Never lifted before? 5 Strength exercises I start you on after 40.

Why do I start every woman 40+ with these five strength exercises? There are hundreds of exercises I could teach you. I use five.

Goblet squat. Romanian deadlift. Row. Reverse lunge. Floor press. That's it — squat, hinge, pull, lunge, push. Master these five movement patterns and you've built the foundation for almost everything else in strength training.

I didn't pick them because they're trendy. I picked them because they work — for a body that's spent years in yoga or Pilates, that has good control and body awareness, but has never loaded external weight before.

What's the right weight to start with?

Here's where most advice goes wrong: it gives you a number before it knows anything about you.

I can't tell you "start with 4kg" without knowing what's going on in your body — where you're coming from, whether anything's holding you back. We're all starting from different places, and that's exactly the point. There's no one number.

If there's anything in your body that doesn't feel quite right — an old injury, a niggle, anything — start as light as possible. One to two kilos, or bodyweight, especially for the goblet squat and reverse lunge. But if that's not where you are — if you're strong, coordinated, and ready to be challenged from day one — don't hold yourself back either.

Find something that's challenging for you, right now, in your body. Not conservative for the sake of it. Not heavy for the sake of it either. Challenging enough that the last few reps ask something of you, light enough that your form stays intact the whole way through.

Reps, rounds — and why I'd rather you do less, well

The caption says 8-12 reps. That stays consistent.

Rounds, though — start with two. If you're working around an injury, or you're just not sure yet, one round is enough. You don't need to prove anything on day one.

And in the beginning, I'd rather you sit in the higher end of that rep range with a lighter weight. Not because lighter is safer — because it's what lets you actually feel the full movement. You find the range, you find the pattern, you find where your body wants to compensate before it becomes a habit. That's where progressive overload actually starts. Not before.

The Five Strength Exercises.

Goblet squat. Trunk upright, weight held close to your chest or bodyweight only, sitting back and down through the hips. Full depth is knees bent to roughly parallel, if that's available to you today. If something in your body says otherwise — an old injury, a knee that doesn't love full range — go halfway. Depth isn't the goal. Control is.

Romanian deadlift. This is the one where alignment matters most. Neutral spine. A soft bend in the knees. Tension — real tension — in the back of your hamstrings as you hinge. The hinge comes from your hips, not your lower back. If you feel your lower back rounding, that's your cue to reset — you're compensating, not hinging.

Row. Hinge from the hips again, same principle as the deadlift. Keep your elbows close to your body. Don't squeeze your shoulder blades all the way together — think of it more like you're gently holding a small walnut between them, not crushing it.

Reverse lunge. Keep the knee tracking toward your second and third toe. Find a tripod through the foot — grounded, stable. Full range: front thigh close to parallel, back knee hovering just above the floor. If that's not available to you yet, shorten it. And this one's simple: never move toward pain. Which should become your mantra from now on in any exercise you do whether strength training or any other movement practice.

Floor press. Elbows slightly under your shoulders, shoulders relaxed against the floor. Neutral spine — back of the head, sacrum, both grounded. Press through your feet as you lift. Don't overextend through the shoulders at the top; keep them settled, not straining.

Where this goes next

This is exactly what we build inside StrongSculpt — my 12-week programme, three 15-minute strength sessions a week, alongside the weekly 45-minute Strength × Pilates class. Five patterns, practiced until they're automatic, before we ever talk about adding more.

Because progressive overload only works once your form can hold it. Everything before that is just building the floor your strength will eventually stand on.

Try your free week now — link in bio.