The Ultimate 10-Week Workout Plan: Lose Weight And Get Shredded With These Simple Exercises

Most workout plans fail because they are either too complicated or too short, which does not give the people who do them enough time to get used to the routines and see results. If you’re looking for a schedule that covers these two things, the 10-week workout plan is for you.

While it may start simple and easy, over the next 10 weeks, the workouts will increase in intensity and frequency, thereby giving you ample time to lose weight and build strength and muscle.

Why a 10-Week Workout Plan?

When it comes to exercise plans, most tend to range anywhere from 30 days/4-week plans to 6-week workout plans. While there is nothing wrong with this, a 10-week workout plan has one extra benefit that may not be available with these exercise plans.

When it comes to seeing results from your workout routine, whether at home exercising or outdoor/gym workouts, the initial changes to your body are usually seen within the first 4 to 6 weeks. Visible results become apparent after 8 to 12 weeks – sometimes even up to 16 weeks, particularly if you’re trying to lose belly fat and have a smaller waist circumference (8).

Therefore, a 10-week workout plan is the best option for anyone who is looking to lose weight or gain muscle. With a 10-week timeline, you will already have seen the initial changes and start seeing visible changes by the end of the program.

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How Often to Work Out for a 10-Week Plan for Weight Loss and Muscle Growth

Making the decision to work out already puts you at the front line for weight loss and muscle growth. However, if you’re looking to get actual results, timing also matters.

If you’re looking to lose weight, here are some points you should note:

• The World Health Organization advises that healthy adults should aim to perform 75 minutes of intense exercise or 150 minutes of moderate exercise every week (12).
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adds to this and further advises that not only should people perform moderately intense exercise sessions for 30 minutes a day, 5 days each week, they should also aim to include an extra 20 minutes of vigorously intense exercise 3 days a week (13).
• One study that was published in 2018 suggested that if people are really looking to lose fat, they should aim to double the times suggested by the CDC and WHO (10).

We suggest that for the first few weeks of the 10-week workout plan for weight loss, you follow the CDC and WHO guidelines. As a beginner, this will allow your body time to gradually build strength and get used to the strain of consistent exercise. You can then start to double the time and intensity of exercise for better and faster results.

If you’re looking to gain muscle mass and strength and are using this 10-week workout plan to get ripped, it’s difficult to say how often you should work out as many factors come into play. 

Factors that determine how big and fast your muscles grow include genetics, biological sex, hormones (specifically hormones, estrogen, insulin, and testosterone), diet, training frequency and duration, age, and how well you hydrate. (9, 1).

However, some research has found that for more strength gains, a routine that emphasizes heavier weights and lower reps per set is the best way to go (5). 

If your goal is simple muscle hypertrophy, i.e. visibly bigger muscles/muscle mass, the option of either doing fewer reps with heavier weights or more reps with lighter weights can work. Beginners to building muscle strength and mass are advised to use the ‘lower weights, higher reps’ formula as this is safer and it is less likely to cause injury (7). 

You should also split your workouts – training different muscle groups on different days – and ensure at least a 48-hour break before you train the same muscles again.

Read more: How to Turn Exercise Motivation Into Real Actions?

Beginner 10-week Workout Plan to Lose Weight

If you can’t figure out how to make a 10-week workout plan for weight loss, the following plan may help you. It covers all seven days of the week, showing you what to do and which exercises to do to help reach your goals.

This routine also covers both cardio and weight training, as a combination of these two is the best formula for weight and fat loss (4).

Remember that cardio burns a lot of calories in the moment, while weight training burns calories both during the workout and long after the workout is finished. Weight training also builds muscle, which helps boost your resting metabolism and ensures that you’re constantly burning calories whether exercising or not.

Monday: Full Body Cardio

Running/Walking/Jogging – 15 minutes

Basic Squats – 2 sets, 10 reps

Jumping Jacks – 2 sets, 30 reps

Push-Ups – 2 sets, 10 reps

Mountain Climbers – 2 sets, 45 seconds

Tuesday: Upper Body (Arms & Shoulders)

Arm Extensions – 3 sets, 10 reps

Triceps Wall Push-Ups – 2 sets, 10 reps

Plank With Shoulder Taps – 2 sets, 10 taps on each side

Lay Down Push-Ups – 2 sets, 10 reps

Side Planks – 30 seconds on each side

Triceps Dips – 2 sets, 10 reps

Lat Pullovers – 2 sets, 10 reps

Diamond Push-Ups (can be done on the floor or on the wall)  – 2 sets, 10 reps

Elbow Plank – 2 sets, 20 to 30 seconds

Wednesday 

Rest day

Thursday: Lower Body (Legs & Glutes)

Wall Sit – 30 seconds

Sumo Squats – 2 sets, 10 reps

Side Lunges – 2 sets, 10 reps on each side

Jump Squats – 2 sets, 10 reps

Deadlifts – 2 sets, 10 reps

Calf Raises – 2 sets, 30 seconds each

High Knee Toe Taps – 2 sets, 45 seconds

Friday – Core and Abs

Bicycle Crunches – 2 sets, 30 seconds each

Dead Bug – 2 sets, 30 seconds each

Oblique Dips – 1 set, 10 on each side

High Planks – 1 set, 20 to 30 seconds

Reverse Crunches – 2 sets, 10 reps

Knee To Elbow Planks – 1 set, 30 seconds

Mountain Climbers – 2 sets, 45 seconds

Flutter Kicks – 2 sets, 30 seconds

Knee To Elbow Crunches – 2 sets, 10 reps per side

Table-Top Knee Taps – 1set, 12 reps

Side Crunches – 1 set, 10 reps per side

Saturday

Rest day

Sunday

Active rest for full body recovery. You can do yoga, take a walk, go cycling or swimming for 15-45 minutes, or more

Points to note:

• This one-week workout can be done over two or even three weeks until your body becomes used to it.
• Make sure to rest for 15 to 30 seconds between each workout set
• Once your body gets used to these workouts, i.e. you no longer feel as tired or your muscles are not sore, increase the time and/or sets of the exercise in question.

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A 10-Week Workout Plan for Men and Women for Muscle Growth

If muscle growth is your main goal, this plan may be better suited for you and your goals. Remember that this is just an example and you should feel free to modify the routine to better suit your needs.

Important points to note

• Rest time between each workout is 30 seconds, but you can increase this to 90 seconds if you feel you need the extra time
• Remember not to work out the same muscles back-to-back so you can allow them to rest and recover
• Full-day rest days are important. Don’t skip them or you’ll risk overtraining.
• Increase the weights, reps and/or sets as you see fit for the full 10 weeks
• Add some cardio at the end of your routine. Bodybuilders are infamous for avoiding cardio as it can undo their strength training efforts. However, cardio is important for good health and fat loss.

You don’t need to go all out when doing cardio. A simple 10-minute jump rope or run on the treadmill is better than nothing.

Can a 10-week No-Gym Workout Plan Help You Get Ripped?

Yes, it can. An important distinction to make is that all workouts, whether with free weights, body weight, or gym equipment, can help you lose weight and gain muscle. However, if you want to get super ripped, using weights will give you better results.

Can free weights get you as ripped as using gym machines? Yes, they can and several studies have proven this:

1. In 2009, a study by the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research revealed that free-weight squats led to 43 percent more muscle activation than when using the Smith machine to do the same exercise (2).
2. A year later, another study in the same journal compared the muscle activation between a Smith machine bench press and a free-weight bench press. The results showed that the free-weight bench press led to more muscle activation , making it a better workout for upper body muscle development (3).
3. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research recently published a new study showing that free weights work exceptionally well for developing muscle mass and muscle strength. 

In this study, 46 subjects were required to train using free weights or machines for 8 weeks, with each muscle group trained 2-3x/week with 3-4 sets of 4-10 repetitions.

Researchers then measured their muscle thickness, strength, free testosterone, and free cortisol concentrations.

At the end of the 8 weeks, researchers found that while the men in the free weights group experienced increased testosterone levels compared to the machine groups, when it came to factors such as muscle strength and increased muscle mass, there was no difference in either group(6).

This shows that getting ripped on this 10-week no-gym home workout plan with free weights is a very real and achievable goal.

Read more: Motivation vs Discipline: Stop Wasting Your Time On One of Them

FAQs

• What are the best home workouts for losing weight?

The best workout for losing weight at home is one that combines both cardio and strength training. This combination works best as it helps you lose fat while also building muscle, which helps increase your metabolism.

• Can you get in shape in 10 weeks?

Yes, you can. As previously mentioned, it takes anything between 8 and 12 weeks (at most 16 weeks) to see actual and tangible results from your workout routine.

It is also important to note that starting weight also plays a huge role in how “in shape” you can get in just 10 weeks. People with less body fat will achieve their goals faster than those with more body fat. However, this shouldn’t discourage you – keep exercising and you will reach your goal.

• Can I build muscle in 10 weeks?

Yes, you can. As with weight loss, initial results can be noticed as early as 4 to 6 weeks and more visible results by around the 12th week. It’s important to remember that the more strength training you do and the lower your body fat percentage, the sooner you will be able to visibly see muscle mass gains.

If you want to see faster results, you should incorporate progressive overload into your strength training routine. This act of gradually boosting the intensity will allow your body to continue to adapt to stress and build more muscle over time.

It also ensures that your muscles are constantly being challenged and therefore, continuously breaking down and repairing themselves, which leads to more muscle mass and strength (14).

The Bottom Line

As previously stated, this 10-week workout plan is a good starting point for anyone who is willing and dedicated enough to change their body and their lifestyle. It’s important to remember that workouts alone will not lead to weight loss or muscle gain – you must make sure to eat enough (but remain in a calorie deficit) and eat healthily. Hydration is also important.