7-Day Full-Body Fitness Plan for Strength and Conditioning

This is a 7-day training plan for people who already have some gym experience and want a structured week that covers everything -- strength, conditioning, and recovery. It's not a beginner program. If you've been training consistently for 6+ months and feel comfortable with compound lifts, this will work well for you.

A word of honesty before we start: training 7 days straight with no full rest day is aggressive. This plan includes two lighter days (active recovery and steady-state cardio) that function as partial rest, but your body doesn't get a full day off. For most people, this is sustainable for 4-6 week blocks, not year-round. After each block, take a deload week where you cut volume by 40-50% or take 2-3 complete rest days.

Who this plan is for

This plan assumes you:

• •Have at least 6 months of consistent resistance training experience
• •Can perform squat, deadlift, bench press, and overhead press with reasonable form
• •Have access to a gym with barbells, dumbbells, a cable machine, and cardio equipment
• •Can commit to training 7 days per week for a 4-6 week block
• •Don't have existing injuries that limit major movement patterns

If you're a true beginner, start with a 3-4 day program instead. Training 7 days a week without a base of fitness and recovery capacity is a fast track to burnout or injury.

How to read the program

RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) is used throughout this plan instead of specific percentages. It runs from 1 to 10:

• •RPE 6: You could do 4 more reps. Weight feels moderate.
• •RPE 7: You could do 3 more reps. Challenging but controlled.
• •RPE 8: You could do 2 more reps. Hard. This is where most working sets should land.
• •RPE 9: You could do 1 more rep. Very hard. Reserved for top sets.
• •RPE 10: Maximum effort. You couldn't do another rep.

Most working sets in this program target RPE 7-8. This leaves enough in the tank for recovery while still driving adaptation.

Rest periods: Unless otherwise noted, rest 2-3 minutes between heavy compound sets (squats, deadlifts, bench, overhead press) and 60-90 seconds between accessory work.

Day 1: Full-body strength (heavy compound focus)

This is the hardest day of the week. Front-load it when your body is freshest.

Warmup (10 minutes):

• •5 min easy bike or rowing (heart rate up, joints warm)
• •Leg swings: 10 per leg (front-to-back and side-to-side)
• •Band pull-aparts: 15 reps
• •Goblet squat: 2 x 8 with light weight (groove the pattern)
• •Empty bar: 5 reps each of squat, RDL, overhead press

Main work:

Why these exercises on this day: The big three (squat, bench, deadlift) are placed on Day 1 because you're most recovered after a rest/deload period. Heavy compounds demand the most from your nervous system, so you want to hit them when fatigue is lowest.

Cooldown: 5 min easy walking, then stretch quads, hamstrings, chest, and lats. Hold each stretch 30 seconds.

Day 2: HIIT conditioning

Warmup (5 minutes):

• •3 min light jog or jump rope
• •10 bodyweight squats
• •10 arm circles each direction
• •5 inchworms

The session (choose one format):

Option A -- Timed intervals:

• •30 seconds all-out effort, 30 seconds rest
• •Rotate through: burpees, mountain climbers, jump squats, high knees
• •Complete 5 rounds (20 minutes total)
• •RPE on work intervals: 9

Option B -- Row/bike intervals:

• •8 x 250m row (or 8 x 30 sec max effort bike)
• •Rest 90 seconds between efforts
• •Track your split times -- they should be consistent across all 8 rounds

Why Day 2 is conditioning, not lifting: After heavy compounds on Day 1, your muscles need a break from loaded movements. HIIT keeps the training stimulus high (cardiovascular demand, calorie burn) without adding more mechanical stress to muscles that are still recovering from yesterday's squats and deadlifts.

Cooldown: 5 min easy walking. Stretch hip flexors, calves, and shoulders.

Day 3: Active recovery and mobility

This is not a rest day. But it's close.

30-45 minutes of low-intensity movement:

• •Walking (outside if possible)
• •Easy swimming
• •Yoga (a real class or a 30-min YouTube flow)
• •Light cycling at conversational pace

Then 15 minutes of targeted mobility:

• •Deep squat hold: 3 x 30 sec (hold the bottom of a squat, push knees out with elbows)
• •90/90 hip stretch: 30 sec per side, 2 rounds
• •Thoracic spine rotation: 8 per side (lying on your side, open up toward the ceiling)
• •Wall slides: 2 x 10 (back and arms flat against wall, slide arms up and down)
• •Foam roll: quads, IT band, upper back (2 min each area)

Why this day exists: Three consecutive training days creates fatigue. This session increases blood flow to recovering muscles, improves joint range of motion, and gives your nervous system a break from high-intensity work. Don't skip it, and don't turn it into a hard session.

Day 4: Upper body strength

Warmup (8 minutes):

• •5 min easy bike or rowing
• •Band pull-aparts: 15 reps
• •Band dislocates: 10 reps
• •Push-up to downward dog: 5 reps
• •1 light set each of overhead press and lat pulldown

Main work:

Why upper body here: Day 1's deadlifts and squats hammered your legs. Even with Day 3's recovery, your lower body isn't ready for heavy loading yet. Upper body on Day 4 lets your legs continue recovering while your chest, shoulders, and back get dedicated volume.

Cooldown: Stretch chest (doorway stretch), lats (hang from a bar), and shoulders (cross-body stretch). 30 seconds each.

Day 5: Steady-state cardio

30-45 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio:

• •Jogging (conversational pace -- you should be able to talk in full sentences)
• •Cycling
• •Swimming
• •Elliptical
• •Incline treadmill walking (set incline to 10-12%, speed to 3.0-3.5 mph)

Heart rate target: 120-150 bpm for most people, or roughly 60-70% of your max heart rate.

Why steady-state, not more HIIT: Your body can only handle so much high-intensity work per week. Day 1 was heavy lifting, Day 2 was HIIT, Day 4 was moderate-heavy upper body work. Adding another HIIT session here would push total weekly intensity too high. Steady-state cardio improves aerobic base, aids recovery, and burns calories without creating the fatigue that intervals do.

No formal warmup needed -- start easy for the first 5 minutes and gradually build to your target pace.

Day 6: Lower body and core

Warmup (8 minutes):

• •5 min light cycling
• •Bodyweight squats: 2 x 10
• •Walking lunges: 10 per leg
• •Glute bridges: 2 x 10 with 2-sec hold at top
• •1 light set of leg press or goblet squat

Main work:

Why lunges instead of squats: You already squatted heavy on Day 1. Lunges are less systemically fatiguing (they don't load your spine the same way a back squat does) while still training your quads, glutes, and single-leg stability. Romanian deadlifts hit the posterior chain without the recovery cost of heavy conventional pulls.

Cooldown: Stretch quads, hamstrings, hip flexors, and calves. 30 seconds each, both legs.

Day 7: Light movement and recovery

This is the lightest day of the week. Don't turn it into a training session.

20-30 minutes of easy movement:

• •A walk around your neighborhood
• •Light stretching or yoga
• •Playing a recreational sport casually
• •Easy swimming

Focus on recovery:

• •Eat well -- get a solid meal with protein and carbs
• •Hydrate throughout the day
• •Get to bed early. Sleep is where your body actually rebuilds.
• •Foam roll any areas that feel tight or sore

Tomorrow is Day 1 again, so this day is about arriving at the next week as recovered as possible.

Progression and intensity guidelines

For strength days (Days 1, 4, 6):

• •If you hit all prescribed reps at RPE 8, add 2.5-5 lbs to the bar next week (upper body lifts) or 5-10 lbs (lower body lifts)
• •If you miss reps or form breaks down, keep the same weight and try again next session
• •Accessory work doesn't need precise progression -- just make sure it's challenging. When 3x10 feels easy, go to 3x12, then add weight and drop back to 3x10

For conditioning (Days 2 and 5):

• •Track your interval times or distances. Aim to either reduce rest periods or improve pace over the 4-6 week block
• •For steady-state work, gradually increase duration by 5 minutes every 2 weeks, or increase intensity slightly (faster pace, higher incline)

Deload protocol (every 5th week):

• •Reduce all weights by 40-50%
• •Cut conditioning volume in half
• •Keep showing up to the gym -- just make everything easy
• •This isn't laziness, it's how you avoid grinding yourself into dust

Honest limitations of a 7-day plan

No program is perfect, and you should know the tradeoffs before committing.

Recovery is tight. Training every day means your body never gets a full reset. The active recovery and easy cardio days help, but they're not the same as doing absolutely nothing. If you're sleeping poorly, eating in a big deficit, or dealing with life stress, a 5-day program with 2 full rest days would serve you better.

It's not optimal for any single goal. If your only goal is maximum strength, you'd be better off with a 4-day powerlifting program. If your only goal is cardiovascular fitness, a dedicated running or cycling plan would be more effective. This program is for people who want decent improvements across the board.

Sustainability varies. Some people thrive on daily training -- it becomes a routine that structures their day. Others burn out after 3-4 weeks. Listen to your body. If you're constantly sore, your lifts are going backwards, or you dread going to the gym, you need more rest. Cut to 5 days and add the volume back gradually.

You still need to manage life stress. Training stress + work stress + sleep deprivation + poor nutrition = breakdown. This program works when the rest of your life supports it. Be honest about that.

FAQ

How long should I follow this plan?

Run it for 4-6 weeks, then take a deload week. After the deload, you can either repeat the block (aiming to beat your previous numbers), rotate some exercise variations, or switch to a different program structure for variety.

Can I rearrange the days?

Yes, but follow these principles: don't put two heavy lower body days back-to-back, keep at least one easy day between your two hardest sessions, and keep an active recovery day somewhere in the middle of the week. The specific days of the week don't matter as long as the sequencing makes sense.

What if I can't make it to the gym one day?

Skip it and pick up the next day where you left off. Don't try to combine two sessions into one to "make up" for the missed day. That just creates an overly long, fatiguing session that compromises recovery for the rest of the week.

I'm sore all the time. Is that normal?

Some soreness in the first 1-2 weeks is normal as your body adjusts to the volume. If you're still significantly sore after week 2, something is off -- you're going too heavy (RPE too high), not eating enough, not sleeping enough, or need more recovery days. Drop to 5 training days for a week and reassess.

Do I need to do the exact exercises listed?

No. The specific exercises are suggestions. What matters is the movement pattern and the training stimulus. If you can't do barbell back squats, do goblet squats or leg press. If you don't have access to a cable machine for woodchops, do Pallof presses with a band. Match the intent of the exercise, not the exact implement.

Is this plan good for fat loss?

It can support fat loss if you're eating in a moderate calorie deficit. The combination of strength training and conditioning creates a high calorie burn and preserves muscle mass. But the plan itself doesn't cause fat loss -- your nutrition does. Train hard, eat in a slight deficit (300-500 calories below maintenance), keep protein high, and be patient.