Weight lifting for beginners might sound like an oxymoron to some people. After all, if you're new to the weight room, the whole concept of picking up and putting down heavy things while demonstrating perfect form seems like a pretty advanced level of physical fitness. How do you learn to use a squat rack? And how are you supposed to know if the weight you're picking up is too light, too heavy, or just right?
Sure, weight lifting can appear intimidating—especially if your point of reference comes from watching the Olympics or seeing complicated exercises on Instagram. But it's important to remember that weight lifting can be beneficial to many, and the practice encompasses a huge array of exercises that range from fundamental movements that mimic daily activity to advanced power-lifting moves. So don't worry if you don't know how to load weights on a barbell yet…or even what to do with that barbell once it's heavy. Strength training for beginners doesn't mean you get thrown into the weight room solo with no idea what you're doing (in fact, please don't do that!). Instead, getting into weight lifting can be a gradual and satisfying process where you progress as you're ready.
Whether your goal is to eventually deadlift your bodyweight, knock out 20 push-ups in a row, or just get stronger in ways that will help with everyday life (think: carrying groceries up stairs, picking up your toddler, or loading luggage into your car—all without strains or muscle pulls), strength training can help with that.
Strength training is one of the top ways to help your body stay functional and healthy in the long run, Sivan Fagan, CPT, owner of Strong With Sivan in Baltimore, tells SELF. “I see the benefit with my 80-year-old clients. Being able to control your hips, for instance, is the difference between being able to stop a fall versus not being able to stop, falling, and breaking a hip.”
Also, here's a harsh reality: Muscle mass can begin to decline in your 30s. So if you want to build and maintain strength as you get older, there's no time like the present to start a weight lifting program.
Weight lifting for beginners doesn’t have to be complicated—and it can actually be a lot of fun. Here’s everything you need to know about getting started with a strength training program.
1. Start with your bodyweight.
That's right, your own weight totally counts in weight training. Put simply, “strength training means using resistance to create work for your muscles,” Hannah Davis, CSCS, owner of Body by Hannah, tells SELF. In time, that can mean using external weight—like dumbbells and barbells—but weight lifting for beginners typically starts out simply with your own bodyweight.
Not only can you get an effective strength training workout using just your bodyweight, but bodyweight exercises are also a helpful way for beginners to become familiar with all the main movement patterns in strength training, says Fagan. For example, before you grab a pair of dumbbells for deadlifts, you should first make sure you understand how to do a hip hinge—pushing your hips and butt backward, keeping a neutral spine and a slight bend in your knees. And before you even think about using a squat rack, you should be very confident with your bodyweight squats.
2. Nail down your form.
Again, before you even pick up a weight, you want to make sure your form is impeccable. Unfortunately, getting real-time feedback on your form became a whole lot trickier during the pandemic. Now that many gyms are reopened (and, hopefully, abiding by safety measures to keep their members and staff as safe as possible), you may feel more comfortable scheduling a session with a personal trainer (if your budget allows it) to go over the basics of different strength training moves.
If in-person training is not an option for you, many personal trainers now offer virtual sessions. If you decide to go that route, make sure the trainer can catch your form from various angles so it can better mimic what they'd see in person. “From the front, their form can look amazing with a squat, but then if you say, ‘Okay, show me a side view,’ you’d be able to tell their torso is leaning too much forward,” says Fagan.
A personal trainer can help you master those basic movement patterns, which set the stage for many of the exercises you’ll be doing, says Fagan. Because they’ll be able to suggest real-time corrections to your form, you’ll be better prepared to progress safely.
If a personal trainer isn't right for you, online tutorials can help you learn what a proper move should look like, and working out in front of a mirror (or videoing yourself on your phone) can help you make sure you’re executing it correctly, Holly Roser, a certified personal trainer and owner of Holly Roser Fitness in San Francisco, told SELF previously.
3. Invest in some equipment.
While starting with bodyweight moves is key, you will want to eventually add weights to your weight training plan. Weights, like most other kinds of at-home fitness equipment, have been difficult to find online during the coronavirus pandemic, but have slowly been coming back into stock.
If you can find them, dumbbells are the most user-friendly weight option for beginners—more so than kettlebells or barbells, which have more of a learning curve to use properly and safely, says Fagan. Ideally, you’ll have three sets: a light, moderate, and a heavy (perhaps, 5 pounds, 12 pounds, and 20 pounds, she says). Another option is to invest in an adjustable set of weights, which can be a real space saver if you know you're going to want access to heavier weights too.
Other nonweight equipment—which tends to be easier to find available than actual weights—can be great to mix up your workout too. This includes things like mini bands, looped resistance bands, sliders, or suspension trainers (like TRX), says Fagan.
4. Prep your muscles before you start.
A proper warm-up is an important part of an effective strength workout. One good way to do that is by waking up your muscles with a foam roller. “Foam rolling loosens up tight muscles so that they work the way they're designed to,” says Davis. If you have a percussive massage gun (like a Theragun), that can also help your muscles warm up before a workout, according to research in the Journal of Sports Medicine.
A dynamic warm-up is another important part of your preworkout routine, since it preps your muscles for the work they're about to do and helps increase your range of motion. A dynamic warm-up essentially means you're moving through various gentle movement patterns to help get your muscles ready for the work they're about to do. Increasing your range of motion allows you to go deeper into those squats and fully extend your arms during those biceps curls, which means more muscle recruitment and better results.
5. Schedule regular workouts—but don’t go overboard.
One of the most intimidating parts of starting a beginner strength training routine is knowing when and how often you should be working out. The key here is to start slow. “Start with two days for two to three weeks, then add a third day,” says Davis. “Ideally, you should strength train three to five days per week, but work your way up—starting off at five days a week might shock your body.” In fact, doing too much too soon is one of the most common mistakes Fagan says she sees with people starting out.
An effective way to program weight training for beginners is to make every workout a total-body day, rather than splitting it up into muscle groups, says Fagan. That means each workout, you’ll be doing a little bit of everything—some lower-body work, some core moves, and some upper-body work, which will keep your workout balanced. If you’re doing three days a week of total-body workouts, you can also eventually add a bonus day, where you focus on specific areas where you want to build more strength.
These workouts shouldn’t stretch on and on, either. Cap them at about 40 minutes, says Fagan. (For some total-body workout ideas, check out SELF’s options here.)
On the days when you aren’t weight lifting, it’s also important for overall health to get in some cardio. “I defer to the CDC recommendations for aerobic exercise—150 minutes of light-to-moderate work or 75 minutes a week of high-intensity work,” says Davis. Ultimately, finding the right mix of workouts will depend on your specific goal.
6. Lift the right amount of weight.
While it would be super helpful if there was one set starting weight for everyone, it really depends on your current strength, what type of exercise you're doing, and how many repetitions and sets you plan to do of that move. When you first start out, you should stick to about 12 to 15 reps per set, says Fagan. For your first month of strength training, you can aim to do just one to two sets of each exercise. Once you start to feel stronger and those sets start to feel a little easier, you can increase it to three sets per exercise, she says.
Keep in mind that different exercises will require different weights, because some muscle groups (like your glutes) will be naturally stronger than others (e.g., your triceps), so it helps to have a little bit of variety around you. That might include a light, medium, and heavy set of dumbbells; a kettlebell or two; and maybe eventually a barbell. When picking a weight for each exercise, choose one that feels heavy enough to challenge you, but not so heavy that your form suffers.
Consider using the rate of perceived exertion scale to determine whether the weight you’re using is appropriate for you, Noam Tamir, CSCS, owner and CEO of TS Fitness in New York City, told SELF previously. On a scale of 0 to 10, if 0 is sitting on the couch and 10 is a max effort you can only sustain for several seconds, you should shoot to end your set at an 8. If you’re already at an 8 and you still have four reps left in your set, you’ll probably want to drop down in weight.
It’s also important to make sure you take ample rest between sets, Tamir says. Sticking to a 1:2 ratio of work to rest—for example, 40 seconds of rest if it took you 20 seconds to perform your set—can help make sure you’ve recovered enough to complete your next set. You should feel challenged at the end of your sets, but the goal isn’t to keep your heart rate elevated throughout the entire workout, like it is when you do cardio.
7. Continue with the same moves each day when you’re starting out.
While seasoned lifters may choose to do different exercises every day during a week-long period (and repeat the same moves the following week), there's no need to follow this type of program when you're just getting comfortable, says Davis. Plus, it'll take some of guesswork out of your routine for a while.
“Stick to the same basic moves two to three times a week to build a basic level of fitness and strength,” says Davis. “Why complicate things if you don’t have to? Great results can be made by repeating the same workout, but increasing weights as you become stronger.” What’s more, this will also help you master the moves, rather than moving on to new exercises before you've got the first ones down. (And if you don’t have access to heavier weights, you can follow these tips for making an exercise feel harder without adding more weight.)
8. Fit in a postworkout stretch if you can.
Now that you've got the training part down, it's time to stretch it out. (Can you say ahh?) Stretching while your muscles are warm can help improve your flexibility, says Davis, not to mention it feels phenomenal after you've pushed yourself hard.
Shoot for a 5 to 10 minute cooldown after your workout, which should include dynamic stretches, or those that involve some movement, says Jennifer Morgan, DPT, P.T., CSCS, a physical therapist at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. This helps increase blood flow to your muscles, which aids in recovery. Again, if you happen to have a massage gun lying around, these are great for postworkout recovery too.
9. Take rest days when your body tells you to.
It's okay to be a little sore. Your muscles might feel achy or tired the day after a tough training session due to DOMS, or delayed onset muscle soreness. When you strength train, you're causing microscopic damage to the tissue that will be repaired—that's how you build muscle. But you also don't want to be so sore that you can't exercise again that week, so if your soreness sidelines you for several days, that's a sign you're likely doing too much too quickly.
Speaking of giving your body a break, rest days are crucial to any weight lifting routine—whether you're a beginner or a pro. “If you constantly break down muscle without a recovery period, you won’t give the muscle fibers a chance to repair and build back stronger,” explains Davis.
At the end of the day, you have to focus on how you feel. “Listen to your body,” says Davis. “It tells you when it needs a day off.” As a general rule, take a rest day if your perceived pain is above a 7 on a scale of 10, Davis advises. You may also choose to focus on a different body part or try a gentler workout, like yoga or Pilates.
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