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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.
