Four essential strength exercises that will make everyday tasks feel easier, recommended by a master trainer

All forms of exercise offer some kind of benefits—whether it’s building strength, improving mobility or boosting your cardio fitness.

But the right training program can make everyday tasks, like climbing the stairs or carrying your shopping bags, feel easier—and that’s the goal of functional training.

“Doing functional workouts will actually translate to your life,” says Tine Boles, a master trainer at Les Mills.

Boles ran me through a Les Mills Ceremony class—a functional-strength circuits-based class—earlier this year and then shared four beginner exercises that can make everyday tasks feel easier.

1. Squat

Sets: 3 Reps: 8-12

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
• Bend your knees and push your hips back to lower.
• Pause when your thighs are parallel to the floor or lower.
• Push through your heels to stand.

How it helps: Boles explains that this movement mimics getting in and out of a chair. It also recruits large lower-body muscles, like those in your thighs, helping you burn more energy and get your heart rate up.

2. Lunge

Sets: 3 Reps: 8-10 each side

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
• Take one step forward, bend your knees until they’re both at roughly 90° angles with your back knee close to the floor.
• Push through your front foot to come back to standing.
• Repeat on the other foot, alternating sides with each rep.

How it helps: “All the muscles that we use when we lunge are our walking muscles, our gait muscles,” says Boles.

Keeping them strong will make it easier to go for a stroll and lower your risk of injury when doing other sports, like running.

Doing unilateral (single-sided) exercises like the lunge will also improve your balance.

3. Bent-over row

Sets: 3 Reps: 8-10

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding dumbbells by your sides.
• Hinge forward at the hips until your torso is at a roughly 45° angle, letting your arms hang down.
• Retract your shoulder blades by moving them together and down your back to support your back.
• Lift the weights to your rib cage, keeping your elbows close to your body.
• Pause, then lower with control.

How it helps: According to Boles, pulling is an overlooked movement pattern in exercise programs, but it’s one we use regularly in everyday life.

She gives the example of picking up grocery bags off the floor, which most people do at least once a week.

Targeting your back muscles with bent-over rows will keep them strong. “It can help with posture, too,” says Boles.

4. Push-up

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Sets: 3 Reps: 6-12

• Get on your hands and knees, with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
• Step your feet back one at a time so your body is in a straight line from head to heels.
• Bend your elbows to lower your chest toward the floor.
• Straighten your arms to push back up.

How it helps: Pushing is another action that we perform every day, whether pushing doors open or pushing yourself away from your desk.

If you find a standard push-up too difficult, try a modified push-up. Drop your knees to the floor or put your hands on an elevated surface like a weight bench or couch.