What is strength training? Strength training is a form of exercise in which your muscles produce force against resistance. That resistance can come from your own bodyweight, dumbbells, barbells, machines, resistance bands or a multi-gym. Challenge your muscles regularly and your body adapts, so you can get stronger, build muscle and find everyday movements easier.
You don't have to start lifting heavy weights to do it. A beginner can train perfectly well with bodyweight squats, lunges and press-ups. As you get stronger, you increase the resistance gradually. That principle is the foundation of virtually every effective strength programme.
In Science and Practice of Strength Training by Zatsiorsky, Kraemer and Fry, strength training is treated as a process in which the muscles and the nervous system, among other systems, adapt to the load placed on them. Which exercises you choose, how heavy you train and how much volume you perform therefore all influence which adaptations take place.
What counts as strength training?
Strength training is far broader than lifting a heavy barbell at the gym. Any form of training in which your muscles have to work against sufficient resistance can count.
That resistance can be created in various ways:
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Bodyweight: squats, lunges, press-ups and pull-ups, for instance.
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Dumbbells and barbells: suited to exercises such as presses, rows, squats and deadlifts.
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Resistance bands: an easy way to add resistance at home or while travelling.
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Machines: a leg press, a chest press or a complete multi-gym, for example.
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Cable systems: which let you train various pushing and pulling movements under control.
Strength training at home can therefore be perfectly effective. For beginners, bodyweight, resistance bands or a set of adjustable dumbbells are often enough. Anyone wanting more scope later can build their own home gym and extend it with a weight bench and barbells.
What does strength training do to your body?
When you start strength training, more happens than muscle growth alone. Your nervous system learns, among other things, to recruit the muscles involved more efficiently. That means you can get stronger in the first weeks without your muscles having to become visibly much bigger.
With sustained, sufficiently intensive training, the size of your muscle fibres can then increase as well. That process is called muscle hypertrophy. Your body responds to the training stimulus by activating the processes involved in muscle repair and the building of muscle tissue.
In their scientific review of the influence of strength training on muscle fibre types and muscle size, Andersen and Aagaard describe how resistance training can produce changes in both the size and the properties of human muscle fibres. Larger muscles aren't the only factor in strength gains; neuromuscular adaptations and changes in the properties of the muscle tissue play a part too.
Muscle soreness isn't a requirement for results. You may well feel sore after a new or unusually demanding exercise, but a lot of soreness doesn't automatically mean you've trained more effectively. Good strength training provides enough stimulus to prompt adaptation without holding your recovery back unnecessarily.
Progressive overload
One of the most important principles in strength training is progressive overload. Once your body gets used to a given load, exactly the same session gives it steadily less reason to adapt any further. To keep making progress, the challenge therefore has to increase gradually.
That doesn't mean using more weight every session. You can increase the training stimulus by, for instance:
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performing more reps with the same weight;
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adding an extra set;
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using a harder variation of the exercise;
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performing the movement better and with more control;
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eventually increasing the weight.
Strength Training by Lee Brown likewise covers how training load, volume, exercise selection, rest and programme structure together determine how the body responds to strength training.
Why is strength training good for you?
Strength training is often associated with bigger muscles, but the benefits go a good deal further. Stronger muscles also matter in everyday activities such as lifting, climbing stairs, carrying and standing up.
Training regularly can contribute to:
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greater muscular strength;
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building and maintaining muscle mass;
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better physical resilience;
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supporting strong bones;
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better performance in other sports;
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preserving muscle tissue during weight loss;
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staying independent and active for longer as you get older.
The scientific textbook Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning by Haff and Triplett likewise shows that effective strength training involves a great deal more than muscle growth alone. Training load, neuromuscular performance, exercise technique, recovery and programming are all part of the process.
What are good strength training exercises?
There are hundreds of strength exercises, but a good programme doesn't have to contain dozens of them. For plenty of people it's more practical to learn the main movement patterns first.
Squats
The squat is one of the best-known exercises in strength training. The movement mainly works your thighs and glutes, while your core helps keep your body stable.
A bodyweight squat is strength training too. Once that version becomes too easy, you can add resistance with a dumbbell or a barbell.
Deadlifts and hip hinges
In a hip hinge you move primarily from the hip joint. Deadlifts and Romanian deadlifts are well-known examples, loading the hamstrings, glutes and back muscles among others.
Beginners can start with light dumbbells to get the movement pattern under control before training with heavier barbells.
Pushing
Press-ups, the bench press and chest presses are among the most important pushing movements. These mainly load your chest, shoulders and triceps.
Pulling
Rows, pull-ups and lat pulldowns are examples of pulling movements. These exercises mainly train your back and biceps, and form an important counterpart to pushing exercises.
Core training
In strength training your core has an important stabilising role. Exercises such as planks, side planks and loaded carries can help make your trunk better able to handle load.
How do you start strength training?
Starting strength training needn't be complicated. In the first few months in particular, a straightforward programme is usually enough to get clearly stronger.
Science and Practice of Strength Training emphasises that the appropriate training stimulus depends on your current training level, among other factors. A beginner therefore normally needs less training load to make progress than an experienced lifter.
Start with two or three sessions a week
For plenty of beginners, two to three strength sessions a week is a practical starting point. That lets you train regularly while leaving enough room for recovery.
A simple full-body session might consist of:
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a squat variation;
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a hip hinge or deadlift variation;
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a pushing exercise;
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a pulling exercise;
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an exercise for the shoulders or core.
Technique before weight
With exercises such as squats, deadlifts and presses in particular, controlled execution matters. So choose a weight you can perform the movement stably with before increasing the resistance further.
Keep track of your progress
Note down which exercises you've done each session, along with the sets, reps and weight used. That makes it easy to see whether you're getting stronger.
Progress doesn't have to be spectacular every session. An extra rep, better technical execution or a small increase in weight are all forms of progress.
How many sets and reps do you need?
A widely used practical starting point for beginners is roughly 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps per exercise. There's no magic rep number that's optimal for every training goal, though.
Anyone looking mainly to develop maximal strength generally uses relatively heavy loads and fewer reps. For muscle growth, various combinations of load and reps can be effective, as long as the muscle is challenged enough.
The training load also has to match your level. According to Andersen and Aagaard, the same amount of strength training can be a strong stimulus for an untrained person while an experienced lifter would barely make progress on the same load. The body adapts to the load it's used to.
Is a short strength session worthwhile?
You don't always need an hour in the gym to get something out of strength training. A short session can be valuable too, as long as you use the time efficiently.
If you only have 15 to 20 minutes, choose a few exercises that work several muscle groups at once – squats, a press, a row and a deadlift variation, for instance.
Over the longer term, sufficient training volume remains important, but a short session you actually do consistently is often more useful than an extensive programme that doesn't fit your daily routine.
Strength training at home or at the gym?
You can train effectively at home or at a gym. Which environment works best depends mainly on your goals, budget, available space and personal preference.
For strength training at home you can start with bodyweight and resistance bands. With a pair of adjustable dumbbells you can then train virtually every major muscle group.
If you want to train progressively heavier at home, you can build your own home gym. With a weight bench and barbells you can perform exercises such as the bench press and various rows. A more extensive multi-gym also offers several exercises within one machine.
The advantage of a gym is that there are generally more machines, free weights and heavy training options available. For beginners, professional guidance can also help with learning new exercises.
Strength training for women
The main principles of strength training apply to women and men alike. Women also get stronger by loading their muscles sufficiently and regularly, then increasing that load gradually over time.
There's no reason, then, why women should train exclusively with very light weights. Depending on the goal, a programme might consist of squats, hip thrusts, deadlift variations, rows, presses and lunges.
In the first few weeks, strength can increase relatively quickly as you learn to perform the exercises better and your nervous system works more efficiently with the muscles involved. Visible muscle growth generally takes longer.
Andersen and Aagaard describe how the processes that eventually contribute to muscle hypertrophy begin soon after the training stimulus, while clearly measurable changes in muscle size only become visible after a longer training period. How quickly someone sees results also depends on training volume, nutrition, recovery, starting level and genetics, among other factors.
Is strength training good for osteoarthritis?
Strength training can be valuable with osteoarthritis when the exercises and loading match what the person is able to do. Stronger muscles around a joint can contribute to better support during everyday movement.
That doesn't mean everyone with osteoarthritis should follow the same programme. The affected joint, range of movement, pain and general capacity all determine which exercises are suitable.
When starting out, it's therefore sensible to build the load up gradually. Machines on a multi-gym, light dumbbells or resistance bands can be suitable, for instance, because the resistance is relatively easy to adjust.
With persistent or severe pain, clear restrictions in movement or any doubt about the right training load, guidance from a physiotherapist or other qualified professional is sensible.
Cardio or strength training?
Cardio and strength training have different aims, so they needn't be set against one another. A combination of the two can in fact be particularly effective.
Cardiovascular training focuses mainly on improving your endurance and cardiovascular fitness. Strength training is more specifically aimed at increasing or maintaining muscular strength and muscle mass.
Ordinary cycling is therefore usually seen as cardio rather than full strength training. Your leg muscles do produce force while cycling, of course, but because the same movement is repeated so many times, the training stimulus falls mainly on endurance. Hard sprints or climbs do demand more from the legs, but they still don't replace a full strength programme for the whole body.
Cardio or strength training for weight loss?
When weight loss is the goal, overall energy balance remains important. Cardio can help raise your daily energy expenditure, while strength training is particularly useful for continuing to stimulate your muscles when you're eating fewer calories.
Anyone wanting to lose fat therefore doesn't necessarily have to choose between cardio and strength training. A combination of a suitable diet, strength training, daily movement and possibly some additional cardio is often more practical.
The same applies if you mainly want to reduce belly fat. Abdominal exercises make your abdominal muscles stronger, but they don't make your body burn fat solely from around the middle. Where you lose fat first is influenced by genetics and your overall body composition, among other things.
What to eat for strength training
A good session is only one part of progress. Your body also needs enough energy and nutrients to recover.
Protein
Protein provides the amino acids the body uses in building and repairing muscle tissue. Good sources include:
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quark and yoghurt;
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eggs;
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chicken and other meat;
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fish;
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tofu and tempeh;
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pulses;
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nuts and seeds.
A protein shake immediately after your last rep isn't essential. What matters more is getting enough protein, and enough food overall, spread across the day.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are an important energy source during strength training. Foods such as porridge oats, bread, rice, pasta, potatoes and fruit can therefore be a perfectly good part of a strength athlete's diet.
Fats
Fats are part of a balanced diet too – nuts, olive oil, avocado, seeds and oily fish, for instance.
Serious Strength Training by Bompa, Di Pasquale and Cornacchia likewise treats nutrition as part of the broader process of training, recovering and physical adaptation. Training harder alone isn't enough when your body doesn't have the energy and building blocks it needs to recover.
Recovery is part of strength training
You don't get stronger simply by training more. The training stimulus has to be followed by enough recovery, so the body can adapt to that load.
How much recovery someone needs varies by person and by session. An intensive leg session with plenty of heavy sets generally demands more recovery than a few light sets with resistance bands.
Your recovery is influenced by:
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the amount of training volume;
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the training intensity used;
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your training level;
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sleep;
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nutrition;
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stress;
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age and individual capacity.
There's no universal rule, then, that every muscle group in every person needs exactly the same number of hours to recover.
Strength training for muscle, strength and sporting performance
Not everyone strength trains with the same goal. One person mainly wants to build muscle, while another wants to get stronger or more explosive.
For muscle growth, sufficient training volume plays an important role. Anyone wanting to develop maximal strength generally uses heavy loads more often. In sports where explosiveness matters, attention also goes to developing force quickly.
According to the research by Andersen and Aagaard, heavy strength training influences the size and properties of different muscle fibres. They describe, among other things, how strength training can cause changes in the balance between certain fast muscle fibre properties, and how fast fibres can respond strongly to heavy resistance training.
For sporting performance this is relevant because strength isn't determined by muscle size alone. The speed at which a muscle can develop force also plays a part in explosive movements.
Strength and Power in Sport, edited by Paavo Komi likewise goes into detail on the relationship between neuromuscular properties, strength, power and sporting performance.
That makes it clear why there's no single perfect programme for everyone. A bodybuilder, a beginner training at home, a cyclist and a powerlifter all use strength training, but can differ considerably in exercises, volume and intensity.
Common mistakes in strength training
Starting too heavy
More weight doesn't automatically mean better strength training. When you have barely any control over an exercise, it's usually wiser to improve the technique first and increase the load afterwards.
Training without a plan
If you perform random exercises every session, it becomes hard to see whether you're making progress. A simple training programme makes it easier to track sets, reps and weights.
Training only your favourite muscle groups
Training only chest, arms or abs doesn't produce a balanced programme. Combine exercises for the upper and lower body and make sure you have enough pushing and pulling movements.
Constantly changing your exercises
Variety can be useful, but you don't have to surprise your muscles with entirely new exercises every week. Sticking with the key basic movements for longer lets you develop technique and measure progress far better.
Underestimating recovery
More training isn't endlessly better. As the training literature shows, a stimulus has to be large enough to prompt adaptation, but your body then has to be able to absorb that load.
Conclusion: what is strength training?
Strength training means working your muscles against resistance with the aim of making your body stronger and better able to handle load. That resistance can come from bodyweight, dumbbells, barbells, resistance bands, machines or a complete multi-gym.
Effective strength training needn't be complicated, particularly for beginners. With a few basic exercises for your legs, back, chest, shoulders and core you can already train a large part of your body. By learning the exercises properly, training consistently and increasing the resistance gradually, you give your muscles a reason to keep adapting.
The scientific literature also shows that strength training produces various adaptations in the muscles and the nervous system. That means it can be used for muscle mass, maximal strength and sporting performance, but equally for general physical resilience.
Whether you go to a gym or set up your own home gym ultimately matters less than choosing a way of training that fits your goals and that you can keep up over the long term.
