Strength Improvements are the Same Across Age, Starting Strength, and Gender
Authors of a brand-new study published in Frontiers in Physiology debunked several long-standing exercise myths while simultaneously providing some motivation for all of us.
The researchers sought to understand how age, gender, and starting levels of strength impacted our strength improvements in response to heavy strength training. Subjects (aged 21 to 76) performed eight weeks of very heavy strength training on a leg press machine and were subdivided by age into five different groups for analysis.
The results?
- 60- and 70-year-olds increased strength just as much as 20-year-olds.
- Women increased strength just as much as men.
- Both weak and strong subjects increased strength at the same rate.
- There were no “non-responders”; this means, everyone benefited from the strength training intervention.
Take home message:
Heavy strength training is equally as beneficial for 70-somethings as 20-somethings; women and men; as well as the weak and strong. We have every reason to be excited about our strength training workouts regardless of our age, gender, or starting levels of strength.