What do you need to do to get stronger?
Strength training means challenging your muscles with resistance and gradually getting better at it. That resistance can come from machines, free weights, cables or your own bodyweight.
If you’re new to strength training, the amount of information (and misinformation) online can be overwhelming. What exercises should I do? How hard should I train? How often? How do I train with good technique? How do I know whether a program will work?
For most beginners, two or three consistent strength sessions per week with a manageable selection of exercises is a great place to start. You only need to do a few simple things:
- Get familiar with a small number of basic exercises.
- Train them hard enough to give your body a reason to improve.
- Eat and sleep enough to give yourself the resources to recover and adapt.
- Gradually increase how challenging the training is as you get stronger.
- Keep doing this most weeks, over several months.
- Record what you do so you can see what’s working and improve over time.
That’s it! Especially when you’re new, your body is very receptive to training. Doing something sensible consistently gets you a long way before you need anything more complicated.
The basic terms you need to know
Like anything, it helps to learn a few basic terms we’ll use to describe your training.
Rep (repetition): one complete cycle of an exercise. One squat is one rep.
Set: a group of reps done together before you rest. Three sets of five squats means you do five reps, rest, then repeat that twice more:
5 squats → Rest → 5 squats → Rest → 5 squats 👏
Load: the weight you’re using.
RIR (reps in reserve): the number of extra reps you think you could have completed at the end of a set. Say you do five squats and reckon you could have managed three more before you couldn’t stand back up with that weight. That’s 3 RIR. It helps us describe how hard the set was.
RPE (rating of perceived exertion): another way to describe the same effort, usually on a scale of 1–10. At the harder end of that scale, RPE ≈ 10 − RIR. So RPE 8 means roughly two reps left, RPE 9 means one, and RPE 10 means you couldn’t complete another rep with the intended technique.
Working set: a set that’s hard enough to count as useful training, usually because it reaches the target RIR or RPE.
Warm-up set: an easier set that helps you build up to the working weight, rather than jumping straight to your heaviest set the first time you do an exercise that day.
You don’t need to become an expert before you start. You just need enough terminology to understand what your program is asking you to do.
How many days per week do I need to train, and for how long?
The truth is, especially when you’re new, even a few sets of one exercise once per week can make you stronger at that exercise!
But if you want to get stronger across more than one movement and make progress a bit faster, I’d recommend starting with two or three sessions per week. Allow roughly 45–75 minutes per session, depending on the exercises and how long you need to rest.
The most important thing is to choose a program you can stick to most weeks, for months at a time. If your schedule changes every week and you’re constantly starting again, it becomes much harder to get good at the exercises.
A simple rule: if you’re unsure, start with fewer days. You can always add a day later. It’s much easier to build on a program you’re completing than to keep up with one that doesn’t suit your life.
Why follow a program?
Why follow a program at all? Why not just turn up to the gym and do whatever you feel like?
There are two basic reasons:
- You need to get good at the exercises. If you’re constantly changing them, you don’t get enough practice to make the most of what they have to offer. Strength is partly about improving a skill, as well as building muscle and making other physical adaptations. That’s why I recommend keeping most of the same exercises for at least 4–6 weeks.
- You need to know whether you’re progressing. If you record what you lift, for how many reps and how hard it felt, you can see whether you’re getting stronger instead of relying on memory. Later, that information will help you decide what to change and what to keep doing.
What should a beginner strength training program include?
A good strength training program covers the main ways your body can move. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise every exercise below; I’m including examples to make the categories easier to understand.
Squat-type movements: bend at your knees and hips. Examples include squats, lunges, a hack squat or a leg press.
Hip hinges: bend mainly at the hips, like a folding motion. Examples include Romanian deadlifts, other deadlift variations, hip thrusts and back extensions.
Upper-body pushing: press something away from you or overhead. Examples include a bench press, machine chest press, push-up or overhead press.
Upper-body pulling: pull something towards you, either horizontally or vertically. Think cable rows, lat pulldowns and pull-ups.
You can also include isolation exercises like curls, leg extensions and triceps extensions, plus other useful movements such as carries or trunk work.
Not every session has to include every category, but a program should cover most of them across the week. Over different phases of training, you’ll probably use an even wider range.
Notice that I haven’t said which equipment you have to use? That’s because, especially at the beginning, the equipment matters a lot less than training the movement well and making it challenging enough. You can get stronger in a fully equipped gym or with just your bodyweight. More equipment simply gives you more options.
What does a real 2-day beginner strength training program look like?
Here is Week 2 of the actual 2-day Strength Training 1.0 program included in the free pack. Both days contain six exercises, with the larger movements first and smaller machine or cable exercises afterwards.
I’ve added example target weights for one imaginary beginner, with ranges rounded to the nearest kilogram. These aren’t suggested starting weights for everyone. Machine settings and resistance vary between gyms, so choose your own loads to match the target RPE with good technique.
Day 1: squat and pressing emphasis
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Target RPE | Example target weight (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hack squat | 3 | 6–8 | 8 | 59–62 |
| Machine chest press | 3 | 6–8 | 8 | 25–26 |
| Leg extension | 3 | 12–14 | 9–10 | 20–21 |
| Machine overhead press | 3 | 12–14 | 9–10 | 15–16 |
| Cable lateral raise | 3 | 15–20 | 10 | 5 |
| Cable overhead triceps extension | 3 | 15–20 | 10 | 10 |
Day 2: hinge and pulling emphasis
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Target RPE | Example target weight (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romanian deadlift (RDL) | 3 | 6–8 | 8 | 39–41 |
| Lat pulldown | 3 | 6–8 | 8 | 29–31 |
| Seated hamstring curl | 3 | 12–14 | 9–10 | 20–21 |
| Cable row | 3 | 12–14 | 9–10 | 25–26 |
| Cable biceps curl | 3 | 15–20 | 10 | 10 |
| Cable rear-delt fly | 3 | 15–20 | 10 | 5 |
The example uses the programs’ default setup for a commercial gym. You can also filter the programs by equipment restrictions to train at home or in a gym with fewer machines. The 3-day version spreads the work across an extra training day.
How hard should a beginner train?
Hard enough that the set matters. Not so hard that every session turns into a test.
In the example above, the larger exercises target RPE 8, which means roughly two reps left in reserve. Some of the more stable machine and cable exercises go closer to RPE 9–10. That doesn’t mean you should sacrifice technique just to reach the number, especially while you’re still learning an exercise.
If every squat set ends with a slow grinder where your technique starts to break down, you’re spending a lot of time practising the version of the movement we don’t want to reinforce.
Start with weights that feel challenging but still let you use the intended technique. The RIR/RPE targets help you judge that, and your program can become more demanding as your strength and technique improve.
How should you warm up and rest between sets?
You don’t need an elaborate warm-up. Before the first hard working set of a bigger exercise, start with an easier set, perhaps around half your planned working weight. Depending on the exercise and how heavy you’re going, you might start lighter and work through one or two more progressively heavier sets. The aim is to practise the movement and get ready for the working weight, not tire yourself out. Lighter warm-ups usually need little rest, but take more time as the weights get heavier.
Rest long enough to perform the next set properly. Around 2–3 minutes can be a sensible starting point for heavier exercises; lighter machine and cable work may need less. If you’re still out of breath or your technique is suffering, take a little longer.
How should progression work?
When you first start training, your body is primed to make progress. If you follow a sensible program and aim for similar effort levels each week, you’ll often be able to add weight or reps quite regularly.
Take the hack squat from the example. Imagine you complete 3 sets of 6 reps at 60 kg, around RPE 8. Next week you manage 3 sets of 7 at the same weight and a similar effort. That’s progress, even though the weight hasn’t changed. You might then work towards the top of the 6–8 rep range before making a small weight increase.
If a session is unexpectedly hard, you don’t have to force an increase just because it’s written down.
Progressive overload is a term you may have come across. It doesn’t mean you force progress by adding weight. It means you add weight or reps as you progress, so the training keeps challenging you. The progression follows your progress.
This is why tracking your sessions matters. Without a record, you’re mostly guessing whether your performance today is better than a month ago. The free programs also include calculations to help you compare sets performed with different weights, reps and effort levels.
What should you record after each session?
Keep this simple enough that you’ll actually do it. At a minimum, record:
- the exercise;
- sets and reps;
- the weight you used;
- RPE or a rough note on difficulty;
- anything unusual that helps explain the session.
That last point doesn’t need to become a diary. “Slept badly”, “different bar”, “left knee felt awkward” or “first session after holiday” can be enough.
The free programs have all of this set up already. Usually, you just enter the weights, reps and effort for the day, plus a note if there’s something worth remembering.
What’s included in the free Introduction to Strength Training Pack?
I built these beginner resources so you don’t have to turn everything above into a program from scratch.
The pack includes:
- a 2-day Strength Training 1.0 program;
- a 3-day Strength Training 1.0 program;
- the standalone Training Tracker if you already have your own program;
- a Basic Terminology and Concepts for Strength Training guide;
- video demonstrations and instructions for the exercises.
They run in Google Sheets. You make your own copy, follow the Start Here instructions and walkthroughs, and record your training as you go. You don’t need to be good with spreadsheets. The sheets handle the calculations, weight suggestions and progress dashboard in the background while you enter your training numbers.
Use the sheets on your phone or computer, but keep them in Google Sheets rather than Excel, which may not support every feature. You can run the programs as written or filter the exercises for the equipment you have.
Between what you’ve just learned here and the free pack, you have what you need to start strength training and get stronger. The signup below sends you the ready-to-use system.