Tag: lose weight

  • 35 FREE workout plans for different fitness goals and ability levels

    35 FREE workout plans for different fitness goals and ability levels

    The humanfitproject brand has been producing fitness content for a decade which includes hundreds of free workouts for our friends and followers. This is a collection of 35+ of our best FREE workout plans for different fitness goals and ability levels.

    Do you feel like you could lose a few extra pounds? We’ve got the workouts to get your heart pounding, sweat dripping, and metabolism raging to burn off fat even more quickly. Also read: 20 tips to lose fat faster

    Do you want to put on pounds and pounds of muscle and get as big as you can? We’ve got the mass-building plans for you. Also read: 25 of the best foods to build lean muscle

    Do you want to do a little bit of both: gain some muscle and lose some fat? Yeah, we got that, and the important dietary recommendations to go along with it. Also read: 6 steps to starting a new diet

    Do you want to get superhero strong? You know, there’s a different between strength and size—we’ll show you how to win the world’s strongest man (or woman) competition. No, not really. But we’ll help you get really, really freaking strong.

    Do you want to figure out how to gain the advantage in your rec-league or pick-up games? You’ve got to train like an athlete for that. Put us in, we’ve got this.

    Do you hate working out in the gym and want outdoor options? We hear you, we’ve got plenty of fresh-air workouts here, too.

    Train smarter. Recover better.
    The Simone OS helps you adjust your workouts, check in with your nervous system, and stay consistent — even on the off days.

    Eat cleaner. Get leaner.
    The Fat Loss Meal Planner helps you build high-protein, macro-aligned meals that actually support your body — and your goals.

    The Fat Loss Meal Planner

    The Introduction/Transition workout plan

    The Introduction/Transition from Mike Beringer is one of those plans that you can start with as a beginner, but still find strategically useful as you become more advanced. The exercises are the basics and the volume (or amount of work) is low. This is ideal for a beginner (Introduction) because it isn’t complicated or too much of a shock to the system. On the other hand, it works well for the much more advanced (Transition) because it can serve as a de-load or taper. After weeks or months of intense, exhaustive exercise, a de-load or taper gives the body more time to recover while still stimulating the muscles. Big Mike Beringer did a great job programming and demo’ing.

    Goal: weight management, muscle maintenance, “tapering/de-loading”
    Ability level: beginner through advanced
    Featured: @Mikey_Fitness

    100 Days Later: The challenge that builds (and rebuilds) everything

    100 Days Later is more than just a workout plan — it’s a full-system reset for your body, mindset, and habits. The training is strategically structured to balance strength, cardio, and recovery across a long stretch of time, which helps rebuild consistency and discipline without burning you out. Whether you’re getting back into shape or looking for a smarter, more sustainable challenge, this one keeps you focused — one workout, one mindset shift, and one better decision at a time.

    Goal: full-body reset, strength, confidence, consistency
    Ability level: intermediate, returning, or rebuilding
    Featured: @mike_simone

    The 4-week Very Beginner workout plan

    The 4-week Very Beginner workout plan is exactly as it sounds. The primary focus of the plan is to slowly build your body up to be able to take on more of our challenging HFP programs in the future. To do that you’ll want to do the following: Improve or increase joint range of motion, improve the stability of those joints, strengthen your core muscles, and develop a baseline level of cardio. Following a basic structure will set you up for success.

    Goal: general strength, stability, mobility and conditioning
    Ability level: very beginner-beginner

    Redemption/24: A Journey Beyond Physical Fitness

    Redemption/24 is the 2024 version of the original Redemption (2016) program. The goal with this updated version was to maintain the original, and most important message of the program, but redesign the workouts so they’re accessible for different age groups and fitness levels. It’s a combination of traditional strength training, circuit training, cardiovascular training + a series of mental fitness exercises. The strength workouts are broken into splits throughout the week, but the full body is covered by the end. The mental fitness exercises should be performed daily.

    Goal: muscle building, fat loss, and mental fitness
    Ability level: beginner and intermediate
    Featured: @Mike_Simone

    The 6-week Unlabeled workout plan

    The Unlabeled plan was created for a couple reasons. We wanted to do something raw. Something without a production crew and all that production stuff. No worrying about lighting, or clothing, or angles. Just the raw material. It’s a mix of training, primarily focused on size and strength, but with more mobility and conditioning elements to boost athletic performance and longevity.

    Goal: blend of strength, muscle building, fat loss, and athletic enhancement
    Ability level: intermediate
    Featured: @Mike_Simone

    The 6-week Model Body workout plan

    The Model Body plan is also know as the Compound plan. It’s structure and programming revolves around the big lifts like the squat, deadlift, overhead press, and bench press. Those are then supplemented with isolation exercises. We call it the Model Body plan because we worked with Jordan Morello. Jordan is one hell of a personality. He’s got loads of energy with a great big smile that lights up the room. This is one of his go-to plans for prepping for other shoots he gets involved with.

    Goal: blend of muscle building, fat loss, and strength
    Ability level: beginner and intermediate
    Featured: @Jordan_Morello

    The 2-week Big Friggin’ Arms workout plan

    We’ll admit it, these days it might sound little silly creating a workout program around a single body part. Doesn’t everyone want a symmetrical look? Of course, but sometimes we have lagging or stubborn muscle groups. Most of the time this is genetic, but it could also be that your training has gone a little stale. This plan is specific to arms… as clearly stated in the title. Instead of hitting them once per week like a traditional split, with this plan they are hit several times with reduced volume. It’s also important to note that it’s a short-term deal, two weeks, then you change it up again. Click the link above for more on how it works.

    Goal: re-stimulate muscle growth
    Ability level: All levels, suggested for intermediates
    Featured: @Mike_Simone

    The 6-week Trim-up workout plan

    Tim McComsey has been big and ripped for what seems like forever. There’s a little bit more to it then hard work and eating right. Training blocks are strategically, and seasonally planned. In the winter, we tend to put on mass. Then, in the spring and summer we look to cut up. This plan is broken into quick tri-sets or circuits to boost the metabolism while still stimulating muscle growth.

    Goal: accelerate fat loss, muscle-building
    Ability level: intermediate
    Featured: @TimMcComsey

    The 4-week Bulk-up workout plan

    The Bulk-up plan is the counter to the Trim-up plan. In the winter we bulk and in the spring we cut. The Bulk-up has been one of Tim’s go-to plans when looking to quickly and effectively gaining muscle. While following this you can give yourself a little more slack in the diet department. It’s also one of our top-performing plans on HFP.

    Goal: increase muscle-mass, fat loss
    Ability level: intermediate
    Featured: @TimMcComsey

    The Party Week Detox workout plan v1.0

    Beers, cocktails, pizza, and wings. It doesn’t matter what your party night (or party week) cheats look like, this is the plan to get you back on track. We’re typically in “Detox Mode” around seasonal holidays like Cinco de Mayo, Memorial Day Weekend, the Fourth of July, etc. Party hard, then make a comeback in the gym. The thing is: these are programmed in a way to where you’re going to work hard enough to get the blood flowing and metabolism back in gear, but not too hard to where you’ll need to bring a mop and bucket. John Gioffre nailed it.

    Goal: weight management during party times
    Ability level: all levels
    Featured: @the.life.of.pablo__

    The Party Week Detox workout plan v2.0

    More beers, more cocktails, more pizza, and more wings. Detox came back with another version, but with an even more elaborate plan. The first part of each workout is Regeneration (rebuild muscle), the second part is Reignition (get the metabolism firing again), and the third part is Relaxation (calm nerves and balance the mood). While this does involve two workouts per day, it can be condensed or consolidated into one session.

    Oh, and you might want to learn how to prepare our delicious ab-friendly low-carb tacos if that’s the kind of thing you party with too. Let us know what you think of our leaner version.

    Goal: weight management
    Ability level: all levels
    Featured: @Mike_Simone

    The Holiday Schedule workout plan

    The winter holiday season is stressful and time-consuming. John Gioffre has all of us covered with a plan that keeps things short in the gym and has options for at-home stuff too. You’ll throw around the weights a couple days per week for muscle-building, then do some bodyweight circuits to rack up the calorie burn. If you’re the type to go hard at the dinner table during the holidays, you’ll like having this as a go-to.

    Goal: weight management during busy holiday season
    Ability level: all levels
    Featured: @the.life.of.pablo__

    The 13.1 runner’s workout plan

    Cody Harter is one of those guys that can run really far, really fast, and enjoys doing it. (Something definitely wrong with them folks). Cody worked with us as he prepared for a half-marathon in his local area. He documented his strength+endurance training combination as he built up to the big day. There’s a lot of solid information for anyone looking to step up from those casual runs, 5Ks, and 10Ks. We’ve just had a new DM exchange with Cody in recent weeks. Be on a lookout for more performance running content. Let us know if there’s anything specific you’d like to see.

    Goal: improve distance running ability
    Ability level: intermediate
    Featured: @HarterStrength

    The Contender’s athletic conditioning workout plan

    Keita Minakovichsky is a no-BS trainer originally from FOCUS Personal Training Institute. He takes his programming and exercise very seriously. This plan isn’t for the beach muscle, it’s for the performance muscles. Stuff that actually makes a difference when it comes to game time. If you’re looking for new challenging moves that will strength muscles you didn’t even know you had, then this is it.

    You might also like Keita’s contributions to our Saturday Sweat workout series. They are a series of five strength+cardio workouts for getting a quick burn.

    Goal: athletic performance, conditioning, and strength
    Ability level: beginner through advanced
    Featured: @minakovichsky

    The bodyweight collection (10)

    Sometimes we all need a break from the weight room. Maybe it’s a couple days, or even a couple weeks, especially when the weather is great. There’s so much you can do on the trails or even in the urban jungle. Go enjoy the smells of fresh air instead of the smells of sticky benches, yoga mats, and toxic cleaning products. (Although, the streets of New York can produce a rather complex and nauseating blend of smells including garbage, farts, BO, pee, poo, fishheads, and hints of marijuana mixing in there. But you get our point. And we won’t name names.)

    Goal: general conditioning, outdoor-only workout solution
    Ability level: beginner, beginner-intermediate
    Featured: @Mike_Simone

    The 3-day Pull, Push & Squat Split workout plan

    These days it seems to be all about full body workouts, but that’s not necessarily the end-all-be-all. There are so many different ways to train, and so many different ways to “be balanced” without hitting every muscle group in every single workout. Split routines are very popular alternative. Burnt out from HIIT? Strength hit a plateau? Give this one a go.

    Goal: strength-building
    Ability level: intermediate

    The Just One workout plan

    The Just One workout plan was designed specifically to make you think less. It’s one full body workout that you can do 3-4 days per week with a day of rest or cardio in between. But what about variety? That’s important, yes, but this is a short-term plan, and the one workout is covering all of your bases. Exercises, sets, reps, rounds, etc., can all be changed in 2 or 3 weeks. Consider this one of your go-to plans for a week-long vacation.

    Goal: strength-building and conditioning
    Ability level: beginner – intermediate

    The 2-dumbbell workout plan(s)

    Ever get the feeling you live on airplanes or in hotels? Or maybe you’re just not into the whole gym scene. We get it. So all you need to do is get two dumbbells. We’ve got two plans you can follow. There’s a four day plan which is an upper/lower body alternating split routine, and a three day plan which is a series of full body workouts. Both are great for all abilities.

    Goal: weight management, general strength and conditioning, at-home solution
    Ability level: scaleable for beginners through advanced
    Featured: @Mike_Simone

    Built for the Beach version 2.0

    Aesthetics. More muscle, less fat. Everywhere on your body. There isn’t much more to be said about it. The exercises are relatively basic and the splits are straight-forward, but the workouts can run a little long. Couple this with a finely-tuned diet and you’re good to go.

    Goal: muscle-building and fat loss
    Ability level: intermediate (scaleable for beginner)
    Featured: @Mike_Simone

    Built for the Beach version 3.0

    This is a follow-up to the successful B4B franchise, but with another layer added in. The performance factor. If you still want that impression physique, but need some lungs and stamina to back it up, the finisher portion of each of these routines will deliver.

    Goal: muscle-building, fat loss, and athletic conditioning
    Ability level: intermediate (scaleable for beginner)
    Featured: @Mike_Simone

    The 6-week Care-Free Summer workout plan

    The purpose of the care-free summer workout plan is to get fit or stay fit without having to think (or stress) so hard about what to do.

    The rules of the care-free summer workout plan are simple, there’s only one: Commit to doing your best. Do whatever it is you can, where ever you can, any way you can.

    Try to get in the gym two to three days per week to lift weights. Get two cardio sessions in a week: one interval day and one longer day. Casually stretch throughout the day, and most definitely at night.

    Goal: general strength, conditioning, and/or maintenance
    Ability level: all levels

    The 4-week indoor/outdoor Intermix workout plan

    Bryan Olson is a young up-comer in the world of fitness and health. He’s not only putting in the work in the gym, but also behind the books. The Intermix plan is for finding balance. There’s more to life than the weight room. It’s part gym-workouts, part outdoors-workouts, and is another nice way to link up strength and endurance training while building a great well-rounded body at the same time.

    Goal: muscle-building, fat loss, general conditioning, less-time solution
    Ability level: intermediate
    Featured: @thebryandavidolson

    The 3-week Super-3 strength workout plan

    Wratt Krueger identifies “holes” or weaknesses and eliminates them. While the Super-3 plan is built around the main strength-building exercises: the squat, press, and deadlift, there’s another critical piece. That piece involves the supplemental exercises, more specifically, the overhead stabilization work that we all tend to neglect. If this has caught your attention, click the title above to see how this all works.

    And we have even more with Wyatt. He pulled together a series of 10 CrossFit-inspired workout challenges to test your fitness. Challenge a friend: Loser has to buy a tub of pre-workout for the winner.

    Goal: increase strength
    Ability level: intermediate-advanced
    Featured: @WyattKrueger

    The 4-week Pre-cut workout plan

    If you’ve followed the Winter Bulk-up and the Spring Trim-up, you know why they were programmed the way they were. But sometimes there’s another move between the two. A “pre-cut”. The purpose of the Pre-Cut plan is to focus primarily on strength before blasting the body with high-intensity exercise for fat loss. That type of training can be extremely taxing and even detrimental if overdone. It might be a good idea to go into those cutting, trimming, and shredding plans with a bit more strength first.

    Goal: strength-building
    Ability level: intermediate
    Featured: @TimMcComsey

    The 8-week Recession workout plan

    High performers, have a tendency to push harder and harder each and every week. You start cheating on your reps, throwing around more weight than you should, pushing through HIIT sessions well past your pain threshold. While that might work for a while, with time, things come crashing down. First, you’ll hit a peak, then a plateau, then your performance numbers will start to slide. Worst case scenario: you’ll go out of business all together. The 8-week Recession workout plan is designed to have a series of peak weeks followed by pull-back or recession weeks.

    Goal: strength-building / conditioning
    Ability level: intermediate

    The 3-day training partners strength workout plan

    Ryan and Eric Johnson aka the Sons of Strength are an industry dynamic duo. They’ve got the body transformation know-how, fight/tactical training, plus the experience in physical therapy and injury prevention. If you have a training partner, the both of you need to get on the same page with this one. There are a lot of fun ways to challenge one another in each workout.

    Goal: strength-building
    Ability level: beginner through advanced
    Featured: @SonsOfStrength (Ryan and Eric Johnson)

    The 3-day Monster power & strength workout plan

    Brandon Cruz is a Monster and that’s why this is the Monster plan. He played football, had reconstructive surgery on both of his knees, and he still came back even bigger, stronger, and more powerful. If more size, strength, and power sounds good to you, then this one’s worth it. What’s more: it’s only three days per week of training. Hey, some respond better to lower frequency. Why not try it for yourself?

    Goal: power and strength
    Ability level: intermediate
    Featured: @BrandonDaCruz_

    The Timeless Bodybuilding workout plan

    Tim McComsey strikes again. This time it’s bodybuilding, bodybuilding, bodybuilding. Influenced by some of the industry’s early leaders and pioneers, Tim crafted something together from their toolbox of techniques. You’ll appreciate this is you’ve always admired Arnold & friends.

    Goal: muscle building and fat loss
    Ability level: intermediate and advanced
    Featured: @TimMcComsey

    The Push/Pump/Stretch Bodybuilder’s workout plan

    The name screams bodybuilding all day. Well, it is. Trainer Dale Parducci made quite an impressive body transformation himself and he did it the way the old school guys did. There really is something to be said about the basic lifts. If you liked the Timeless plan, you’ll like this one too. And vice versa.

    Goal: muscle building and fat loss
    Ability level: all levels
    Featured: @DParducci

    The high-intensity 10×10 workout plan

    The 10x10s are hot. Hands down one of our most popular workout franchises. They are very straight-forward. It’s a series of exercises done for 10 sets of 10 reps as quickly as possible. They are aggressive and get the metabolism firing.

    Goal: fat loss and muscular endurance
    Ability level: intermediate to advanced (scaleable for beginners)
    Featured: @Mike_Simone

    The high-intensity split 10×10 workout plan

    The original 10x10s are one of our most popular pre-summer and summer workouts, hands down. The split 10x10s are very similar, but instead of 10 sets of 10 of 1 group of exercises, it’s 5 sets of 10 of 2 groups of exercises.

    Goal: fat loss and muscular endurance
    Ability level: intermediate to advanced (scaleable for beginners)
    Featured: @Mike_Simone

    The 4-week Quick-Switch workout plan

    Joe Rodonis likes to maintain his lean muscular physique by switching back and forth between a mass building plan and a cutting plan. Hence, the Quick-Switch name. You follow one part for two weeks, then switch. What’s great about this is, you’re following a plan that provides change and variety, while it also remains relatively similar so you’re giving it enough time to work. You might also want to check out some of Joe’s solid HIIT routines as a part of our Hurricane workout series for fat loss.

    Goal: muscle building and fat loss
    Ability level: beginner and intermediate
    Featured: @JoeRodonis

    The 6-week Redemption workout plan

    The Redemption plan is more of an emotionally charged plan than most. You’ll probably need to watch and listen to the trailer to get a better understanding. Following the Redemption plan is the commitment you make to yourself not to miss or blow opportunities. It’s your classic bodybuilding-influenced split and is suitable for beginners through advanced abilities. If you want a plan that means something more than just working out, this is it. Make your change. Make your comeback. We’re rooting for you.

    Goal: muscle building and fat loss
    Ability level: beginner and intermediate
    Featured: @Mike_Simone

    The 4-week Reconstruction workout plan

    The Reconstruction plan is one of our New Year’s Resolution Reset plans. The plan is centered around eccentric exercises to strengthen the mind-muscle connection and stimulate fresh muscle growth. If you’ve been doing a lot of HIIT or circuit training, this is a smart options to get back into muscle-building. And if you’ve taken some time away from the gym, this is a good way to get back on the workout wagon.

    Goal: general strength, muscle building, and fat loss
    Ability level: intermediate
    Featured: @Mike_Simone

    The First-responders workout plan

    Mike Counihan is a New York City police officer. He’s big, and he’s intimidating. But don’t let his size or intense focus fool you, he’s a super-friendly guy that loves hardcore training. While he primary trains for size and strength, he’s created a plan with some additional elements of endurance and athleticism. If you want a plan to get you big and strong, but with some curve balls thrown in there, this is it.

    Goal: strength, muscle building, and general conditioning
    Ability level: intermediate to advanced
    Featured: @nodonutshere

    The 5 Power Hour mini-workout plans

    Peter Miller is a type-1 diabetic, and he still has forged an incredible physique over the years. Peter is a graduate of FOCUS Personal Training Institute and was selected to contribute a series of “mini-programs”. Basically these are five short plans where you repeat 1 or 2 workout blueprints throughout the week. If you’re tired of doing a million different exercises and want to simplify things, then this is for you.

    Goal: strength, muscle building, and fat loss
    Ability level: intermediate
    Featured: @type1body_44

    The Science Guy workout plan

    Ian Canrobert is big on science-backed research when it comes to following or prescribing a workout plan. This particular plan is long-term, goes through stages or phases, and has a variety of different techniques. If you’re looking for a simple, cookie-cutter plan, this is NOT the one for you. But if you’re looking to try a lot of different things in one plan, you’ve come to the right place.

    Goal: strength and muscle building
    Ability level: intermediate to advanced
    Featured: @IanCanrobert

    The 6-Week Return to Intuition workout plan

    All of us can get to a place of being able to train intuitively, but it’s something that takes many years to achieve. If you’ve gotten your fitness to an intermediate to advanced level and are looking to simply maintain a well-rounded base of fitness, this is the program for you. The elements of this program include: running, lifting, rowing, swimming, stretching, and breathing.

    Goal: blend of strength training, endurance training, breathing, and mobility training
    Ability level: intermediate to advanced
    Featured: @Mike_Simone

    The 30-Days to Spartan Beast workout plan

    The Spartan Beast, a 21K race with 30+ obstacles is one of Spartan Races’ most challenging races, only second to the Ultra (50K and 60+ obstacles) and the Death Race (unspeakable difficulty). In order to train for the Beast, you need a combination of two things: a lot of running endurance and a lot upper body / grip strength. And if you’re planning to run a mountainous course, you need running endurance on hills. This is the workout plan that will get you through it like a boss.

    Goal: blend of strength training, endurance training, and obstacle course race training
    Ability level: intermediate to advanced
    Featured: @Mike_Simone

    The 7-Day Holistic Fitness Plan for Entrepreneurs and Executives

    Entrepreneurs and executives need a holistic fitness plan as much as anyone. A tight schedule is no excuse. The effects of long hours and stress are too great to not counteract with exercise and self-care strategies. This holistic fitness plan for entrepreneurs and executives will sharpen the mind and strengthen the body. It’s for all the high-performers out there that want the same success with their fitness and health as they want for their businesses. We have the vision and strategy. You bring the discipline and grit that it takes to handle your business and apply it to your fitness and health.

    Goal: build muscle and strength, manage your weight, improve mobility, reduce stress
    Ability level: intermediate
    Featured: @Mike_Simone

    The Over-40 Workout Plan to Build Lean Muscle

    Mike Simone Over-40 Muscle

    Reality is: As we get older our strength, power, and endurance declines, we ache a little more, and take a little longer to recover. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t things we can’t do to slow down the decline. In fact, there’s a lot we can do. And, there’s a lot of incredible body transformations that can happen. Sticking to a workout plan like this over-40 workout plan is a perfect place the start.

    Goal: blend of training to build muscle, strength, endurance, heart health, and injury resilience
    Ability level: beginner, intermediate, or advanced

    The 4-Week Pull-Up Workout Plan

    Mike Simone Blue Shirt Pull-Up

    Pull-ups are tough, but they’re one of the most important functional strength exercises there are. If you need to pull yourself up out of danger, being able to do pull-ups are going to make the task a whole lot easier. If you’re struggling to do your first pull-up, our 4-week pull-up workout plan will get you banging them out in no time.

    Goal: functional strength training with focus on increasing the ability to do pull-ups
    Ability level: beginner to intermediate

    The 6-Week ChatGPT Workout Plan to Get Strong and Lean

    With all the buzz around OpenAI, ChatGPT, and GPT-4, I thought it would be fun to create an AI-designed workout, just to see what happened, and it actually turned out to be a decent workout. Was it personalized? No, but it was pretty standard and it got the job done. (Check out the post I did here.)

    Since then, I decided to push things even further by creating an entire editorial series with ChatGPT as my subject, no different than when I would interview other coaches or athletes. This was the complete workout it generated for me.

    Goal: Build lean muscle
    Ability level: beginner to intermediate

  • FAQ: I like to think I eat healthy, but why can’t I lose weight?

    FAQ: I like to think I eat healthy, but why can’t I lose weight?

    Weight loss comes with being in a calorie deficit, or eating less than your body needs to operate. Fat loss comes with how those calories are broken into specific macronutrients (protein, carbs, fats). You can 100% be eating healthy, but still gain weight, in fact, you can even get fat “eating healthy”.  

    First thing to do is log all of the food you’re eating, and be very specific with how much of it you’re eating. Then, calculate your total calories and the macronutrient breakdown. That’s your starting point. Then, use a tool like freedieting.com to calculate how many calories your body needs based off your age, height, weight, and activity level. (This is an ESTIMATE, everyone is slightly different) From there, you can explore different types of macronutrient ratios to see which works for you. If you’re going for weight loss and for fat loss, as mentioned above, you’ll want to be in a caloric deficit and have the right macronutrient breakdown. A good starting point would be 50/30/20 of protein: carbs: fat. There are other options, but that one in particular seems to work well (and is most balanced) for building muscle and losing fat.  However, there are some exceptions because, as previously mentioned, everyone is different.

    Very important note: There are a lot of experts and resources that will bash the idea of counting calories or counting macros, but the truth is, in my personal experience, if you have no idea what you’re doing and you’re struggling to see results, then you need to find your starting point. Once you find that starting point and get a better understanding of what you’re eating, how much you’re eating, and how your body responds, then you don’t have to worry about counting anything, but until then, you cannot have the expectation that you can “listen to your body”, eat whatever you want, and see great results without understanding how things work first.

    Read this post on intuitive eating for lean muscle + the six steps to starting your own diet.

    Related FAQs
    Is cardio the best way to lose weight? 
    How often can I have a cheat meal?
    How long does it take to see results from a workout plan?

    For personalized help with your nutrition and training, check out DigitalFitnessAdvisor.com

     

  • The 12-Week Accelerated Starter’s Plan

    The 12-Week Accelerated Starter’s Plan

    Due to the high demand for a program more squarely focused on beginners, we’ve decided to create The 12-Week Accelerated Starter’s Plan.

    The 12-Week Accelerated Starter’s Plan was designed to help you progressively build lean muscle while improving strength and endurance. The workouts include basic (but effective) exercises with a conservative amount of volume to start you out slow and steady. Then, things will increase in difficulty as you progress. 

    To start, you’ll begin with the Foundation workout plan for 8 weeks. During the first 4 weeks you’ll quickly notice an increase in strength—that’s your neuromuscular system adapting to the challenges. The 4 weeks following that will be where you aggressively work to double-down on those gains by adding weight and pushing to your failure points. At the 8 week point you’ll follow a brief “recession” or “de-load” to prevent plateauing or burn out. This recession will give you more time to recover, but will still stimulate your muscles for growth. The final two weeks are an introduction to circuit training—this is where you’ll put the fat loss into overdrive. Upon completion of your 12 weeks you can cycle through again or move onto another program like The Size, Strength, and Shred Cycle.

    The 12-Week Accelerated Starter’s Plan is a streamlined PDF that you can download or print out. No more waiting for web pages to load!
    • Purchasers of The 12-Week Accelerated Starter’s Plan get access to our exclusive Premium Members group on Facebook where you can ask questions, post before and after photos, or simply interact with other folks on the plan too.
    • If you decide to track your progress, save your photos and send us a message at the end of a change to be interviewed and featured here on humanfitproject.com

    The 12-Week Accelerated Starter’s Plan is available for $18.99. Web-based versions of our individual programs will remain free here.

    If you’re looking for tips on nutrition or diet, check out the following free resources here on HFP:

    What are you waiting for? Download the 12-Week Accelerated Starter’s Plan now!

  • This 5-day bodybuilding split is a timeless classic

    This 5-day bodybuilding split is a timeless classic

    Working out has gotten so complex. So many classes, so many new pieces of equipment, supplements—even the clothing. Options are great, but sometimes you just need someone to give it to you straight. If your number one goal is to build muscle and burn fat to look and feel better—at the end of the day—you’re bodybuilding. Like I said, there’s many different ways to get there but this is a surefire, straight-forward way of getting it done—and very effectively.

    More into athleticism than aesthetics? Try our 3-day Contender’s Plan for high-performance athletes

    The Workout Plan

    DAY 1 – Chest & Back 1


    1. Barbell Chest Press 4 x 8 rest 90 sec
    2. Cable Pulldowns 4 x max rest 90 sec
    3. Barbell Incline Press 4 x 10 rest 60 sec
    4. Barbell Bent Over Row 4 x 10 rest 60 sec
    5. Push Ups 3 x 10 rest 45 sec
    6. V-Bar Cable Row 3 x 10 rest 45 sec
    7. Hip Thrust 3 x max rest 60 sec

    DAY 2 – Legs 1


    1. Barbell Squat 4 x 8 rest 90 sec
    2. Plie Squat 4 x 10 rest 60 sec
    3. Barbell Romanian Deadlift 4 x 8 rest 90 sec
    4. Dumbbell Lying Hamstring Curl 3 x 10 rest 60 sec
    5. Barbell Bridge Off Bench 3 x 10 rest 45 sec
    6. Standing Calf Raise 4 x 8 rest 45 sec
    7. Rope Cable Crunch 3 x 12 rest 60 sec

    DAY 3 – Shoulders & Arms


    1. Standing Military Press 4 x 8 rest 90 sec
    2. Standing Dumbbell Lateral Raises 4 x 10 rest 60 sec
    3. Standing Dumbbell Arnold Shoulder Press 3 x 10 rest 60 sec
    4. Standing Barbell Bicep Curl 4 x 10 rest 60 sec
    5. Barbell Bench Tricep Skull Crushers 4 x 10 rest 60 sec
    6. Seated Dumbbell Hammer Curl 3 x 10 rest 45 sec
    7. Bench Dips 3 x 10 rest 45 sec
    8. Plank 3 x 60 sec rest 30 sec

    DAY 4 – OFF

    DAY 5 – Chest & Back 2


    1. Dumbbell Incline Chest Press 4 x 10 rest 60 sec
    2. Dumbbell Flat Chest Press 3 x 12 rest 60 sec
    3. Dumbbell Incline Chest Fly 3 x 12 rest 60 sec
    4. Chin Ups 4 x 10 rest 60 sec
    5. Incline Bench Dumbbell Row 3 x 12 rest 60 sec
    6. Single Arm Dumbbell Row 3 x 12 rest 45 sec
    7. Weighted Bench Hip Thrusts 3 x 12 rest 60 sec

    DAY 6 – Legs & Abs 2


    1. Barbell Walking Lunges 3 x 12 per leg rest 60 sec
    2. Narrow Barbell Squats 3 x 12 rest 60 sec
    3. Dumbbell Reverse Lunges 3 x 12 rest 60 sec
    4. Single-leg Standing Calf Raise 3 x 15 rest 45 sec
    5. Barbell Shrugs 4 x 8 rest 60 sec
    6. Dumbbell Seated Shrugs 4 x 10 rest 45 sec
    7. Weighted Crunch 3 x 12 rest 45 sec

    DAY 7 – OFF

    *This program was originally produced by HUMANFITPROJECT for Men’s Fitness magazine.