What would happen if Kevin, a beginner lifter, copied my 30 day fitness plan — the exact one I use to transform my physique? Find out in this article.

This is Kevin.

Recently, he followed my diet plan and lost an impressive 12 pounds.

But now, we're taking it up a notch: what happens if he takes on my intense training program for the next 30 days?

Could my 30 day fitness plan really work for a beginner with a completely different body type? Or will the training be too much for him, both physically… and mentally?

Let’s find out.

Day 1

Jeremy:

"Congrats, dude. People loved your 30-day fat loss diet results so much that we're doing another one."

Kevin:

"Okay ..."

Jeremy:

"So, for the next 30 days, you're going to copy my training plan."

Kevin:

"I don't think I can do that."

Jeremy:

"We're gonna try our best during this 30 day fitness plan and see what happens. So, just do a little bit of warmup."

What Will Kevin's 30 Day Fitness Plan Look Like?

So before today, Kevin's workout plan consisted of 3 full body workouts per week, each being about 45 minutes long.

During the 30 day fitness plan, however, his workouts will jump to 5 workouts per week:

• Mondays and Thursdays: Upper body
• Tuesdays and Fridays: Lower body
• Saturdays: Accessory work

Each workout lasts at least an hour. 

But given that I’m currently really focused on growing my chest, my plan involves a lot of chest volume, with less volume towards my stronger muscle groups like my shoulders and arms.

It also utilizes reverse pyramid training to increase my strength while maximizing growth. 

Reverse pyramid training involves doing your first set with the heaviest weight, aiming for lower reps (anywhere between 4 to 6 reps). After that, you drop the weight by about 10% for the rest of your sets just to get the training volume.

This approach builds strength with the first heavy set and maximizes muscle growth by allowing you to do more reps and overall volume in your following sets. 

Training Highlights From Day 1

Jeremy:

Come on. Few more. Give me two more. Let's go. Control. Good form. Good form. Last one. Alright, good. Slowing the way down.

Kevin:

Oh, dude.

Jeremy:

Even on your last rep, though, you know how you're just like you were done, and you're like, all right, boom.

Kevin:

 I’m tired, bro.

Jeremy:

Yeah, but you earned that last rep. All you gotta do is control it. You know what I mean?

With Kevin and I pushing each set close to failure, our chests will need time to recover between sets.

But to still get the most volume out of my workouts, I like to superset my training. So, while my chest is recovering, I can switch over and start working an opposing muscle group like my lats.

It’s a proven approach that can help you do more in less time.

But it can be exhausting, especially for beginners. 

I also know that for me, this 30 day fitness plan is my regular routine, but for somebody like him, it is a lot of volume.

And I'm anticipating that in his first week, his body won't recover In time.

He's going to experience some downsides, but after that, if he does stick to it, then his body should get used to it, and you should start feeling better.

Jeremy's Expectations Of Kevin At The End Of The 30 Day Fitness Plan

Kevin’s starting weight is just over 216 lbs (216.4 lbs).

Over the next 30 days, I hope his training can accelerate his fat loss journey and help him shed off at least a few pounds.

But I also want to see just how much strength Kevin can build on his push-ups, presses, and chin-ups and how his muscles will respond and grow to all the training.

And lastly, I’m not gonna lie, Kevin’s conditioning needs work.

He not only gets easily gassed between hard sets, but any sort of cardio totally wipes him out. I’m gonna see if we can not only get him stronger and leaner but fitter as well by the end of this 30 day fitness plan.

Week 1

Exercise Individuality

Something I quickly realized in our 30 day fitness plan was that just because one exercise is a great fit for me, doesn’t always mean it’s a great fit for Kevin.

For example, when I tried running Kevin through dips, the exercise was too challenging.

So we had to swap them for an easier exercise that still hits the lower chest: incline push-ups.

I also noticed, after running Kevin through my squat workout, that his body is incredibly quad-dominant. Whereas my body structure makes my squat naturally more glute dominant.

But with all the sitting Kevin does everyday, I needed to tweak Kevin’s squats to hit his glutes more. Normally, he’d squat super deep, keep his torso upright, and drive his knees forward.

So, to work his glutes more during the 30 day fitness plan, I had him instead focus on pushing his hips back, bending his torso over forward, and limiting how much his knees were coming forward.

He cannot get as deep with this form, but it forces his body to rely more on his weaker glutes than his quads. 

Day 6 (Rest Day)

Jeremy:

"The plan today is ... we’re not gonna go too hard. We did legs yesterday, but we want to get them active. So, we’re gonna do one lap just to get the legs warmed up."

Now, most people associate “rest days” with doing absolutely nothing.

At least, that’s what Kevin had in mind. But doing the right amount of movement can actually help speed up Kevin’s muscle recovery.

Not only was Kevin’s poor conditioning holding him back from his workouts in the gym, but there’s some new research suggesting that improving your cardiovascular fitness may actually provide benefits in blood flow inside your muscles and lead to faster muscle growth.

So today, we’re going to get Kevin moving and do a few higher-intensity workouts to get his heart pumping. Here's his timing on 200 m sprints:

Week 2

Day 11 (Kevin Hits 2 PRs)

The only problem ... Kevin is struggling with the time commitment the 30 day fitness plan calls for.

While I can't wait to talk more about the project Kevin is working on at the end of this article, I do want to make sure he actually has time to finish, so I decided to run him through my go-to time-saving workout routine whenever I'm crunched for time.

Jeremy:

"So you know how on day 1 of our 30 day fitness plan, we did a bunch of sets on the chest press? Well today we’re just gonna do one massive set and you should be able to get the same amount of growth that you would get normally."

So, the technique I’m using here is called rest-pause sets.

Let’s say you normally do 3 sets of 10 reps. That’s a total of 30 reps.

With rest-pause sets, you use the exact same weight and try to do as many reps as you can on your first set, rest just 15-30 seconds, then again try to do as many reps as you can, and repeat that until you get to 30 reps total.

Research suggests this technique can get you the same, and potentially even more muscle growth, yet cut down your workout time by more than half since you’re spending far less time resting.

But it definitely comes at a cost.

Even though Kevin wasn’t thrilled with my first attempt at condensing his workouts for the 30 day fitness plan, research shows there’s a much easier way to reduce his workout time while still making progress.

You see, my workout program is designed to maximize gains, which means I’m doing a lot of volume. At least 3-4 sets for most exercises.

But a recent study from my good friend Dr. Brad Schoenfeld’s lab found that even doing just 1 set per exercise can still lead to significant gains, as long as you’re pushing hard enough. So, while Kevin might not “maximize” his gains with this approach, he’d happily trade a little muscle for cutting his workouts down by a third.

Day 12

Kevin wasn’t always excited about the exercises I had planned for him in the 30 day fitness plan.

I quickly learned that squats, in particular, are one of his most hated movements. But rather than forcing Kevin to just grind it out, I gave him some alternatives. One of them, the leg press, he seemed pretty excited about.

But will machines like the leg press still get him just as good of gains compared to squats?

Well, a meta-analysis done back in 2022 attempted to answer that question. They compared the strength and muscle gains from free weights like the barbell squat or barbell bench press to machines like the leg press or the Smith machine. 

The result?

Whatever exercise participants trained with, they got better strength gains. 

Which is expected. Strength is a skill, and you get better coordinated with exercises the more you practice them.

But as for muscle growth? There were no differences. 

Now, keep in mind that depending on the type of machine you use and how you use it, it could work different muscles compared to the free-weight version. 

But in the case of Kevin’s leg press, I showed him a few tweaks to make it replicate his squats quite well. 

And since it was the first leg exercise he actually didn’t seem to hate, making that switch in his 30 day fitness plan was a no-brainer. 

Week 3

Day 18

Jeremy:

"Today, we are back on track. It's cold today, but we have records to beat. So today, we will try to beat Kevin’s Day 1 time of 47 seconds in the 200 meter."

With Kevin's speed clearly improving, I wanted us to try the 100 meter to see just how explosive Kevin actually is.

And the 30 day fitness plan hasn't only helped Kevin improve his sprints, he's also made significant progress on these exercises:

• Push-ups
• Chin-ups
• Chest press
• Romanian deadlifts

How about his weight? 215 lbs.

While Kevin’s weight loss hasn’t changed much these past 20 days, I’m not overly concerned.

With every single lift in the gym going up, and Kevin training with a lot more intensity and volume than before, there’s a strong chance he’s building muscle as he’s losing fat. Also known as body composition.

Which is causing his weight on the scale to more or less stay the same, even though he’s making progress. 

That said, I have noticed that ever since we started implementing the 30 day fitness plan and training harder, Kevin’s assumed that he can slack off on his diet. He hasn’t tracked his calories much, and I found out he was eating a lot more than normal on our track days because he figured he was burning a ton of calories.

In reality, our whole track workout could be offset by just eating half a muffin. 

Now, if only there were a tool that took care of everything for you. An easy way to track both your training and your nutrition all in one place. 

Well, remember that secret project Kevin and I have been working on?

Our Secret Project

6 years ago, I started this project.

People said I was crazy.

But here at Built With Science, we set goals to do the impossible, and we do it all for you guys.

Because as great as my videos and online programs are, I still get messages from you guys all over the world, asking for one-on-one coaching, wanting something tailored specifically for you.

And as much as I’d love to help you out, it just wouldn’t be feasible.

So, back in 2019, I set out to create something that could give you the personalized coaching experience you deserve.

The closest thing to being able to work with me one-on-one, no matter where you are in the world. 

And with Kevin’s help, it’s almost here.

In 1 week from now, on January 5th, it goes live. You can check out BuiltWithScience.com and subscribe to my YouTube channel for updates in the meantime. 

Week 4

Day 29

Jeremy:

"Those final 50 meters when you slow down, it’s all mental. I mean a bit of it is physical, but a lot of it is mental. You just gotta push through man!"

Day 30

And when we tested Kevin's strength the following day ...

His chin-ups jumped from 2 on day 1 all the way to 5 chin-ups by day 30 of our 30 day fitness plan. A 150% improvement.

As for his push-ups, he managed 20, a significant improvement from the 8 he did on day 1.

As for his weight loss ...

Kevin dropped 3 lbs on the scale, but at the same time, he lost 2.5 cm off his waistline, which is a really good indication that Kevin was losing fat through this process while gaining muscle.

And you can really see the difference in his photos even though he only dropped 3 lbs through the 30 day fitness plan.

TL;DR

• Kevin's 30 day fitness plan looked like this: 5x weekly sessions, with Mondays and Thursdays for upper body, Tuesdays and Fridays for lower body, and Saturdays for accessory work.
• To maximize strength and muscle gains, we're making use of reverse pyramid training and supersets throughout the 30 day fitness plan.
• A few days into the 30 day fitness plan, I realized that just because an exercise worked great for me, doesn't mean it would work for Kevin. That's why I swapped out the squats for the leg press — Kevin liked the latter a lot more.
• When Kevin struggled with the time commitment the 30 day fitness plan called for, I had Kevin to just do 1 set per exercise — while still pushing hard.
• By the end of the 30 day fitness plan, Kevin had lost 3 lbs, 2.5 cm from his waistline, and made significant improvements on various exercises, including sprints, chin-ups, and Romanian deadlifts.