Walking onto a strength floor with no plan is why most people never come back to one. This is a plan. It fits in forty minutes and it uses machines and dumbbells that are genuinely here.
The rules for three weeks
- Two sets of everything. Not four. You are learning movements, not chasing a number.
- Stop two reps short. If you could do ten, do eight.
- Same weight until it is easy for both sets. Then go up one notch.
- Three days a week, never two in a row.
Day A — push
- Chest press machine — 2 × 10
- Shoulder press machine — 2 × 10
- Dumbbell bench press — 2 × 10
- Triceps pushdown — 2 × 12
- Leg press — 2 × 12
- Plank — 2 × 30 seconds
Day B — pull
- Lat pulldown — 2 × 10
- Seated row — 2 × 10
- Dumbbell row, one arm at a time — 2 × 10 each
- Dumbbell curl — 2 × 12
- Leg curl — 2 × 12
- Dead bug — 2 × 8 each side
Day C — legs and carrying things
- Goblet squat with a dumbbell — 2 × 10
- Leg press — 2 × 12
- Dumbbell Romanian deadlift — 2 × 10
- Step-up onto a bench — 2 × 8 each leg
- Farmer's carry, one length of the floor and back — 2 rounds
- Calf raise — 2 × 15
What is here to do it on
The strength floor runs new Matrix and Nautilus machines, a full dumbbell rack light to heavy, benches, a freeweight room with an Olympic platform, a cross-training rig, TRX and stretching stations. Nothing above needs anything the building does not have.
If you would rather not decide any of this yourself, that is what personal training is for — and the strength floor is a separate room if the main floor feels like a lot in week one.
Week four
Add a third set to the first two movements of each day. That is the whole progression. Do not redesign it.
Written by people who work in a gym, not by doctors. Nothing here is medical advice — if you are pregnant, injured, or managing a condition, talk to your doctor or your physical therapist before you change what you are doing. Our instructors will happily modify any of it for you; ask before class.