Strength training ─ whether you use equipment or your own body weight ─ is critical for long-term health. Also known as resistance training, it increases muscular strength, endurance, and bone density. These exercises also decrease the risk of falls and fractures as you get older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to CNN, experts recommend adults do muscle-strengthening activities two or more days each week, working all major muscle groups at moderate or greater intensity. Unfortunately, only about 30% of Americans meet this recommendation, and nearly 60% say they do no strength training at all.

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Tommy Lundberg, an exercise researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Solna, Sweden, and the author of The Physiology of Resistance Training, says that strength training is far more important than most people realize.

“You get improved glucose control, especially if you have Type 2 diabetes,” he says. “You feel better —which is a very important effect, as it can reduce stress levels — and you typically get better sleep. As you age, it helps you function better so you can carry out your daily activities for a longer period of time. It also helps reduce your risk of falls.”

While everyone can benefit from resistance training, Lundberg says that those over 65 may reap the most rewards because of the link between strength training and better physical function, reduced falls, and better balance.

“Resistance training is the only means to effectively maintain or even increase your muscle mass,” he says. “There is no drug available today, or any diet that we can adopt, to get the benefits that we can get from strength training.”

Lundberg adds that as we live longer, it is even more important to incorporate resistance training into our exercise routine. He suggests performing strength training exercise at least two to three times a week, whether you use body weight, free weights, gym equipment or bands. The exercises should include all of the large muscle groups.

“If you want to be more time effective, do one or two sets of each exercise,” he says. “If you have more time, do three or four. But it’s always better to reduce the number of sets of exercise than to reduce the number of exercises.”

Lundberg says that the effort level is also very important.

“You should exercise until you feel a small burning sensation and come to the point where you can’t do another repetition. You don’t need to reach failure necessarily, but do repetitions until you feel that, OK, this is becoming quite heavy now.”

Here are the five best strength training exercises for beginners.