30-Day Fitness Challenge for Beginners: Get Fitter, Stronger in 4 Weeks

A 30-day fitness challenge is a great way to kick-start physical fitness. It’s also a beginner-friendly exercise program to start building muscle and forming healthy habits.

A day fitness challenge can give you the ability to try new exercises in a structured manner as well as build your endurance.

A day workout challenge can also let you see progress in your fitness levels!

But don’t be intimidated!

Each day is progressively more challenging so always start at the beginning and work your way to the end.

It’s also a great way to keep yourself committed and enjoy all the benefits of working out.

Do 30 Day Fitness Challenges Work?

The short answer is yes!

It depends on your goals but there are many benefits to starting a 30-day challenge.

It gives you structure, repetition, and goals to achieve. The consistency helps keep you motivated.

Most importantly, it gives you success to celebrate!

The Best 30-Day Fitness Challenge for Me

The best fitness challenge is one that you’ll stick to and helps you reach your fitness goals.

You’ll also want to make sure your workout program meets your current fitness level and allows for a gradual, safe challenge.

Depending on your goal, there are many challenges to choose from.

Some home workout challenge plans focus mainly on abs, while others extensively work on the glutes, arms, and other body parts.

A 30-day challenge like a burpee challenge is not body part specific.

It’s cardio-based aimed at raising your heart rate that’ll help you increase endurance, overall strength, and cardiovascular health.

So you’re looking for a full-body transformation?

We have just the 30-day workout challenge for you!

30-Day Fitness Challenge to Transform Your Body

The goal of this 30-day workout challenge is to improve your overall fitness.

The exercises in this challenge will improve your cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength, and endurance.

Along the way, you’ll naturally lose weight and improve your body composition.

This workout plan combines anaerobic exercises like high knees and strength training and toning exercises like squats, pushups, and chair dips.

It’s designed to work your whole body and maximize calorie burning and fat loss without a personal trainer.

It’s a total body transformation workout plan that’s safe for anyone from a beginner to advanced.

What You’ll Need: This full-body challenge utilizes mostly just your body weight without the need for a gym membership!

Comfortable sneakers are recommended. Occasionally a chair will be needed on days featuring chair dips.

You may want a heart rate monitor or a Fitbit for further fitness tracking.

Difficulty Level: The level of difficulty for this workout challenge can vary depending on your current level of fitness.

If you’re a beginner, you may want to cut the suggested reps in half. Modifications are available on virtually all of the exercises.

Listen to your body. Give yourself enough time to rest.

This particular day’s workout challenge has been exercised every single day. If this is intense, feel free to take a rest day.

Exercises: 30-Day Fitness Challenge

There are 18 different exercises in this fitness challenge. See below for instructions and corresponding videos.

1. Burpees

These can be broken into 3 parts. Each is completed consecutively.

Start standing with your feet hips-width distance apart, weight in your heels. Send your hips back, bending at the knees, and squat.
Place your hands on the ground in between your feet, directly under your shoulders. Shift your weight into your hands, bend at the knees. Hop back, landing on the balls of your feet. Have a straight line from the tip of your head to your heels. Keep your core engaged and your hips in line. Option to add a pushup here for even more of a challenge!
Hop your feet back to the outside of your hands, reach your arms up and jump into the air.

Land and immediately lower into your next rep.

2. Jumping Jacks

Start standing with your legs together, arms by your sides. Bend your knees and jump.
As you jump, separate your legs to shoulder distance and raise your arms over your head.
Hop your legs back together and return your arms to the starting position.

3. High Knees

Start with your feet hips-width distance apart. Lift your left knee to the chest.
Quickly switch your legs by releasing your left foot back to the ground as you bring your right knee to your chest.
Alternate your legs at a running pace.

4. Butt Kicks

Start with your feet hips-width distance, arms by your sides. Bring your right heel to your glutes.
Your left arm rises to a 90-degree angle, forearm parallel to the ground.
As you bring your right heel down, bring your left heel to your glutes, right arm follows. Alternate speeding up to a jogging pace.

5. Squats

Start in a standing position with your feet a little wider than your hips, toes pointing slightly outward.
Keep your arms out in front of you, parallel with the ground, and your weight back in your heels and balls of your feet. Engage your core as you send your hips back and bend at the knees.
As you lower, keep your knees in line with your feet as your hips dip below the knees.
On an exhale, engaging your thighs, rise to the starting position.

6. Reverse Lunge

Start in a standing position, hands on your hips. Step your left foot back, landing on your toes.
Lower your hips until your right thigh is parallel with the ground, creating a 90-degree angle. Your left knee bends towards the ground into a 90-degree angle as well.
Press through your right heel returning your left leg to standing. Repeat on the other side. This is 1 rep.

7. Donkey Kicks

Start in a tabletop position with your wrists under your shoulders and your knees under your hips.
Engage your core and glutes as you lift your right leg up, knee bent at a 90-degree angle, sole of your foot facing the ceiling.
Lift as high as you can while keeping form and engagement. Slowly bring the leg down to the starting position. Repeat with the left leg.

8. Hip Raises

Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet on the floor. Arms are by your sides.
Engage your core and glutes as you raise your hips forming a straight line from your knees to your shoulders.
Hold for 5 seconds. With control, slowly lower your hips back to the starting position.

Abs And Core – Finess Challenge

9. Plank

Start by lying facedown on your mat. Place your hands directly under your shoulders.
Tuck your toes. Press the ground away as you lift your body, core engaged as if you were going to do a pushup. Hold.

10. Side Plank

Start on your side with your elbow directly under your shoulder, your forearm parallel with the front of your mat.
You have a few options for your feet. If you’re a beginner, line up your feet, one in front of the other. If you’d like more of a challenge, stack your feet on top of each other.
Press through your forearms and foot to raise your hips, creating a straight line from the tip of your head to your heels. Hold. Repeat on the other side.

11. Crunch

Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat on the floor. Stack your hands behind your head, chest open elbows out.
Keep your head and neck relaxed as you crunch up lifting your shoulders off the mat. Return to the starting position. Repeat.

12. Reverse Crunch

Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat on the floor. Slide your hands underneath your hips for stability.
Keep your knees bent at 90-degree angles, stacking your knees over your hips.
Press through your hands as you lift your lower back off the mat. Gently lower back down, tapping the mat with your toes. Repeat.

12. Up and Down Planks

Start in a pushup position. Drop your right forearm to the ground followed by your left forearm into a forearm plank.
Then, place your right hand back under your shoulder. Repeat with the left.
You’re back in a pushup position. Repeat starting with your left arm. This is one rep.

13. Russian Twist

Russian twist exercise - 30-day fitness challenge

Sit on the mat with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Lean back 45 degrees, lifting your heels so your toes are grazing the ground.
Straighten your arms and clasp your hands in front of your chest. Keep your back straight as you rotate your torso to the right, hands follow pointing towards the ground.
Reset and twist to the left. This is one rep.

14. Superman

Lie face down with your legs and arms outstretched. Imagine you are Superman flying through the sky!
On an exhale, lift arms and legs about 6 to 8 inches. Hold. Release and repeat.

15. Oblique Crunch

Start in the basic crunch position with your arms straight, fingertips pointing toward your knees.
On an exhale, crunch up twisting to the right, fingertips reaching to the floor.
Inhale, reset to crunch. On the next exhale, crunch up twisting to the left, reset. This is one rep.

Upper Body – Finess Challenge

16. Kneeling Pushups with Knee Walk

Start in a pushup position. Drop your right knee to the ground, followed by your left. Take a pushup.
Lift your right knee, and then your left, returning to the starting position. Repeat starting with the left knee.

17. Pike Pushup

Start in a Downward Facing Dog, hands firmly planted into the ground.
Hips stay high as you start to bend your arms, elbows out into a pushup. Return to Downward Facing Dog.

18. Chair Dips

Start with your hands behind you on the seat of a chair. Have a 90-degree bend in your legs.
Slowly lower your seat, thighs parallel to the ground, bending at the arms, also to 90 degrees. Press through your hands back to the starting position.

30-Day Fitness Challenge Calendar

Day 1:

10 Burpees
30 second Plank
20 Squats

Day 2:

25 Jumping Jacks
30 Second Side Plank
20 Reverse Lunges

Day 3:

20 High Knees
30 Crunches
20 Donkey Kicks

Day 4:

20 Butt Kicks
30 Reverse Crunches
20 Hip Raises

Day 5:

15 Burpees
30 Up and Downs
20 Kneeling Pushups

Day 6:

30 Jumping Jacks
30 Russian Twists
20 Pike Pushups

Day 7:

25 High Knees
30 Supermans
20 Chair Dips

Day 8:

25 Butt Kicks
30 Oblique Crunches
30 Squats

Day 9:

20 Burpees
45 second Plank
30 Reverse Lunge

Day 10:

35 Jumping Jacks
45 second Side Plank
30 Donkey Kicks

Day 11:

30 High Knees
40 Crunches
30 Hip Raises

Day 12:

30 Butt Kicks
40 Reverse Crunches
30 Kneeling Pushups

Day 13:

25 Burpees
40 Up and Downs
30 Pike Pushups

Day 14:

40 Jumping Jacks
40 Russian Twists
30 Chair Dips

Day 15:

35 High Knees
40 Supermans
40 Squats

Day 16:

35 Butt Kicks
40 Oblique Crunches
40 Reverse Lunges

Day 17:

30 Burpees
1 minute Plank
40 Donkey Kicks

Day 18:

45 Jumping Jacks
1 minute Side Plank
40 Hip Raises

Day 19:

40 High Knees
50 Crunches
40 Kneeling Pushups

Day 20:

40 Butt Kicks
50 Reverse Crunches
40 Pike Pushups

Day 21:

35 Burpees
50 Up and Downs
40 Chair Dips

Day 22:

Jumping Jacks x 50
Russian Twists x 50
Squats x 50

Day 23:

45 High Knees
50 Supermans
50 Reverse Lunges

Day 24:

45 Butt Kicks
50 Oblique Crunches
50 Donkey Kicks

Day 25:

40 Burpees
1 minute 30 second Plank
50 Hip Raises

Day 26:

55 Jumping Jacks
1 minute 30 second Side Plank
50 Kneeling Pushups

Day 27:

50 High Knees
60 Crunches
50 Pike Pushups

Day 28:

50 Butt Kicks
60 Reverse Crunches
50 Chair Dips

Day 29:

45 Burpees
60 Up and Downs
60 Squats

Day 30:

50 Jumping Jacks
60 Russian Twists
60 Reverse Lunges

Congrats! you did it. You completed this 30-day fitness challenge.

Don’t stop. Keep going and take one of our other workout challenges below:

Other 30-Day Workout Challenges to Try

If you are a beginner, by all means, take it slow and stop when you feel your limits. Fitness is not about perfection. It’s about progress and persistence.

Final Word on This 30-Day Fitness Challenge

Mix up your fitness routine with this or other similar daily fitness challenges.

You may surprise yourself! Looking at your burpee challenge! But! Remember to take a rest day or active recovery movement as needed.