![]() ![]() “Adaptation is likely finite,” said Jeremy Loenneke, an associate professor of exercise science at the University of Mississippi who studies muscles and strength and was not involved with this study. These findings indicate there are limits to how strong we can become. They, too, showed ample strength gains in the beginning and then a stark leveling off after a year or so. Wondering if this plateau might be avoided if people switched up and varied their weight workouts, Steele next checked an online database about competitive powerlifters, who presumably altered their training often. During the first year of lifting, most people’s strength grew by about 30 to 50 percent, based on the weights they could manage during each workout.Īfter that, almost everyone’s gains leveled off, with most adding perhaps an additional 10 or 20 percent, overall, to their muscular strength in subsequent years. ![]() This small time commitment resulted in substantial strength gains, Steele found, especially in the beginning. The entire routine, with about 20 seconds between one machine and the next, required about 15 to 20 minutes, depending on how many repetitions of each exercise someone managed, once a week.Īdvertisement A 15-minute weekly routine for more strength Trainers tracked people’s lifts and added weight once someone could easily complete more than about six repetitions of an exercise. They repeated each set on an individual machine until they reached what researcher call “momentary failure,” meaning “they felt as if they could not immediately complete another repetition with proper form,” Steele said. They completed one set each of six common exercises, in order: the chest press, pulldown, leg press, abdominal flexion, back extension, and either hip adduction or abduction (alternating these hip exercises from week to week), using machines available in most gyms.ĭuring each exercise, people lifted the weight for 10 seconds and then returned the weight to its starting position during an additional 10 seconds, making sure to breathe throughout. (The health club chain, fit20 International, provided data but had no other input into the study’s analysis or conclusions, Steele said.)Īdvertisement 6 weight exercises, just once a weekĮach person’s weekly program was consistent and simple. Now, Steele asked for and received anonymized data about 14,690 men and women, ranging from late teens to 80s in age, who belonged to the club and attended weekly for up to about seven years. The regimen did not vary from week to week or year to year, although the weights lifted would rise as people’s strength grew. Its program consists exclusively of clients visiting once a week, performing six weight-training exercises under the supervision of a trainer, recording how much weight they lift, and going home. But most of those studies had been brief and on a small scale, and had involved men, typically young.įortuitously, Steele heard about a large cache of weight-training data available from a health club chain headquartered in Europe specializing in weight training for everyone. Some past studies had suggested relatively small amounts of weekly lifting increase strength. ![]() Knowing that people who rarely work out typically tell researchers they have too little time, Steele began wondering about how little resistance training might be enough for average exercisers. According to recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fewer than a third of American adults say they regularly complete strength training at least two days a week, and the actual total is probably lower, because that number relies on people telling researchers about their exercise habits. ![]() These effects often equal those of endurance activities, such as walking or cycling, and in some respects, especially related to muscles and metabolic health, may exceed them.īut many of us rarely lift much more than a finger. Resistance exercise also can reduce anxiety, aid in weight control, maintain and build muscle mass, improve thinking, control blood sugar, help prevent falls, and generally bulk up our metabolisms and moods, other studies show. A 2022 review of studies about resistance training found that men and women who undertake strength training, no matter how infrequently, were about 15 percent less likely to die prematurely than those who did not lift. Strong people tend to live longer, for one thing. End of carousel The benefits of weight trainingīeing strong is “obviously important” for health and long-term well-being, said James Steele, an exercise scientist at Solent University in Southampton, England, who led the new study. ![]()
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