Did you hear? Strength training is one of the fitness trends you should join in 2022.
The thing about strength training is that it looks simple, but is surprisingly technical — I have read literal essays about barbell squats and bench presses.
But beginners don’t need to get lost in that level of detail. Try these three moves, with one cue I want you to particularly focus on for each one.
Squat: Lower body
Keep your feet flat on the floor and press through your heels to come to standing. I like to tell beginners to focus on squeezing their butt on the way up, to activate their glutes (rather than let the quads on the front of their thighs do all the work).
When you’re ready to progress:
Hold weights like dumbbells or kettlebells at your side. Press your feet firmly “through” the floor to come to standing, to let your lower body do the lifting. If you’re keen to progress further to a barbell squat, I suggest a couple of sessions with a personal trainer or coach who’ll teach you to master this movement.
Press: Chest and triceps
In its bodyweight form, the press goes by the name push-up. Here’s the cue I always give beginners: from the upright position of the push-up, just bend your elbows to come down. This sounds obvious, but a lot of people crane their necks forward, or hunch their shoulders, or let their core sag. Bend your elbows to lower, and try to keep everything else in place, then press firmly through your hands to come back up.
Beginners should start doing push-ups from their knees, rather than their toes. Don’t stress if you don’t yet have the strength to do a push-up from the floor! Instead place your hands on a secure raised surface (like a picnic table), or even on a wall.
When you’re ready to progress:
Lie on your back and add weight in a dumbbell or barbell press. You can probably guess what I’m going to say next: a PT is a great help to learn the right technique.
Plank: Core
There are a lot of cues involved in a perfect plank — so many that it can fast become absurdly complex. So my simplest cue is just: brace your core.
I know that, to a beginner, “brace your core” sounds kind of meaningless. So here’s what I want you to do: stand upright. Imagine you’ve wearing a large, flashy belt buckle. Tilt your hips forward so the belt buckle points up. This should tighten your abs and pull your butt in. That’s bracing your core. Take that movement into your plank.
When you’re ready to progress:
If you start by planking with your knees on the floor, come onto your toes. Then add time to your plank — up to 60 seconds is a good target (if you’re properly firing every muscle involved in the plank, you should be gassed by the end of that minute). Any longer than that is, in my opinion, just for showing off.
… and beyond
These aren’t, of course, the only strength moves that beginners should master — other big ones include the hinge, the key to a deadlift, and the pull-up. Both are surprisingly complex, and intimidating — I’ve coached many beginners who are reluctant to try either. That’s why I recommend finding a coach who can tailor cues to your body, to help you conquer these fantastic exercises.
Sam Downing is a certified fitness instructor and personal trainer.
Fitness trends you should join in 2022