3 Day Full Body Workout – r/Fitness Basic Beginner Routine

3 day full body workout built for absolute beginners: the r/Fitness Basic Beginner Routine trains the whole body three times a week with just six barbell and bodyweight movements, three sets of five plus an AMRAP set on each, and adds weight every workout for as long as you keep hitting your reps. Hardy tracks every set for you: log your reps, and the app raises or lowers your working weights automatically according to the rules below, so you never touch a spreadsheet.

The r/Fitness beginner routine is the Basic Beginner Routine from the r/Fitness wiki, a full body workout 3 days a week that teaches the five barbell lifts before you move on to a bigger program.

Weekly structure

Alternate two workouts with a rest day in between (Monday, Wednesday, Friday works well), so week one is A / B / A and week two is B / A / B.

• Workout A: barbell row 3×5+, bench press 3×5+, squat 3×5+
• Workout B: chin-ups 3×5+, overhead press 3×5+, deadlift 3×5+

"3×5+" means two sets of five and a last set for as many reps as you can with good form. Stop the AMRAP set with one or two reps left rather than grinding to failure. Rest 2–3 minutes between sets, up to 5 between exercises.

Progression

Each lift has its own working weight. Complete every set and the weight goes up next time: 1.25 kg (2.5 lb) on bench, press, row and chin-ups, 2.5 kg (5 lb) on squat and deadlift. Get more than 10 reps on the AMRAP set and the increase doubles. Come up short on any set (the wiki counts it as fewer than 15 total reps) and the weight drops by 10% the next time you do that lift, then you work back up.

Hardy rounds every increase to your barbell weight step. With the default 2.5 kg (5 lb) step the bench, press and row move one full step on every good day and the 10-rep bonus disappears in the rounding, so if you own fractional plates set a 1.25 kg (2.5 lb) barbell step in Settings; the doubling rule then works exactly as written. Squat and deadlift are unaffected.

Chin-ups start at bodyweight. Complete 3×5 and Hardy adds belt weight next time, just as the wiki adds 2.5 lb per session to every upper-body lift; below 3×5 keep chasing reps. Use a lat pulldown, band-assisted chin-ups or negatives until you can do five.

Tips

• Find your starting weight the way the wiki describes: lift the empty bar for 5, add 5–10 kg (10–20 lb) and repeat until the bar slows or your form loosens, and start there. Hardy takes the weight of your first logged set as the working weight.
• Film your sets or ask for a form check on the main lifts early, because every session adds load.
• Add two cardio sessions a week, one easy 15–30 minutes and one hard 10–15 minutes, after lifting if they share a day.
• Three months is the wiki's limit for this 3 day full body workout plan; when the increases start to fail, move on to 5/3/1 for Beginners.