Best Workout Routines for Beginners: A Complete Guide
Starting a new exercise routine sounds simple enough until you actually try to figure out what to do.
Should you walk every day? Join a gym? Try Pilates? How long should you exercise, and how do you know whether you're doing enough?
There's no shortage of advice out there, which can make getting started feel unnecessarily complicated. One person recommends lifting weights three times a week, another swears by daily workouts, and suddenly you're wondering whether your occasional evening walk even counts as exercise.
It does, by the way.
At Dynamic Pilates, we meet plenty of people who want to become more active but aren't quite sure where to begin. Some haven't exercised regularly in years, while others have tried a few different routines and struggled to find something they enjoy enough to continue.
The best workout routines for beginners don't need to be complicated. What matters is finding a mix of movement that suits your current abilities, leaves room for recovery, and feels manageable alongside everything else going on in your life.
Here's how we'd approach getting started.
What Makes a Workout Routine Good for Beginners?
A good beginner workout routine should give you enough variety to build strength and improve fitness without leaving you exhausted after every session.
It should also fit your actual schedule. There's very little benefit in planning six workouts a week if you realistically only have time for two.
Most balanced exercise routines include a combination of:
Cardiovascular activity: Walking, cycling, swimming, or other activities that get your heart working a little harder.
Strength training: Exercises that help develop muscular strength, support your joints, and make everyday activities easier.
Mobility and balance: Movements that help you maintain comfortable movement, coordination, and stability.
Canada's 24-Hour Movement Guidelines recommend that adults work toward at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity each week, along with muscle-strengthening activities involving major muscle groups at least twice a week.
If you're starting from very little activity, that might sound like a lot. But you don't need to reach those recommendations immediately, and there's value in gradually increasing how much you move.
We'd much rather see someone begin with two manageable sessions a week and build from there than attempt an ambitious schedule that becomes difficult to maintain.
It's also worth thinking about what you actually enjoy. If you've never liked running, there's no rule saying it has to be part of your routine.
What Are the Best Workout Routines for Beginners?
There isn't one workout that works equally well for everyone. Your starting point will depend on your fitness, previous experience, interests, and what you're hoping to get out of exercising.
That said, a few approaches tend to work well when you're building a new routine.
Walking and Basic Strength Exercises
Walking is one of the easiest ways to become more active without adding much complexity to your day. You can adjust the pace, distance, and frequency depending on how you're feeling, and it doesn't require any special equipment.
Combining regular walks with a couple of short strength sessions can provide a good foundation. Exercises such as sitting down and standing up from a chair, wall push-ups, and gentle bridges introduce strength work without requiring a full gym setup.
You can begin with just a few repetitions and gradually add more as the movements become comfortable.
Pilates for Strength, Stability, and Coordination
If you'd like to work on strength while also paying more attention to how your body moves, Pilates is worth exploring.
One of the things we appreciate about Pilates is that it allows us to work on several aspects of movement within the same session. Depending on the exercises, you might be developing strength, challenging your balance, exploring mobility, or learning to coordinate different parts of your body.
For people exploring pilates for beginners, this can provide a useful introduction to structured exercise without relying on high-impact movements.
At Dynamic Pilates, we don't expect beginners to arrive knowing the exercises or having a particular level of flexibility. We start by understanding how someone moves and choose exercises and equipment that make sense for them.
Pilates can also sit comfortably alongside other activities. You might attend a session once or twice a week and continue walking, cycling, or swimming on other days.
Full-Body Strength Training
If your main goal is to develop strength, a simple full-body routine is another good option.
You don't need to train a different muscle group every day. In fact, beginners can often make a good start by choosing a handful of exercises that involve the major muscle groups.
Squats, supported lunges, pushing and pulling movements, and basic core exercises are all possibilities. The important thing is choosing variations you can perform comfortably and learning the technique before increasing resistance.
If you're unfamiliar with strength training, a qualified instructor or trainer can help you work out where to begin.
Low-Impact Cardiovascular Exercise
Not everyone enjoys running, and that's perfectly fine. Walking, cycling, swimming, and using an elliptical machine are all ways to build cardiovascular fitness.
These activities can be particularly useful when you're looking for movement that doesn't involve repeated jumping or high-impact exercise.
You can also mix things up during the week. Perhaps you cycle one day, take a longer walk another, and spend time in the pool at the weekend.
The more options you have, the easier it can be to keep moving when your schedule or energy levels change.
What Does a Beginner Workout Plan Look Like?
It's helpful to have a general plan, especially when you're trying to make exercise part of your week. But we wouldn't recommend treating any beginner workout plan as something you have to follow perfectly.
Here's an example of how you could combine Pilates, cardiovascular exercise, strength work, and recovery.
Day | Activity | Suggested Time |
Monday | Pilates session focused on strength and control | 45–55 minutes |
Tuesday | Brisk walk or comfortable bike ride | 20–30 minutes |
Wednesday | Rest or gentle mobility work | 10–20 minutes |
Thursday | Bodyweight strength exercises or another Pilates session | 20–55 minutes |
Friday | Walking, swimming, or cycling | 20–30 minutes |
Saturday | An activity you enjoy, such as hiking or dancing | Your choice |
Sunday | Rest and recovery | As needed |
This is only an example, not a schedule every beginner needs to complete. If you're new to exercising, you may prefer to begin with two structured sessions and a few short walks before adding anything else.
You can also move things around depending on your week. If Thursday is always busy, there's no reason to force a workout into that day when another time would be easier.
Something else we'd encourage is leaving enough room for recovery. Exercise challenges your body, and having time between more demanding sessions helps you adapt to that work.
If you're unsure how much activity is appropriate, particularly after an injury or a long period of inactivity, getting some individual guidance can help you choose a sensible starting point.
How Long Should a Beginner Workout Be?
You might be surprised by how much you can do in 20 or 30 minutes, especially when you're starting out.
There's no requirement to exercise for an hour every time. A shorter session where you're comfortable, focused, and moving well can be much more useful than spending twice as long doing exercises you've become too tired to control properly.
The Mayo Clinic recommends starting slowly, including time to warm up and cool down, and gradually increasing exercise as your fitness improves.
If you haven't been active for a while, even ten or fifteen minutes may be enough for your first few sessions. You can build on that as your body becomes more familiar with the activity.
We also think it's worth separating the length of a session from how effective it feels.
At Dynamic Pilates, a movement might look quite small from the outside, but there can be a lot happening in terms of control, coordination, and muscular effort. More movement, more repetitions, or a longer workout isn't automatically better.
The aim is to find an appropriate challenge for where you are today, then adjust it as you become stronger and more confident.
Is Pilates a Good Workout for Beginners?
Yes, although we'd add that how Pilates is taught makes a difference.
Pilates includes exercises that can be adapted for people with very different levels of strength, mobility, and movement experience. As the Cleveland Clinic notes, it's a low-impact form of exercise that can offer benefits for strength, flexibility, and posture.
But not every Pilates class or exercise is automatically beginner-friendly. Some routines move quickly, involve challenging positions, or assume you already understand the foundations.
That's why we place so much value on individual instruction.
Our approach to contemporary pilates considers the person doing the movement, rather than asking everyone to follow the same sequence. We look at what you're comfortable doing, how you respond to different exercises, and where additional support or a different approach might help.
For someone who's completely new to exercise, that may mean beginning with fairly simple movements. For someone who already walks regularly or has experience with other physical activities, the starting point could look different.
What About Reformer Pilates?
The Reformer can be a good introduction to Pilates, even if you've never used the equipment before.
It uses springs and a moving carriage to provide resistance or assistance, which means exercises can be adjusted in different ways. Sometimes the springs make a movement more challenging, while in other situations they offer support that helps you explore it more comfortably.
This is one reason we don't automatically suggest that everyone begin with mat exercises before progressing to equipment.
If you're considering reformer pilates vancouver sessions, it's worth choosing an environment where an instructor can help you understand how the equipment works and adapt the exercises to your experience.
Our article on what Reformer Pilates actually is offers a closer look at the equipment if you're curious before booking a session.
How Do You Stay Consistent With a New Exercise Routine?
This is usually where things get interesting.
Starting a routine is one thing. Keeping it going when work gets busy, the weather changes, or you simply don't feel particularly energetic is another.
We often encourage people to think about what they can comfortably maintain rather than what they could manage during an unusually quiet week.
If three workouts sound realistic, start there. If one Pilates session and a couple of walks are more manageable, that's a perfectly reasonable beginning too.
A few things can make the process easier:
Keep your schedule realistic: Choose days and times that generally work for you, rather than squeezing exercise into every available gap.
Make appointments in advance: Having a session booked can remove some of the daily decision-making around when you'll exercise.
Find movement you enjoy: You're far more likely to return to something you look forward to than something you consistently dread.
Exercise with someone: Sharing a walk, class, or semi private pilates class with a friend can make movement a more enjoyable part of your week.
Pay attention to everyday changes: Notice whether stairs feel easier, you're getting more comfortable with certain exercises, or you have more energy during the day.
And if you miss a week, you haven't ruined anything. You can return to your usual routine, adjust the difficulty if needed, and continue from there.
We explored this idea further in our article about moving from resolution to routine, including why a more sustainable approach often works better than trying to change everything at once.
When Should Beginners Consider Professional Guidance?
If you've never followed a structured exercise routine, it can be difficult to know which exercises are appropriate or whether you're performing them comfortably.
You might follow a video and feel as though you're copying the movements correctly, but there are plenty of small details that are easy to miss. Where you're placing your weight, whether you're holding your breath, or how you're using your spine and hips can all change the experience of an exercise.
Having someone observe you can be particularly useful early on.
At Dynamic Pilates, our private pilates sessions give us the opportunity to work with you individually. We can look at how you're moving, ask about your goals, and introduce exercises at a level that makes sense for your experience.
Not everyone comes in with the same priorities. Some people want to develop strength, others are interested in improving mobility, and some simply want to become more comfortable with regular exercise.
We also work with people who have previous injuries or physical limitations, although it's important to seek medical advice before starting a new exercise program when a health condition or injury may affect what's appropriate.
The Mayo Clinic also advises paying attention to warning signs such as pain, dizziness, nausea, or unusual breathlessness during exercise.
You don't need professional instruction for every walk or workout, but having some guidance can make the beginning feel less uncertain. It also gives you the chance to ask questions rather than trying to work everything out through trial and error.
How Do You Know When It's Time to Progress?
Once a routine starts feeling familiar, it's natural to wonder whether you should be doing more.
You might be walking farther without getting as tired, finding certain strength exercises easier, or noticing that movements which once required a lot of concentration now feel more natural.
Those are all useful signs that you're adapting to what you've been practising.
Progress doesn't always mean adding more weight or increasing the length of a workout. Sometimes it means improving your control, becoming more comfortable with a movement, or learning a slightly more challenging variation.
This is something we pay close attention to in Pilates. An exercise can become more demanding through a change in position, resistance, range of movement, or coordination without necessarily looking dramatically different.
There's also no need to make every session harder than the previous one. Some weeks you'll feel ready for a new challenge, while others may be better spent practising what you've already learned.
A routine should have room for both.
Ready to Find a Workout Routine That Works for You?
If you're new to exercise, there's no need to have your entire fitness routine figured out before you begin.
A few walks, some basic strength exercises, or a weekly Pilates session can be a good place to start. You can add more as you become comfortable and discover what you enjoy.
At Dynamic Pilates, our Fairview, Vancouver studio welcomes people with all kinds of movement backgrounds, including those who are completely new to Pilates.
We take the time to understand how you move, what you're hoping to work on, and how we can help you develop strength and confidence at a pace that suits you.
If you're exploring pilates for beginners, you can learn more about our approach, explore our private pilates class options, or book an appointment to find a comfortable place to begin.
You don't need to arrive feeling fit, flexible, or particularly coordinated. You just need to be interested in getting started, and we'll work from there.
Sources
Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology. (n.d.). Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Adults Aged 18–64 Years. https://csepguidelines.ca/adults-18-64/
Cleveland Clinic. (n.d.). Pilates 101: What It Is and Its Health Benefits. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/everything-you-want-to-know-about-pilates
Mayo Clinic Staff. (2023, August 26). Fitness program: 5 steps to get started. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/fitness/art-20048269
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