Strength training and home gym: guides for training at home

Where to start

If you have never trained with weights, begin with how to start strength training and the guide to sets and reps. If you are choosing equipment, read home gym equipment and home gym cable machines. If you are comparing connected machines, the comparison pages show prices read from each maker on a stated date.

For exercises on a cable machine, the cable machine exercise library covers movements one by one.

Training safely

Strength training is physical activity, and the sources cited in these guides recommend talking to a health professional first if you have a medical condition, are recovering from surgery or have pain. Start light, learn the movement and add load gradually.

Falls are a separate subject with their own pages. They explain risk factors named by the CDC, how a fall risk check works and what protective equipment does and does not do. In an emergency in the United States, call 911.

How to choose what to read first

If you are new to lifting, the order matters more than the equipment. Learn a few basic movements, keep the load light enough to control, and add weight or repetitions gradually. The guides on sets and reps and on progressive overload explain the vocabulary behind those steps, and the page on starting strength training ties them together.

If you are buying, decide how much space you have, whether you can fix equipment to a wall, and what you will actually use. The cost guide and the equipment guide list the kinds of equipment and show prices read from makers on a stated date, without ranking one as the winner.

If you are training with older adults in mind, read the strength training page for seniors and the falls pages together, and ask a health professional about the right starting point.

How the equipment and cost guides are written

The equipment and cost guides list categories of equipment, what each is used for, the space it needs and what to check before buying. Prices are printed only when they were read from a maker's page on a stated date, and each table says which date. A value that could not be read is shown as not stated.

No guide ranks products by an invented score. If a guide includes the Chutex Model I, it appears in the same table as the others, with the same kind of facts, and it is described as fitness equipment.

All guides in this topic

• Home cable machine: how it works, which types exist and what to check before you buy

  Pulleys, ratios, types, space and wall checks, with prices read from makers.

• Home gym equipment: what to buy by goal and by space

  Equipment categories by goal and by room size, with prices read from makers.

• Strength training for seniors: what the guidelines say and how to start safely

  Weekly guidance for older adults, a careful way to start and the signs that mean stop.

• How much does a home gym cost? Price ranges by category and total cost of ownership

  Dated maker prices for six categories and three worked set-ups.

• Cable machine vs free weights: what the studies show, and how to choose

  What studies found about muscle activation and growth, and how to weigh safety, space and cost.

• How to start strength training: guidance, progression and a first-week plan

  What the federal guidelines and ACSM say, and a first week you can follow step by step.

• Tonal vs Vitruvian: price, membership, maximum load and mounting, read on the official sites

  A dated table of what each maker’s own pages say, with the arithmetic for year-one cost.

• Sets and reps: how many to do for strength, muscle growth and endurance

  The ranges the sources give for each goal, and a program with the weekly volume worked out.

• Progressive overload: what it means and how to apply it step by step

  Three ways to ask a little more of your muscles, with a worked example.

• Fall risk assessment: the CDC STEADI questions and the Timed Up and Go test

  What the CDC screening questions and the Timed Up and Go test measure, and what to do with the result.

• Strength training at home: what the guidelines recommend and a simple plan

  The weekly target, what counts as equipment and a plan you can run in your living room.

Words you will meet on these pages

Set and rep

A rep is one repetition of a movement. A set is a group of reps done together.

Progressive overload

Gradually increasing the demand on the body over time.

Cable machine

A machine that uses a cable and pulley to deliver resistance in many directions.

Functional trainer

A cable machine with two adjustable arms.

Fall risk

The likelihood of a fall, assessed from factors such as strength, balance and medicines.

How these guides are made

Each guide is written for readers in the United States. It uses American units and sources such as the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other named institutions. Every figure carries a numbered source with the date it was read. Prices of devices are read from the maker's own page on the day written and dated in the table.

Health topics carry the line “Medical review in progress.” until a qualified reviewer has checked the page. The pages do not replace advice from a health professional. In a medical emergency in the United States, call 911.

Frequently asked questions