6-week workout plan: strength and fitness, with tests in week 1 and week 6

Choosing your starting weightEmerging evidence

Warm up, then pick a weight you think you could lift about 10 to 12 times at most. Do the bottom of the rep range (for 8 to 12, do 8) and ask: how many more could I have done with good form? Two or three more: that is your weight. Five or more: go up one step next set. None or one: go down one step.

For bodyweight moves, choose the version (the easier or harder option on each move's page) where you reach the bottom of the rep range with 2 or 3 reps to spare.

In the first two weeks, stop each set with 3 or 4 reps to spare. Most people misjudge how many reps they have left by about one, and you are still learning the movements.

Sources 1, 2, 3

Progressing week to week: double progressionEmerging evidence

Each exercise has a rep range, such as 8 to 12. Keep the weight the same and add reps, set by set and session by session, while still stopping 1 to 3 reps short of failure.

When every set reaches the top of the range, add the smallest weight step you have (roughly 2 to 10%, smaller jumps for the upper body and small muscles) and go back to the bottom of the range. Adding reps and adding weight both work; this rule uses both.

With body weight, add reps, then slow the lowering, then move to the harder option. If a lift stalls for 2 or 3 sessions, hold the weight, check your sleep and food, and consider a lighter week.

Sources 4, 3, 1

How hard each set should feelStrong evidence

You do not need to train to failure. Stopping 2 or 3 reps short, often written as 2 to 3 reps in reserve (RIR), gives similar results for most people.

Weeks 1 and 2 stop every set with 3 or 4 reps to spare. Then the big lifts, push-ups and the circuit stations stop 2 to 3 reps short, and leg curls 1 to 2 short, as workout B's notes say.

Sources 1, 5

Rest between setsEmerging evidence

Heavy compound lifts in sets of 5 to 8 (squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, chin-up): 2 to 3 minutes. Other compound lifts in sets of 8 to 12: about 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Isolation moves such as raises, curls, extensions and calf raises: 60 to 90 seconds.

For muscle growth, resting more than about a minute gives a small advantage, with no clear extra gain past about 90 seconds. For strength the evidence on rest is mixed: 1 to 2 minutes is enough for beginners, and trained lifters may do better with longer rests on heavy lifts.

Short on time? Pair two moves that do not compete, such as a press with a row or a leg move with a core move, and rest after the pair. Supersets like this cut session time by about a third to a half while keeping the sets.

Sources 6, 7, 1, 8, 9

Lighter weeks (deloads)Mixed evidence

Not compulsory, especially for beginners. Take one after the 6 weeks (week 6 is already lighter before the retest), or sooner if your performance drops for two sessions in a row and you feel run down or achy: same days, same exercises, about half the sets, and weights that feel easy (4 or more reps in reserve). Then restart at your previous weights.

Deloads are common practice: in a survey of competitive strength and physique athletes they lasted about a week, roughly every 5 to 6 weeks. Direct evidence is thin: three small trials. In trained adults, a full week off mid-programme did not change muscle growth but slightly reduced strength gains. In one small trial in 19 untrained men, with no control group, two lighter weeks neither held back nor added to gains; the second came just before testing, so it also worked as a taper. After very high-volume training, a lighter week and a week off gave similar results in 30 trained men. So a lighter week looks better than a week off if strength matters.

Sources 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

Warm-up and cool-downEmerging evidence

Warm up with 3 to 5 minutes of easy movement, the moves listed at the start of each session, then 1 or 2 lighter sets of the first lift. A short warm-up specific to the exercise is enough.

The cool-down is optional. Its stretches are there for comfort and flexibility; they do not add strength or muscle.

Source 8

Missed days, soreness and when to stop

Missed a session? Do the next one in the order rather than doubling up. Muscle soreness for a day or two after a new exercise is common and fades as you repeat it.

Stop and get medical help for chest pain or pressure, unusual breathlessness, dizziness or fainting. If a joint pain is sharp, gets worse during a set or lingers into the next day, swap to the move's easier option, and see a clinician if it persists.

WHO notes that people without contraindications generally do not need medical clearance before light or moderate activity. If you have a heart, lung or metabolic condition, are pregnant, or have osteoporosis with fractures, ask your clinician first.

Source 15

Your tests: when, how and what to do with the resultEmerging evidence

Test in week 1, on Monday, and again in week 6, on Friday, after an easier Monday and Wednesday. Do the fitness test session rested, at about the same time of day each time, with the same chair, push-up version and route, and write every result down. Score each test on its page: the 30-second chair stand, the push-up test, the plank test, and the VO2 max calculator for the 1-mile walk or the 12-minute run (the gentler 6-minute walk has its own test page).

The tests repeat well, within limits, though the evidence comes from particular groups. In 76 adults with an average age of 70, the chair stand gave much the same count on two tests 2 to 5 days apart and tracked leg strength; in 343 adults aged 30 to 69, a fast 1-mile walk, with your heart rate at the finish, tracked aerobic fitness closely. Everyone in that walking study walked the mile at least twice and the fastest walks were used, so expect some of any gain on a second test to be practice (our reading): if you can, try each test once in the days before your first. Our test pages treat a change of 2 or 3 push-ups, or up to about 15 seconds on the plank, as possibly just day-to-day difference; those are the pages' own rules of thumb.

Then compare yourself with yourself, and treat the pages' bands as a rough guide, not a diagnosis. No change on one test is common, so look at all of them and your training log before you change anything. If you answered yes on the PAR-Q+, or you're over 45 and not used to hard effort, stop the push-ups and the plank at a set you finish comfortably, and walk rather than run.

Sources 16, 17, 18

What 6 weeks can doEmerging evidence

If you're new to training, expect clear changes on the tests. In a trial of 37 men and women, strength rose significantly within 2 to 6 weeks, partly from the nervous system learning the lifts. Against no exercise, steady endurance training raised VO2 max, the most oxygen your body can use, by about 4.9 mL/kg/min and interval training by about 5.5, in pooled trials of adults aged 18 to 45, with bigger gains in people who started less fit.

The trials of short programmes are small: 6 weeks of an 11-minute bodyweight interval routine, three times a week, raised fitness in 19 inactive young adults, and in a 4-week trial, the 7 young women who did very short whole-body circuits more than doubled their push-ups. How often you train matters too: over 6 weeks, people training once a week mostly didn't get fitter, while all of those training 4 or 5 times a week did.

Sources 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24

New to training, or notStrong evidence

Beginners improve fastest. Over 21 weeks, 8 untrained men gained about 21% in strength and 8 strength athletes about 4%, and in pooled studies untrained people gained more strength and grew more muscle. Trained people still improve in 6 weeks: in one trial of 27 trained men, the bench press rose 4 to 6%, the squat 18 to 22% and muscle thickness 5 to 14%. And people vary hugely, so compare yourself with yourself.

Sources 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30

Strength, a circuit and cardio in one weekStrong evidence

Doing cardio as well as strength training doesn't reduce muscle growth or maximal strength. Circuit training improves strength and muscle compared with no exercise, and it trains muscular endurance and some fitness at once, which the push-up and chair stand tests measure. Interval training raised VO2 max slightly more than steady training in 28 trials, so the week has one of each.

Sources 31, 1, 21

What 6 weeks can't doEmerging evidence

Six weeks changes what you can do more than how you look. In one trial of 24 adults, six weeks of abdominal exercises, five days a week, didn't reduce belly fat, though their curl-ups improved, and exercise alone takes weight off slowly. If weight is a goal, pair the plan with eating less, as the NHS advises.

Sources 32, 33, 34, 35

How much training this isStrong evidence

Counting direct sets in the build phase, this plan gives about 8 hard sets a week for the chest, 9 for the back, 3 for overhead pressing, 11 for the quads and 11 for the glutes and hamstrings in weeks 3 to 5, counting each circuit station as a set; the front of the shoulders also works in every press and push-up.

More weekly sets build more muscle, with diminishing returns that arrive sooner for strength than for size. The 2026 ACSM position stand saw extra growth from about 10 or more sets per muscle a week, and a review of time-efficient training suggests about 4 hard sets a week as a reasonable floor for busy people.

That clears the 4-set floor for every muscle but overhead pressing, which the presses and push-ups help cover, and reaches 9 to 11 for the legs and back. The circuit trades some heavy work for fitness.

Sources 1, 36, 37, 8

Cardio and the guidelinesStrong evidence

Aim for 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, or 75 of vigorous, or a mix: vigorous minutes count about double. Moderate means you can talk but not sing; vigorous means you can say only a few words. By our arithmetic, Tuesday's intervals and Saturday's steady session alone give about 60 to 80 minutes' worth by week 5, so walks on other days take you the rest of the way.

Sources 15, 38

Check firstStrong evidence

Answer the 7 questions of the PAR-Q+ (the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire for Everyone) before you start. They cover a heart condition or high blood pressure, chest pain, dizziness or fainting, another long-term condition, medicines for one, a bone or joint problem that more activity could make worse, and being told to exercise only under medical supervision. A yes leads to follow-up questions that may send you to your GP or a qualified exercise professional first. With a cold or fever, wait until you're better; if you're pregnant, talk to your midwife or doctor first.

The NHS suggests speaking to a GP first if you haven't exercised for some time, or have a medical condition or concerns. The World Health Organization (WHO) notes that most people without such problems don't need a medical check before light or moderate activity, and the American College of Sports Medicine's (ACSM's) screening looks at how active you are now, any symptoms or known heart, metabolic or kidney disease, and how hard you plan to train.

Hard, all-out effort briefly raises the risk of a heart attack or sudden death from a heart problem in people at risk, mostly those who rarely exercise, and warning signs often come first. If you're over 45 and not used to it, the PAR-Q+ asks you to check with a qualified exercise professional before very hard efforts. Whatever your age, breathe out on the effort rather than holding your breath, which raises blood pressure, as the British Heart Foundation advises.

With heart failure, skip the plank test, as our plank test page advises, and ask your heart team about the rest. With ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome), NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) advises against programmes with fixed increases in activity, which is what this plan is.

Sources 18, 38, 15, 39, 40, 41, 42

Stop and get helpStrong evidence

Call 999 in the UK or 911 in the US for chest pain that comes on suddenly and doesn't go away, feels tight or like squeezing or pressure, or spreads to your arms, neck, jaw, stomach or back; chest pain with sweating, feeling sick, light-headedness or breathlessness; severe difficulty breathing; or signs of a stroke, such as one side of the face drooping, weakness in one arm or slurred speech, even if they pass. Don't drive yourself to hospital.

Call 999 or go to A&E for palpitations that don't go away, or that come with chest pain, breathlessness or feeling faint. Call 999 if someone has fainted and isn't breathing, or can't be woken within a minute, and see a GP after any faint. Contact NHS 111 (in the US, your doctor or an urgent care centre) if you're suddenly more short of breath than usual, or have chest pain with feeling sick or a heartbeat that races, skips or flutters.

Dark, red or cola-coloured urine, much less urine than usual, or very painful, weak or swollen muscles after unusually hard training can be rhabdomyolysis, a breakdown of muscle that can harm the kidneys: get medical help the same day.

Stop any test at once for chest pain, dizziness, palpitations or severe breathlessness, and read the warning signs on each test page before you start.

Sources 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49