Ok, so you’ve decided to make strength training a part of your routine. Don’t worry, you don’t have to spend hours at the gym with those guys who grunt while lifting massive amounts of weight. In fact, you don’t even need a gym membership to get the benefits of strength training. With just a few items you can develop a great routine you can do at home. Dumbbells come in a variety of sizes and resistance bands are also a good option. If you haven’t been to the sporting goods department of your local store in a while, you may be surprised by all the products now available for home use.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

1.Always warm up. It is very important to give your body a chance to warm the muscles and lubricate joints before adding additional weight. Warming up can be as simple as marching or jogging in place. Warm up should last about 5 minutes.

2.Stretch. After your warm up spend a few minutes stretching. This increases muscle flexibility.

3. If you are just starting – keep it light. Proper form is more important than the amount of weight. Develop good technique and then slowly work up to heavier weights. For weight loss, use enough weight that you feel fatigued after 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions.

4. Maintain a neutral spine and engage your abs in every movement. Go through the complete range of motion, move slowly, and remember to breathe.

5. Choose one exercise for each major muscle group: Chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves and abdominals. It is important to work muscles in groups. If you consistently leave out one of the major muscle groups you could develop an imbalance which may lead to injury.

6. Rest is vital. Your muscles actually strengthen after lifting weights as they rebuild and recover. Rest at least 24 hours between strength training sessions.

Ideally, you should do three sessions a week, but any amount is better than none. As with any new routine you should gradually increase the difficultly. Stick with it and you’ll be impressed with the results. Healthy eating and cardio workouts are great, but with strength training you will obtain noticeable results.