Strength Training Workouts for Muscle Growth

When you first start strength training workouts can feel hard—which might have you scurrying to figure out how to build muscle ASAP so your regimens don’t feel like punishment (Team Joyful Movement for the win). After all, if every motion is a struggle, it can be challenging to motivate yourself to even start a workout routine, let alone give it a consistent effort.

The key to establishing an effective and pleasurable strength-training routine is commencing with a firm foundation of exercises that engage each part of your body. If you focus mostly on this selection of fundamental maneuvers, you’ll observe that they’ll start to feel simpler with time. That’s you getting stronger (Hell, yes!). And once that happens, you can start progressing the movements by using heavier or different weights, attempting advanced variations, or experimenting with entirely new exercises altogether.

If you want to get stronger but don’t know where to start, we have you covered—from traps to calves. Below are some remarkable benefits of developing muscle, along with fundamental exercises that every beginner strength-training program (even a completely unofficial one) should include.

What Are The Benefits Of Strength Training Workouts For Beginners?

Building strength doesn’t just assist you in your workouts—it can make day-to-day life simpler too.

• “Resistance training, whether it’s moving your body weight or external weights, is a great way to help your body stay functional and healthy in the long run,” Sivan Fagan, an ACE-certified personal trainer and proprietor of Strong With Sivan in Baltimore, tells SELF.

• Increasing muscle strength can help make commonplace movements less of a struggle, whether you're carrying a week’s worth of provisions up the stairs, positioning a large object on an overhead shelf, or simply rising up off the floor. And creating balanced strength—by making sure you’re focusing on all muscle groups—is essential because it helps prevent weakened muscles from overcompensating, which can contribute to injury.

• As you get older, maintaining muscle mass and stamina becomes even more vital for overall health. Resistance training can help older adults improve balance, build bone density, reduce the risk of injuries, preserve independence, and even enhance cognitive well-being, according to a 2019 position paper from the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

• More excellent news: You don’t have to work out incessantly to gain muscle. A 2016 research evaluation in the journal Sports Medicine suggests that strength training workouts twice per week is enough to substantially increase muscle mass.

How To Train To Get Powerful

• The key to getting stronger is focusing on compound movements, which involve multiple joints of the body and, therefore, multiple muscles functioning at the same time.

• “Multi-joint, compound movements employ the most muscle fibers,” Jeffrey Yellin, DPT, CSCS, tells SELF. Examples of multi-joint exercises include squats, which involve the hip and knee joints and work the buttocks, legs, and core; and push-ups, which use your elbow, wrist, and shoulder joints and work the torso, arms, and core muscles.

• Another essential factor for a quality weight-lifting regimen is including a blend of pressing and dragging exercises. “Balancing your routine with pushing and pulling ensures that you maintain good muscular balance and hit all the important muscle groups,” Yellin adds.

• For example, rows—a lifting motion—recruit your back and biceps muscles. A chest press impacts the pectoral muscles (chest muscles) and triceps. If you were to forego the pulling motion and only do the chest presses, you’d be at increased risk for injury over time due to unequal tugging on the joints, Yellin explains.

• Some other examples of pushing exercises include squats, standing overhead presses, push-ups, dips, bench presses, barbell box step-ups, and glute bridges. Common tugging exercises include rows, pull-ups, and lat pull-downs.

Reps And Repetitions For Novice Strength Training

• In general, the recommendation for developing strength is to use a weight you can lift for about 6 reps per set with appropriate form. If you’re just starting started, though, focus on a weight you can lift for a range of 6 to 12 repetitions, since lifting too hefty before you’re proficient with the movements can increase your risk of injury, says Fagan.

• Give yourself 2 to 5 minutes of respite between sets to allow sufficient recuperation for your nervous system and muscles—otherwise you won’t be able to optimize your effort during the next set, says Yellin. This may sound like a lot of recovery, but it’s actually fairly standard for a workout that’s focused specifically on acquiring strength.

• If you’re a novice, perform 1 to 3 sets per exercise. As you become stronger, you can progress to 3 to 5 sets for each movement. Allow 48 hours of recovery (that is, no more heavy lifting for those muscle groups you worked) between workouts.

8 Beginner Strength Training Workouts

These exercises are ideal for novices because they help you develop strength and practice foundational movements upon which hundreds of other exercises are constructed. They’re all regarded functional, meaning they help you get stronger by performing movements you do in everyday living, not just in the gym. Mastering these moves first—and developing a rock-solid basis of strength and appropriate form—will correlate to greater proficiency and strength gains down the line.

1. Squat

One of the purest measures of strength, the squat incorporates almost all of the muscles in your legs and abdomen, says Yellin. The GIF above shows a bodyweight squat, which is an excellent method to lock down your form. Once your form is firm, you can increase weight by holding dumbbells or a bar in front of your shoulders (front squat), supporting a barbell on your back (back squat), or holding a weight in front of you at your torso (goblet squat).

• Stand with your ankles slightly wider than hip-width apart.

• Lower your pelvis into a squat as you bend your knees and keep your back level.

• Continue to lower yourself until your quadriceps are parallel to the floor.

• Push into the floor through your soles to return to start. That’s 1 rep.

• Keep your heels level and knees aligned with your second toe so they don’t collapse in.

2. Deadlift

Deadlifts are considered hands-down one of the greatest exercises to train the rear of your body, namely your glutes and hamstrings. And because you’re operating from a stable foundation, you can really pile up the weight on these. There are a number of different variants of deadlifts, like the Romanian (as depicted above, where you lower the weight as you hip hinge), traditional barbell (where you draw the weight from the floor), and sumo (with a wider posture and toes pointing out at about a 45-degree angle.)

Proper form is essential to safeguard your lower back, so it’s a good idea to practice with a lesser weight in front of a mirror until you feel comfortable with the exercise. Remember to elevate with your thighs, not with your spine. (That’s essential for pretty much every exercise, by the way, but particularly with the deadlift.) If you don’t have a barbell, you can use a brace of hefty dumbbells or even a loop resistance band.

• Stand with your feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bowed, and arms relaxed by the front of your quads, with a dumbbell in each hand. This is the beginning position.

• Hinge forward at your pelvis and bow your legs slightly as you press your butt way back. Keeping your back level, steadily lower the weight along your shins. Your torso should be almost horizontal to the floor.

• Keeping your core engaged, drive through your heels to stand up erect and return to the beginning position. Keep the weight near to your shins as you draw up.

• Pause at the summit and clench your butt. That’s 1 rep.

3. Glute Bridge

Glute bridges (also called hip bridges) target one of the largest muscles in the lower body—the glutes, says Yellin. They also contribute to developing leg strength and core stabilization.

• Lie on your back with your knees bowed and ankles level on the floor, hip-width apart. Hold a dumbbell in each hand and position the weights directly under your pelvic bones. This is the beginning position.

• Squeeze your buttocks and core, and drive through your heels to elevate your hips a few inches off the floor, until your body creates a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.

• Hold for a second and then gently lower your pelvis to return to the beginning position. This is 1 rep.

4. Push-Up

Being able to move your own body weight is one of the greatest indicators of strength, says Fagan. If a conventional push-up from the floor is too challenging at first, you can modify it by elevating your hands on a step or a table—the higher your hands, the simpler it will be.

• Start in a high plank with your palms level on the floor, hands shoulder-width apart, shoulders balanced directly above your wrists, legs extended behind you, and core and buttocks engaged.

• Bend your forearms and lower your body to the floor. Drop to your knees if required.

• Push through the soles of your forearms to straighten your limbs. That’s 1 rep.

5. Bent-Over Row

Working on increasing your rowing strength can also help you complete your first unassisted pull-up—a challenging exercise that’s also an excellent indicator of strength, says Fagan. (A resistance band can assist you with a pull-up.)

• Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand with your arms at your sides.

• With your core engaged, pivot forward at the pelvis, forcing your butt back. Bend your ankles and make sure you don’t round your shoulders. (Your hip mobility and hamstring flexibility will dictate how far you can stoop over.)

• Gaze at the ground a few inches in front of your feet to maintain your neck in a comfortable, neutral position.

• Perform a row by drawing the weights up toward your torso, keeping your forearms close to your body, and clenching your shoulder blades for 2 seconds at the peak of the movement. Your forearms should go past your back as you draw the weight toward your torso.

• Slowly lower the weights by extending your arms toward the floor. That’s 1 rep.

Read Also: Resistance Band Exercises for Strength

6. Hollow-Body Hold

“The hollow-body hold is such an amazing total-body exercise for maintaining core stability,” says Fagan. This core strength correlates to a stronger foundation for many of your other compound movements, like the pull-up and deadlift, she adds.

• Lie faceup on a mat with your legs extended and arms erect over your head, keeping them near to your ears.

• Contract your core to press your lower back into the earth.

• Point your toes, press your quadriceps together, squeeze your buttocks, and elevate your legs off the ground.

• Lift your shoulders off the ground and maintain your head in a neutral position so that you’re not straining your neck. Your legs and mid-back should both be off the floor, and you should be in the shape of a banana, with just your lower back and pelvis on the ground.

• Hold this position for as long as you can while maintaining appropriate form.

7. Dumbbell Chopper

It’s essential to get familiar with rotational movements that have you rotating your vertebrae in a safe manner. The wood-chop exercise is an excellent one to start with—stick with just your body weight until you get the knack of it. You can grasp a hand towel or another small object in your palms to help maintain your arms erect.

• Stand with your feet wider than hip-width apart, core engaged, hands clasped together or holding a small cloth (or dumbbell once you’ve progressed) in both hands by your left leg.

• Raise your arms diagonally in front of your body to the upper right of your reach, allowing your torso and ankles to naturally rotate to the right as you pirouette.

• Now “chop” the weight down to the left, bringing it across the front of your body and aiming for your left ankle, allowing your torso and legs to naturally rotate in that direction. Focus on maintaining your lower body stable and rotating from your core. This is 1 rep.

• Do all your reps on one side, and then alternate sides and repeat.

8. Reverse Lunge

Or, substitute any other single-leg exercise here. Whether we’re talking about a single-leg deadlift, a step-up, or a reverse lunge (as depicted), single-leg or “unilateral” exercises are vital in helping you get stronger since they can rectify strength imbalances, says Fagan. And that helps you get stronger in your bilateral movements (those that engage both sides of your body at the same time).

• Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart and engage your core.

• Step backward with your right foot, landing on the sole of your right foot and keeping your right heel off the ground.

• Bend both ankles to 90 degrees as you descend into a lunge. Focus on maintaining your core engaged and your pelvis tucked (don’t extend your butt out). Sometimes it can be useful to position your palms on your hips so you can make sure your hips aren’t tilting to the side or forward and back.

• Push through the sole of your left foot to return to your starting position. You can do all of your reps in a succession, or you can alternate sides.