The workout where I totally mess up an exercise and it's fine I swear don't worry!!

EDITED TO ADD! I heard from a few of you that you could use a couple more options for the half get-up. Please see below for a video explaining and demonstrating some ways to adjust:

Happy Sunday, happy March, and welcome back to Workout of the Week.

My clean-calendar dreams have finally come true, and I’m bringing you your strength training workout on the first Sunday of the month. It’s possible that only I care about this, but I hope you find it useful to start the month with your new program!

So: It’s time to switch up your exercises and start a new cycle. That said, if you’re not interested in progressive overload–oriented strength training, this workout is still for you! More details ahead for both camps. (And if you’re looking for something different, all WOWs can be found here.)

Before I go further, a quick note that I totally messed up the half get-up exercise! If you watch the video, you’ll see that I did it right in the third round, but got mixed up in the first and second. It probably matters to exactly no one but me (and the weightlifting bros out there), but: Whichever arm is holding the weight, that same-side leg is the one that should be bent. (So if right arm has the weight, right knee is bent and right foot is flat on the floor. Left arm is out to the side, left leg is extended on the floor. Video here of someone doing it right, although I didn’t add the hip lift — feel free to, if you’re so inclined.) If you don’t see this and do the video along with me with the “wrong” setup…honestly, don’t worry about it (Shaq voice).

ANYWAY. If you are interested in strength training, here’s the idea:

• For your first workout or two, take it a little easy. Don’t immediately jump to the heaviest weight you can stand to move. Ease your way in to hopefully avoid destroying yourself with soreness and feeling the need to take a super-long break before you go back for another workout (or even feeling discouraged entirely). THEN start to push. Nudge just slightly out of your comfort zone each time. Grunting, cursing, and heavy breathing all very welcome.

• Record the weights you used, if you’re comfortable (if recording body-related numbers is not good for you, skip this part). You should be trying to use a weight that gets you very fatigued and almost close to failure (i.e. you can’t do another rep) by the end of the minute-long set.

• Repeat the workout at least once or twice more within the week if possible.

• Do this for four-ish weeks, adding weight to the extent possible for each exercise that uses weight. Keep recording your weights (again, if this feels like a wise move for you) so you can see your progress! You can also mark progress on things like number of reps, longer working time (if you started off needing to take a break before the end of the set, etc.), or positioning (moving toward a more advanced version of the exercise), if applicable.

• You can do the other WOWs that come through over the next couple of weeks as a way to mix things up and supplement your training, if you have time.

• Then you’ll get another strength-training–focused workout next month, and the cycle begins anew. (You’re welcome to stick with this one for longer, but because it’s a relatively short workout we aren’t hitting a quite-complete range of movement patterns, so I’d suggest switching things up when the time comes.)

• I’m typically a big fan of offering up the option to skip the warmup or cooldown, or one or two rounds of the circuit. However, if you’re doing this in a progressive overload setup, I’d like to encourage you to keep the warmup and cooldown to make sure you’re taking good care of your body. If you can only do one or two circuits the first week, see if you’re able to add a second or third circuit in subsequent weeks.

• A note on weights: If you’re going to go for true strength training, you need some heavy weights. This can be hard for home exercisers! I hate sending you out to buy weights — they’re expensive, heavy (heh), and hard to store. But you may get to a point where you just have to go for it, or find a gym facility you can use that has heavier dumbbell options. Apologies that there isn’t a perfect, easy, super-accessible answer to this. If you have tips or suggestions, please leave them in the comments. (The dumbbell brand I use is Power Systems, but not saying they’re necessarily the best — I do like them, though.)

• One more thing: I’d love for this to be a barbell-focused program, but I think that’s going to leave out too many people who simply don’t have access or are hoping to get this done quickly at home. If you’re interested in slamming bars (I love this for you), I’d suggest checking out Casey Johnston’s program LIFTOFF: Couch to Barbell.

If you aren’t interested in progressive overload–focused strength training (or not yet), you are very welcome to just follow this video like a regular one-off workout! And you can do the whole thing, or if you have less time or energy than that, you can trim things down by:

• Skipping the warmup

• Skipping the cooldown

• Skipping one or two of the three rounds of the resistance-training circuit

Make it work for you. If you’d like to repeat this workout a time or two throughout the week, great.

This week, grab a variety of weights so you have options, a mat, a sturdy thing to step up on (a stepstool, stepladder, or even a very sturdy chair or low table — pressed against a wall if possible for extra stability; you can also just do this in front of a staircase and step up onto one of the bottom stairs) and some water.

Let’s go!