Why Everyone–Not Just Athletes–Needs Resistance Training

Strength Training—it’s all about biceps, barbells, dumbbells, and meatheads, right? Well, that’s simply wrong! 

Strength training is a form of physical activity and exercise that should be part of everyone’s pursuit of health and fitness. Youth. Teens. 20-somethings. Adults. Grandmas and Grandpas. Aunts and Uncles. Athletes. Recreational athletes. Powerlifters. Gym rats. Firefighters. Military personnel. Teachers. Lawyers. Diabetics. Cancer survivors. Small business owners. Software engineers. Everyone!

Muscular Strength—A Vital Component of Overall Physical Fitness

Do you remember taking the FITNESSGRAM test in phys ed? Or your college Healthy Lifestyle class?  Do you recall the components of physical fitness? Most of us use the term ‘fitness’ as a generic term, but physical fitness is not a unitary concept—it is made up of several components (click here for an account of The Structure and Dimensions of Physical Fitness).

The first component of fitness that comes to mind is aerobic endurance, or cardiorespiratory fitness—the good ol’ huff-and-puff exercise. You are probably thinking about jogging or spin class, which if you do enough of, can improve not only heart health but also body composition. At least that’s how most people think of it.

Indeed, cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition are definitely two important components of physical fitness. They are also the most studied components of fitness, with a plethora of research consistently proving a significant association with many health outcomes, such as reduced risk of chronic disease and premature death. But let us not forget about muscle and bone health, because walking, jogging, swimming and your spin class twice per week only go so far.

Strength Training For All—Because The Science Says So, Bro! 

Dude, this is not just Bro science. Period. 

There is overwhelming scientific evidence from well-designed and conducted research studies that show the myriad of benefits of muscle strength, and strength training, on health and performance outcomes. There are now position statements (a review and summary of all the published research) from major sports medicine and strength and conditioning organizations summarizing the benefits of strength training from youth to older adults. Here are a few examples:

• Youth resistance training: Updated position statement paper from the national strength and conditioning association. J Strength Cond Res. 2009 Aug;23(5 Suppl):S60-79.

• American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009 Mar;41(3):687-708.

• American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and neuromotor fitness in apparently healthy adults: guidance for prescribing exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2011 Jul;43(7):1334-59.

• Resistance Training for Older Adults: Position Statement From the National Strength and Conditioning Association. J Strength Cond Res. 2019 Aug;33(8):2019-2052.

And here is a sampling of major headlines and conclusions from the original research studies covering athletic performance to work-site health and productivity to diseased populations and everyone in between.

• The Importance of Muscular Strength in Athletic Performance

• Strength Training for Women as a Vehicle for Health Promotion at Work

• One hour of specific strength training - regardless of the distribution during the week - effectively reduced both headache frequency and intensity in office workers.

• Low muscle strength was independently associated with elevated risk of all-cause mortality, regardless of muscle mass, metabolic syndrome, sedentary time, or physical activity among 50+ adults indicating the importance of muscle strength in predicting aging-related health outcomes in older adults.

• Associations of grip strength with cardiovascular, respiratory, and cancer outcomes and all-cause mortality: prospective cohort study of half a million 40-69 years old.

• Muscular Strength as a Predictor of All-Cause Mortality in an Apparently Healthy Population: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Data From Approximately 2 Million Men and Women.

• Strength was the only consistent outcome that improved in all cancer survivors. However, these gains in strength are still of tremendous importance, given its impact on functionality and quality of life.

• Low muscle strength was more strongly associated with aging, protein-energy wasting, physical inactivity, inflammation, and mortality than low muscle mass in kidney dialysis patients.

• Improving both CRF and muscle strength, as opposed to either of the two alone, may be the most effective behavioral strategy to reduce all-cause and cardiovascular mortality risk.

• To perform better in the law enforcement work sample test battery and job-specific tasks, developing upper-body strength and aerobic fitness may be beneficial.

• Resistance exercise may be an effective intervention to improve sleep quality.

• Improvement of obesity-linked skeletal muscle insulin resistance by strength and endurance training

This level of evidence has also led to the inclusion of strength training in the National Physical Activity Recommendations:

• Children and adolescents: As part of their 60 minutes or more of daily physical activity, children and adolescents should include muscle-strengthening physical activity on at least 3 days a week.

• Adults:  Should do muscle-strengthening activities of moderate or greater intensity and that involve all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week, as these activities provide additional health benefits. 

• Older adults: As part of their weekly physical activity, older adults should do multicomponent physical activity that includes balance training as well as aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities.

However, despite 53% of American adults meeting the physical activity recommendations for aerobic exercise, only 23% of American adults meet the recommendations for aerobic and strength training. Why do you think this is? Let’s take a look and see if we can help...

What’s Keeping You From Strength Training?

There are several barriers to strength training (and exercise in general). Maybe it’s access to facilities or equipment? An easy solution to that is bodyweight movements, like pushups, pullups and lunges. Add in resistance bands and your training will improve tenfold.

Perhaps a bigger part of the hesitancy towards strength training, compared to simply putting on the running shoes and gym shorts to do aerobic exercise is the complexity of strength training program design. Friends, coaches, and others often ask—what exercises do I do? How many sets? Reps? How often should I lift? How much weight should I use? When should I increase the weight? And what’s this big word—per-iod-i-za-tion? 

These questions (and barriers) are the underpinnings of Volt—to take the guesswork out of designing safe and effective, evidence-based strength training programs for anyone of any ability.

In other words, Volt has made strength training simple and accessible.  

We’ve heard it many times—“Volt is like having a personal trainer or strength & conditioning coach on your phone.”

Ready, Set, LET’S GOOOOOO!

So no matter what your Training Goals - Strength & Fitness, Weight Loss, Tactical Readiness, or Sports Performance – Volt has a program for you.

What are you waiting for? Reap the myriad of benefits of strength training as part of a physically active, healthy lifestyle with a Free 14-day Trial. Inside, you’ll find everything you need to reach your training goals.

Just download and go.

Join over 1 million coaches and athletes using Volt's AI-powered training system. For more information, click here.

Joe Eisenmann, PhD, is the Head of Sport Science at Volt Athletics. Dr. Eisenmann has 25+ years of experience as a university professor, researcher, sport scientist, strength and conditioning coach, and sport coach. He joins the Volt team as an advisor on sports science and data analytics, contributing to the Volt Blog on topics around long-term athlete development (LTAD).
Learn more about Dr. Eisenmann | @Joe_Eisenmann