A free 3-day full body workout plan for beginners: two gym workouts run A/B/A, with sets, reps, rest times, weekly progression, and dumbbell and home swaps.
A good 3-day full body plan for beginners alternates two workouts, A and B, on non-consecutive days: A, B, A one week and B, A, B the next. Each workout has 6 exercises of 3 sets, with 6 to 10 reps on compound lifts and 10 to 15 on isolation lifts, and you rest 2 to 3 minutes on the big lifts and 60 to 90 seconds on the small ones. Progress with double progression: add reps until every set hits the top of the range, then add the smallest weight jump.
Three full-body sessions a week is the plan most coaches hand a new lifter, and for good reason. Every muscle gets trained often, each session repeats the main lifts so you get practice, and missing a day costs little because the next session covers the same ground.
This guide gives you a complete 3-day plan you can start this week: the two workouts, how to schedule them, how to add weight week to week, and what to swap in if you train with dumbbells or at home. If you would rather have a week built around your own schedule, equipment, and injuries, the free workout plan generator does that in about a minute.
Yes, it is one of the best starting plans because it trains every muscle two to three times a week in three sessions. The American College of Sports Medicine's 2009 position stand recommends 2 to 3 training days a week for novices, so three full-body days sit right at the top of that range.
Research backs the idea of hitting each muscle more than once. A 2016 meta-analysis of 10 studies by Schoenfeld, Ogborn, and Krieger found that training a muscle twice a week produced more growth than once a week when volume was matched, with average effect sizes of 0.49 versus 0.30. The authors concluded that major muscles should be trained at least twice a week to maximize growth, and that whether three times beats twice was still unclear.
A later 2019 meta-analysis of 25 studies by Schoenfeld, Grgic, and Krieger found that once weekly sets are equal, frequency makes little difference on its own. That is the real case for full body at 3 days: it is the easiest way to spread enough sets across the week without long sessions. Our best workout split for beginners compares it with upper/lower and push/pull/legs.
The plan uses two workouts that you alternate on non-consecutive days, such as Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Each workout has a squat or hinge, a push, a pull, a second leg movement, and two smaller exercises.
| Week | Monday | Wednesday | Friday |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Workout A | Workout B | Workout A |
| 2 | Workout B | Workout A | Workout B |
| 3 | Workout A | Workout B | Workout A |
If your days change week to week, ignore the calendar and just run the next workout in order, leaving at least one rest day between sessions when you can. If you want to design your own version from scratch, see how to create a gym workout plan.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barbell back squat | 3 | 6 to 10 | 2 to 3 min |
| Barbell bench press | 3 | 6 to 10 | 2 to 3 min |
| Seated cable row | 3 | 6 to 10 | 2 min |
| Lying or seated leg curl | 3 | 10 to 15 | 90 sec |
| Dumbbell lateral raise | 3 | 10 to 15 | 60 to 90 sec |
| Plank | 3 | 30 to 45 sec | 60 sec |
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Romanian deadlift | 3 | 6 to 10 | 2 to 3 min |
| Incline dumbbell press | 3 | 6 to 10 | 2 min |
| Lat pulldown | 3 | 6 to 10 | 2 min |
| Leg press | 3 | 10 to 15 | 2 min |
| Dumbbell biceps curl | 3 | 10 to 15 | 60 to 90 sec |
| Cable triceps pushdown | 3 | 10 to 15 | 60 to 90 sec |
Warm up with 5 minutes of easy cardio and two or three lighter sets of the first lift before your working sets.
Averaged over two weeks, the plan gives most major muscles about 9 hard sets a week. You run each workout 1.5 times a week on average, so a muscle trained with 3 sets in A and 3 sets in B gets about 9.
| Muscle | Main exercises | Direct sets per week (average) |
|---|---|---|
| Quads | Squat, leg press | About 9 |
| Hamstrings and glutes | Romanian deadlift, leg curl, squat | About 9 plus squat work |
| Chest | Bench press, incline dumbbell press | About 9 |
| Back | Cable row, lat pulldown | About 9 |
| Shoulders | Lateral raise, plus pressing | About 4.5 direct plus pressing |
| Biceps and triceps | Curl, pushdown, plus rows and presses | About 4.5 direct each plus compounds |
That is a sensible starting dose. A 2017 meta-analysis by Schoenfeld, Ogborn, and Krieger found a graded dose-response between weekly sets and muscle growth, with each extra weekly set linked to about 0.37% more growth. Beginners grow well on less, though, and the sets you can recover from count more than the sets on paper. After 6 to 8 weeks, if you recover well, add a fourth set to the first two lifts of each day. Our guide on how many sets per week to build muscle explains how far to take it.
Use double progression: keep the same weight and add reps each session until every set reaches the top of the range, then add the smallest weight jump and work back up. It is the simplest method that keeps you progressing without guessing.
Here is how it looks for the squat with a 6 to 10 rep range:
| Session | Weight | Reps across 3 sets | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 95 lb | 8, 7, 6 | Same weight, beat a rep or two |
| 2 | 95 lb | 9, 8, 8 | Same weight |
| 3 | 95 lb | 10, 10, 9 | Same weight |
| 4 | 95 lb | 10, 10, 10 | Add weight next time |
| 5 | 100 lb | 8, 7, 7 | Build the reps back up |
A few rules keep it working:
Lower-body lifts usually move faster than upper-body ones. Our double progression explained guide covers the method in more detail.
Keep the same pattern, sets, reps, and rest, and replace each exercise with the closest version you can load. The plan works as long as each session still has a squat or hinge, a push, a pull, and a second leg movement.
| Gym exercise | Dumbbell swap | Bodyweight swap |
|---|---|---|
| Barbell back squat | Goblet squat | Split squat, then Bulgarian split squat |
| Barbell bench press | Dumbbell floor press or bench press | Push-up (elevate hands to make it easier) |
| Seated cable row | One-arm dumbbell row | Inverted row under a sturdy table |
| Leg curl | Dumbbell Romanian deadlift (lighter, slower) | Sliding hamstring curl on a towel |
| Lateral raise | Dumbbell lateral raise | Pike push-up |
| Romanian deadlift | Dumbbell Romanian deadlift | Single-leg hip hinge, then glute bridge |
| Incline dumbbell press | Incline press on a bench or floor press | Decline push-up with feet raised |
| Lat pulldown | Dumbbell pullover or chest-supported row | Pull-up or band-assisted pull-up |
| Leg press | Dumbbell walking lunge or step-up | Reverse lunge |
| Biceps curl | Dumbbell or hammer curl | Towel curl or chin-up |
| Triceps pushdown | Dumbbell overhead extension | Close-grip or bench dip |
Bodyweight exercises need higher rep ranges, roughly 6 to 12 on compound moves and 10 to 20 on isolation moves, because you cannot add plates. Progress by adding reps, slowing the lowering phase, or moving to a harder version once you hit the top of the range. The home workout plan guide and our article on building muscle at home with dumbbells go further.
With 6 exercises of 3 sets and the rest times above, plan on about 55 to 65 minutes including a short warm-up. If you have less time, trim from the bottom of each workout, because the first lifts do most of the work.
| Time available | What to do |
|---|---|
| About 60 min | The full plan, 6 exercises |
| About 45 min | Drop the plank in A and the pushdown in B (5 exercises) |
| About 30 min | Keep the first 4 exercises of each workout |
Your first week is for learning the movements and finding starting weights, not for testing yourself. Do one easy set of each exercise to check how it feels, then your 3 working sets at a weight you could lift for 2 more reps. Write down the weight, reps, and how hard the last rep felt for every set, because that log tells you what to lift next time. Our first week at the gym guide walks through what to expect.
The Alexandros workout plan generator builds a starting week from seven questions and emails it to you as a PDF. It is free, takes about a minute, and needs no account or sign-in. To see how it compares with other free tools, read our roundup of the best free workout plan generators.
You choose your goal, experience, training days, session length, equipment (gym, home gym, just dumbbells, or no equipment), and any injury, plus optional age, body weight, and gender. For 1 to 3 training days it builds a full-body week, and it picks exercises from the Alexandros app's exercise catalog for your equipment, varying the main lifts when a day type repeats. Session length sets the number of exercises: 4 for about 30 minutes, 5 for 45, 6 for 60, and 8 for 90 or more. Every exercise gets 3 sets, with rep ranges set by your goal, and new lifts carry the note to pick a weight you could do 2 more reps with.
It builds one starting week, not a full program. Progress after that comes from logging your sets and applying double progression yourself, or from the Alexandros app. Alexandros is an iPhone lifting coach in early access: you log sessions in plain English, rate the effort on every set, and it sets your next weights with double progression. You can join through the email signup on the site.
Yes. Three full-body sessions train every muscle two to three times a week and give most muscles around 9 weekly sets in this plan, which is plenty for a beginner. Research finds that training a muscle at least twice a week builds more muscle than once.
You can, but alternating two workouts is usually better. A and B let you train more exercises, spread the stress on your joints, and still practice each main lift often.
It is better not to, because the same muscles need time to recover. If you must, make the middle day lighter or run the days as A, B, A with a rest day before the next week.
Pick a weight you could lift for about 2 more reps on every set. That keeps your form clean and leaves room to add reps and weight each week.
Yes, as long as you eat in a calorie deficit. Lifting helps you keep muscle while you lose fat. Our guide on how to make a workout plan to lose weight covers how to combine it with diet and cardio.
