If you’re looking for a straightforward, effective functional strength training program for beginners, then you’ve come to the right place. I’ve been creating programs, and coaching athletes for over a decade. Until now, I didn’t have a good beginners program. This fitness routine is designed for new athletes that want to build strength and muscle mass, using research based training methods. Keep reading for more.
Like many terms in the fitness industry, the term functional fitness is often overused and misunderstood. There is nothing magical about a functional strength training program, compared to traditional strength training. I define functional strength as an increase in your ability to produce force in ways that benefit you most in your everyday life. Functional exercises are those that best accomplish this goal.
Because we’re trying to improve your everyday activities, you’ll see that I favor simple entire body movements, both with barbells, and dumbbells. I also favor compound movements that use more muscle mass rather than less. Research confirms that working your muscles through a full range of motion are most effective for increasing muscular size, and strength for daily life. Check out a quick overview of this program below.
Program Overview
- 4 Days per week for 4 weeks
- Designed for new lifters with limited gym experience
- Completely new athletes should seek guidance from qualified coaches and trainers
- Can be done in most home gyms, and almost all commercial facilities
- 3 Rest ways per week
One of the biggest challenges, when writing a functional fitness training program for beginners, is that you don’t know where each athlete starts. As a result, I want to emphasize that you need to execute each movement with proper form, and choose a reasonable weight. Scaling the workout to your current fitness level is smart, and all good athletes do this to decrease their risk of injury.
In the next section I will provide links to the movements, which will help you execute them correctly. However, if you have no experience in the gym, I recommend finding a trainer for a few sessions. A good personal trainer / coach is a great way to save you from injuries and wasting your time with poor form and inefficient movement patterns. Don’t forget to join the email list, where I include free fitness guides.
4 Week Functional Strength Training Program for Beginners
As I mentioned above, I will include links to many of the movements in this section. You can follow them to see videos helping you through the technique. They will cover the correct starting position all the way through to the ending positions.
For any workout routine I recommend that you warm up for 3-5 minutes with easy movement like walking or cycling. You can then do some light stretching and begin lightweight warm ups on your first movement.
It’s important to note that when I list something like 3×5, I’m telling you I want you to do 3 sets of 5 reps each. You can take a 1-2 minute rest between sets. I also recommend that you perform an easy warm up set, at lighter weight, before starting your work sets. Only count your challenging work sets for this program. I will include some other tips on creating a good workout towards the end. In the next section you’ll find links to the movements.
4 Week Functional Strength Training Program Movement Reference
I highly encourage you to review these videos for the movements you will be performing each session. After all, no one is being held back by having good form. You will also find that you can gain more muscle mass, and strength by executing the technique correctly.
If you really want to check your form, you can video yourself at the gym and compare what you see to these videos. If you happen to look awesome doing it, then post it on Instagram, claiming this was only a light warm up set!
You should also read through this full article as I include tips and guidance on executing each session for each week. Those notes will help keep you on the right track. If you like this kind of program but want more detail on every workout, then checkout this functional fitness program below.
4 Week Functional Strength Training Program for Beginners: Week 1
If you’ve read any of my other programs, then you’ll recognize that I write each session to be completed top to bottom, after your warm up. Session 1 starts with the bench press and has you working up to a moderately heavy weight, leaving 2 reps in reserve.
As a newer athlete it’s important to understand that you don’t need to max out every set. A smart program increases difficulty as you acclimatize to the specifics of the fitness plan.
After the bench press you’ll move on to a few warm up sets of dumbbell rows, eventually completing 3 sets of that movement. Towards the end of Session 1 you will finish with some isolation work for the biceps and triceps.
If you’re doing this workout in a gym without cable machines you can substitute something like narrow grip push ups instead of the cable push downs. Just make sure that you are continuing to use the same substitution in the coming weeks. Now let’s get to week 2.
4 Week Functional Strength Training Program for Beginners: Week 2
I highly recommend that you take at least 2 rest days between the end of week 1 and the beginning of week 2. You’re very likely quite sore, and your muscles need time to recover. Rest assured that you won’t be this sore for the entire 4 weeks of the program. Your body naturally acclimatizes to the work load over time. That’s why the difficulty of the program has to increase.
If you take a look at Session 6 you’ll see that it’s a lower body day where you will be starting the session with box squats. This is one of my favorite exercises for newer athletes, as it allows you to develop a lot of strength, while learning good back squat form.
I normally recommend that athletes use a bench to squat to, as most gyms have them around. However, you can use a plyometric box if you have one available. The goal for these squats is to lower the load under control, touch the box with your butt, and then stand the weight up quickly.
Strength should be thought of as a skill, not just an inherent trait to develop. To maximize your progress you need to practice moving each rep as fast as you can. This teaches your body to recruit muscle fibers quickly and efficiently, to produce more force. Next we’ll talk about week 3.
4 Week Functional Strength Training Program for Beginners: Week 3
By now you’ve noticed that we are maintaining the same movements, and general schedule for each session. Because this is a 4 day split, with three rest days per week, it’s up to you how you split this up. If I were doing this, I would do two sessions back to back, take a rest day, and then finish the other two sessions. This would leave me two days to recover between weeks.
However, I also have a very demanding, and sometimes unpredictable schedule. This means I often have to move my workouts around. That is completely fine, and I expect everyone will have to do so at some point. The most important factor to gaining strength and fitness, is being consistent over weeks and months.
If we take a look at Session 11 we see that we are focusing on upper body muscle groups. We are also starting to move heavy weights. I still don’t want you working to your maximum yet. You should feel like you have something left in the tank after your heaviest sets.
If you don’t have a lat pull down machine, you can substitute with pull ups, which are one of the best functional movements. If you’re currently unable to do pull ups, then check out this article for some excellent ways to build up to getting your first pull ups. Next let’s check out the final week of the program.
4 Week Functional Strength Training Program for Beginners: Week 4
This is the most challenging week of the 4 Week Functional Strength Training Program. By now I’m sure you’ve noticed that you’ve increase your strength. In my years as a coach, I’ve found that one month of consistent work is where you really start to notice dramatic changes.
I’m sure you’ll want to keep these improvements in your muscle mass, and strength going. Don’t forget to check out the next section where I will include some great follow on programs.
If you take a look at Session 16 you’ll see banded kettlebell swings. This is one of my favorite exercise for athletic development. If you don’t have an elastic band, then you can grab one here (Amazon Affiliate Link). Resistance bands are cheap and they are a great fitness tool. Just make sure you’re using good form.
The goal for these swings is to allow you to improve your rate of force development (RFD), and overall power. Think of being strong as being able to move heavy weight slowly. Your RFD allows you to express that strength quickly. If you want to be athletic and powerful, you need exercises like banded swings. These types of compound exercises are great at developing real life fitness.
You’ll also notice I’ve included weighted squat jumps. I want to caution you here, as these can be hard on your legs and ankles. If you haven’t done much gym work, or lower body exercise like running, then it’s fine to start with max height jumps, using only body weight.
As you feel more comfortable you can add some weight. This is one exercise where less weight is more. It should be a powerful jump. If you’re barely clearing the floor, go with lighter weights!
Now let’s get to the section where you can find your next program. If you like this beginner program and want to build muscle as well as functional fitness then check out my most popular program below.
Your Next Fitness Program
If you take a look around the website you’ll notice that I have all kind of programs for many different types of athletes. Some are aimed at CrossFitters, others at Bodybuilders, and still more for hybrid athletes who want strength and cardiovascular fitness.
In this section I will recommend programs that’ll help you to continue to improve your fitness with a similar type of training. I recommend that you check out the links to the programs that seem best for your goals. Each page has all the details about the functional workout program. This will allow you to find your best fit.
- 7 Week Functional Fitness Program (Conditioning and Strength)
- The 8 Week Functional Bodybuilding Hybrid Program (Most popular training program)
- 6 Weeks of Muscular Growth for Functional Fitness (Muscle Building and Conditioning)
Final Thoughts
Before I finish this article, I want to leave you with some final thoughts on functional fitness training. I often find new athletes to be overly ambitious. They want to go to the gym, add in extra cardio, and change their whole diet. This is completely normal, but it’s a recipe for burnout.
As a new athlete you need to build habits first and foremost. The best way to do this is to prioritize your effort. I highly recommend working on being consistent in the gym first. If you want to work on your nutrition you can check out my nutrition guide, and my fat loss articles like this one, and this one.
For the duration this 4 week program, keep eating as you normally would, limiting your junk food intake. Otherwise don’t make any changes. This is more than enough to kick start your fitness transformation. Once you complete this program, start to improve your nutrition habits, during your follow on program.
If you have any weight training comments or questions put them below, in the comments section. I’ll get you answer. Now get out there and get training and don’t forget to join the email list below.
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