Latest news with #BradSchoenfeld
WebMD
21-05-2025
- Health
- WebMD
Lift Lighter Weight, Get Just as Strong: Here's Why
'Muscle' and 'strength' and 'lifting' as it all happens in your average local gym is what makes strength training intimidating for some. 'Instatrainers' and showoffs and pseudoscientists on social media only make it noisier with conflicting research, elaborate workout protocols, and stunt exercise videos to get eyeballs. But strength training is critical for health. We all need it. Keeping our bodies strong and functional is how we maintain health and achieve, hopefully, longevity. So let's get away from the show of muscle. Some facts based on the most recent science: You don't have to lift heavy weights to get great results (unless you want to). You don't need complex equipment and workouts to get great results (unless you want those things). In fact, lighter weights can give you the same muscle-building results as heavier weight if you know how to do it. You can also lift those lighter weights to achieve more muscular power, which, as you'll see, is something worth striving for as you get older. So let's put on a different muscle show — based on the latest data. What Really Matters With Strength Training When it comes to building and maintaining muscle, two factors matter more than anything else: volume and loading. Brad Schoenfeld, PhD, is a professor in exercise science at CUNY Lehman College in the Bronx in New York City. He's also a researcher who has published more than 300 studies in the field of exercise science and sports nutrition. His studies have consistently found that total training volume — that is, the sum of all the sets performed per muscle group per week — is a key driver of muscle hypertrophy (a.k.a. growth). Individual differences such as training experience, recovery capacity, and even genetic factors can influence how much volume is optimal for you. 'Some people respond better to lower volumes, some people need more volume to maximize their results,' says Shoenfeld. 'But as a general guideline, to optimize hypertrophy you want to be somewhere between 10 to 20 sets per muscle per week.' So to target the quads, for example, you'd want to complete three to four sets of exercises like squats and leg presses two to three times a week. To hit 20 total sets, you'd need to do five to seven sets of the same exercises across three sessions. Is that the bare minimum? No. That's the ideal. Shoenfeld's team recently published a review paper where they looked at what might be a 'minimal effective dose.' 'It was roughly around four sets per muscle per week, which can be done in two to three half-hour sessions,' he says. 'If your goal is just to build some muscle, gain some strength, you can get very nice results and — I think probably for most people — the majority of gains in that period of time.' He quickly follows up with an important caveat: 'Provided you're training hard.' That's where loading comes in. Why Light Can Be as Good as Heavy 'In certain respects, my views have done a 180 [over the years], and nothing can be characterized more so than loading,' says Shoenfeld. 'I had always thought that if you're doing anything over 12 to 15 repetitions, you're not going to gain muscle. The literature has now compellingly shown that you can gain similar amounts of muscle across a wide loading spectrum — even up to 30 to 40 repetitions.' A study by one of his peers back in 2012 was a real watershed moment. 'It was on untrained subjects doing leg extensions, and it showed that there was no difference in whole muscle hypertrophy between 30% 1RM (which is like 30 reps) versus 80% 1RM (which was like eight reps),' says Shoenfeld. He couldn't believe it. In fact, he decided to do his own study to prove his colleague wrong. 'And lo and behold, I carried out that study and — no difference,' he says. Since then, there's been so much evidence across the spectrum of populations: untrained, trained, older, younger, men, women. 'Really any and every population has been extensively studied,' he says. 'And it really is a beautiful thing because it provides so much flexibility and options to carry out resistance training.' It's great news for people who don't want to or can't lift heavy weights. 'The caveat to this is that the lighter loads have to be taken with a high degree of effort. If you do not extensively challenge your muscles — meaning that the last few reps are difficult to complete — you're not going to achieve gains,' he says. So when we talk about light loads, this isn't about grabbing a pair of pink dumbbells and breezing through a few reps. You must challenge the muscles. Remember: The reason the body adapts to anything is through a survival mechanism, says Schoenfeld. 'If you are not challenging it in a way it is not accustomed to being challenged, it has no impetus to adapt. The reason you will get these adaptations in strength and power, muscle endurance, bone density, etc., is because the muscles and bones, tendons and ligaments are being challenged beyond their present capacity.' The only downside to lighter loads? They take longer. 'If you're doing 30 reps, the sets are going to take triple the amount of time if you're training with 10 reps,' he says. 'So that can be a consideration if you're very time-pressed.' But if you want to avoid the heavier iron, the effort is worth it. Speaking of Effort: Lifting Lighter for Muscle Power As Schoenfeld says, you want to reach a point where you lift almost to failure, meaning the last few reps will be really hard. Theoretically you'd do the same thing lifting heavy weights. Those tough reps do you the most good no matter how much weight you lift. Another interesting benefit of lifting lighter weights: You can experiment with lifting the weight faster and more explosively to generate more power. New research in Mayo Clinic Proceedings shows that muscle power — which comes from force and velocity — is linked to lower risk of premature death than just muscle strength alone, particularly as we get older. For example, a good proxy for overall strength is a handgrip test where you squeeze a dynamometer to get a grip strength measurement. That's very easy to track over time, and grip strength has long been considered a good measure of overall vitality. Muscle power isn't as easy to test, say, in a doctor's office because it requires you to move a certain weight as fast and hard as you can through a range of motion. This is particularly important as we age because as we lose muscle and strength, power goes too. As the study authors say, 'Every time an individual performs a movement against gravity or inertia, it is muscle power rather than muscle strength that is the most important variable in terms of muscle function.' Lifting lighter weights can allow you to experiment with lifting for power. The participants in that study did upper-body rows with increasing speed and force to measure their power. You can do the same through your variety of lifts. Just be careful you don't break form. This also will raise the intensity of your workout, which has been linked to all kinds of benefits, including better cardiovascular fitness, curbed hunger, better cognition, and reduced cancer risk. The only downside to lifting lighter weight? It's possible your muscles could take longer to recover from the workout. You'll need to pay attention to how your body responds to these different approaches, says Schoenfeld. 'You need to really start to be in tune with your body,' he says. 'I think a lot of times people are just oblivious. They get into a routine and it's just 'have to do this, have to do that.' Try to be intuitive.'
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Scientists Reveal Exactly How Long You Need to Lift Weights to Gain Muscle
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." New research suggests you can get noticeable muscle gains from shorter strength training sessions. Researchers found that lifting for just 30 minutes, twice a week, helped people increase their muscle mass. The lifting routine is not overly complicated, either. A wave of research over the past few years has made it clear that a strength training habit is really important for your health. New research suggests that you don't need to spend every day grinding it out at the gym to see results. In fact, researchers found that you can gain muscle in as little as 30 minutes of weight training. Meet the experts: Albert Matheny, R.D., C.S.C.S., co-founder of SoHo Strength Lab; Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D., study co-author and a professor in exercise science at Lehman College in the Bronx, NY; Luke Pryor, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., clinical associate professor in the Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences at University at Buffalo But it'll take more than one quick dumbbell lifting session to see results. Here's what the study found, plus how to maximize your results when you lift weights. The small study, which was published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, had 42 healthy men and women follow a lifting program with one set of eight to 10 reps for each exercise that was either train to failure (pushing yourself until you can't do more reps with the right form) or leaving reps in reserve (pushing themselves but still having energy to do more). The participants cycled through nine exercises that targeted major muscle groups twice a week for eight weeks. Each session was done in 30 minutes. Afterward, the researchers analyzed them for changes in muscle thickness in select areas of the body, as well as measures of muscle strength, power, and endurance. The researchers discovered that all of the participants had muscles that were bigger and stronger than they were at the beginning of the program. But the changes were similar in men and women who pushed themselves until they couldn't do more reps (train to failure) with the right form or those who still had energy to do more (reps in reserve). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently recommends that people do two days of 'muscle-strengthening activity' a week, along with at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity. But the CDC also notes that just over 24% of adults actually hit both of those goals. The idea of squeezing in two 30-minute lifting sessions a week seems doable, and it is, according to Albert Matheny, R.D., CSCS, co-founder of SoHo Strength Lab. 'I repeat this often: It doesn't have to be the most to have a benefit,' he says. 'There is a law of diminishing returns.' But the study participants also didn't slack off on their workouts. 'In our study, the workouts were sufficiently hard to challenge the participants' muscles beyond their present capacity,' says Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D., study co-author and a professor in exercise science at Lehman College in the Bronx, NY. 'This is key to making continued muscular gains.' There's a lot that happens in your body when you lift, including the release of hormones, metabolic stress (which disrupts the muscle's usual state and can cause it to grow), muscle strain, and molecular signaling in the muscle, explains Luke Pryor, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., clinical associate professor in the Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences at University at Buffalo. Even shorter sessions will tap into all of these. Pryor says these shorter sessions have less recovery time, like one to two minutes. 'By shortening the recovery time, it drives up metabolic stress,' he says. Cue the muscle growth. Pryor notes that the study was done on people who already did resistance training, which suggests that even people who are already fit can gain muscle from this approach. 'These shorter sessions are really effective for those who are sedentary, but this shows that even in folks who have been exercising for a number of nears, you can still maintain or even grow skeletal muscle in these shorter sessions,' he says. There are a lot of perks to strength training beyond looking fit. Not only will it make you physically stronger, but research also suggests that a lifting habit will help increase bone density, an important area of health to focus on as you age. 'There are also links to longevity and hormonal improvements,' Matheny says. Strength training can even increase your metabolism, he points out. 'Resistance training has a plethora of benefits for almost all organ systems,' Schoenfeld says. 'This includes improved ability to carry out tasks of everyday living, enhanced metabolic function, better cardiovascular health, better mental health, and greater injury resistance, among others.' If you're interested in starting a lifting routine, Matheny suggests giving yourself a little extra time at first to figure out what you're doing. 'You have to work a bit to figure out the right weight to get the most out of each exercise,' he says. The study specifically had participants cycle through these exercises: Front lat pull-down Seated cable row Shoulder press Chest press Cable triceps pushdown Supinated dumbbell biceps curl Smith machine squats Leg press Leg extension But Matheny recommends focusing on major muscle groups for your lifting routine. 'A lot of times these studies incorporate tricep-related things because they're easier to measure, but larger, multi-joint muscle exercises are best,' he says. Pryor agrees. 'You want to do exercises that recruit a lot of muscle,' he says. Matheny recommends focusing on moves like these that target several muscle groups at once to get the biggest results: Pushups Squats Lunges Deadlifts Pullups Schoenfeld also suggests keeping the time between sets to under two minutes to really maximize your time. But he recommends choosing exercises that will help you reach your goals. 'Ultimately, personal choice should dictate which exercises you select,' he says. Of course, doing any strength training is better than none, and you may not even need to set aside 30 minutes. 'You can even get results with 20-minute sessions,' says Pryor. You Might Also Like Can Apple Cider Vinegar Lead to Weight Loss? Bobbi Brown Shares Her Top Face-Transforming Makeup Tips for Women Over 50
Toronto Sun
04-05-2025
- Health
- Toronto Sun
Just 30 minutes of weight training can make you stronger
Published May 04, 2025 • Last updated 11 minutes ago • 4 minute read A woman lifts a barbell while doing weight training. Photo by Getty Images Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. How little weight training can we get away with? This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account According to a new study of 42 healthy adult men and women, the answer seems to be about an hour a week. During the two-month study, participants gained significant muscle mass and strength from just two 30-minute sessions of uncomplicated resistance exercises each week. The findings 'highlight how powerful even a small amount of loading can be,' said Stuart Phillips, an exercise scientist at McMaster University in Canada who studies resistance training but was not involved in this research. In each session, the volunteers completed nine common upper- and lower-body gym exercises, repeating each move eight to 10 times, until their muscles felt fatigued but not necessarily exhausted. The routine was meant to be quick because so many people blame tight schedules for not lifting, said Brad Schoenfeld, a professor of exercise science at Lehman College in the Bronx and the study's senior author. 'We were interested in finding the minimum effective dose' of resistance training for most people, he continued. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In other words, they wanted to see, 'how low can you go?' with lifting workouts, Phillips said. The results show 'just how small of an investment we need to make to reap some, in my estimation, substantial rewards.' – – – Why most people don't weight train Almost all of us, if we're capable of exercising, should be doing some type of regular 'muscle-strengthening activities' for our health and longevity, according to recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Strong, healthy muscles help protect us against diabetes, arthritis and a range of other diseases, as well as frailty and premature death. But few of us lift. The CDC estimates, in fact, that barely 20 percent of American adults strength train even a few times a week. Why? 'The main reason people give is time,' Schoenfeld said. Many worry, too, that weight training requires complex equipment and arcane expertise about loads, reps and other lifting matters. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. So, for the study, published in April in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, Schoenfeld and his collaborators put together a speedy, simple, full-body, gym-based workout, with exercises focused on the shoulders, arms, legs, back and core. Then they rounded up a group of healthy men and women, ages 18 to 40, who already did some resistance training. This lifting experience was important because an effective minimalist approach should be able to continue building muscle mass and strength, even in muscles that already are somewhat strong and buff. – – – Is a half-hour workout enough? The scientists invited their volunteers to the gym twice a week, for supervised sessions, where everyone did the same nine exercises: Front lat pull-down. Seated cable row. Shoulder press. Chest press. Cable triceps pushdown. Supinated dumbbell biceps curl. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Smith machine squats. Leg press. Leg extension. At first, the researchers set people's weights so they could complete, at most, 10 repetitions of each move before they simply couldn't manage another, a condition known as reaching failure. Half of the volunteers continued to lift to failure every time. The other half backed off, lifting until their muscles felt challenged and tired but hadn't reached failure; they could've eked out a few more repetitions, if they'd had to. Among lifters, this is known as leaving reps in reserve. Perhaps most important for time efficiency, the volunteers completed only one set of each exercise, which, for many, represented a substantial reduction in volume. Most had been doing at least two or three sets of every exercise during their workouts, spending hours in the gym every week. Now they finished in a brisk 30 minutes. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. – – – Even a short routine can make you stronger Even with this abbreviated routine, the participants added mass and strength, the researchers found. After two months, almost everyone's muscles were larger, stronger and more powerful than at the start. The magnitude of the changes proved to be similar among men and women and those who'd lifted to failure and those who'd left a few reps in reserve. 'You need to put in some effort,' Schoenfeld said. But you don't need to lift until your muscles are completely exhausted to show significant gains in strength and size. You also don't need to follow this study's regimen precisely, he said. 'There's nothing special' about these particular exercises, in this order. Substitute body weight exercises like pull-ups or push-ups for some of the exercises, he said, or ask a trainer at your gym to show you the machines there that work the shoulders, biceps, back, core and legs. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. If you're new to lifting, the trainer could be especially useful, Schoenfeld added, to teach you proper form. But the key to lifting for muscle health will always be simple consistency, he said. Show up twice a week and challenge your muscles. It's unlikely, based on this study, that most of us need more than two short weight workouts a week, he continued, unless our goal is to become swole. (Mine isn't.) On the other hand, we probably can't get away with fewer than two sessions most weeks, he said, if we wish to keep growing stronger. As for scheduling those workouts, 'don't do them back-to-back,' Schoenfeld advised. Leave at least one day between each session, but otherwise Tuesdays and Thursdays, or Fridays and Mondays, or Sundays and Wednesdays, or whatever works for you should be fine, he said. This study was relatively short-term, lasting only eight weeks, and involved mostly healthy adults. It's 'quite likely' but not certain that the results apply equally to older people and other groups, Schoenfeld said, and that the benefits continue past two months. He plans future studies of those issues. But for now, 'the message, I think, is to find one hour somewhere in your week' to lift, he said, which can be as much – and as little – as most of us need. Sports Sunshine Girls Toronto & GTA Sports Sunshine Girls
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘Do you even lift?': Just 30 minutes can make you stronger
Spending just half an hour of weight lifting a day twice a week can make you stronger, researchers say. The findings may help people who are hoping to make gains at the gym, but don't have all week to do it. Most Americans don't get enough exercise and just around half are meeting federal physical activity recommendations. Even fewer people meet suggested benchmarks for aerobic and muscle-building activities. Lifting can safeguard against heart disease and premature death. 'The main reason people give is time,' Brad Schoenfeld, a professor of exercise science at New York City's Lehman College, told The Washington Post this week. Schoenfeld is the senior author of the research, which was published earlier this month in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. The study looked at the progress of 42 healthy adult men and women between the ages of 18 and 40 over two months. Participants, who had already done some resistance training before, were sorted into two groups that trained to failure on all exercises and another who lifted until they were tired but could still probably squeak out a few more reps. Before the study, they had been doing at least two or three sets of every exercise during their workouts. They performed a single set of nine upper and lower body exercises that targeted all major muscle groups, repeating each move eight to 10 times. The exercises included the popular leg and chest press, Smith machine squats, bicep curls, seated cable rows, front lat pull-downs, and shoulder presses. Even with the reduced number of reps, they saw success, adding mass and strength. The changes were seen among men and women in both groups. Schoenfeld said it's 'quite likely' but not certain that their results could apply equally to older people and other groups, with benefits that continue past two months. To see similar swole results, people can substitute other exercises. The key is consistency, but Schoenfeld advises leaving at least one day between sessions. 'The message, I think, is to find one hour somewhere in your week,' he said.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Can an hour of strength training a week really make you stronger?
Various studies found weight training to be beneficial for body and mind, including one that suggests it might help protect the brains of older adults from dementia. But just how often should you lift? According to a new study, the answer is about an hour a week. During the two-month study, 42 healthy men and women gained significant muscle mass and strength from two 30-minute sessions of uncomplicated resistance exercises each week, per the Washington Post. The research was published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. In each session, participants did nine common upper- and lower-body gym exercises, repeating each move eight to 10 times, until their muscles felt fatigued but not necessarily exhausted. The routine was meant to be short because so many people blame busy schedules for not lifting, Brad Schoenfeld, a professor of exercise science at Lehman College in the Bronx and the study's senior author, told the Post. 'We were interested in finding the minimum effective dose' of resistance training for most people, he said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that only about 20% of American adults strength train even a few times a week. The new study is the latest one to find strength training in short durations has long-term health benefits. A 2022 meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that people who do muscle-strengthening workouts are less likely to die prematurely than those who don't. According to the study, those who did 30 to 60 minutes a week of strength training had a 10% to 20% lower risk of dying during the research period from all causes, including cancer and heart disease specifically, compared to those who did no weight lifting. The benefits plateaued after one hour, and decreased after two hours. U.S. exercise guidelines recommend that adults do strength training for all major muscle groups twice a week, which can be accomplished with a variety of workouts, including weightlifting, exercises like push-ups and sit-ups, and some types of yoga. The current guidelines don't specify how long strength workouts should be, but more research is needed before revising the guidelines to include time-specific goals, said I-Min Lee, professor of epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Lee, who was not involved in the study, said that two 30-minute strength workouts per week would fit the guidelines if all major muscle groups were targeted. Muscle-strengthening exercises are beneficial because they lead to better physical functioning, she said. 'Such exercises also improve glucose metabolism, enhance maintenance of healthy body weight, and help improve cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure,' said Lee, per a Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health article. 'All these factors lead to lower risks of cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, which lowers mortality risk.' A 2025 study published in the journal GeroScience suggests that weight training might help protect the brains of older adults from dementia, including those already showing signs of mild cognitive impairment. Researchers recruited 44 adults ages 55 or older with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment for the study. Participants were divided into two groups. The weight training group did a resistance exercise program with moderate to high intensity sessions twice a week, with progressive loads, meaning weight or sets were increased as participants' muscles strengthened. The control group did not exercise during the study period, per Medical News Today. The study found that after six months, the weight training group showed improvement in verbal episodic memory and the strength of neurons and areas of the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease. The control group showed signs of worsening brain parameters. 'This is an interesting finding because it suggests that weight training may not only help to increase cognition, but also prevent the development of atrophy in regions related to Alzheimer's disease — potentially delaying progression or even preventing the onset of dementia,' Isadora Ribeiro, a São Paulo Research Foundation doctoral fellowship recipient at the School of Medical Sciences at the State University of Campinas in Brazil, told Medical News Today. Ribeiro is the study's first author. In the study cited by the Washington Post, researchers invited their volunteers to the gym twice a week, for supervised sessions, where everyone did the same nine exercises: Front lat pull-down Seated cable row Shoulder press Chest press Cable triceps pushdown Supinated dumbbell biceps curl Smith machine squats Leg press Leg extension The participants completed only one set of each exercise, which, for many, was a substantial reduction in volume. Most had been doing at least two or three sets of every exercise during their workouts, spending hours in the gym every week. Now they finished in 30 minutes, per the Post.
