performance, and pre‑workout energy, you can also pay attention to things like carbohydrate intake, healthy fats, meal timing, and micronutrient tracking. These factors can absolutely enhance your results, especially if you’re training hard. But they are not required to see progress. Going “all out” can lead to slightly better outcomes, but for most people, it becomes overwhelming and unsustainable. The basics—calories, protein, and consistency—will carry you a very long way.
Once you know your calories, understand your macros, and learn how to track consistently, you can integrate your nutrition seamlessly with your workout routine. When both are aligned, progress becomes predictable, sustainable, and far less stressful.
(click HERE to learn how to determine your maintenance calories)
(click HERE to learn about macros, and what yours are)
Time Management
Committing to change—whether it’s improving your fitness, your nutrition, or your overall lifestyle—requires intentional effort. When you begin meal prepping, choosing healthier options, prioritizing sleep, and focusing on recovery, you’re not just adding tasks to your life; you’re building systems that make everything else easier.
One of the most valuable lessons is understanding that more is less. Setting a bedtime alarm might feel like “one more thing,” but it creates a routine that helps your next day run smoothly. You wake up energized, focused, and ready to perform at your best.
Meal prepping works the same way. Spending an hour or two preparing foods for the week may feel like an extra chore, but once the week begins, you have every meal ready to go—saving time, saving money, and keeping you aligned with your goals. Packing your gym bag the night before your session removes one more barrier between you and your workout.
Anything you can do today to make tomorrow easier is always worth it. Once you understand and apply this principle, maintaining your new gym routine becomes far more manageable. You’re not relying on motivation—you’re relying on structure, preparation, and habits that support the lifestyle you’re building.
Supplements & Hydration
When you first begin your fitness journey, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the endless supplement recommendations—especially when walking into a nutrition shop. Every product claims to deliver results, but the truth is: supplements are not the main driver of progress. What truly moves the needle is consistency—tracking your calories, hitting your protein goals, eating nutrient‑dense foods, and sticking to your workout routine.
That said, there are a few supplements that can support your goals and are worth considering. First, while getting your blood work done can help identify deficiencies, it’s not mandatory. A solid starting point is a multivitamin, along with B‑complex, calcium, vitamin D3, potassium, and magnesium. These help fill in nutritional gaps and support overall health, but you don’t need to take all of them. Choose what fits your needs and lifestyle.
One supplement that stands out is creatine—the most researched and proven supplement on the market. It helps hydrate your muscles, supports strength gains, and promotes muscle growth. It’s safe, effective, inexpensive, and worth taking daily. Just note that about 25% of people are non‑responders, meaning they may not experience noticeable effects. Also, creatine requires consistent water intake to work properly, so hydration is key.
Protein powder is another useful tool, especially if you struggle to hit your daily protein target. It’s not mandatory, but it can make reaching your goals easier and more convenient. Just remember: drinking protein shakes alone won’t get you results. Supplements are supportive, not foundational. You still need a structured program, proper nutrition, and consistency.
Pre‑workout can be helpful if you need an energy boost before training. Many formulas contain beta‑alanine, which causes a tingling sensation in the skin. Some people enjoy it, others don’t. If that’s not your thing, look for non‑stim pre‑workouts that are lower in caffeine and free of beta‑alanine.
Overall, supplements can enhance your performance and recovery, but they are not magic. You don’t need fat burners or overpriced gimmicks. Stick to your program, hit your calories and protein, stay hydrated, and let consistency do the heavy lifting. That’s where real results come from.
Summary
You should now feel fully equipped to step into the gym and begin your journey with confidence. You’ve learned how to set meaningful goals, structure your routine, understand rep ranges and sets, and build workouts that actually support your progress. You’ve also gained the fundamentals of nutrition, recovery, and consistency, everything you need to create real, lasting change.
This blog exists to cut through the noise and provide real, evidence‑based information in a world overflowing with misinformation. My mission is to help people, support their growth, and be part of their accomplishments. If you want accountability, guidance, and a coach who genuinely cares about your success, you can apply for coaching on my website and we’ll talk through your goals together.
Remember: you are capable of getting exactly where you want to be. Don’t give up. Keep showing up. The results will come. One consistent day at a time.
