7-Day Gym Workout Plan To Lose Inches & Gain Muscle
If you’re looking to lose weight, get toned, and increase muscle, hitting the gym is your best bet. However, when you’re a beginner or have been away from the gym, it’s difficult to know where to begin. You need a plan. And that’s where we come in. Our 7-day gym workout plan can guide your workouts to ensure you achieve muscle growth, balance and improved fitness levels.
In this plan, we provide a workout routine for each day, as well as instructions on how to do them. You’ll also learn how each exercise targets specific body parts. Without further ado, let’s jump into the 7-day gym workout plan.
7-Day Gym Workout Plan: (Day 1) Warms Ups & Strength Training
On the first day of your 7-day gym workout plan, there are two things you need to focus on: warm-ups and strength training. You begin with the former and then move on to complete body strength training.
To make the most of your workout sessions, you must carry out these activities in the right order.
Warm-Up Exercises
As a beginner or someone who hasn’t exercised in a while, you need to start with warm-ups. Warming up helps increase blood flow to your muscles, improve flexibility and reduces the risk of injuries. Here are the steps to follow to do a proper warm-up:
- Light Cardio
Start with 5-10 minutes of low-intensity cardiovascular exercise. This could be jogging, brisk walking or cycling. These exercises raise your heart rate and increase blood flow to your muscles. - Dynamic Stretching
Carry out dynamic stretches that involve controlled movements. Focus on the major muscle groups you’ll be using during your workout. Examples include leg swings, arm circles, hip rotations and trunk twists. - Mobility Exercises
Incorporate exercises that improve joint mobility and range of motion. These can include leg and arm swings, shoulder rolls and hip circles. - Specific Movements
Gradually ease into the specific movements you’ll be doing during your gym session. For instance, if you’re planning to do squats, start with bodyweight squats. You could also begin with lighter weights to prepare your muscles and joints. - Activation Exercises
Engage in exercises that activate the muscles you’ll be targeting. This can include glute bridges, leg raises, or light resistance band work. - Practice Technique
If you’re performing complex lifts or exercises, practice the proper technique with lighter weights for a few minutes.
7-Day Gym Workout Plan: Full Body Strength Training Workout
After warming up, the next step is to do a full-body workout. Not only does this type of training help develop lean muscles, but it also revs up your metabolism. Better yet, it maximizes calorie burn throughout the day.
To perform full-body strength training, you need to engage multiple muscle groups simultaneously. You can achieve that by doing 3 sets with 10-12 reps of the following exercises:
- Pull-ups: Grip a pull-up bar with your palms facing forwards. Make sure that your hands are a little wider than your shoulders. Grip the bar so that your feet are off the ground. Engage your core, keep your shoulders down and back, and pull yourself up until your chin is above the bar. Keep yourself stable and avoid swinging. Lower yourself back down to the starting position.
- Push-ups: Start on the ground. Place your hands a little wider than shoulder-width apart. Move your legs so that they are straight out behind you with your toes touching the floor. Engage your core and bend your elbows to lower yourself close to the floor. Push yourself back up to the starting position.
- Squats: Begin with your feet shoulder-width apart and your toes pointed outwards slightly. Keep your shoulders down and back so that your chest is out. Make sure that your heels stay in contact with the ground at all times. Lower your hips back and bend your knees to bring yourself as low as you can. Keep your back in a neutral position and push yourself back up through your heels.
- Bench press: Lie back on the bench and grip the barbell with an overhand grip. Make sure that your hands are shoulder-width apart. Plant your feet firmly on the floor and bring your shoulders down and back. Lift the barbell, engage your core and lower it until it makes light contact with your chest. Push the barbell back up to the starting position.
7-Day Gym Workout Plan With Images (Day 2): Lower Body
Day 2 of your 7-day gym workout plan is for strength training your lower body. Lower body strength training targets and builds the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes and calves. It also boosts performance in sports and activities such as running, cycling and hiking.
Here is our lower-body 7-day gym workout plan with images.
7-Day Gym Workout Plan: Dumbbell Shoulder Squat
The dumbbell shoulder squat is an excellent exercise to do on the second day of your 7-day gym workout plan. It’s crucial for targeting the hips, thighs and glutes. Once you’ve mastered the proper form, make things more challenging by adding dumbbells or a barbell for increased resistance.
For a dumbbell shoulder squat, begin with light weights and gradually increase the load while maintaining form. Stand with your feet slightly wider than hip distance, resting a dumbbell on each shoulder.
Lower your hips back and down, maintaining a tall torso and an open chest. Do this until your thighs are parallel to the floor or lower. Push through your heels to return to the starting position. Aim for 7 to 10 repetitions.
Bulgarian Split Squat
The split squat focuses on each leg individually and challenges your stability. This is because it requires weight balancing on one leg. As such, the Bulgarian split squat is a great option for the 7-day gym workout plan.
To do a Bulgarian split squat:
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart a couple of feet in front of a bench.
- Elevate your left foot onto the bench behind you and hold a dumbbell or kettlebell at your chest.
- Lower your body into a one-legged lunge by bending your right knee.
- Maintain elevated shoulders over-hip position while descending to knee level.
- Push through the right heel to return to start and repeat.
- Try to perform 7-10 reps.
7-Day Gym Workout Plan: The Notorious Deadlift
Typically, a deadlift requires using a barbell. However, you can use dumbbells if necessary. It’s crucial to start by mastering the movement with proper form before adding weight.
Steps on how to properly perform a deadlift:
- Stand upright with your feet at shoulder width.
- Position a barbell at your feet, ensuring the weight plates are securely fastened.
- Hinge at the hips while slightly bending the knees. Next, grasp the bar with an overhand grip with your hands shoulder-width apart.
- Engage your hips, glutes and core as you lift the bar while straightening up.
- Reverse the process to lower the bar back to the floor and repeat, pushing for 7 to 10 reps.
7-Day Gym Workout Plan (Day 3): Upper Body and Core
A great thing about the 7-day gym workout plan is that certain body parts will catch a break. This is because, from time to time, you’ll shift focus from your lower body to the upper section. And vice versa. During the upper body workout, you’ll exercise your biceps, triceps and chest muscles.
However, before working on your upper body and core, you should complete your warm-up routine. This will ease you into the workout you are about to perform. Here are some of the exercises that can help you burn fat and build lean muscle in your upper body.
The Classic Bicep Curl
Bicep curls help to improve arm strength and definition. Here are the steps to perform this exercise:
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand (or grip a barbell with both hands).
- Keep your elbows resting at your sides, and your forearms extended out parallel to the floor.
- Bend your elbows to lift the weight toward your shoulders, then return to the starting position.
- You can perform three sets of 8 to 12 repetitions with one-minute rest intervals between sets.
7-Day Gym Workout Plan: Bench Press
The bench press is advantageous for building upper body strength. It primarily helps with defining the chest, shoulders and triceps.
Steps on how to perform the bench press:
- Lie on a bench with your feet flat on the floor.
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand or a barbell with both hands.
- With your arms perpendicular to your body and palms facing forward, extend your elbows to push the weights upward.
- Aim for 8 to 12 repetitions.
Bent-Over Dumbbell Row
This exercise is one of the major back toning workouts that also targets the biceps and forearms. It’s a versatile exercise that allows for a wider range of motion and grip variations.
Steps to perform the bent-over dumbbell row:
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand.
- Bend at your hips until your upper body is nearly parallel to the ground.
- Pull the dumbbells towards your hips while squeezing your shoulder blades together.
- Lower the dumbbells back down with control to complete one repetition.
- Complete 8 to 12 repetitions
7-Day Gym Workout Plan: Dumbbell Lateral Raise
If you’re looking to build boulder shoulders during your 7-day gym workout plan, you should try the dumbbell lateral raise.
Steps to perform the dumbbell lateral raise:
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand at your sides.
- Stand tall with a slight bend in your elbows and lift the dumbbells to your sides.
- Let the dumbbell reach your shoulder level.
- While doing this, keep your core engaged and maintain a slight bend in your elbows throughout the movement.
- Slowly lower the dumbbells back to your sides to complete one repetition.
- Try for 8-12 repetitions
7-Day Gym Workout Plan (Day 4): Active Rest and Recovery
On the 4th day of your 7-day gym workout plan, chances are that you’ll wake up feeling sore. This is because intense workouts create minuscule microtears in your muscle fibers. While this might sound concerning, it’s actually beneficial. This process leads to your muscles regrowing to become stronger than before.
Nevertheless, you don’t want those microtears to become major ones. As such, it’s a good idea to take a break on day 4 of your 7-day gym workout plan. This will allow your body to recover.
However, if you’re not overly sore or fatigued, you can engage in some form of light activities. This could be walking or stretching. These activities can alleviate any post-workout muscle tightness you may be experiencing.
7-Day Workout Plan (Day 5): Lower Body
Following your rest day, prepare to engage your leg muscles once again. This time you should focus on your glutes. Start the workout with a warm-up for your posterior. This will reduce the risk of injury. Once you have primed the necessary muscles, you can start the workout.
It is advisable to complete three sets of 10 reps for each of the lower body workouts. These include deadlifts, hip thrusts, belt squats and dumbbell lunges. These workouts target your glutes and hamstrings, giving you a toned lower body.
7-Day Gym Workout Plan (Day 6): Upper Body
On the 6th day of your 7-day gym workout plan, your emphasis should be on your back and shoulders. Similar to the previous day, it’s crucial to activate your muscles before delving into the weightlifting routine. For warm-up activities, you can do some pushups or pull-ups.
After your warm-up, you can carry out the following weighted exercises. You should perform three sets of 10 reps for each of the exercises.
- Shoulder Press
Whether seated or standing, hold a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder level. Your palms should be facing outward. Bend your elbows at a 90-degree angle. Then, push the weights upward until your arms are fully extended, and the weights touch overhead. Gradually lower the weights back to the initial position and repeat. - Reverse Fly
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and slightly bend at the waist, gripping a dumbbell in each hand. Raise both arms outward to the sides, contracting your shoulder blades together. - Dumbbell Single-Arm Row
Place one hand on a bench beneath your shoulder, arm fully extended. Rest the corresponding knee on the bench while keeping the opposite leg to the side. Your foot should be flat on the floor. Hold a dumbbell in the other hand, and pull your elbow upward until it’s parallel to the ground. Lower the dumbbell and repeat on the opposite side. - Lat Pulldown
Utilizing a cable machine, grasp the bar with palms facing away and maintain shoulder-width spacing. Ensure you’re seated on a bench or kneeling on the floor. Proceed to pull the bar down to your chest before gradually returning it to the starting position.
7-Day Gym Workout Plan PDF (Day 7): Rest/Recovery Day
Reward yourself for following through on your 7-day gym workout plan by providing your body the time to recuperate. On day 7, you can engage in gentle yoga or stretching. This can help prevent your muscles from becoming overly stiff and achy.
It’s also perfectly okay to embrace a full day of rest. This could entail leisurely reading on the sofa or catching up on your favorite Netflix shows. Even better, you can download our 7-day gym workout plan PDF to keep on hand for future workouts!
It’s important to note that both your active and relaxation days play a vital role in your workout.
Wrapping up the 7-Day Workout Routine
Sticking to the 7-day gym workout plan without skipping a day requires discipline and determination. In the beginning, it might be challenging. But with the right mindset, your workout plan will soon become a habit.
It’s important to note that frequent workout sessions are not enough to lose weight. You would have to pair your workout with the right diet. This will allow you to lose weight faster and grow lean muscle.
