Strength Training Is for Everyone

Speaker 1 Wirecutter Show is supported by Rocket Mortgage.

Speaker 4 Your home is an active investment, not a passive one.

Speaker 5 And with Rocket Mortgage, you can put your home equity to work right away.

Speaker 6 When you unlock your home equity, you unlock new doors for your family.

Speaker 8 Renovations, extensions, even buying your next property.

Speaker 7 Get started today with smarter tools and guidance from real mortgage experts.

Speaker 9 Find out how at rocketmortgage.com.

Speaker 11 Rocket Mortgage LLC, licensed in 50 states, nmls consumeraccess.org, 3030.

Speaker 12 From the New York Times, you're listening to The Wirecutter Show.

Speaker 12 Hey, everyone, it's The Wire Cutter Show. I'm Kyra Blackwell.
I'm Christine Sierra Clissette.

Speaker 13 And I'm Rosie Guerin, and we work at Wirecutter, the product recommendation site from the New York Times.

Speaker 12 Each week, we bring you expert advice from our newsroom of 140 journalists who review everyday products that will make your life better.

Speaker 12 Today's episode of The Wirecutter Show is called Strength Training is for Everyone.

Speaker 13 My friends, I know that this whole thing is supposed to be new year, new me, but we're into Jan and it's a new year and it's the same me.

Speaker 12 I feel like you're giving up too soon.

Speaker 13 I'm not giving up. I'm just willing to commit to this idea that I am the same person as I was last year.

Speaker 12 Okay.

Speaker 13 I hope I will grow and learn. And one thing I am committed to is getting back into

Speaker 13 some sort of regular exercise. It's always been an important part of my life, but I think in the last several years, I have fallen off, is a nicest way to put it.

Speaker 12 Did that coincide with two little humans being born?

Speaker 12 Has it been three years exactly, actually?

Speaker 13 It's tacky to blame them for everything.

Speaker 12 It's okay. You get a pass.

Speaker 13 But I really do want to get back to some of that baseline because I've always really loved strength training. What's your relationship to it?

Speaker 12 I actually, this past year, just got more serious about strength training.

Speaker 12 I had lifted weights since my early 30s because I was like, oh, when you hit 30, that's when you start losing all your muscle. And so I started lifting weights.
Wait, what age?

Speaker 12 I thought I had at least 20 years. Well, no, no, it's once you hit 30s and into your 40s, you start losing muscle mass and strength.

Speaker 12 So this year, I actually hired a trainer because I wanted to learn how to do things like a deadlift with a barbell. And I want to, you know.
Do a pull-up. I want to do a pull-up.

Speaker 12 I mean, that is a major goal of mine. I would love to do a pull-up.
I can do an assisted pull-up, but I cannot do a real one. My arms are for aesthetics only.
Really sad.

Speaker 12 Today we're going to focus on strength. And we're not talking about getting jacked here.
But if you do want to do that, more power to you. That's right.

Speaker 12 We're talking about about the kind of strength training that's good for everyone, building and maintaining the muscles you need for everyday movement.

Speaker 12 There's a ton of research showing that basic strength training can lower your risk of heart disease and even certain kinds of cancer. Plus, it helps lengthen your health span.
Your what now?

Speaker 12 Your health span. It's kind of like your lifespan, but better, because your health span isn't just how long you live.
It's how well you live into your old age.

Speaker 12 So it's how long you can stay healthy and active. Yeah.
Usually when you say that there's mounting evidence for something, it's like something that's objectively bad for our health.

Speaker 12 And I'm like, oh, that sucks. But you saying that working out is objectively good for your health is really bumming me out.

Speaker 13 And it's not just for January.

Speaker 12 These are like this is. It's like every month.
Yeah, for the rest of your life. Yeah.
But today, we're going to be bringing on two of our wirecutter colleagues who know a lot about this topic.

Speaker 12 First, we'll talk with Ingrid Chung, who was our fitness writer for many years and is still a certified personal trainer.

Speaker 12 We'll talk with her about why anyone should incorporate strength training into their fitness routine and how to get started or how to progress if you've already had practice.

Speaker 12 And then we'll talk with Seth Berkman, our current fitness writer, who has tested a ton of strength training gear.

Speaker 12 He's going to walk us through some simple gear you can invest in to strength train at home.

Speaker 12 And he's going to cover everything from really inexpensive resistance bands to things like adjustable dumbbells, which are super, super useful.

Speaker 12 Imagine regular dumbbells, but with interchangeable weights so that you can make them heavier or lighter lighter when you want to. I definitely need his advice on that.

Speaker 12 I made the wrong purchase and I need help. So that's why we're here, right?

Speaker 12 We'll be right back.

Speaker 1 The Wirecutter Show is supported by Rocket Mortgage.

Speaker 4 Your home is an active investment, not a passive one.

Speaker 5 And with Rocket Mortgage, you can put your home equity to work.

Speaker 6 right away.

Speaker 7 When you unlock your home equity, you unlock new doors for your family.

Speaker 8 Renovations, extensions, even buying your next property.

Speaker 7 Get started today with smarter tools and guidance from real mortgage experts.

Speaker 9 Find out how at rocketmortgage.com.

Speaker 11 Rocket Mortgage LLC, licensed in 50 states, NMLS ConsumerAccess.org, 3030.

Speaker 15 Wayfair loves fall. The crisp air, the cool nights, and of course, the seasonal lattes.

Speaker 15 And as your trusted destination for all things home, Wayfair's got everything you need to cozify your space, from comfy recliners to warm bedding and autumn decor.

Speaker 15 Wayfair even has espresso makers, so you can make that latte at home.

Speaker 12 You know the one.

Speaker 15 Head to Wayfair.com today to shop curated collections of easy, affordable fall updates.

Speaker 16 That's w-a-y-f-a-ir-r.com.

Speaker 15 Wayfair, every style, every home.

Speaker 17 Paul Mescall and Josh O'Connor star in the history of sound, a sweeping and tender romance that spans decades and continents.

Speaker 17 In 1917, Boston, a chance encounter in a piano bar leads two students to a folk song collecting trip through the backwoods of Maine and an ensuing love affair that will change both their lives forever.

Speaker 17 In Select Theaters September 12th and Theaters Everywhere September 19th, visit movie.com/slash historyofsound to get tickets. That's mubi.com/slash historyofsound.

Speaker 12 Welcome back to the Wirecutter Show. With us now is Ingrid Shang, who is our former fitness writer and our current editor of our large appliance coverage.

Speaker 12 She's a certified personal trainer by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, and she's written wirecutter guides to adjustable dumbbells, resistance bands, foam rollers, and many, many more.

Speaker 12 Ingrid, welcome to the show.

Speaker 14 Thank you for having me.

Speaker 12 Yeah, we're so happy to have you here. I do just want to say all the suggestions and ideas that we're going to make today are not going to work for every person.

Speaker 12 Everybody has different bodies, and it's a good rule of thumb to just check in with your doctor or a healthcare professional before you begin exploring new activities like strength training.

Speaker 13 Just putting that out there. Don't email Ingrid.

Speaker 12 Yeah, this is not method.

Speaker 12 Ingrid, you have been working at WireCutter since 2019 when you became one of our fitness writers.

Speaker 12 What a time to come in and be a fitness writer at Wire Cutter because, wow, you got to test fitness equipment during the pandemic, right?

Speaker 12 That was like high watermark for people building out a home gym.

Speaker 14 That's right. Yeah.
Everybody wanted something for home.

Speaker 14 So I had at least two exercise bikes at one point in my apartment.

Speaker 14 I did adjustable dumbbells. There were piles of yoga mats at a certain point.
So it was actually good. I got very real world testing.

Speaker 12 Well, before Wirecutter, you actually worked as a personal trainer in New York City, right? What kind of clients did you work with?

Speaker 14 I worked with a really wide range of clients.

Speaker 14 I had people who wanted to just get back to consistent exercise, people who were really interested in starting strength training and were completely new to that.

Speaker 14 I had some pregnant and postpartum people. I had older clients, a whole wide range.
And everyone has their own reason for coming to a gym and wanting to work out. So it's very interesting.

Speaker 12 Only recently have I gotten serious about lifting weights, but there's a lot of different ways to strength train, right? How do you define strength training? It's not just lifting weights, right?

Speaker 14 Right. So strength training or resistance training involves moving your muscles against an external load or force.

Speaker 14 So when you think about it in that exercise context, you're lifting a dumbbell, you're pulling against a resistance band, or even using using your own body weight as resistance.

Speaker 12 Who is strength training really for? And why is it important to strength train?

Speaker 14 Strength training is really for everyone. It can almost always be modified or scaled to meet a person where they are.
And as humans age, we tend to lose muscle mass.

Speaker 14 So strength training really steps in and is a really important way to combat that.

Speaker 14 It's been shown to help build bone density, to help increase range of motion in joints, to help protect your joints, increasing stability, just bodily stability, and helping to make those daily activities and tasks feel a little bit easier.

Speaker 14 If you think about the basic movements, they really do mimic a lot of movements that you see out in the world.

Speaker 14 You know, you're taking things off a high shelf, you're taking a kid out of a bathtub or taking things out of a trunk.

Speaker 14 You know, there's just so many movements that you don't even think about that strength training can really help with.

Speaker 12 If you're you're not already in a strength training program or you don't have a personal trainer, it can feel really hard to start.

Speaker 12 Christine has actually been an inspiration to me because she has been humble and saying that she's like starting to take it seriously. She is taking it seriously.

Speaker 12 Well, I'm also 20 years older than Kyrie.

Speaker 12 But that's the thing, like I'm younger, but I really do feel like I'm not as healthy and I would love to get into it. So Ingrid, we really want you to put your personal trainer hat on.

Speaker 12 And if you're working with someone who's trying to break into strength training or pick it back up, where would you recommend people start?

Speaker 14 One of the hurdles, I think, is thinking about what exercises to do. I like to look at it from the vantage point of compound exercises and foundational movements.

Speaker 14 So a compound exercise is one that uses more than one joint and several muscle groups all at once. More bang for your buck, essentially.
Think about a squat versus a bicep curl. So you're using more.

Speaker 14 And also these foundational movements that that we were kind of talking about earlier, pulling, pushing, squatting, a hip hinge, which is the movement that a deadlift requires.

Speaker 14 Also lunges, more one-legged movements, core exercises, and maybe even a loaded carry where you're carrying a weight for a distance.

Speaker 14 Thinking about them in that way can help figure out at least a place to start. And then

Speaker 14 how you want to do it is the other piece. This can depend on if you're gym focused or if you're home focused.
You can use your own body weight for resistance.

Speaker 14 You can do push-ups, squats, planks, lunges, things that work those foundational movements but aren't necessarily loaded yet. Other ways to go about the strength training are weight machines.

Speaker 14 Kind of keeps you in line. It has bumpers to help you with the movements.

Speaker 14 That can be a nice way to start with the strength training and then move into free weights, dumbbells, barbells, even kettlebells, which gives you a little bit more freedom than the weight machines, but also require a little more technique and being cognizant of your form when you're doing the exercises.

Speaker 12 Is there like a number of sets or reps you should be shooting for at first?

Speaker 14 So I would aim for two to three sets of eight to 12 repetitions of whatever exercise you're thinking of doing.

Speaker 14 And if you get to that, those last few reps and you're feeling like it's a little bit of a challenge, but not impossible, like you haven't maxed out, that's a nice sweet spot to reach because you're not exhausting yourself, but you still feel like you're being a little bit challenged.

Speaker 12 Ingrid, I actually wanted to get into free weights. And so I started working with a trainer because I was very intimidated by just going into a weight room and lifting.

Speaker 12 But I think something that is pretty important is getting your form down, right? Like you need to perfect the form before you really load up with weight because you can really hurt yourself.

Speaker 14 Yes.

Speaker 14 And jumping in with a lot of weight can A, be a recipe for an injury, but also be really frustrating because if you're entering in above what you can handle, it's not going to be fun and you're going to feel very defeated right out of the gate, which is not what we want.

Speaker 12 So it can actually be even better to lift a little lighter doing it with perfect form than it is to kind of ignore your form and do it with more weight.

Speaker 14 I don't think it needs needs to be perfect, but I think just from a safety point of view, being able to do it pretty much right is good.

Speaker 14 It's definitely one of those things where any sort of blip in your form is magnified under weight. And you definitely want to clean that up before you start loading.

Speaker 13 So there are clearly a great many ways to strengthen muscles, but Ingrid, if someone is interested in lifting weights specifically, is the idea to start lifting heavy weights as soon as possible?

Speaker 12 No.

Speaker 14 Trying to lift a weight that's beyond what you're ready for is not great. There are different ways to go about strength training.

Speaker 14 And if you start working with a personal trainer, they'll be able to sort of parse this type of thing out for you, talk about your goals, see what you really want to accomplish.

Speaker 14 So if you are training for strength, that's typically going to be a heavier weight lifted for fewer repetitions.

Speaker 14 If you're training for building muscle, that is typically lighter weights, more repetitions. And depending on your goals, it's not always the weight that can be the variable that changes.

Speaker 14 There are lots of variables when it comes to training that can change things up enough where you're moving yourself along in a way that you should be.

Speaker 14 So you can fiddle with the rest time between sets. You can mix up the tempo of how you're lifting, the number of reps and sets, order of the exercises.

Speaker 14 So there are different ways outside of just adding more weight.

Speaker 13 So, when we use that term heavy, what do we mean, or what does that mean to you?

Speaker 14 So, it's definitely a relative term, and it's often calculated with something called a one-rep max.

Speaker 14 Basically, a one-rep max is the maximum amount of weight that you can lift for one repetition of a certain exercise.

Speaker 14 So, if you're working with a personal trainer, let's say, and you have strength goals, you want to deadlift 200 pounds or just increase your strength, you would do a one rep max test, and then the higher range of those percentages is going to be heavy.

Speaker 14 So NASM, for instance, the National Academy of Sports Medicine, says that at least 85% of that one rep max would be considered heavy for one of their strengths training protocols.

Speaker 12 So the term progressive overload might pop up for anyone who's trying to learn more about strength training, but what does that actually mean?

Speaker 12 And how should you think about it as you apply it to your strength training journey?

Speaker 14 Progressive overload is incrementally challenging muscles with an intensity that they are not used to. And eventually the body adapts to that intensity.

Speaker 14 It kind of levels up and then is ready for more. And so you keep doing that over six, eight, twelve-week program.
And by the end, you've pushed things along.

Speaker 14 That adaptation is where the physiological changes start to happen.

Speaker 12 So let's talk about how frequently one should be doing strength training. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends strength training at least two times a week.

Speaker 12 Do you think that's a good place to start? If you're already lifting that many times, should you go up from there?

Speaker 14 Yeah, I think two times a week is a really good place to start. I think it allows for rest between the sessions.

Speaker 14 So you can work out, have a rest, and then come back and do something else the next time.

Speaker 14 And the stronger and more experienced you get, you can increase the number of days that you strength train, focusing, again, on building a well-rounded program that's really hitting all the muscle groups.

Speaker 14 And as you increase the days, you do want to think about rest. Rest is a component of exercise.
I think it's an often often forgotten component of exercise because people tend to just want to go.

Speaker 14 I mean, not everybody, but.

Speaker 13 Yeah, I was going to say, for me, personally,

Speaker 13 I started to really enjoy the days between and I liked how it felt. And I really put a lot of emphasis on that rest until I woke up one day and realized, huh? I haven't been in the gym in

Speaker 12 three years.

Speaker 14 Full-time rester, yes.

Speaker 14 But it can be important to, for physiological benefits, benefits too, to give yourself rest between days.

Speaker 12 I feel compelled to ask. My brothers used to play football and during the summer they would do something called two-a-days, which is basically when you have two full practices in one day.

Speaker 12 And I've really taken that approach to most things that I hate, which is cram it all in at once and then you don't have to think about it again for a long time. Is that a bad idea?

Speaker 12 Can you just get it all done at once, once a week, and call it a day? Or is that not a good recipe?

Speaker 14 You can. You can get it all done in one session.
There is research showing that one session a week can be beneficial, particularly to those who are very new to it or haven't done it for a while.

Speaker 14 But honestly, if it comes down to doing it or not doing it, and you have one day and 30 minutes, I think doing it on that one day is more important than trying to then sort of do the gymnastics to try to get to.

Speaker 14 I think people have a very all or nothing approach when it comes to exercise and being a little kind to yourself and saying, you know, if I can get 20 minutes here, I'm going to do it and that's good.

Speaker 14 And then if I get 20 minutes tomorrow, great.

Speaker 13 I'm curious, Ingrid, about this idea of strength training.

Speaker 13 Maybe it looks like PT

Speaker 13 prior to perhaps a surgery, you know, maybe cancer treatment for older folks who may have

Speaker 13 mobility struggles, the idea of strengthening your body ahead of something you know you're going into.

Speaker 13 What are your thoughts around that?

Speaker 14 In general, you'd always want to check with a PT or your doctor to make sure that that is something that you're in a position to do.

Speaker 14 But I do think strength training, it's been shown to help increase range of motion. It's been shown to help protect your joints.

Speaker 14 And in general, I think anything you can do to keep yourself strong and mobile going into any one of those scenarios. would be beneficial on the other side of it.

Speaker 13 Yeah, we often hear about rehab or physical therapy after something like a surgery, but I think the idea of doing something in anticipation of

Speaker 13 for me, that was a new concept as of you know, the last several years thinking about that.

Speaker 14 Yeah, I think it kind of runs adjacent to the idea of prehab exercises.

Speaker 14 So I'm a runner and I do a lot of smaller exercises with loop bands that are done with the intention of hopefully staving off injury and just making me better prepared to run.

Speaker 14 And I think that can be applied to those scenarios too.

Speaker 12 And even like on a macro level, you know, I just sent my mom an article about how strength training can help prevent falls in older adults, right? You're preparing for life, right?

Speaker 12 You're preparing for getting older and keeping your body strong.

Speaker 14 Yes. And that is why I have sent my mother resistance bands and said, mom, the perfect Mother's Day gift and a custom plan and tried to get her to do it because it does pay off.

Speaker 14 You know, focusing on stability as you get older, focusing on strength really does make those daily activities easier. But also, if something does

Speaker 14 go wrong,

Speaker 14 might position you a little better.

Speaker 13 Later in this episode, we're going to talk to a Wirecutter senior staff fitness writer, Seth Berkman, about how to think about building out a home gym, because I think a a lot of these things can be done at home.

Speaker 13 And so we'll talk about that and the products that you might want to consider when doing so.

Speaker 13 But Ingrid, if someone's interested in actually leaving the house, I can't imagine why, and going to a gym, which admittedly can be intimidating, especially if you're a woman, if you're older, if you have a disability, so on and so forth.

Speaker 13 What is your guidance and advice for folks who may feel vulnerable or uncomfortable in that environment?

Speaker 14 Yeah, I would say first, shop around. If there are different gym options available to you where you live, take a tour of them.

Speaker 14 Do some research to get an idea of what the feel is at the gym, what the approach is. If there is only one option for you, go in with a plan.
Really think before you go

Speaker 14 what piece of equipment you're going to head to, how long you're going to be there, and then what you're going to do after that. It can really help to have a set strategy in place.

Speaker 14 You know exactly what you're going to do. That can go a long way.
Going in with a a friend can always be a little more fun and a little more comfortable when you have a workout buddy with you.

Speaker 14 Consider what time of day you go. Sometimes going when it's less busy can give you a little more room to breathe and move and not feel like you're under a microscope.

Speaker 14 And then teaming up with a personal trainer.

Speaker 14 If it's, you know, within your budget, if it's something that you feel like you will make use of and are in a position to commit to, having someone there who knows the lay of the land and can take the programming piece out of it for you can be really helpful too.

Speaker 12 I want to ask more about that because, you know, I recently worked with a personal trainer. It was a really good experience.

Speaker 12 I only did it for a limited amount of time because I didn't want to spend that money for the long term.

Speaker 12 But if somebody is interested in working with a personal trainer, what is your advice for finding the right trainer to work with?

Speaker 14 It's a good question because I think finding the right person can kind of make or break the experience and also

Speaker 14 sort of your ongoing relationship with exercise. So I would say first and foremost, be as specific as you can about your goals.

Speaker 14 That can really help focus in on someone who is going to be best positioned to help get you to where you want to go.

Speaker 14 If you are asking at a gym about personal training, the manager of the personal training outfit often will have an idea of the expertise that's available and the trainers that are available, and that can be helpful.

Speaker 14 Asking about certifications and specializations is important.

Speaker 14 Your trainer should hold a certificate from a recognized organization like the National Academy of Sports Medicine or the American College of Sports Medicine.

Speaker 14 And then I would also say schedule an assessment or a trial with them if you can.

Speaker 14 A good personal trainer will do an assessment with you to get a sense of your goals, to also see how you move, which can really help with the programming, and also just to get acquainted with you.

Speaker 14 And a trial can be kind of a low lift, no pun intended, way to see if you like them.

Speaker 12 All right, so Ingrid, just to recap what we've talked about, because this has been a great conversation.

Speaker 12 If you're new to strength training, first of all, the big headline here is everybody should be strength training. It's important for your overall health.

Speaker 12 There's lots and lots of reasons why this is a really good thing to do.

Speaker 12 You can start out kind of small, focus on your form, but the important thing to think about with strength training is this idea of progression.

Speaker 12 And as you progress in weight, you're going to be building your muscle. And, you know, starting out two days a week is a great place to start.
Or one super packed day.

Speaker 12 Or one super packed day if you're ambitious, Kyra.

Speaker 13 Thanks, Ingrid. Thanks, Ingrid.

Speaker 14 Thank you.

Speaker 12 Okay, so we're going to take a quick break. And when we're back, we're going to get into the strength training gear our fitness writer, Seth Berkman, recommends for a home gym.
We'll be right back.

Speaker 1 The Wirecutter Show is supported by Rocket Mortgage.

Speaker 4 Your home is an active investment, not a passive one.

Speaker 5 And with Rocket Mortgage, you can put your home equity to work right away.

Speaker 7 When you unlock your home equity, you unlock new doors for your family, renovations, extensions, even buying your next property.

Speaker 7 Get started today with smarter tools and guidance from real mortgage experts.

Speaker 9 Find out how at rocketmortgage.com.

Speaker 10 RocketMortgage LLC, licensed in 50 states, NMLS ConsumerAccess.org, 3030.

Speaker 15 Wayfair loves fall. The crisp air, the cool nights, and of course, the seasonal lattes.

Speaker 15 And as your trusted destination for all things home, Wayfair's got everything you need to cosify your space, from comfy recliners to warm bedding and autumn decor.

Speaker 15 Wayfair even has espresso makers, so you can make that latte at home.

Speaker 12 You know the one.

Speaker 15 Head to Wayfair.com today to shop curated collections of easy, affordable fall updates. That's w-a-y-f-a-ir-r.com.
Wayfair, every style, every home.

Speaker 19 Mont Blanc invites you to use life's quiet moments to pause, reflect, and put pen to paper.

Speaker 2 Chapter one.

Speaker 9 Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 2 Part one.

Speaker 2 Perfect.

Speaker 17 The The mountains are impressive. Oh, I wish you were here to see them.

Speaker 15 Dear Diary, meet my new riding companion, the Meister Stuck.

Speaker 19 For every journey, the perfect companion awaits. Mont Blanc.
Let's write. Visit Montblanc.com for exquisitely crafted writing instruments, leather goods, and more.

Speaker 12 Welcome back to the Wire Cutter Show.

Speaker 12 This episode is all about strength training, what you can do at home and when it might be worth going to a gym, and the products that can help you get a jumpstart.

Speaker 12 Earlier, we spoke with Ingrid Shung about the basics of strength training and how to start.

Speaker 12 And now we're going to chat with Seth Berkman, who is a senior staff fitness writer who covers everything from fitness trackers to running shoes.

Speaker 12 He's a self-proclaimed avid slowrunner who can usually be found in our Long Island City office testing rowing machines, treadmills, and massage guns, plus massage chairs, which is really fun.

Speaker 12 So Seth is going to walk us through some basic inexpensive gear you can invest in to strength train at home. Welcome to the Wirecutter Show.

Speaker 18 Thanks for having me. I feel like I'm part of the cool kids club.

Speaker 12 Yeah, you definitely are. You've made it.

Speaker 12 So pumped.

Speaker 12 Well, Seth, I'm really excited to have you on the show today. People can literally buy thousands of different products for their home gym, like including really expensive barbell setups.

Speaker 12 But today, we really want to cover this in an approachable way. Let's talk through the options and let's approach it by cost.
So we can take it by kind of like small, medium, and large.

Speaker 12 If someone is just starting out and wants to get into just the basic gear, what are the first things you'd recommend?

Speaker 18 One of the first things I would recommend are a set of resistance bands. You can buy these in many different formats.

Speaker 18 They have some with handles, which you would see most commonly that you would hang over a door or something like that and do a lot of pulling exercises. But then you can also buy resistance bands.

Speaker 18 They're called super bands or some people call them pull-up bands.

Speaker 18 And they're the longer latex or natural rubber bands that you might see that can go anywhere from about, I'd say, in length about four to five feet, but they can also extend and stretch longer.

Speaker 18 So those are really helpful. as the name kind of indicates pull-up bands.

Speaker 18 They can assist you with pull-ups where if you can't necessarily do a pull-up on your own, you can tie them either around a bar or a band and put your knee or even your foot in them to kind of give you that boost to do a pull-up motion.

Speaker 18 Resistance bands are relatively inexpensive. You can buy a lot of them individually, but we mostly recommend sets for them.
So you do get four to five different bands of varying weights.

Speaker 18 So if you start out with, say, the smallest resistance that might just be five to ten pounds on a band, as you get stronger, you can build your way up to more resistance, more pounds, and grow strength in that manner.

Speaker 12 I was using our resistance band, the ones with the handles this morning. Oh, were you? I was going to say, I think we both need the pull-up band.
Christina, I definitely,

Speaker 12 yeah, I definitely need the pull-up band. I also can't do a push-up.

Speaker 12 Okay, so bands are a great place to start. They're very accessible.
You can use them in a bunch of different ways.

Speaker 12 Are there other things in this sort of first category, this small category that you'd recommend getting?

Speaker 18 Yeah, it's also great to get a kettlebell. And I think some people get intimidated by a kettlebell because it just looks like a big honk of metal, essentially, like a cannonball almost.

Speaker 18 And they think, oh, that's heavy, or it's unwieldy, too, because you do have the bell shape in the bottom and then a handle.

Speaker 18 But you can find kettlebells, three to four pounds, very manageable weight for most people just to start out. And they're great for stabilization exercises, but also lifting as well.

Speaker 18 You can curl a kettlebell like you would a dumbbell for bicep training or strength. that way.
I use kettlebells actually on the floor.

Speaker 18 So you put one hand on the kettlebell to kind of raise your body in a way. And then your other hand is on the floor and doing push-ups that way.

Speaker 18 They are great for swings and things like that, squats as well. So really not just for strength training, but all kinds of exercises.

Speaker 12 What's the advantage of, like if you don't have weights at home right now, what's the advantage of buying a kettlebell first versus maybe buying a couple of like five pound weights or something like that?

Speaker 18 The versatility of a kettlebell, it's more natural, I think, for some people to hold with two hands.

Speaker 18 Whereas if you were to buy a five-pound dumbbell, let's say it has that very particular shape where kettlebell much more conducive for swinging and kind of holding with a two-handed motion for maybe those stabilization exercises that you're looking for.

Speaker 12 I wish I had talked to you before I bought one set of five-pound regular dumbbells and then another set of 10 pounds. And now I just have a bunch of dumbbells around my house that I never use.

Speaker 12 I feel like the kettlebells also look tougher. They do.
It's like if you walk in and you see two five pound weights, you're like, oh yeah, they do a little bit of weight.

Speaker 12 But if you see like a kettlebell, you're like, it doesn't matter how heavy it is. It's like that person's person's serious.
Yeah.

Speaker 12 And you can consolidate them and just shove them in a corner or something.

Speaker 18 They make great door stops.

Speaker 12 That's true. That's true.

Speaker 12 I like that.

Speaker 12 Anything else in this category?

Speaker 18 Yeah, I would definitely recommend a yoga mat. You know, you think about strength training.

Speaker 18 That might not be the first thing, but a yoga mat serves great purpose in terms of just giving you stabilizing surface.

Speaker 18 But also, there are exercises that you can do for strength training where you will be laying on your back. And so to have that little bit of padding underneath you definitely helps as well.

Speaker 18 And you can find a good yoga mat for $20, $25 and should last you many years.

Speaker 12 So you can essentially get a suite of these things for maybe under $100.

Speaker 18 For sure. Yeah.
And that's something I would always kind of recommend to someone is you don't want to hop in right away and buy the 200 pound set of weights or something like that.

Speaker 18 One, you want to be sure that you're starting at a place where you feel comfortable with, but also in terms of long-term usage of it, you know, you don't want it to be a wasted investment.

Speaker 18 You want to be sure, oh, this is something I can stick with or something I want to kind of continue doing.

Speaker 18 And you can find these very basic entry-level, beginner-level tools for strength training, all each costing around $20 or less.

Speaker 18 And if you were to buy them all together, you could probably get yourself a good quote-unquote starter set for under $100.

Speaker 13 So, Seth, speaking of price, if you go into a store or How about Amazon for any of these products, there are literally thousands of options.

Speaker 13 Some of these, like resistance bands or yoga mats, I'm curious, what is going to make one better than another?

Speaker 18 So one thing that you want to consider when it comes to items like yoga mats or resistance bands is material.

Speaker 18 If someone has a latex allergy, a lot of the yoga mats or resistance bands, you cannot buy because they are with latex. So you're looking for something that would not have latex, which they do make.

Speaker 18 There's also very, I don't know if you would call them cosmetic factors, but some of those products, because they are made from natural rubber or latex, they do have a smell to them that you might find offensive.

Speaker 18 Or you like using resistance bands after a while, many of them, your hands will smell rubbery and you want to wash them off, or they may have a greasy feel to them.

Speaker 18 Sometimes companies put powder, like a talc or cornstarch, on resistance bands because it's supposed to help with the grip.

Speaker 18 But some people don't like that tactile feel of having the powdery substance residue on their hands afterwards. Those are some things to consider.
You also want to look at warranty.

Speaker 18 I think that's always a big thing. You may find a set of resistance bands for $10 or something and you think, oh, that's a great deal, but any resistance band will snap on you at some point.

Speaker 18 The idea is to try to get one that will last maybe a year, maybe two years or something.

Speaker 18 And if you see a company has a warranty for a year, some companies have lifetime warranties where if you buy one and it snaps three years from now, you can get a replacement ban.

Speaker 18 So that's something to consider in terms of purchase and price too is if you're able to replace it at little to no cost.

Speaker 18 and then another thing i would also just consider when you talk about looking at so many options is do look at the user reviews a lot of times people will include photos thinking about how long you're going to be able to use this but also in the safest manner possible it's pretty important

Speaker 12 So Seth, can we talk about that medium cost here? What are some things that you might spend a little bit more money on that can help with an at-home strength training regimen?

Speaker 18 Yeah, once you're looking to increase your strength training a bit, one of the first things I would look at is a pull-up bar.

Speaker 18 And so pull-up bars are interesting exercise tools because a lot of the ones that you see used are the kind that you can essentially just hook on the back of a door.

Speaker 18 Most of them do come with nuts and bolts and ways to affix it in a more permanent way, but people like that ability to just attach it on the door, do some pull-ups, take it down.

Speaker 18 Pull-ups are a great exercise. They're definitely not the easiest of exercises.

Speaker 12 It's possible, some might say. I feel like it's the white whale.
I feel it's like, especially for a lot of women, like I feel like men tend to have more, I don't feel this way.

Speaker 12 I know a lot of men have more upper body strength. But yeah, it's just like, it's a hard exercise to do.

Speaker 18 And that's where resistance bands could be a great assist to that. Just the sense of being able to do a pull-up is really gratifying in a way.

Speaker 18 That self-confidence boost that it brings to you using a pull-up band or a resistance band along with it may give someone confidence.

Speaker 18 And so once they're able to do that and challenge themselves, it may be go down to smaller weighted resistance bands and then hopefully at one point not use a resistance band at all.

Speaker 18 Once you're able to incorporate pull-ups into your workout routine strength training, the benefits are really innumerable.

Speaker 18 You can also use pull-up bars if you don't do push-ups well or you struggle to do push-ups.

Speaker 18 A lot of pull-up bars are designed where if you take it off the door and then put it on the floor with the handles facing you and do push-ups with that, that kind of gives you an assist for doing push-ups on the floor.

Speaker 12 So Seth, our pull-up bar pick is from Ultimate Body Press. How much is that going to cost someone?

Speaker 18 Our pick is in the range of about $60 to $70.

Speaker 18 So our pick is really big. We called it the quote-unquote Texas pick.
One, because it's really big, but also some of the handles look like longhorns that you would see on like a steer or a cattle.

Speaker 18 One of the things we like about it, it has four or five different handle placements. So you have the traditional two handles in front, but there are also handles on the side.

Speaker 18 So you can do pull-ups from various angles on that one. The one thing that I would mention about pull-up art is storage might be a problem if you don't have the biggest apartments or rooms or spaces.

Speaker 18 They don't break down or fold or collapse. So one of our testers, he has the pick, the Texas pick now, and he keeps it.

Speaker 18 in his bathtub essentially just because that's the only space that is big enough but also kind of conducive for the shape of a pull-up art

Speaker 13 All right, so the final category, this higher cost tier. What are some things that might be a bit of an investment, but will pay off later down the line?

Speaker 18 Yeah, so that next level up, a set of adjustable dumbbells could really help improve strength training. And that is a bit of an investment.

Speaker 18 The set that we recommend now normally retails for about $360, $370,

Speaker 18 but they're great for, you know, you think of the traditional arm curl exercises, but all kinds of arm exercises, chest exercises.

Speaker 18 And adjustable dumbbells are great because most of them should be relatively easy to clean and maintain.

Speaker 18 And the ones that we test and we really look to kind of recommend are very simple to adjust, hence the name adjustable dumbbells, where it's either as simple as twisting a handle or pressing a button and you go from five pounds to 10 pounds to 15 pounds within the matter of one or two seconds.

Speaker 12 I um was looking at your adjustable dumbbell guide a while ago because i was looking to buy some and i decided not to because they were very expensive a why are they so expensive and b can i test some adjustable dumbbells because the ones that i bought instead were super cheap and they suck so i made the wrong choice obviously yeah that's a really good question The set that we recommend now from Core Home Fitness, they're on the lower end actually in terms of price.

Speaker 18 I was just talking with my editor, Tracy, today about a new set that came out and they look pretty fancy. There's $720 for a set of adjustable dumbbells.
Ours are like half the price.

Speaker 18 And so when you think of price, some of it is material. I like the ones we have now because the handle is smooth.

Speaker 18 When I used to lift weights with like traditional dumbbells, I would often get calluses if I didn't wear gloves on my hands. But some people want that.

Speaker 18 So some of the adjustable dumbbells will have a metal knurled handle. That's when you get that feeling of just like thousands of little bumps on the handle.
It's supposed to help with your grit.

Speaker 18 One of the flaws, but not deal breakers for our recurrent pick is the cradle is essentially plastic. And so it's not the strongest.
And actually,

Speaker 18 our biggest qualm over the years with the core dumbbells is, so they go up to 50 pounds. So if you set it to 50 pounds and then pull it out, it will get stuck in the cradle.

Speaker 18 So you have to either put your foot on the edge of the cradle or you need some kind of resistance to actually pull the dumbbell at its full weight out of the cradle. Well, that's a workout.

Speaker 12 Yes.

Speaker 13 This sounds like a lot of rigmarole.

Speaker 12 But they don't take up that much space. That's the plus side, right?

Speaker 12 Like if you were to get that much of a weight range, like let's say five to 50 pounds in individual dumbbells, then you'd have to buy like a lot and they'd take up a lot of space, right?

Speaker 18 Right. You'd have to buy essentially 10 different sets that would take up more space and definitely more money in having the individual ones.

Speaker 12 Okay, so what I'm hearing, Seth, is that if you're a beginner and you're really just trying to get into strength training, the best thing you can do for yourself is start small.

Speaker 12 That means just a yoga mat, maybe a kettlebell and resistance bands.

Speaker 12 And then if you want to keep ramping it up from there, you can get a bullet bar and then the ultimate final boss adjustable dumbbells. Is that right? Yeah.

Speaker 12 So before we wrap, we always ask our guests one final question. What's the last thing you bought that you've really loved?

Speaker 18 It's very on brand, I guess, but just this summer when we started testing, so I have jump ropes now and I love jumping rope. I'm crazy about jumping rope.

Speaker 12 Yeah, what's your favorite jump rope?

Speaker 18 So we recommend this brand called KSY. It's made in Korea and it was created by this guy who was a championship jump roper.

Speaker 18 And so literally, I can never jump rope before. And then this summer, just very slowly trying.
And then now I jump rope like every day. It's sort of...

Speaker 12 What makes this jump rope so awesome?

Speaker 18 Handles are a big thing, I feel, for a lot of jump ropes, just the tactile feel that you get. And they're like smooth, but they have a little bit of grip to them.
The design also is like very nice.

Speaker 18 handles have a very sort of not psychedelic, but I don't know.

Speaker 12 If you jump rope for like five minutes, it feels psychedelic. It's like torture is what it feels like.

Speaker 18 More intricate design, but the other day I was like, maybe I'm too into this because I was doing my laundry, but I was jumping rope in like my laundry room in my apartment.

Speaker 12 That's psychotic. Yeah.

Speaker 13 It says, thank you so much for joining us. This has been really great.

Speaker 12 Yeah, thank you. Thanks, Seth.
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 13 What a one-two punch we had today.

Speaker 12 Andrew and sign up for real. Can you work out with them? I'm not ready for that, Christine.
I'm doing it.

Speaker 13 What are your takeaways from this double feature?

Speaker 12 I think my takeaway is that I need to test adjustable dumbbells with Seth before I commit to buying them because

Speaker 12 I don't want to buy them right away and not use them. So I want to make sure I find a pair that I actually like.
Yeah, that's the advantage of working here: you can try things out.

Speaker 13 Yeah, for me, I think it's that you can get a setup going for a home gym, maybe yoga mat resistance bands, kettlebell, for under $100.

Speaker 13 And I think that is terrific, particularly for folks who are kind of dipping their toe in.

Speaker 13 I think the other thing for me is when I get back into lifting this year, which since I've said it on Mike and all of your my witnesses, you're committed.

Speaker 12 I am committed.

Speaker 13 I shouldn't start heavy. I got to set my ego aside.
Just because once I could lift a lot doesn't mean I still can.

Speaker 12 But you'll get there. Yeah.
But I'll get there.

Speaker 13 Slow and steady wins the race.

Speaker 12 That's right. My takeaway is that I am going to get a pair of super bands, the bands that Seth recommended for doing assisted pull-ups.

Speaker 12 I have a lot of different types of bands at home, but I don't have this type of band. Catch that white whale.
That's right. I'm going to do pull-ups.
I want to do a pull-up by the end of the

Speaker 12 end of the year. Yeah.
So I want to do an unassisted pull-up. So I'm going to be assisted for quite a while, but I'm going to get some of those.

Speaker 13 Well, if you want to find out more about Wire Cutters coverage or if you want to check out any of the products we recommended today, go to nytimes.com slash wirecutter, or of course you can find a link in the show notes.

Speaker 13 Stay strong, my friends. That's it for us.
See you next week. See ya.

Speaker 12 Bye.

Speaker 12 Here's what's coming up next week on The Wirecutter Show.

Speaker 18 Okay, so this is the whole debate of the internet over the last 20 years about luggage, it seems.

Speaker 18 And the short answer is hard-sided does not seem to protect anything that much more than soft-sided does.

Speaker 12 Make sure you're following the show on your favorite podcast app so you don't miss it. The Wirecutter Show is executive produced by Rosie Guerin and produced by Abigail Keel.
Editing by Abigail Keel.

Speaker 12 Engineering support from Maddie Mazziello and Nick Pittman. Today's episode was mixed by Catherine Anderson.
Original music by Dan Powell, Marian Lozano, Alicia Butt YouTube, and Diane Wong.

Speaker 12 Wirecutter's deputy publisher and interim general manager is Cliff Levy. Ben Fruman is Wirecutter's editor-in-chief.
I'm Kyra Blackwell. I'm Christine Sear Clissette.

Speaker 13 And I'm Rosie Guerin.

Speaker 12 Thanks for listening.

Speaker 12 Is it like capitalism in which you constantly need to be growing and like lifting more? Are you a Marxist lifter?

Speaker 1 The Wirecutter Show is supported by Rocket Mortgage.

Speaker 4 Your home is an active investment, not a passive one.

Speaker 5 And with Rocket Mortgage, you can put your home equity to work right away.

Speaker 7 When you unlock your home equity, you unlock new doors for your family, renovations, extensions, even buying your next property.

Speaker 7 Get started today with smarter tools and guidance from real mortgage experts.

Speaker 9 Find out how at rocketmortgage.com.

Speaker 11 Rocket Mortgage LLC, licensed in 50 states, NMLS Consumer Access.org, 3030.