Between endless exercise variations, dozens of machines, and often conflicting advice, strength training can be overwhelming for just about anyone when first starting out. But in reality, you don’t need a complicated routine or even a gym membership.
According to Caroline Idiens, founder of virtual fitness platform Caroline’s Circuits and 25 years of experience coaching women, all you need to get started are these six exercises (and just a pair of dumbbells):
When explaining why these are her first choice, she says they are “functional movements for building daily strength patterns” and “compound exercises that use multiple muscle groups at once” (meaning you can train more muscles in less time and don’t have to put in as much effort preparing new movements). She added that these are also “exercises that can be strengthened as strength increases.”
Here we’ll explain exactly how to perform them, as well as how to incorporate them into your workouts and what weight to start with.
How to incorporate it into your training: “Do three sets of 10 repetitions of each exercise, resting 20 seconds between each exercise,” says Caroline. This will take approximately 20 minutes.
What weights to choose: “Start with 2kg and increase slowly. I weigh 3kg,” says Caroline.
6 strength training exercises perfect for beginners
1. Squat and press
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder height and stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Keeping your chest up, push your hips back and bend your knees to get into a squat position.
- Stand through your heels and push the dumbbells over your head until your arms are fully extended, then lower your arms to your shoulders and repeat.
2. Romanian deadlift and rowing
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand, hinge at your hips and bend your knees slightly to lower the weights under your legs, keeping your back flat and core engaged.
- Row the dumbbells toward your ribs at the bottom of the hinge, squeezing your shoulder blades together, then lower the dumbbells and drive your hips forward to recover.
3. Split squats and raises
- Step back with one foot to return to a split stance, holding a dumbbell in each hand. Get into a split squat position with your knees bent, your front knee over your toes, and your chest upright.
- Once you stand up, raise the dumbbells straight in front of you to shoulder height and lower them down with control. Repeat this. Remember to complete repetitions on both sides.
4. Bicep curls and shoulder presses
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand by your side and stand tall with your palms facing forward. Curl the weights up to your shoulders, keeping your elbows close to your body.
- From the top of the curl, press the dumbbells overhead until your arms are fully extended, then lower them to your shoulders and return to the starting position.
5. Chest press and glute bridge
- Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat, holding a dumbbell in each hand at chest level. Press through your heels and lift your hips into a glute bridge, keeping your core engaged.
- As you lift to the glute bridge, push the dumbbells up over your chest until your arms are straight, lower the dumbbells with control, and then lower your hips back down, repeating.
6. Dead insect
- Lie on your back with your arms stretched out over your chest, dumbbells in each hand, and your legs on the table (knees bent at 90 degrees). Tighten your core and press your lower back into the floor.
- Slowly lower one leg towards the floor and lower the opposite arm above your head. Then return to the starting position and switch sides, maintaining overall control.
Bridie Wilkins, Women’s Health UK’s fitness director and qualified Pilates and yoga instructor, has been passionately reporting on exercise, health and nutrition since beginning her 10-year career in journalism. She landed her first role at Look Magazine, where her obsession with fitness began, launching Look Fit, the magazine’s health and fitness column, and then becoming a health and fitness writer at HELLO! Since then, she has written for The Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Elle, The Metro, Runner’s World, and Red. She now oversees all fitness content for womenshealthmag.com.uk and the print magazine, spearheading cross-platform series such as ‘Fit At Any Age’, which showcases women who prove age is no barrier to exercise. She also represents the brand on BBC Radio London, as well as various podcasts and Substack. All of this is aimed at encouraging more women to exercise and showing them how to do it. Outside of work, you can find her testing out the latest Pilates studios, testing her VO2 max for fun (TY, Oura), or posting her workouts on Instagram.
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