Three promises before you start
Make these to yourself, in writing if it helps. They are the whole strategy.
- I will start too easy. The first fortnight is about turning up, not about performance. If it feels pointless, that is the correct feeling.
- I will do two sessions a week, not five. Two is the floor and the ceiling for the first month. The urge to make up lost time is what killed the last attempt.
- I will not keep a streak. Weeks are counted, days are not. A missed session is a missed session, not a verdict.
The four-week plan
This uses BANKED’s actual starting points for someone who selects “new to it”: bottom rungs of each ladder and the lightest starting loads. Tick dumbbells only if you own them.
| Week | Duration | Session A | Session B | Rule for the week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 min | Bodyweight squat 2 × 10–20 · incline push-up 2 × 8–15 · prone Y-T-W 2 × 8–12 · dead bug 1 × 8–12 | Glute bridge 2 × 12–20 · prone Y-T-W (no bar) 2 × 8–12 · kneeling pike push-up 2 × 8–15 · dead bug 1 × 8–12 | Finish every set feeling you could do more. That is deliberate |
| 2 | 20 or 30 min | Ladders move where every set hit the top: pause squat, push-up, towel door row | Single-leg glute bridge, pike push-up; split squat appears at 30 min | Add ten minutes only if week one felt easy. It should have |
| 3 | 30 min | Dumbbells in: goblet squat ≈ 8 kg · floor press ≈ 8 kg · dumbbell row ≈ 8 kg · Romanian deadlift ≈ 10 kg · plank | Romanian deadlift ≈ 10 kg · row · overhead press ≈ 6 kg · reverse lunge ≈ 6 kg · plank | Weights feel light. Good. Reps climb inside the range |
| 4 | 30 min | First ≈ 2 kg increases where every set hit the top | Same | Eight sessions done. The habit exists. Nothing else has to change |
Soreness, slips and stopping: the decision tree
When something feels wrong
- Something is off. What is it?
- Sore muscles, no pain in a joint
- Normal, especially after week one. Do the next session at the same level; soreness fades fastest when you move. Twenty minutes is fine.
- Pain in a joint, or sharp pain anywhere
- Stop that movement. Do the rest of the session if the rest feels fine. If it is still there in a few days, get a person to look at it. BANKED cannot.
- Missed one session this week
- Days left in the week?
- Yes
- Do it on the next day that has twenty minutes in it. The week is still bankable.
- No
- The week ends at one. Next week starts at zero. Nothing to make up.
- Yes
- Days left in the week?
- Missed two weeks entirely
- Come back at the same rung and weight. BANKED has not reset anything. Do Session A. Do not do two sessions in one day to compensate.
- Bored because it is too easy
- That is the ladder about to move. Make sure every set is reaching the top of its range; the next session will be harder without your help.
- Sore muscles, no pain in a joint
Why not just start where you left off
Because the weights you remember belong to a different body. The first session at the old numbers is survivable; the second, two days later, is not, and it is skipped because everything hurts. Then the third is skipped because the second was, and now there is a story. Starting on the bottom rung wastes perhaps two weeks. Starting at the old numbers wastes the restart.
When to see a doctor first
If you are pregnant or recently were, have a heart condition, an injury that has not been assessed, a long illness behind you, or take medication that affects exercise, talk to a doctor before you begin. None of this is medical advice; BANKED does not know your history and neither does this page. Start at the gentlest rung, stop if anything hurts, and treat “feels fine” as permission to continue, not to accelerate.
Fair questions
- Should I fix my eating at the same time?
- Not in the first month. Two sessions a week is one new habit; overhauling food is another, and two new habits at once is how restarts collapse. BANKED gives you a calorie and protein target from day one; glance at it, log when you feel like it, change nothing yet.
- How long until I am back where I was?
- Nobody can tell you honestly, and anyone who does is guessing. People who have trained before usually find it comes back faster than it was built the first time. The useful question is different: are you still doing two a week in month three? If yes, the rest follows.
- I am much older than last time. Does the plan change?
- The starting rung is already the bottom one and progression only fires when you beat the current level, so the plan adapts to you by construction. Older people get stronger on the same movements on the same two-a-week schedule; the ladder simply climbs more patiently.