Beginner Series: How Often, How Hard, and How Much Should You Be Strength Training?

Key Takeaways:

Something is always better than nothing! Do not feel overwhelmed thinking that you have to go to the gym every day or else you’re not going to make any progress!
Those new to strength training can start with 1-3 sessions per week and perform 3 sets per muscle group per workout for 6-15 repetitions. It’s best to start at the lower end of these ranges and gradually increase over time as your body adapts.
You do NOT have to take your sets to failure in order to make progress, you can and should leave a few reps in the tank to ensure you maintain technique.
Our group classes, personal training options, and expert coaches will help ensure that you can find a routine that you can stick to consistently that best aligns with your goals!

What is Strength Training?

Strength training (or muscle strengthening activity) is any activity that causes a muscle to work against an external force or weight at a relatively high intensity.¹ Strength training is different from cardio in that the muscle is worked at a higher intensity, taken closer to failure (defined as the inability to perform another repetition through the requisite range of motion), and exercises last a shorter duration. Strength training can be performed with many different types of implements including bodyweight resistance, free weights, machines, and resistance bands.

Why Should You Strength Train?

Strength training has unique benefits that separate it from other forms of exercise such as cardio and balance training. Specifically, strength training does a great job of building muscle mass and improving muscular strength (i.e., the ability of your muscles to produce force) ⁵, improving bone density, and improving flexibility (when training through a full range of motion and using external weight ⁴). These adaptations can ultimately help reduce the risk of death, reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, reduced the risk of hypertension, reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, reduce the risk of sarcopenia, improve bone density, reduce the risk of falls (in older adults), and aid in weight loss (when combined with reduced calorie intake).¹

How Often and How Much Should You Be Strength Training?

If you’re brand new to strength training, it’s sometimes perceived that you have to dedicate a lot of your time to the gym in order to reap the health benefits. Commonly, this is due to the public perception of the extremes of strength training in sports such as Olympic weightlifting, bodybuilding, and powerlifting where athletes will dedicate large portions of their time and day to the gym, often lifting every day for several hours to accomplish their goals. These sports are amazing, however you do NOT have to train like those athletes to attain all the health benefits of strength training!

Physical activity guidelines¹ recommend that adults and older adults should engage in strength training 2 or more days per week to attain its health benefits. For beginners who wish to start strength training, we’d recommend engaging in strength training 1 to 3 times per week and performing 1 to 3 sets per body part per workout for anywhere between 6 to 15 repetitions.^2,3Strength training 1 time per week can work well for ~ 12 weeks for untrained individuals but eventually strength training frequency will probably need to be increased to 2 times per week to continue seeing positive adaptations for strength and muscle growth since it will be easier to perform enough sets throughout the week.²

That said, we’d encourage everyone to try and gradually build up to strength training at least 3 days per week since you’ll be able to perform more high quality training volume which may help increase muscle mass and strength.⁵ Gradually build up to this because doing too much too soon can make sticking to a routine seem daunting, sets you up for potential injury since your body may not be able to tolerate that amount of stress, and may increase muscle soreness more than tolerable. This is how a lot of people often lose momentum early on. Again, start with as little as you need and slowly build up over time!

How Heavy Should You Lift?

If you’re new to strength training, you’ll make progress quickly within the first couple months as your body learns to coordinate itself and better produce force. What’s really important during this period of time is that you’re learning to execute the exercise with good technique through the given range of motion. Good technique ensures that you’re appropriately working the target muscle(s), learning to be consistent with exercise execution, and staying safe (e.g., not dropping weights on yourself). Your form will break down sometimes as you learn the exercise and that’s completely normal! If a couple reps don’t look perfect, that’s nothing to freak out about. However, if your technique is consistently breaking down, you’re not able to go through the required range of motion, and you’re failing (i.e., unable to perform another repetition), you should probably reduce the weight. You’ve probably seen videos of bodybuilders pushing their sets to failure or even beyond failure. Again, those are the extremes and you do not have to train to failure all the time. Right now, it’s best to leave a couple reps in the tank to ensure technique remains consistent. And if you’re brand new to strength training, it’s wise to leave more reps in the tank to ease yourself in and reduce the chances of injury. That said, you might still fail a set occasionally and that’s okay! Just readjust your weight down on the next set. Feel free to use the flowchart below to help you decide whether to reduce, maintain, or add weight!

Typically in our group sessions, we use RIR or %1RM to gauge the intensity (how hard you’re working) of a set. But don’t worry about that for now, we’ll cover that in a separate video and blog post in the future. Or one of the coaches will go over that in-person with you. For now, it’s best to stick to a weight that allows you to perform anywhere between 6 to 15 repetitions. When you can perform 15 repetitions with a given weight (without failing, without drastic technique breakdown, and without cutting your range of motion short), you can *slightly* increase the weight to help you stay within that 6 to 15 repetition range.

When Is It Okay to Add Weight?

How Much Weight Should You Add?

The simple answer is that you add enough weight that allows you to stay within the predefined repetition range for the exercise you’re performing. Usually we recommend you start with a relatively small weight increase of 5 to 10% of the current weight you’re using and see how it impacts your performance.

What Movements Should You Prioritize?

This entirely depends on your goals. For most people who don’t have a lot of time and want to get generally stronger and build some muscle, our recommendation is to focus mostly on compound movements that involve multiple muscle groups through a large range of motion like a squat pattern, push pattern, pull pattern, and hinge pattern.³ Focusing on these movements will be most efficient as they involve *nearly* all major muscle groups. If you want to cover all your bases, you can add a calf exercise, hip abductor (i.e., outside of your hip) exercise, hip flexor (i.e., front of your hip), and lateral deltoid (i.e., outside of your shoulder) exercise, but this is majoring in the minors unless your goal is specific to these muscle groups.

Sample Beginner Workout and Follow-Along Video

Back Squat: 3 sets of 6 to 15 repetitions
Bench Press: 3 sets of 6 to 15 repetitions
RDL: 3 sets of 6 to 15 repetitions
Dumbbell Row: 3 sets of 6 to 15 repetitions, each arm
Single Leg Calf Raise: 3 sets of 6 to 15 repetitions, each leg

References:

Piercy KL, Troiano RP, Ballard RM, et al. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. JAMA. 2018;320(19):2020-2028. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.14854
Behm DG, Granacher U, Warneke K, Aragão-Santos JC, Da Silva-Grigoletto ME, Konrad A. Minimalist Training: Is Lower Dosage or Intensity Resistance Training Effective to Improve Physical Fitness? A Narrative Review. Sports Med. 2024;54(2):289-302. doi:10.1007/s40279-023-01949-3
Iversen VM, Norum M, Schoenfeld BJ, Fimland MS. No Time to Lift? Designing Time-Efficient Training Programs for Strength and Hypertrophy: A Narrative Review. Sports Med. 2021;51(10):2079-2095. doi:10.1007/s40279-021-01490-1
Alizadeh S, Daneshjoo A, Zahiri A, et al. Resistance Training Induces Improvements in Range of Motion: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports Med. 2023;53(3):707-722. doi:10.1007/s40279-022-01804-x
Currier BS, Mcleod JC, Banfield L, et al. Resistance training prescription for muscle strength and hypertrophy in healthy adults: a systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med. 2023;57(18):1211-1220. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2023-106807