What are the best strength training exercises?

What are the best strength training exercises?

Pick one move from each of four groups: squat, hinge (bending at the hips), push and pull. The Royal Osteoporosis Society says one from each group helps strengthen all your main muscles, and your bones too.

The charity also adds a brace (a plank) and a lunge or step once or twice a week.

Weights, machines, bands and your own body weight all count. The UK’s chief medical officers list all four. Pick your four moves now, from the column that fits where you train.

How many sets and reps of each exercise?

Do 8 to 12 reps (lifts) in a row. That’s one set. The charity says to build up to 3 sets of each move.

Train on 2 to 3 days a week, with at least a day’s rest in between.

The NHS says to work each set to the point where you need a short rest. For a full week laid out, see our beginner gym plan.

Do I need curls and other single-muscle exercises?

Not to start. In one beginner trial, adding curls and an arm-straightening move made no real difference.

Twenty-nine young men new to weights trained for 10 weeks. One group did only two big moves: bench press and a pull-down (pulling a bar down to your chest on a machine). The other group added curls and an arm-straightening move.

The authors found no real difference between the groups.

A second trial matched the total work done. Active young men who did only big moves gained more strength than men who did only single-muscle moves. Their best squat rose 13.8%, against 8.3%.

So build each session on your four moves. Want bigger arms later? Our biceps exercises guide covers the extras.

Are heavy weights better than light ones?

For your best single lift, yes. For muscle size, not always.

A review of 21 studies found heavy loads gave bigger gains in the best single lift. Muscle growth was similar with light and heavy loads. But every set went on until people couldn’t do another rep.

So light weights only matched heavy ones for muscle growth when each set went to the last rep people could do. Our guide to building muscle goes further, and our progressive overload guide shows when to step up.

How do you do the big lifts?

These cues come from The Prehab Guys, a team of physios who publish an exercise library.

Goblet squat: keep the weight close to your chest. Deadlift: set the kettlebell between your feet. Keep your back and neck straight, push the floor away and stand tall.

Row: bend at your hips and hold there. Drive your elbows back towards your back pockets. Overhead press: start with the weights in front of your shoulders and keep the rest of your body still.

Press-up: put your hands under your shoulders and keep your body straight. Not sure of your form? The charity says to talk to a physio or qualified exercise instructor before you start.

No gym? Our home strength training guide has the same four groups with no kit.

When to speak to a GP first

Book an appointment before you start if:

• You haven’t exercised for some time, or you have medical conditions or concerns.
• You’ve had many broken bones or a broken bone in your spine, or you’re healing from a break. The charity says to talk to a doctor or physio first.
• You get chest pain that comes and goes, or that goes away quickly but still worries you.
• You’re pregnant and new to weights. The NHS lists strength training at a gym if you do this already. Ask your midwife first.

Later in pregnancy, the NHS says to try to avoid lying flat on your back for more than a few minutes. It can make you feel dizzy and is not good for your baby. So swap the bench press and bridge for standing moves then.

Call 999 if you get sudden chest pain or discomfort that doesn’t go away. It can feel like squeezing or pressure inside your chest, burning or indigestion.

The same goes for pain that spreads to your arm, neck, jaw, stomach or back. Or chest pain with sweating, feeling sick, light-headed or short of breath.