Program Details

BEGIN is our 100% beginner-friendly lifting program that will help take anyone with zero or minimal lifting experience from unsure to confident in the gym. You'll start with 8 weeks of dumbbell-only work to ease into your workouts, then transition to our barbell prep phase (optional if you continue to train at home). Do you have some experience but need more time to get ready for a more advanced TLM plan? Join BEGIN, and you can skip ahead!

I'm ready
Perfect for the Person Who
  • Is ready to learn how to lift but has little to no training history. 
  • Has less than 6 months of experience lifting or lifting with a barbell. 
  • Wants to feel confident lifting in a gym, start lifting with a barbell, or get strong but doesn’t know where to start.
Weekly Split
  • 3 lifts per week.
  • Full body, full body, upper body split.
  • ~40-50 min/workout.
Monthly Progression
  • New workouts & movement progression every 4 weeks.
  • 2 months of dumbbells only work into 4 months of barbell progression, OR you can continue training with only dumbbells.
Run or Cardio Pairing
  • Pair with any run plan or in-app cardio.
  • Suggested pairs: Beginner runner, Beginner Cardio, 1-2 MI, 5-10k, BB5-20 MPW.

Included with run & lifting Memberships

Running icon

Running or Hiking Plan of Choice

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TLM Group Community

Messaging icon

1:1 Messaging Access

Resource icon

Resource Library

App Access

Mobility icon

Mobility

NO LIFTING EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

Learn about

BEGIN

Say goodbye to the guesswork of where to start in your lifting or hybrid training journey. Our BEGIN program is a 6-month-long progressive program designed to help you gain confidence, strength, and skill in the gym. We will ease you into (or back into) the gym starting with dumbbells and working toward barbells (optional) for 6 months so you can comfortably move into any TLM program upon completion. Get access to our running, hiking, beginner cardio, and on-demand cardio library as part of your membership.

A peek inside
our app

No barbell? No problem

SWAP ANY EXERCISE

Inside the TLM app, you can swap out any move for an alternative suggested by our team, or you can reference our entire exercise library. This makes TLM adaptable to any gym or at-home setup, and makes it easy to keep up with when you're on the go - giving you the freedom to train based on your preference.

Hate back squats but love leg presses? Swap it! Don’t have a barbell but have dumbbells? Substitute it out! Do you prefer to use the trap bar instead of a regular deadlift? We got you. Only have access to a Smith machine? Not a problem.

Inside TLM, we keep the equipment minimal and make sure everyone has the sub or swap they want or need inside the app. So you can keep training YOUR way.

Find your program
No more guesswork

INSTRUCTIONS & DETAILS IN EVERY LIFT

Inside the TLM app, we want you to feel confident going into the gym, and we aim to remove the guesswork for you. You'll know what exercise you are doing, how to do it, how long to rest, and how heavy to lift each week.

In every workout, you will have instructions, RPE or RIR, rest periods, a demo video with text description on how to perform the lift, and/or instructions on making your lift friendly for those training at home or with just dumbbells.

Find your program
How much did I lift?

EXERCISE HISTORY

See the exercise history for any lift you have completed. No more having to remember what you lifted the week before - with one tap you can see your progress and history over time in that lift. That way, when you head into the gym and think, ‘what weight did I end with last week?’, you know exactly where to start.

This includes indicating what was a warm-up set weight, your main set weight, what RPE you ranked it, and how many reps you did, including an estimate of your 1 rep max and total weekly volume for each week recorded in your exercise history.

Find your program
Learn as you go

RESOURCE LIBRARY

All TLM run and lifting plans come with access to our resource library which includes a collection of 50+ lifting and running specific resources. No more guessing how to pick the right weight, how to actually use RPE or RIR, or combining lifting and running or cardio.

Our resource library offers resources on how to return from training after being sick, our general injury or pain management tips, all the way to video breakdowns of the most frustrating lifts!

Find your program
No barbell? No problem

SWAP ANY EXERCISE

Inside the TLM app, you can swap out any move for an alternative suggested by our team, or you can reference our entire exercise library. This makes TLM adaptable to any gym or at-home setup, and makes it easy to keep up with when you're on the go - giving you the freedom to train based on your preference.

Hate back squats but love leg presses? Swap it! Don’t have a barbell but have dumbbells? Substitute it out! Do you prefer to use the trap bar instead of a regular deadlift? We got you. Only have access to a Smith machine? Not a problem.

Inside TLM, we keep the equipment minimal and make sure everyone has the sub or swap they want or need inside the app. So you can keep training YOUR way.

Find your program
No more guesswork

INSTRUCTIONS & DETAILS IN EVERY LIFT

Inside the TLM app, we want you to feel confident going into the gym, and we aim to remove the guesswork for you. You'll know what exercise you are doing, how to do it, how long to rest, and how heavy to lift each week.

In every workout, you will have instructions, RPE or RIR, rest periods, a demo video with text description on how to perform the lift, and/or instructions on making your lift friendly for those training at home or with just dumbbells.

Find your program
How much did I lift?

EXERCISE HISTORY

See the exercise history for any lift you have completed. No more having to remember what you lifted the week before - with one tap you can see your progress and history over time in that lift. That way, when you head into the gym and think, ‘what weight did I end with last week?’, you know exactly where to start.

This includes indicating what was a warm-up set weight, your main set weight, what RPE you ranked it, and how many reps you did, including an estimate of your 1 rep max and total weekly volume for each week recorded in your exercise history.

Find your program
Learn as you go

RESOURCE LIBRARY

All TLM run and lifting plans come with access to our resource library which includes a collection of 50+ lifting and running specific resources. No more guessing how to pick the right weight, how to actually use RPE or RIR, or combining lifting and running or cardio.

Our resource library offers resources on how to return from training after being sick, our general injury or pain management tips, all the way to video breakdowns of the most frustrating lifts!

Find your program

Suggested Equipment

We keep equipment at TLM minimal and include all suggested movements swaps directly in your programming so that everyone can train with the equipment they have.TLM is designed to be done from almost anywhere. If you don't have a barbell, you can do it at home with just dumbbells, swap the barbell for a machine, or use a smith machine.

Many clients do TLM from home with basic equipment and crush it!Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

Red weight icon

Barbell, smith machine, lifting machines & plates (optional)

Mobility icon

Pull-up bar (optional)

Red weight icon

Dumbbells and/or kettlebells

Community icon

Long straight or loop resistance bands

Orange running icon

A bench, step, or box to lift on or jump onto

Cardio icon

Cables and/or long resistance bands

Orange running icon

One or any of the following: treadmill, a place to run, rower, ski erg, bike or jump rope and/or a way to do cardio

App icon

Access to the
TLM app

BEGIN

FAQs

I'm not a full beginner but don't have a lot of barbell experience, where should I start?
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You can start with BEGIN! BEGIN is programmed for 100% beginners, but you can skip to month 2 or 3 once you are in it if you want to move past some of the very basic base building movements into the dumbbell-to-barbell transition phase. Afterwards, you can go into PERFORM, BUILD, OR METCON.

If you have some lifting experience but still need to make a lot of progress, that's okay! You can go right into blocks 3-6 of BEGIN, then move into one of our other programs to ease back into the swing of things. If this is you, sign up and message the coaches, and we can help you start with the right program based on your current fitness level!

What kind of movements are programmed in TLM?
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Weeks 1-8 of BEGIN start with just dumbbell, kettlebell, body weight, and/or banded movements. In week 9 through the end, you will move into our barbell and TLM prep phase if you choose to train with a barbell. 

We program with minimal equipment, so all workouts are friendly to almost any gym space or at-home training. We use a mix of barbell, dumbbell/kettlebell, banded or cable, or bodyweight-based training.

Please note that within every TLM workout, you can swap any main compound for a machine or non barbell variation based on preference or equipment you have.

You will see main lifts and movement patterns such as:

  • Bench
  • Squat
  • Deadlift
  • Overhead press
  • Row

Other movement patterns you will see in TLM BEGIN:

  • Split Squats, Lunges,, Step Up variations or similar
  • Single Arm Shoulder Press, Incline DB Chest Press, Lateral/Front/Rear Shoulder Raises, or other Shoulder or Chest Pressing variations
  • Single Arm DB Row, Cable or Banded Rows, Lat Pull Downs, Inverted Row Rowing Variations 
  • RDLs,  Hamstring Curls, or other Hamstring Accessories Variations
What lift-and-run or cardio programs pair well together with this plan?
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BEGIN pairs best with our:

  • Beginner running plan.
  • Beginner cardio plan.
  • 5k beginner plan.
  • 10k, 13.1, 26.2, 25-30k, 50k, or 50 miler running plans for those with a running history.
  • 1 or 2 mile for time programs.
  • On-demand cardio library: Includes weekly high-intensity interval training, metcons/WODS (think: functional fitness style cardio workouts), zone 2, or aerobic capacity workouts. 
  • SUMMIT hiking program.
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Comparing Our Lifting Programs

Description
Can I pair this with running?
Is this for beginners?
Can I make this program DB-friendly?
Minimum lifting experience recommended
Is this a good strength program for runners?
Has cardio built into it
Can be done while race training
Cardio it pairs with
BEGIN
0-3 MO
Run plan or on demand cardio
PERFORM
6 MO
Run plan or on demand cardio
BUILD
Lower volume
12 MO
<20 MPW RUN PLAN OR ON DEMAND CARDIO
METCON
Lower volume
6 MO
<15 MPW RUN PLAN OR ON DEMAND CARDIO
LIFESTYLE
3-6 MO
RUN PLAN OR ON DEMAND CARDIO

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  • Wants to improve their Hyrox race time
  • Is interested in improving general fitness with a mix of lifting, metcons, and running

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Running included
Lifting experience recommended
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Perfect for the person who:
  • Wants to utilize lifting to finish their next race stronger and healthier.
  • Wants a program to pair with their race training.
  • Feels like they can't keep lifting going into races and wants a realistic way to stay strong this race season.
  • Wants a program that specifically tapers and adjusts lifting volume to match their running and prepare them for race day.
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