How To Start Strength Training At Home | Five Tips To Help You Get Started
It’s the start of a new year which means that many people are looking for ways to improve their health and fitness. Even with the best of intentions, there are many things that can hold people back from reaching their New Years goal. Maybe you don’t know where to start. Maybe you’re worried about aggravating joint pain and arthritis. Maybe you just don’t like going to the gym. Below I’ve put together the five most important tips to teach you how to start strength training at home.
Get The Right Equipment
Before you get started it’s important that you have all the equipment you need for your home gym. And the good news is that for adults looking to solve joint pain through strength training, you don’t need big, expensive equipment. In fact, most of the equipment you need will fit inside a closet and cost just a few hundred dollars. I’ve put together a list of all the exercise equipment I use in my clinic that covers almost every exercise I prescribe.
Check Out What You Need For Your Home Gym
Keep It Simple
There is A LOT of information about how to start strength training at home. It can get confusing. To build strength without stressing your joints, the best advise I can give you is to keep it simple. Complicated movements, programs, and routines can create confusion which make it hard to stick with. Simple movements, repeated with consistency is the safest and most effective way to build strength without stressing your joints.
Prioritize Safety
As we get older it’s important that our strength training routine prioritizes safety. As mentioned above, this means picking SAFE exercises that help limit impact on your joints. It also means focusing on control and quality movement over time and repetitions. Moving too fast, without attention to good form can aggravate joint pain and is a common reason people stop strength training at home.
Find Low Impact Strength Exercises For Back Pain Here
Above: The glute bridge is a safe, low impact exercise that strengthens your glutes and is easy to perform at home
Start Small And Work Your Way Up
One of the best ways to prioritize safety while you learn how to start strength training at home is to start small and work your way up. Building a proper foundation for movement before you add a lot of weight will help limit impact on your joints for less joint pain. The good news is that most strength training movements have easy ways to regress and progress to match any ability level. Use the links below to find your starting point.
10 Squat Variations For All Ability Levels | 10 Lunge Variations For All Ability Levels
Above: Mastering the box squat before progressing to the more challenging goblet squat will keep your joints safe.
Have A Plan
One of the more common mistakes I see people make is to start their strength training routine with no real plan. It’s hard to hit your goals if you’re not sure what you should be focusing on. Having a routine you can stick to can help keep you on the right track. If you’re looking for a plan to help you get started strength training at home I’ve put together a great list of workouts on my website.. Start with Level 1 and work your way.
Check Out Our Workout Page
You don’t need an expensive gym membership to build strength to solve joint pain, keep active, and maintain your lifestyle as you get older. You also don’t need a big, elaborate home gym to reach your goals. Having the right equipment, the right plan, and a focus on safety will help you start your strength training routine at home.
For the last 10 years I’ve been helping adults build the strength and confidence to live active, healthy, and happy lives. My free program ‘Solving Pain With Strength’ gives you a step-by-step, approachable way to build strength without stressing your joints. Download it below and get started feeling better today.
