3 days a week · New runners
Three run-walk sessions a week, from ten 1-minute jogs to 30 minutes of easy running in 9 weeks. The plan follows the same walk-to-run shape as the NHS Couch to 5K programme, with its steps taken from published beginner running trials, and it isn't connected with the NHS or any app. Repeat any week you need to: in one Couch to 5K group, most people who stopped and were interviewed blamed an injury, and several felt the steps came too fast.
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Every run starts with a 5-minute brisk walk and ends with a 5-minute walk. Week 1: 10 rounds of a 1-minute jog and a 1-minute walk. Week 2: 6 rounds of a 2-minute jog and a 1-minute walk. Week 3: 4 rounds of a 3-minute jog and a 90-second walk. Jog slowly enough to talk in full sentences. Sessions: Run-walk intervals for beginners.
Week 4: 3 rounds of a 5-minute jog and a 2-minute walk. Week 5: 3 rounds of a 6-minute jog and a 2-minute walk. Week 6: 3 rounds of a 7-minute jog and a 2-minute walk. Week 7: 2 rounds of a 12-minute jog and a 2-minute walk. Week 8: jog 20 minutes, walk 2, jog 6. Running time per session goes from 15 to 26 minutes. Sessions: Run-walk intervals: longer runs.
Three easy 30-minute runs. If 30 minutes is a step too far, run 20, walk 2 and run 8, and try 30 next time. Sessions: Easy run (30 minutes).
Repeat a week if its last run felt hard, you missed more than one run, or something still aches the next morning. After a week or more off, go back a week. Taking 12 weeks instead of 9 is fine.
Keep three easy 30-minute runs a week. To reach 5 km, add 2 or 3 minutes to one run a week. Then try a parkrun, move on to the 10K training plan, or add the strength training plan for runners.
Run at a pace where you can still talk in full sentences. In small lab studies, the point where talking first got harder matched the first breathing threshold, and the talk test used on its own kept 30-minute runs at a steady training pace.
Health guidance lists running as vigorous activity, but effort is personal. On a 0 to 10 scale of how hard it feels to you, moderate effort is 5 or 6, where you can talk but not sing, and vigorous starts at 7 or 8, where you can say only a few words without pausing for breath. Less fit people find the same activity harder: when you're new, even a slow jog can feel like a 7, and that's what the walk breaks are for. Down to short sentences on an easy day? Slow down, or walk for a minute.
No weekly percentage rule has been shown to prevent injuries. In 532 new runners, a slower 13-week programme built on the "10% rule" injured as many people as a standard 8-week one (20.8% against 20.3%), and a review of trials found no evidence that a more gradual build prevents injuries in beginners.
In one study that followed 5,205 runners, mostly men around 46 with years of running behind them, a run more than about 10% longer than their longest run of the past month went with more injuries, while week-to-week changes in total distance didn't. That's an association, not a tested rule, and beginners may differ.
This plan keeps each session about the same length and lengthens the jogs a little each week. The NHS suggests doing a similar run 3 or 4 times before making it longer or faster; here each session repeats 3 times in a week. If a week felt hard, repeat it.
Start every run with 3 to 5 minutes of brisk walking, then ease into a slow jog: the NHS suggests 5 to 10 minutes of brisk walking or gentle jogging, and the beginner trials used a 5-minute brisk walk. Before hills or tempo runs, add a few drills and short strides. Walk or jog easily for 3 to 5 minutes at the end.
Warm-ups and stretching haven't been shown to prevent running injuries: in pooled trials stretching didn't reduce them, and in 421 runners a warm-up, cool-down and stretching programme didn't either. Stretch afterwards if it feels good.
Stiff, achy legs for a day or two are normal at first and ease as you repeat the runs. Stop and rest if a pain is sharp, makes you limp or change how you run, or builds as you go, and skip your next run if it's worse the next morning. The NHS advises not running when you're in pain, and seeing a GP or physiotherapist if it doesn't go away; a very painful or swollen knee, or a sudden sharp pain at the back of the ankle, needs a GP straight away.
Pain in one spot on a bone that hurts to press, gets worse with each step and later aches at rest can be a stress fracture: stop running and get it checked. When you can walk briskly without pain, restart a week or two back in the plan. In one study, injured new runners took a median of about 10 weeks to recover, so it pays to stop early.
Call 999 in the UK or 911 in the US for chest pain that feels tight or like squeezing, or spreads to your arms, neck, jaw or back; chest pain with sweating, feeling sick, light-headedness or breathlessness; or severe difficulty breathing. Don't drive yourself to hospital. If someone stops responding and stops breathing, call and start cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Call 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.
In the heat, tiredness, dizziness, a headache, feeling sick, heavy sweating and intense thirst can be heat exhaustion: stop, get somewhere cool, drink and cool your skin, and you should feel better within 30 minutes. If you don't, or there's confusion, hot skin that has stopped sweating, a fit or a collapse, call 999 or 911: that's heatstroke.
Missed a run? Carry on where you left off; don't double up. Missed a week or more, or been ill? Repeat the last week you completed, or go back two (our suggestion). Repeating weeks is part of the plan, not a failure.
Wear running shoes that fit and feel comfortable. No type of running shoe has been shown to prevent injuries, and choosing shoes by foot shape made no difference in three trials of more than 7,000 military recruits. In 927 new runners in neutral shoes, feet that roll in weren't injured more often over a year.
Add a supportive sports bra if you need one, lights or reflective clothing in the dark, and water on warm days.
Answer the 7 questions of the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q+) before you start. A yes to any (a heart condition or high blood pressure, chest pain, dizziness or fainting, another long-term condition or its medicines, a bone or joint problem, or being told to exercise only under medical supervision) means checking with your doctor or a qualified exercise professional first. It also asks people over 45 who aren't used to hard, all-out effort to check before exercising that hard: think races and time trials, not easy runs. The NHS suggests speaking to a GP first if you're worried about your health.
US guidance says healthy people who build up gradually don't need to see a doctor first, and that the risk of a heart problem rises when an inactive adult suddenly does vigorous activity: one more reason to start slowly.
Not these plans, or not yet: myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), where the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) advises against programmes with fixed step-by-step increases and the NHS against vigorous unsupervised exercise such as running; and pregnancy, unless you were already running, because the NHS advises against starting a new vigorous activity such as running.
Couch to 5K is a free NHS running programme for absolute beginners: 3 runs a week with rest days between, building from 1-minute runs to 30 minutes of running in 9 weeks or longer, with an app that talks you through each run. The NHS says it was created by a new runner, Josh Clark, to help his mother start running, and the NHS app has been downloaded more than 7 million times since 2016.
This plan follows the same walk-to-run shape, but it's our own: its steps come from published beginner running trials, and it isn't connected with the NHS or any app.
In Dutch trials, beginners training for a 6.7 km event did 3 run-walk sessions a week on their own, starting with ten 1-minute runs and 1-minute walks at a pace they could talk at, with a 5-minute brisk walk before and after. They built up to 30 minutes or more of continuous running over 8 to 13 weeks.
Weeks 1 and 2 of this plan copy those programmes, weeks 4 to 6 use their pattern of 5- to 8-minute runs with 2-minute walks, and week 9 ends, as they did, with 30 minutes of running. Weeks 3, 7 and 8 are our editorial steps in between, chosen to avoid a jump from 8 to 20 minutes of continuous running in one week, which people who left a Couch to 5K group singled out.
In those trials, about 1 in 6 to 1 in 5 beginners had an injury that stopped or limited their running for a week or more: 20.3% and 20.8% of 532 people on the 8- and 13-week programmes, and 16.8% of 432 on the 9-week one (15.2% with a walking and hopping block first). In a 6-week Dutch programme with a trainer once a week, 10.9% of 1,696 beginners were injured. Per hour of running, new runners get injured more than twice as often as experienced recreational runners.
These figures come from structured Dutch programmes in which people trained for a set event and logged every session, some with a trainer. A plan you follow on your own may differ, which is why this one builds in repeat weeks and a pain rule.
In a 9-week Couch to 5K with one instructor-led run a week, only 27% of 110 people finished. Three in four of those who left did so before halfway; 11 of the 15 leavers interviewed had stopped because of an injury, and many felt the plan got harder too fast. In 10-week group programmes, people came to about half their sessions, and injury was the commonest reason for missing them. Six months after a 6-week programme, 30% of 774 beginners had stopped running, injury again the main reason.
So repeat any week as often as you need. Nothing is lost by taking 12 weeks instead of 9.
In an old trial of men aged 20 to 35 starting to jog hard, running 5 days a week injured 39%, against 12% at 3 days, and 45-minute sessions injured 54%, against 24% at 30 minutes. Fitness rose with more running, but the researchers advised beginners against it. The trial was small and in men only, but 3 days a week with rest days between is also the pattern of the NHS programme and of the beginner trials.
A previous injury is the strongest known risk for the next one. Older age, a higher body mass index (BMI) and never having run before add some risk; none is a reason not to run. In a Couch to 5K group, people with a past injury were much less likely to finish.
With a past injury, or if you're older or slow to recover, take each week twice (our suggestion). With a BMI over 30, do 5 rounds instead of 10 in your first week, then week 1 as written: in 749 new runners, those with a BMI over 30 who ran more than 3 km in their first week had more injuries over the next 3 weeks, an early, exploratory finding. US guidance says less fit people and people with a higher body weight should build up more slowly, and older adults may need 2 to 4 weeks to adapt to each step.
The plan ends with 30 minutes of easy running. At 6 minutes per kilometre that's 5 km; at 7 or 8 minutes per kilometre it's about 3.75 to 4.3 km (our arithmetic). Both count. To reach 5 km, add 2 or 3 minutes to one run a week afterwards.
In a randomised study of 42 non-elite marathon runners, those who took walk breaks finished in about the same time as those who ran throughout (4 hours 14 minutes against 4 hours 8), with less muscle discomfort. It was one small study in marathon runners, but it suggests walk breaks cost little. Walk when you need to, during this plan and after it.
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In 20 people in group beginner programmes, fitness improved within 10 weeks, with small falls in BMI and body fat; there was no comparison group. In large cohort studies, runners had a 27% lower risk of dying early than non-runners, even at small amounts such as 5 to 10 minutes a day, though studies like these can't prove cause.
Three 30-minute runs make 90 vigorous minutes a week. The NHS says 75 vigorous minutes give similar benefits to 150 moderate ones, so that's more than the weekly amount adults are asked for (our arithmetic).
Running helps, but on its own it takes off a few kilos at most over months: in 116 trials in adults with overweight or obesity, each extra 30 minutes a week of aerobic exercise took off about 0.5 kg on average. Pair it with changes to what you eat; our weight-loss workout plan covers both.
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In group beginner programmes, people who enjoyed the sessions, felt confident and had support came more often. A friend, a club's beginners' group or a free weekly parkrun all help: in a survey, 3,296 Couch to 5K graduates who had joined parkrun took part about as often as other parkrunners.
Health guidelines ask adults to do muscle-strengthening activity on at least 2 days a week, and from week 3 the two short home sessions cover it (starting in week 3 is our suggestion, once your legs are used to the runs). Do them for strength and health rather than to prevent running injuries: across 9 trials in endurance runners, exercise programmes didn't clearly reduce injuries, and a 4-week walking and hopping block before a beginners' programme didn't help (16.8% injured without it, 15.2% with it).
Our suggestions, with the evidence where there is some:
A free NHS running programme for absolute beginners: 3 runs a week, building from 1-minute runs to 30 minutes of running over 9 weeks or longer. This plan follows the same walk-to-run shape, with steps taken from beginner running trials, and it isn't connected with the NHS or any app.
Nine weeks if every week goes to plan, and it's fine to take longer. Repeat any week that felt hard: many people who give up say the steps came too fast. In a trial, a 13-week version injured about as many people as an 8-week one, so take the time you need without expecting a slower plan to prevent injuries.
Three times a week, with a rest day between runs. In an old trial of beginners jogging hard, running 5 days a week brought far more injuries than 3 (39% against 12%). Walking or the optional strength sessions are fine on the days between.
Slowly enough to talk in full sentences. At first even a slow jog can feel hard, 7 out of 10 or more; that's normal, and the walk breaks are there to help. If your jog is barely faster than your walk, that's fine.
Repeat it, as many times as you need. In one Couch to 5K group, most people who stopped did so before halfway, many after an injury or because the steps felt too big. Going slower is the smart choice, not a failure.
You'll be running for 30 minutes. That's 5 km at about 6 minutes per kilometre, and 3.75 to 4.3 km at 7 to 8 minutes per kilometre. Add 2 or 3 minutes to one run a week afterwards to reach 5 km.
Yes; the NHS says treadmills are fine. Set a 0 to 1% incline, which matched the effort of running outdoors at slow speeds in a small study, and clip on the safety key.
Yes, with a slower start. US guidance says less fit people and people with a higher body weight should build up more slowly, and that older adults may need 2 to 4 weeks for each step, so take each week twice. With a BMI over 30, start with 5 rounds instead of 10 in week 1.
A little: in trials, each 30 minutes a week of aerobic exercise took off about 0.5 kg on average. Pair the running with changes to what you eat; our weight-loss workout plan has more.
Keep running 3 times a week for 30 minutes, add a few minutes to reach 5 km, and try a free parkrun. Then move on to our 10K training plan, or our 5K training plan to run 5K faster, or add the strength training plan for runners alongside your runs. Running with others helps people keep going.
A general plan for adults without symptoms or restrictions, not a prescription. Start lighter than you think, stop for sharp or increasing pain, numbness, chest pain, faintness or unusual breathlessness, and get individual advice if you are pregnant, after an injury or surgery, or managing a health condition. Health disclaimer.