I think when someone's new to any kind of training, the most important thing isn't that their training be productive, but that it be safe and enjoyable. When someone's a rank novice, even stretching will make them stronger; even getting stronger will improve their aerobic fitness; even getting stronger will improve their flexibility. Basically, doing anything will make the rank novice better at just about everything -- so long as they actually do it and it's safe.
After a few months, they will need to train a little more specifically to achieve their goals. They may need more intensity to keep making progress. They may need more frequency, or more volume, or more rest, or more focus on their diet, or more....(etc), and by this time they'll have discovered that exercise doesn't have to be horrible, that they can actually enjoy it. As a result, they'll be more happy to do the things necessary to achieve what they want to achieve, and they'll have a few months worth of body awareness built up, which will make it easier to learn some of the harder things.
We often make the mistake of throwing people into the deep end as their first swimming lesson, figuratively speaking. Unfortunately, most human beings feel alienated by this. It gives them a bad experience as the basis for their training, and this is often difficult to cure. It is better to let them play in the shallow end, get their feet wet, have some fun and then start moving into deeper waters when they're ready for it.