Australia's physical activity guidelines recommend muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days a week, yet most Australian adults don't do it. If you've never lifted anything heavier than the shopping, you're in good company, and starting is simpler than it looks.
This guide covers what to do in your first few weeks: how often, how hard, which exercises and how to tell when it's time to make things harder.
Before you start
If you have a heart, lung or metabolic condition, chest pain, dizziness, or you've been told to limit exercise, check with your GP first. Australia's fitness industry uses a short questionnaire called the Adult Pre-Exercise Screening System for exactly this. Read our guide to pre-exercise screening if you're unsure.
How often: two or three days a week
Two sessions a week meets the guideline and is enough to get stronger as a beginner. Three is better if you have the time. Leave at least one day between sessions that train the same muscles, so they have time to recover.
Consistency beats intensity. Two sessions every week for three months will do far more than five sessions in the first week and none after that.
What to do: cover the whole body
Pick one exercise for each of these movement patterns and you've trained everything that matters:
- Squat: sit-to-stand from a chair, a bodyweight squat or a goblet squat holding a dumbbell
- Hinge: glute bridge, or a Romanian deadlift with dumbbells
- Push: wall or incline push-up, or a dumbbell bench press
- Pull: a row, with a dumbbell, a resistance band or a towel around a doorframe
- Carry or core: a farmer's carry with two heavy bags, a plank or a dead bug
At home with no equipment? Our home workout guide has bodyweight versions of all five.
How much: sets, reps and rest
For your first few weeks:
- 1 to 2 sets of each exercise
- 8 to 12 repetitions per set
- About 1 to 2 minutes' rest between sets
A whole session takes 30 to 40 minutes, including a warm-up.
How hard: leave a few reps in the tank
In the first weeks, finish every set feeling you could have done two or three more good repetitions. You're learning the movements, and your muscles, tendons and joints are adapting. Working to failure straight away mostly brings soreness, not faster progress.
Some muscle soreness a day or two after a new exercise is normal. Sharp pain, pain in a joint, or pain that's getting worse is not: stop that exercise and see a physio or GP if it persists.
When to make it harder
Strength comes from asking your body to do a little more over time. This is called progressive overload. Once you can do the top of your rep range (say 12) with good form on every set, make it slightly harder next time:
- add a little weight, or
- move to a harder version (wall push-up to bench push-up, for example), or
- slow the lowering phase down to three seconds
Change one thing at a time. Our guide to progressive overload explains this in more detail.
Your first four weeks
- Week 1: 1 set of each exercise. Learn each movement at an easy effort.
- Week 2: 2 sets. Same exercises, a little more work.
- Week 3: 2 sets. Aim for the top of the rep range.
- Week 4: 2 to 3 sets. Progress anything that felt easy.
Common beginner mistakes
- Doing too much too soon. Start easier than you think you need to.
- Changing the program every week. Stick with the same exercises long enough to get better at them.
- Skipping the warm-up. Five minutes of easy movement and a light first set of each exercise is enough.
- Training only the muscles you can see. Rows, hinges and carries matter as much as push-ups.
If you're 65 or over
Strength training matters even more as we age, and the guidelines for older Australians add balance work. Start with chair-supported exercises and see our guide to strength and balance after 65.
Want a plan that does this for you?
Train90 builds a 13-week program (about 90 days) around the equipment you own and the days you're free, starts you at the right level and tells you when to progress. See your first week free.