How to start strength training: what the NHS says and a four-week plan

What counts as strength training?

Strength training, also called resistance training, means making your muscles work against a load. The load can be your own body weight, a dumbbell, an elastic band or a machine. The UK Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) list bodyweight, free weights, resistance machines and elastic bands, plus everyday tasks such as climbing stairs.⁸

The NHS gives a simple test. An activity strengthens your muscles when you do it to the point where you need a short rest before repeating it.¹ Bodyweight moves such as push-ups and sit-ups count, and so does work with resistance bands or weights, at home or in a gym.¹

So you do not have to join a gym to begin. Arthritis UK says you do not need weights or a gym membership to work on your strength, and gives yoga, gardening and carrying shopping as examples.⁵ The CMOs add that any strengthening activity is better than none.⁸

If you want the wider picture first, read the UK strength training guidelines. This page is about the first weeks: what to do, how much, and how to build up.

What do the NHS and the UK Chief Medical Officers recommend?

For adults aged 19 to 64, the NHS says to do strengthening activities that work all the major muscle groups, which it lists as legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms, on at least 2 days a week.¹ The CMOs give the same minimum.⁸ Adults aged 65 and over are asked for strength, balance and flexibility activities on at least 2 days a week.⁹

For the size of a session, the NHS gives repetitions and sets, not minutes. Do 8 to 12 repetitions of each activity, and that counts as 1 set. Do at least 2 sets, and 3 sets give even more benefit.² A repetition is one complete movement, such as one lift, one push-up or one sit-up.² The NHS also says there are no specific recommendations for how much time to spend on strength and flexibility exercises.²

One point is easy to miss. Time spent on strength exercises does not count towards your 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity.² Plan walking or cycling as a separate part of the week.

A four-week starter plan

The NHS pages do not publish a four-week plan. The plan below is built by us from the NHS figures and stays inside them: at least 2 days a week, 8 to 12 repetitions, 2 to 3 sets, and a build-up over weeks.¹² It is an example to adapt, not a prescription.

The arithmetic of a session

At the NHS minimum of 2 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions, one exercise adds up to 2 × 8 = 16 to 2 × 12 = 24 repetitions in a session. With 3 sets it is 24 to 36. If you do six exercises in a session at the minimum, that is 6 × 16 = 96 to 6 × 24 = 144 repetitions. Over 2 days, one exercise comes to 32 to 48 repetitions in the week.

Start each session with a warm-up. The NHS routine takes at least 6 minutes and begins with 3 minutes of marching on the spot, then heel digs, knee lifts, shoulder rolls and knee bends.⁴

Six basic moves and how to do them safely

The NHS strength exercises page describes gentle moves for people who have not done much for a while. They need a chair, a wall and, for the curl, something light to lift. For chair-based moves, the NHS says to choose a solid, stable chair without wheels.³

The NHS asks you to build up slowly and to increase the repetitions of each exercise over time.³ It suggests doing these exercises at least twice a week.³

Safety rules from the NHS and Arthritis UK

• Stop an exercise immediately if you feel any pain or become unwell.¹⁰
• Warm up first. The NHS gives preventing injury as a reason to warm up properly, and it names not warming up and tired muscles among the common causes of sprains and strains.⁴¹¹
• Some mild discomfort while you exercise is normal, and so is some muscle soreness afterwards, especially when you are just starting. If pain during or after exercise is much more severe, stop and talk to a healthcare professional.⁵
• Ask a healthcare professional such as a GP first if you are not sure the exercises suit your fitness level, or if you are pregnant or have recently given birth.¹⁰

Home or gym? What you need to start

Both work. The NHS says muscle strengthening can be done at home or in a gym.¹ The CMOs name four kinds of resistance: bodyweight, free weights, resistance machines and elastic bands.⁸ The first four weeks of the plan above need none of them, only a stable chair, a wall and a pair of water bottles.³

If you later buy equipment, think about the step between loads. Your first dumbbell might weigh 5 kg, which is 5 × 2.20462 = 11.0 lb, and a heavier one 10 kg, which is 22.0 lb. A jump of 2.5 kg is 5.5 lb. Equipment that goes up in smaller steps lets you build up more gradually. Model I, for example, changes resistance in steps of 1 kg, which is 2.2 lb.¹²

That means you round to what the kit allows. If you planned to add about 2.5 kg and the kit goes up in 1 kg steps, take the 2 kg step. A smaller rise is closer to the NHS idea of building up gradually.² For a closer look at the kit, read home gym equipment and strength training at home.

Soreness, rest and sleep

Arthritis UK says it is normal to feel mild discomfort while exercising, and some soreness in your muscles afterwards, especially at the start.⁵ It also says to start off gently and build up over time.⁵

The sources read for this guide do not give a number of rest days between strength sessions, so this guide does not either. A practical reading of the 2-day minimum is to leave the other days of the week for walking, cycling or rest, and to notice how you feel before the next session.¹

On sleep, the NHS says regular physical activity can help you sleep better. Some people find that exercising close to bedtime affects their sleep, so it suggests trying to be active earlier in the day.⁶ No source read here gives a timescale for results, and this guide does not promise one.

Starting at 40, 50 or 60

The NHS and CMO pages do not set separate strength figures for people in their 40s or 50s. The adult advice for ages 19 to 64 applies: at least 2 days a week, 8 to 12 repetitions, at least 2 sets.¹²

The CMOs say strengthening activities help delay the natural decline in muscle mass and bone density that occurs from around age 50, and that strength training in middle age has a beneficial effect on postural balance.⁸ They also say the benefits of physical activity far outweigh the risks, even for most people with long-term conditions.⁸

From 65, the NHS asks for strength, balance and flexibility activities on at least 2 days a week, and tells older adults to speak to a GP first if they have not exercised for some time or have medical conditions.⁹ For frailer older adults, the CMOs suggest regular sit-to-stand exercise, short walks and stair climbing as starting points.⁸ A related page covers falls prevention for older adults.

The pages used for this guide give no separate figures for women and men, so the advice above is the same for everyone aged 19 to 64.

How does strength training fit with your other activity?

Strength work sits alongside, not instead of, aerobic activity. The NHS says time spent on strength exercises does not count towards moderate aerobic activity.² Once your two strength days are set, add the walking, cycling or swimming you already enjoy on other days.

If you are tracking how your body changes, the guides on waist measurement and BMI and a healthy weight explain the measures the NHS uses. Once you have your first weeks behind you, sets and reps and progressive overload explain how to keep building.

Frequently asked questions