1. Train with progression
Pick a routine you can repeat. Keep the main lifts long enough to learn them, then make the work a little more demanding over time: another good-quality rep, a little more load, another set, or better control. The point is a training signal you can recover from, not a different workout every Monday.
Use the four levers of progressive overload if you need a simple way to decide what changes next. The training-split recommender can help you choose a schedule you will actually attend.
A simple three-session starting point
If a three-session routine fits you, the existing 3-day gym split PDF is a simple push, pull and legs routine. It gives you the same exercises and rep ranges to repeat, rather than a new workout every Monday. There is a phone version too.
| Session | Exercises in the PDF |
|---|---|
| Day 1 Push | Barbell bench press 4 × 6–8; overhead press 3 × 8–10; incline dumbbell press 3 × 10–12; tricep pushdown 3 × 12–15. |
| Day 2 Pull | Barbell row 4 × 6–8; pull-ups (or assisted) 3 × 8–10; cable row 3 × 10–12; barbell curl 3 × 12–15. |
| Day 3 Legs | Back squat 4 × 6–8; Romanian deadlift 3 × 8–10; leg press 3 × 10–12; calf raise 4 × 15–20. |
The PDF says to rest two to three days between sessions. That does not necessarily mean three workouts in every Monday-to-Sunday week. Start with a weight you can control and log the load and reps you actually complete. If an exercise causes pain, or you have a health condition or past injury, get qualified individual advice rather than forcing a template.
2. Eat enough energy
Food supports training, but there is no magic surplus that suits everybody. The research does not give one exact number. Training history, what you eat now and how your body responds all matter.1
Start with an estimated maintenance figure from the TDEE calculator. If strength, recovery and the longer trend say you need more food, make a small change and review again rather than jumping to a large bulk.
3. Eat adequate protein
For healthy adults lifting weights, around 1.6g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day is a useful starting point. A review of 49 studies found that going above that did not add further average muscle gains.2 It is an average from research, not a target to force down when normal food already covers it.
Use the protein guide for normal-food examples, or the macro calculator after you have a calorie starting point.
4. Recover well enough to repeat it
Recovery is the boring bit that makes the plan repeatable: sleep, rest days, enough food, and a training load you can come back to. If every session is getting worse, simplify the plan first and get qualified help if pain, illness or a health condition is part of the problem.
5. Choose maintenance or a surplus from your starting point
A new lifter, somebody coming back after time away and a lean experienced lifter do not need the same food plan. Long calorie deficits can make muscle gain harder.3
If you are already lean and well trained, eating a bit more may help. A huge bulk is not a shortcut. Start near maintenance, watch training and bodyweight over several weeks, then make one small change. The skinny-fat guide explains the maintenance option without turning “recomp” into another programme to buy.
Want the next step in one place?
The free Year Two guide brings progressive overload, choosing a maintenance, surplus or cut phase, and plateau checks together in one PDF. Preview it on the page and choose the standard or phone version. No email or signup.
6. Track a trend
Review more than one data point
Track what you can repeat: lifts, bodyweight, measurements, photos, or how clothes fit. One workout or one weigh-in is noise. The body-fat calculator can add a tape-measure estimate to that longer trend.
There is no honest promise for exactly how fast muscle will arrive or how much fat will come with it. The useful check is boring: are the same lifts moving forward, is the plan still recoverable, and is the longer bodyweight trend roughly where you meant it to be?
About the author
Keith O’Beirne went from 90kg to 72kg around a full-time job and two kids, after paying a personal trainer to learn the basics. He is not a doctor, dietitian or coach and does not sell coaching — he writes No Nonsense Fitness to give away what he paid to learn, free, with no ads, no subscriptions and no commission on any link. Based in Dublin.
Sources and limitations
The protein review pooled 49 resistance-training studies. The energy-deficit review compared muscle and strength changes during longer deficits. Both report group averages. Neither can promise what one person will gain.
- Slater GJ et al. Is an energy surplus required to maximise hypertrophy? (2019). The review says the specific surplus required is unknown.
- Morton RW et al. Protein supplementation and resistance-training gains (2018). The 1.6g/kg/day finding is an average break point, not an individual prescription.
- Murphy C and Koehler K. Energy deficiency and resistance-training gains (2022). This meta-analysis covers prolonged deficits and does not define every starting point.
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