Whether lifting heavy or light weights, all forms of resistance training are beneficial, researchers at McMaster University have determined.
Their findings suggest that the details of the training regime are less important than the act of regular weightlifting itself.
The Most Effective Weightlifting Regimes
Kinesiology professor Stuart Phillips, along with graduate students Bradley Currier and Jonathan Mcleod, have investigated the most popular variables in resistance training programs, such as the weight lifted, frequency of training, and number of repetitions.
They have concluded that all forms of resistance training, including body-weight exercises like planks, lunges, and push-ups, have benefits.
This study, the single largest project of its kind, reviewed 192 randomized, controlled studies involving over 5,000 participants, equally divided between men and women.
The research focused on three key resistance-training variables: higher versus lower loads, single versus multiple sets, and training frequency.
Traditionally, fitness experts have believed that using the heaviest weights, lifted three to five times, is most effective for building strength, while lighter weights, lifted eight to ten times, are better for building muscle size.
Lighter Weights Also Effective
However, the McMaster researchers have spent the last decade challenging the idea that only heavier weights are effective.
Their research has shown that significant gains can also be achieved by lifting lighter weights to the point of exhaustion, involving 20 to 30 repetitions, or even more.
In their comprehensive review of research across their field, they found that lifting heavier weights is most effective for maximizing muscle strength, while doing multiple repetitions of each exercise is best for maximizing muscle size. The weight lifted in this case is less important.
Simplified Approach to Training
The researchers concluded that every resistance training prescription resulted in gains in strength and muscle mass.
Currier says, “Complex prescriptions are sufficient but unnecessary to gain strength and muscle. Simple programs are extremely effective, and the most important result is that people can benefit from any weightlifting program.”
The researchers emphasize that anyone, regardless of age, interested in gaining strength and maintaining more muscle can benefit from these findings, which are critical to injury prevention, maximizing mobility, and optimizing metabolism.
“The biggest variable to master is compliance,” added Mcleod, underlining the importance of consistency over the finer nuances of resistance training.
If you care about wellness, please read studies about exercise that is vital to improving longevity in older people, and this dieting method could help increase longevity.
For more information about wellness, please see recent studies about vaccine that can block COVID-19 and variants, plus other coronaviruses, and results showing this type of exercise may slow down bone aging.
The study was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
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