 The squat, the deadlift, the bench press, and the overhead press. Getting started with strength training can be tough simply because there are so many options. If you're just getting started or starting back after some time off, you really want to focus on just three goals. First, you want to learn the core lifts and start making progress on those lifts. Improved strength and function come from making progress on just a handful of lifts. The squat, the deadlift, the bench press, and the overhead press. Any program you choose should dedicate at least two thirds of your training time and the majority of effort to first learning and then improving those lifts. Everything else is gravy. Second, you want to be efficient. Don't waste time. Too little weight or volume and you aren't maximizing your time. Too much and you're going to burn out too quickly. The best beginning programs start at a little bit less than you can do and go up steadily from there. And third, you want to have planned progress and PRs. Random workouts don't work very long because you don't see regular progress. When you're just starting to lift is when you have the best and fastest progress of your life. You should be setting new PRs often and intentionally. The most efficient beginning progress uses a basic linear progression where you add a little bit of weight every time you lift. Almost everyone can accomplish these three goals with a three or four day lifting program that's incredibly simple. Your first workout should look something like this. You're going to work up on squat one set of five at a weight that you could do for probably three or four more reps. So you'll do five reps, but you could have done eight or nine. And then you're going to do the same for the press, the deadlift and the bench press. One set of five with a weight that you could have done for eight or nine reps. And it's always better to go too light than too heavy. This helps you set a baseline and avoid soreness. So how might this look after that week? Well, we usually start new lifters with a three day a week program beginning with three sets of five on the squat. And then alternating between the bench press or overhead press for three sets of five. And then just one set of five for the deadlift. So that simple beginner three day split looks something like this. You might come into the gym on Monday, you're going to do squats, three sets of five at the same weight across. Then you're going to do press, three sets of five, same weight across. Then you're going to do deadlift, one set of five, right, up to a top set of five. Two days later, you'll come back to the gym. You'll also start with squat, three sets of five, but you'll do it probably five pounds heavier than you did on Monday. Then rather than pressing, you're going to bench press three sets of five, same weight across, and then deadlift one set of five again, probably five pounds heavier than you did on Monday. So now you have a workout A and a workout B. Those just continue to alternate. Week one would be A, B, A. Week two would be B, A, B. That's a beautiful three day split that will get you progress a lot of times for three or four months for most beginners. Now you can also do a four day split version where you squat and deadlift twice a week and press and bench press twice a week. And this results in shorter workouts, but more workouts per week. Ultimately, the amount of time you spend in the gym is about the same. So a four day split would look like this. Monday, you'd come in, you'd do squat, three sets of five, deadlift, one set of five. Tuesday, you might come in and do press, three sets of five, and bench press, three sets of five. Skip Wednesday, take Wednesday off as a rest day. Come back on Thursday, repeat Monday's workout, but go up five pounds. Come back Friday, repeat Tuesday's upper body workout, but go up five pounds. And this really works as well as the three day full body program in a four day split. You just make linear progression on the lifts, adding a little bit of weight every single time. So there are a lot of popular programs out there for beginners. If you're feeling overwhelmed, just look for a program that's simple, starts light, and focuses on the main barbell lifts. To get technique help, check out our beginning barbells page, which is linked up here in the corner of the video. We'll see you in the gym.