Does carrying the shopping count as strength training? Does yoga? Do push-ups? The NHS and the UK Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) each give examples of what counts as muscle-strengthening activity, and the two lists are not identical. This guide sets the wording of both side by side. It is general information for healthy adults, and the NHS page advises speaking to your GP first if you have not exercised for some time or have medical conditions or concerns.
What is the weekly target?
The NHS guidelines page for adults aged 19 to 64 (last reviewed 22 May 2024) says adults should aim to do strengthening activities that work all the major muscle groups, which it lists as legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms, on at least 2 days a week.
The CMO guidelines are published on GOV.UK by the Department of Health and Social Care (publication page last updated 10 July 2026), and the report describes itself as a UK-wide document. Its adult guideline says muscle strengthening activities should be done at least 2 days a week, “but any strengthening activity is better than none”. The same report says that when undertaking muscle strengthening activities it is important to work all the major muscle groups.
What does the NHS list as muscle-strengthening?
The NHS page introduces its list as examples, so it is not a complete catalogue. The examples are:
- carrying heavy shopping bags
- yoga, pilates and tai chi
- lifting weights
- working with resistance bands
- exercises that use your own body weight, such as push-ups and sit-ups
- heavy gardening, such as digging and shovelling
- wheeling a wheelchair
- lifting and carrying children
The page does not name dumbbells or kettlebells. The nearest wording is “lifting weights”, and the page does not set a weight, a number of repetitions or a number of sets.
How does the CMO wording differ?
The CMO adult text says the chosen activities should use all major muscle groups, upper and lower body, and that this “can include” using bodyweight, free weights, resistance machines or elastic bands. It adds activities of daily living, giving stair climbing, wheeling your wheelchair and lifting and carrying children as examples.
Putting the two side by side:
- Named by both: body weight, resistance bands (the CMO text says elastic bands), wheeling a wheelchair, and lifting and carrying children.
- Named in the CMO text but not in the NHS list: resistance machines and stair climbing.
- Named in the NHS list but not in the CMO sentence: carrying heavy shopping bags, yoga, pilates, tai chi and heavy gardening.
The NHS says “lifting weights” and the CMO text says “free weights”; neither page names dumbbells or kettlebells, and neither ranks the activities against one another.
How hard does an activity have to be?
The NHS gives one test of effort: to get health benefits from strength exercises, you should do them to the point where you need a short rest before repeating the activity. That is the NHS’s own wording, and it is a description of effort rather than a weight to lift.
Some activities appear in the guidelines as examples of aerobic intensity as well. The NHS lists “lifting heavy weights” among its examples of very vigorous activities, which it describes as short bursts of maximum effort broken up with rest, and it lists walking up the stairs as vigorous. The CMO text gives stair climbing as an example of very vigorous intensity and, in the same report, as an activity of daily living that can maintain muscle strength.
Does strength work replace the weekly aerobic target?
The NHS says no. Its adult target is at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity each week, or a mix of moderate, vigorous and very vigorous activity. Strengthening activity is also needed on at least 2 days a week. The NHS page states that muscle-strengthening exercises are not always an aerobic activity, so they are needed as well as the weekly aerobic target. The two can be done on the same or different days, “whatever’s best for you”.
The CMO report puts the weight on strength work too: it says regular inclusion of strength and resistance activities should be considered as important as achieving the weekly target for moderate or vigorous physical activity.
The guidance in one checklist
- Choose activities that work all the major muscle groups.
- Do them on at least 2 days a week.
- Work to the point where a short rest is needed before repeating the activity (NHS wording).
- Do them as well as the weekly aerobic target, not in place of it (NHS wording: strengthening exercises are not always aerobic, so they are needed as well as the aerobic activity).
- Speak to your GP first if you have not exercised for some time or have medical conditions or concerns.
For the practical side, this site’s guides on starting strength training with free weights, progressive overload and free weight safety at home cover equipment and technique. The official pages above set the weekly target, not the kit.
The bottom line
The NHS and the UK CMO guidelines both ask adults for strengthening activity on at least 2 days a week that works all the major muscle groups. The NHS gives a list of examples, from lifting weights and resistance bands to carrying heavy shopping and heavy gardening, and its test of effort is needing a short rest before repeating the activity. The CMO text adds resistance machines and stair climbing among its examples. The NHS says to do strength work as well as meeting the weekly aerobic target.
Sources
- Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64, NHS, page last reviewed 22 May 2024 (nhs.uk)
- Physical activity guidelines: UK Chief Medical Officers’ report, publication page, Department of Health and Social Care, last updated 10 July 2026 (gov.uk)
- UK Chief Medical Officers’ physical activity guidelines, Adults guidelines chapter, read 26 October 2026 (gov.uk)
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