Get into the habit of a daily workout with this 30 day workout plan. There are 4 different workouts – upper body, legs, core and running. You do a different one each day for 4 days and then rest on the fifth day. The workout instructions and schedule are here in the post and you can also get a printable PDF of the schedule by entering your e-mail address at the end of the post.
30 day workout plan – what you need
Legs and abs workout: you need to do some of these exercises on a cushioned surface, ideally an exercises mat. See an exercise mat buying guide here. Also, for the leg workout you should either be barefoot or be wearing something non-slip if you’re working on a hard floor.
Upper body: for best results you need a set of hand weights for the upper body routine (2-4lbs). See a hand weight buying guide here.
Running: you should wear running shoes to absorb some of the impact.
General exercise info.
Please read these general exercise guidelines before you start the workout.
30 day workout plan schedules
This is the main schedule showing you which workout to do on each day:
These are the speed intervals for the run days. Running stamina takes time to build up. This schedule assumes you’re not a regular runner, so has a 3 minute fast walk recovery in the middle. Warming up and cooling down are especially important for running, because it’s a high impact exercise and raises the heart rate significantly. So make sure you don’t skip the warm up and cool down walks (normal walking pace).
And these are the exercises for the upper body, abs and legs days. Do 3 sets each of the routines – that is, do all the reps for each exercise then start again and do the routine twice more. Exercise instructions, including a warm up for your upper body and legs, are below.
Warm up for upper body
Warm up for legs
Upper body exercises
Abs exercises
Leg exercises
Related to 30 day workout plan
Challenge FAQs
The first day of the challenge should feel like it needs a bit of effort, but not too much. If you really struggle with day 1, then you probably won’t get through the challenge. The idea with the challenges on this site is that the first few days get you used to the exercises and the daily habit. Usually about halfway through the challenge the effort levels start to increase more quickly.
Avoid challenges that increase effort levels very quickly – they’re simply not realistic. It’s unlikely that, for example, you would be able to increase how many squats you are able to do by 10 a day for 30 days, or increase your plank hold time by 10 seconds a day for 30 days.
In general, allowing muscles 48 hours between workouts is good because it gives our bodies time to recover and adapt. Challenges are generally short workouts and for a limited period of time (usually 30 days), so not having many rest days won’t be a problem. With challenges that alternate exercises each day, it’s not an issue, because you’re using different muscles.
Fitness improvements don’t always happen in a predictable way. Sometimes we’re just not as strong or energetic for no apparent reason, or we hit a plateau. If you get to a point where you’re struggling to complete the day’s challenge, you can try one of the following:
- Take a couple of days off and start again where you left off
- Do the challenge on alternate days rather than every day
- Instead of increasing the effort every day, stay at the same level for 2 or 3 days and then go onto the next day of the challenge
Obviously these solutions mean the challenge will last longer, but you’ll still benefit from doing it.