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Free weights are the most flexible piece of kit you can put in a home gym, and usually the cheapest way to start strength training. But they are also the equipment most likely to cause an injury if the basics are skipped: too much weight too soon, poor technique, or no plan for progression. This guide covers what to check before your first session, how to choose a sensible starting weight, and the form points that matter most for the exercises most home lifters start with.

This is general guidance for healthy adults starting out. If you have an existing injury, a heart or joint condition, are pregnant, or are returning to exercise after a long break or medical treatment, check with a GP or physiotherapist before starting a resistance training programme.

Why technique matters more than the number on the dumbbell

The instinct when buying free weights or dumbbells is to think about how much weight to buy. The more useful question first is: can you control this weight through a full, slow range of motion without your joints buckling, your back rounding, or momentum doing the lifting for you? A lighter weight moved with good control builds strength safely; a heavier weight moved with poor control mostly builds bad habits and risk.

The NHS’s general position on starting any new exercise is to build up gradually and let your body adapt, rather than jumping straight to your assumed capacity (NHS, Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64). The same principle applies to load selection with weights: start lighter than you think you need, get the movement pattern right, then add weight in small steps once it feels genuinely easy.

Choosing a starting weight

There’s no universal “correct” starting weight because it depends on the exercise, your training history, and your bodyweight. A practical, low-risk method for a genuine beginner:

• Pick a weight you could lift for around 15 repetitions with room to spare. For your first two or three sessions, you’re not training to fatigue — you’re teaching your body and your nervous system the movement pattern.
• Test the last few reps of a set, not the first. The first rep of any set always feels manageable; form usually breaks down towards the end of a set, which is where you’ll see whether the weight is right.
• Different exercises need different starting points. Most people can lift considerably more in a squat or deadlift-style movement (using large muscle groups) than in a shoulder press or a single-arm row (using smaller, less-trained muscles). Don’t scale a single “starting weight” across every exercise — set it per movement.
• Adjustable dumbbells make this easier to get right, since you can drop the load in small increments without buying a whole rack. If you’re deciding between adjustable and fixed sets for a first purchase, our adjustable dumbbells comparison covers the trade-offs.

Form basics for the exercises most beginners start with

You don’t need a personal trainer to lift safely at home, but a few form checkpoints prevent most avoidable strain injuries.

Goblet squat

Hold one dumbbell vertically against your chest. Feet roughly shoulder-width apart, toes turned out slightly. Sit your hips back and down as if lowering onto a chair, keeping your chest up and your weight through your whole foot rather than rising onto your toes. Go only as low as you can while keeping your lower back in a neutral position — a rounding lower back at the bottom of the squat is the most common sign the depth or the weight is currently too much.

Dumbbell row

Support yourself with one hand and one knee on a bench (or lean on a sturdy chair or step), back flat and roughly parallel to the floor. Pull the dumbbell up towards your hip, leading with your elbow, without twisting your torso to help the weight up. If you need to rotate your body to complete the rep, the weight is too heavy for now.

Shoulder press

Press the weight straight up from shoulder height rather than out in front of you, and avoid arching your lower back to help the weight overhead — that arch is a common compensation when the load is too heavy or the shoulders lack the mobility to press straight up. Stop the set as soon as you notice it happening.

Deadlift-pattern lifts (Romanian deadlift or dumbbell deadlift)

This is the exercise where poor technique carries the most risk to the lower back. Keep the weights close to your legs throughout the movement, hinge at the hips rather than squatting the weight up, and keep your spine in a neutral, flat position from the top of the movement to the bottom. If you can’t keep your back flat through the full range, reduce the weight or reduce the range of motion (lower the bar or dumbbells only to shin or knee height, working up gradually) rather than rounding your back to reach the floor.

Setting up a safe space

A few environmental checks matter as much as technique:

• Clear floor space — enough room to drop a dumbbell without it hitting furniture, and enough overhead clearance for a full shoulder press.
• A stable, non-slip surface underfoot; exercising on a rug that can bunch or slide is a common and avoidable cause of a fall.
• Somewhere to put weights down safely between sets, rather than balancing them on furniture.
• Good lighting so you can actually see your form, ideally checked against a mirror or filmed on your phone for the first few sessions.

If you’re planning to add a bench, our weight bench comparison covers what to check for stability and pad adjustment, which matters more for injury prevention than most buyers expect.

When to progress, and when not to

A widely used, evidence-based rule of thumb from the American College of Sports Medicine’s resistance training guidance is that once you can comfortably complete a set for one or two repetitions more than your target, it’s reasonable to increase the load slightly — often by a modest 2–10% — rather than jumping to a noticeably heavier weight (ACSM, Resistance Training Prescription for Muscle Function, Hypertrophy, and Physical Performance in Healthy Adults, 2026 position stand). Increasing weight in small increments is what keeps technique intact as the load goes up. If your form changes noticeably when you add weight — a longer pause, a different bar path, help from your lower back or hips that wasn’t there before — that’s a sign to hold the current weight for another session or two rather than push on.

Soreness in the 24 to 72 hours after a new exercise is normal and expected the first few times you do it; sharp pain during a lift, or pain that gets worse rather than better over the following days, is not, and is a reason to stop and, if it persists, get it checked rather than train through it.

The starting kit that covers most beginners

You don’t need a full rack of plates to start safely. A pair of adjustable dumbbells (or a small set of fixed pairs across a sensible range), a stable mat or flooring, and — once you’re consistent — a flat or adjustable bench covers the goblet squat, row, press and hinge patterns above, along with most other beginner strength work. For anyone still deciding what to buy first, our guide to free weights and dumbbells compares the main options by budget and space.

Sources: NHS, Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64 (reviewed 22 May 2024); American College of Sports Medicine, Resistance Training Prescription for Muscle Function, Hypertrophy, and Physical Performance in Healthy Adults position stand (announced 17 March 2026, published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise). This article is general guidance, not personal medical or training advice — speak to a GP, physiotherapist or qualified trainer about your own circumstances before starting a new exercise programme.

Before choosing between a treadmill, a rack, or a rowing machine, it’s worth answering a more basic question: how much exercise do you actually need each week? Most home-gym buying decisions get easier once you know the target you’re training towards, rather than guessing at “enough”. This article sets out the current UK physical activity guidelines for adults, what they mean in practice, and how they translate into equipment and session choices for a home setup.

The headline UK guideline

The NHS guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64 recommend two things every week, not just one:

• At least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (such as brisk walking, cycling or rowing at a pace where you can still talk but not sing), or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity (such as running or a fast spin session), or an equivalent mix of the two.
• Muscle-strengthening activity that works all the major muscle groups — legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms — on at least two days a week.

Both parts matter. The aerobic target is the one most people already know about; the strength target is the one most home-gym buyers under-plan for, even though it’s equally part of the official guidance (NHS, Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64, reviewed 22 May 2024).

The NHS guidance also notes that spreading activity across four to five days a week, rather than trying to do it all in one or two long sessions, tends to be easier to sustain and reduces the injury risk that comes with doing too much, too infrequently.

What “moderate” and “vigorous” actually mean

These terms are defined by effect on breathing and heart rate, not by a specific machine or activity:

• Moderate intensity: your heart rate rises, you’re breathing faster, but you can still hold a conversation. Brisk treadmill walking, an easy cycling pace, or steady-state rowing at a relaxed stroke rate all count.
• Vigorous intensity: your heart rate rises further, and you can only speak in short bursts. Running, interval work on a bike, or rowing at a higher stroke rate and resistance fall into this category.

This is why the 150 vs 75-minute figures aren’t interchangeable minute-for-minute at a personal level — vigorous activity is harder to sustain, which is exactly why the guideline allows half the time for roughly the same benefit.

Translating the aerobic target into equipment choices

150 minutes a week of moderate activity is around 30 minutes, five days a week, or three longer 50-minute sessions — there’s no single correct split, and the guidance is explicit that any combination that adds up works. What tends to matter more for actually hitting the target consistently is picking equipment that fits your space, noise tolerance and schedule, since the best cardio machine on paper is the one you’ll actually use through a wet January.

If you’re deciding between the main cardio categories, our comparison of treadmills, exercise bikes and rowing machines breaks each down by footprint, noise and joint impact — all of which affect whether a machine gets used for 150 minutes a week or gets used twice and then hung with washing.

Translating the strength target into equipment choices

“All the major muscle groups, on at least two days a week” doesn’t require a full commercial rig. In practice it means each session should include movements that load your legs, your back, your chest and shoulders, and your core — not just whichever exercise happens to be easiest with the kit you own. A pair of adjustable dumbbells or kettlebells, used across squats, rows, presses and hinge movements, can meet this target on their own; a bench and a rack add range once you’re consistent, rather than being required from day one.

For anyone building this out from nothing, our guide to free weights and dumbbells and our separate guide on kettlebells both cover equipment that can cover full-body strength work in a small footprint.

What the guideline doesn’t say

It’s worth being clear about what the NHS guidance does not claim, because home-gym marketing sometimes implies more than the evidence supports:

• It doesn’t specify a particular number of sets, reps or exercises — that level of detail comes from sports-science bodies like the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), not the NHS’s general public health guidance.
• It isn’t a target for weight loss or aesthetic change specifically — it’s a general population health guideline aimed at reducing the risk of conditions like heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers, and supporting mental health and healthy ageing.
• It applies to generally healthy adults aged 19 to 64. The NHS publishes separate guidance for older adults, for disabled adults, and for people managing a long-term health condition, and anyone in those groups — or returning to exercise after illness, injury or pregnancy — should check the guidance that applies to them, or speak to a GP, before starting a new routine.

A realistic weekly structure

A pattern that satisfies both parts of the guideline without requiring daily gym sessions:

• Three strength sessions a week (roughly 30–45 minutes), covering legs, back, chest, shoulders and core across the week — comfortably clears the “at least two days” minimum with a buffer.
• Two to three cardio sessions totalling 150 minutes at a moderate pace, or fewer, shorter sessions at a higher intensity if that suits your schedule better.
• At least one full rest day, which isn’t part of the official minutes-based guideline but is standard advice across sports science for recovery and injury prevention.

The specific split matters less than consistency across weeks. A modest routine done most weeks of the year outperforms an ambitious routine that gets abandoned in week three — which is also the more useful lens for deciding what equipment to buy, since kit that matches a routine you’ll actually keep to is a better investment than kit that matches an idealised one.

Sources: NHS, Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64 (reviewed 22 May 2024, nhs.uk); American College of Sports Medicine, resistance training guidance referenced for context on structured strength prescription (2026 position stand, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise). This is general guidance for healthy adults. If you have a long-term health condition, are pregnant, are over 65, or are returning to exercise after injury or illness, check the NHS guidance that applies to your circumstances or speak to a GP first.

Warming up and cooling down are the two parts of a home workout that get skipped first when time is short — and they’re also the two parts with the clearest evidence behind them for reducing injury risk and improving how a session actually feels. This article covers what a warm-up and cool-down should include for common home equipment, how long they need to be, and where the evidence is solid versus where it’s more about comfort than proven injury prevention.

Why warming up matters

A cold muscle is less elastic and your joints move through a smaller comfortable range than they do once you’ve raised your body temperature and got blood moving through the muscles you’re about to use. NHS guidance recommends a warm-up of around 5 to 10 minutes before exercise, built around light aerobic movement and mobility work rather than static stretching held for long periods (NHS, How to warm up before exercising).

The practical effect for home training: a proper warm-up means the first “real” set of your workout — the first heavy squat, the first hard interval on the bike — happens with a body that’s actually ready for it, rather than being the warm-up by accident.

What a warm-up should actually include

A useful home warm-up has two parts, and both matter more than any single “magic” stretch:

1. General aerobic movement (2–5 minutes)

Anything that raises your heart rate gently and gets you slightly out of breath: marching on the spot, a light spin on an exercise bike, an easy jog on a treadmill, or a few minutes of rowing at low resistance. The goal is a mild sweat and warmer muscles, not fatigue.

2. Movement-specific mobility (3–5 minutes)

Dynamic movements that rehearse the pattern you’re about to train, rather than static stretches held still. Before a strength session this might mean bodyweight squats, arm circles, and light band pull-aparts; before a run or a rowing session it might mean leg swings and a few strides at an easy pace building towards your working intensity. The principle is to move the joints you’re about to load, through a range close to what you’ll use in the session, before adding weight or speed.

Static stretching — holding a stretch still for 20–30 seconds — is better placed after the session than immediately before a strength or power-focused workout; some evidence suggests holding deep static stretches right before lifting can temporarily reduce how much force a muscle can produce, which is the opposite of what you want heading into a working set.

Why cooling down matters

A cool-down brings your heart rate back down gradually rather than stopping abruptly, and gives you a structured few minutes to stretch muscles that are already warm — which is the point in a session when static stretching is most useful for improving flexibility and easing tension. The NHS recommends a cool-down routine of around 5 to 10 minutes, including stretches for the muscle groups you’ve just trained, done gradually rather than rushed (NHS, How to stretch after exercising).

A simple cool-down structure

• 2–3 minutes of easing off — slow walking, gentle pedalling at low resistance, or light rowing, to bring your breathing and heart rate down gradually rather than stopping abruptly mid-effort.
• 5 minutes of static stretching for the muscles you trained, holding each stretch for around 20–30 seconds without bouncing, breathing normally throughout.

This takes less time than most people assume, and fits naturally at the end of a session on whatever machine you finished on — an exercise bike or rowing machine both work well for the “easing off” phase since you can control the pace precisely as you wind down.

Common mistakes at home

• Skipping the warm-up entirely on “just a quick session” days. Short workouts are exactly when a rushed cold start is most tempting, and exactly when it matters just as much — a 20-minute session with no warm-up carries the same joint and muscle risks as a longer one.
• Doing the warm-up with the wrong equipment for the session. A general warm-up (a walk, some mobility work) is fine before any session, but if you’re about to do a heavy lower-body strength session, a few light warm-up sets of the actual exercise with an empty bar or light dumbbells — building up towards your working weight — is more effective at preparing the specific joints and muscles than cardio alone.
• Treating the cool-down as optional once the “real” workout is done. It’s a small time cost (5–10 minutes) against a workout that’s often 30–60 minutes, and the difference in next-day stiffness is often noticeable, particularly after a hard cardio or leg session.
• Static stretching cold, before any aerobic warm-up. Stretching a genuinely cold muscle is less effective and slightly increases strain risk compared with stretching after a few minutes of light movement has already raised its temperature.

Building it into equipment you already own

You don’t need separate warm-up equipment. A treadmill or exercise bike at an easy pace covers the aerobic portion; bodyweight squats, lunges and arm circles cover mobility without any kit at all; and the cool-down stretch routine needs nothing beyond floor space and, optionally, a mat. If you’re deciding what to buy for a small space and want one machine that can double as both your main cardio session and a reliable warm-up tool, our comparison of treadmills, exercise bikes and rowing machines covers which format suits a mixed cardio-and-warm-up role best.

When to be more cautious

If you’re returning to exercise after an injury, surgery, or a long break, or you have a joint condition, a longer and gentler warm-up — and specific mobility work recommended by a physiotherapist rather than a generic routine — is usually more appropriate than the general structure above. This article is general guidance for healthy adults; it isn’t a substitute for advice from a GP or physiotherapist about your specific situation.

Sources: NHS, How to warm up before exercising (nhs.uk); NHS, How to stretch after exercising (nhs.uk); NHS, Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64 (reviewed 22 May 2024).

Buying equipment solves half the problem of starting strength training at home; the other half is knowing what to actually do with it week to week. This guide sets out a straightforward way to structure a beginner routine — sessions per week, sets and reps, and how to progress — based on current sports-science guidance rather than guesswork.

How often to train

You don’t need to train every day, and for a genuine beginner, more isn’t automatically better. The current position from the American College of Sports Medicine’s resistance training guidelines is that consistency matters more than volume or complexity, and that training all major muscle groups at least twice a week is enough to see real progress (ACSM, Resistance Training Prescription for Muscle Function, Hypertrophy, and Physical Performance in Healthy Adults, 2026 position stand). This also lines up with the NHS’s general activity guidelines, which set the same two-day-a-week minimum for muscle-strengthening activity.

A sensible starting frequency for someone new to structured training is two to three full-body sessions a week, with at least one rest or lighter-activity day between sessions that work the same muscle groups. This gives your body time to recover and adapt, which is when the actual strength gains happen — not during the workout itself.

What a beginner full-body session should include

Rather than isolating individual muscles the way an experienced lifter’s split routine might, a beginner full-body session should cover each major movement pattern once:

• A squat or lunge pattern (legs, glutes) — for example a goblet squat or a bodyweight/dumbbell lunge.
• A hinge pattern (hamstrings, lower back, glutes) — a Romanian deadlift or kettlebell deadlift.
• A push pattern (chest, shoulders, triceps) — a shoulder press or a floor/bench press.
• A pull pattern (back, biceps) — a dumbbell row or a resistance-band pull.
• Core work — a plank variation or a controlled anti-rotation exercise, rather than only sit-ups.

Four to six exercises covering these patterns is enough for a full session; more than that tends to add fatigue and time without adding much extra benefit for a beginner.

Sets, reps and load

Current ACSM guidance for building general strength recommends around 2–3 sets per exercise, with the specific rep range depending on the training goal: closer to 8–12 repetitions per set is a well-established range for building muscle and general strength in beginners, using a weight that feels genuinely challenging by the last two or three reps of each set without breaking form.

You don’t need to train to complete failure as a beginner — stopping a set once your form starts to break down, with a couple of reps still “in reserve”, builds strength just as effectively at this stage and carries less injury risk than grinding out a final rep with poor technique.

A sample first-month structure

This is illustrative, not prescriptive — the right exercises depend on what equipment you have and any physical limitations — but it shows how the pieces above fit together:

• Monday: Full-body strength (squat, row, press, hinge, core) — 2–3 sets of 10–12 reps each.
• Tuesday: Rest or light cardio (a walk, an easy cycle).
• Wednesday: Full-body strength — same structure, weights adjusted where the previous session felt too easy or too hard.
• Thursday: Rest or light cardio.
• Friday: Full-body strength, or swap for a cardio-focused session (treadmill, bike or rower) if you’re also working towards the NHS’s 150-minutes-a-week aerobic target.
• Weekend: At least one full rest day.

This pattern comfortably covers both parts of the NHS activity guidelines — strength work on at least two days, and room for aerobic sessions across the week — without requiring daily training.

How to progress from week to week

Progression doesn’t mean adding weight every single session — for a genuine beginner, simply getting more consistent and more confident with the movement pattern is progress in the first couple of weeks. Once a weight starts to feel comfortably manageable for all your target reps across a full session, that’s the signal to increase load, and current guidance suggests small increases — often in the region of 2–10% — rather than large jumps, so that technique holds up at the new weight.

A simple way to track this without an app or spreadsheet: note the weight and reps completed for each exercise after every session, even just on your phone. When you can comfortably do the top of your rep range (for example, all sets at 12 reps) with good form, add a small amount of weight next time and drop back towards the bottom of the range (around 8 reps) at the new load.

Equipment that supports this structure

A pair of adjustable dumbbells covers the squat, row, press and hinge patterns above in a small footprint, and lets you make the small load increases described here without buying new fixed-weight pairs every few weeks — see our adjustable dumbbells comparison for the main options. A flat or adjustable bench extends what you can do with the press pattern and adds stability for single-arm rows; our weight bench guide covers what to check for a first purchase. If you’d rather train with kettlebells for the hinge and carry-based core work, our separate kettlebells comparison covers cast, competition and adjustable options.

When a routine like this isn’t right for you

This structure assumes a generally healthy adult with no current injury. If you have an existing joint, back or heart condition, are pregnant, or are returning to exercise after a significant break, illness or injury, get individual advice from a GP or a qualified physiotherapist or trainer before following a general routine like this one — the right starting point and exercise selection can differ significantly from person to person in those circumstances.

Sources: American College of Sports Medicine, Resistance Training Prescription for Muscle Function, Hypertrophy, and Physical Performance in Healthy Adults position stand (announced 17 March 2026, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise); NHS, Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64 (reviewed 22 May 2024, nhs.uk).

Training at home removes some of the risks that come with a busy commercial gym — no queuing for equipment, no rushing a set because someone’s waiting — but it also removes the safety net of staff, spotters and other people nearby. This article covers the injuries most commonly linked to home strength training, the warning signs worth paying attention to, and simple, low-cost changes that reduce risk without needing extra equipment.

The most common issues, and why they happen

Lower back strain

The most frequent complaint linked to home strength training, usually from hinge-pattern movements (deadlifts, kettlebell swings) done with a rounded rather than neutral spine, or from lifting a weight that’s awkward to control rather than genuinely heavy. It’s also common when someone lifts an object with poor form outside a workout — picking up a heavy box, for example — using the same rounded-back pattern that a home routine hasn’t yet trained them out of.

Shoulder strain

Often linked to pressing movements (shoulder press, bench press) done with a weight that forces the lower back to arch to help complete the rep, or to poor warm-up before overhead work. Existing shoulder mobility limits — common if you spend a lot of time at a desk — make this more likely if pressing work is added too quickly.

Knee strain

Usually linked to squatting or lunging with the knees collapsing inward, or to increasing squat depth or load faster than the surrounding muscles and tendons can adapt to.

Ankle sprains and slips

More about the training environment than the exercise itself — loose rugs, cables from equipment left across the floor, or training in socks on a hard floor are common, entirely avoidable causes.

Warning signs worth acting on

Some discomfort is a normal part of training and doesn’t mean something is wrong. Delayed onset muscle soreness — the dull, generalised ache that appears 24 to 72 hours after a new or harder-than-usual session — is a normal response to unfamiliar exercise and typically resolves on its own within a few days.

What’s different, and worth taking seriously, includes:

• Sharp or sudden pain during a lift, rather than general fatigue or a burning sensation in the muscle.
• Pain that’s localised to a joint rather than spread across a muscle.
• Pain that gets worse over the following days rather than gradually easing, as normal muscle soreness does.
• Swelling, bruising, or a joint that feels unstable or gives way.
• Pain that changes how you walk or move outside the gym, hours or days after training.

For a minor sprain or strain, NHS guidance recommends the PRICE approach for the first two to three days: Protection (support the area), Rest (avoid the activity that caused it), Ice (an ice pack for up to 20 minutes every two to three hours), Compression (a bandage), and Elevation (raising the injured area). Once pain allows, gentle movement is generally better than prolonged rest, to avoid the joint or muscle stiffening up (NHS, Sprains and strains).

This is general first-aid guidance for minor, everyday strains — it isn’t a substitute for medical assessment. See a GP, or use NHS 111, if pain is severe, if a joint won’t bear weight at all, if there’s significant swelling or visible deformity, or if a minor injury isn’t improving within a few days of rest.

Reducing risk without buying anything new

Most home-gym injury risk factors are free to fix:

• Clear the space fully before you start — cables, rugs, low furniture and pets in the training area are a common and avoidable cause of trips.
• Warm up properly, every session — five to ten minutes of light aerobic movement and mobility work before adding weight, even on days you’re short on time.
• Progress load gradually — small, regular increases rather than big jumps, and hold or reduce the weight if your technique changes as the load goes up.
• Film yourself occasionally — a phone propped against a wall on a slow-motion setting is a genuinely useful, free way to check your squat depth, bar path or back position without a coach in the room.
• Train alone with a plan, not on autopilot — know your working weights and rep targets before you start a set, rather than deciding mid-set to “see how it feels” with a heavier load than planned.
• Don’t skip rest days — training the same muscle groups hard on consecutive days, before they’ve recovered, is a common contributor to overuse injuries in home routines that don’t have a coach checking programming.

Where equipment choice affects safety

Some injury risk is genuinely reduced by the right equipment rather than technique alone. Safety features on a power rack or squat stand — spotter arms and adjustable safety pins set at the right height — mean a failed heavy rep is caught by the rack rather than by your own body; our guide to power racks and multi-gyms covers what to check. Flooring matters too: a stable, grippy, shock-absorbing surface reduces slip risk and joint impact compared with training directly on hard flooring, which our separate guide to floor protection and gym flooring covers in more detail.

Training alone safely

Most home training happens without anyone else in the room, which is fine for the large majority of exercises but changes the risk calculation for anything genuinely heavy — particularly barbell work without safety pins set, where a failed rep has nowhere safe to go. If you’re lifting near your limits, either use a rack with correctly set safety arms, choose exercises you can safely bail out of alone (dumbbells can be dropped; a barbell across your shoulders generally can’t), or keep your heaviest attempts to a time when someone else is home.

Sources: NHS, Sprains and strains (nhs.uk); NHS, How to warm up before exercising (nhs.uk); NHS, Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64 (reviewed 22 May 2024). This article provides general safety information, not a medical diagnosis or personal training plan. For a specific injury, or before starting strength training with an existing health condition, seek advice from a GP, physiotherapist or qualified trainer.