You don’t need to join a gym or buy expensive gym equipment. You do need to decide what form of exercise best suites you and your schedule. It could range from walking, using weights, toning/Pilate exercise videos, or all of above. You can purchase hand weights and videos at very reasonable prices. Maybe pickup an issue, or even subscribe, to Fitness Magazine. Every issue is filled with different exercises you can do at home.

* If 100 people join a gym today, only 50 of them will still be there in 6 months.

* Of those 50 people, 40 will not seek help of a personal trainer.

* Of those 40 people, 35 will not be working out effectively or efficiently.

That means that out of our original 100 gym go-ers, only 5 are actually realizing their goals in a safe and effective way.

What am I getting at? Everyone needs to exercise... correct way. I am a personal trainer that trains loads of clients on a daily basis. I typically see my clients (many with little or no exercise experience) surpass those that come to gym every single day. Why is that?

Here's why you'll be glad you found this article, and were smart enough to read it. Strength training is necessary. Just as necessary as cardio. Even for women! You can run for an hour on treadmill every single day of your life, but that does little to nothing for your bone density and muscular strength. As we age, we lose massive amounts of bone density. Ever heard of osteoporosis? YIKES!

The point of this article is to show you five basic exercises to build overall strength and toning. You need nothing more than two free weights, a chair or bench, and a floor. Easy so far, right? There are no jazzy techniques or $30 videos to buy. Nothing more that what I mentioned above. Really use these exercises to develop a proper strength training routine. I will provide help if you need it. At bottom of this page is a link to my website. I think you'll benefit from it more than any other site in world. It's down-to-Earth and focused on results. And we leave all big technical terms out of it.

Here are top 5 strength training exercises for overall strength: