New to strength training? Anyone who has started weightlifting gets it — it's hard to know where to start.

First things first: You have to set a goal. This could be as simple as improving general health, building muscle mass, or getting leaner and more toned. But knowing your “why” is key. If you just want to get healthier, you won't necessarily need to be doing super heavy lifting. But if you want to gain a bunch of muscle, you'll want to consistently add volume (volume = weight x reps x sets) to your workouts. If you want to get leaner or more toned, you'll want to increase the intensity of your workouts over time.

As a beginner, you're not necessarily going to need to do as many days or go as hard as someone who’s more advanced.

When you've been in the strength training game for awhile, you're more likely to plateau and will need to shake things up more often and push to a higher intensity to reap results. 

Workout frequency is important, too. Beginners should do 3 full-body sessions a week, starting for the first 2 to 4 weeks. After that, the best thing in order to progress is to add a fourth day.

And if you want to build muscle, you're going to have to keep increasing your intensity over time. In addition, it’s recommended to give any muscles you work about 48 hours of rest before working them again.

As far as how much weight to lift, your goal is to make sure your last rep feels difficult ... like a 7 out of a 10. It may take some trial and error to figure out your sweet spot, but just keep going forward. 

You got this!