How Much Lifting is Enough? How Much is Too Much?

How much resistance training do you actually need, and is there a point where more stops helping? We trace the "lift weights twice a week" recommendation back to the 1989 study it came from, which found that three days beat two, and to the citation loop that turned it into a guideline anyway. Then we go through the evidence on whether lifting is dangerous, including the heart, injury rates, and the J-shaped mortality curve, and work out where the dose-response actually saturates for strength, muscle mass, bone mineral density, and how your body handles fuel.

The short answer is that almost every number in this literature marks where a benefit starts, and very little of it goes far enough to show where a benefit stops. We finish by writing the resistance training guideline the way we think it should be written, with target outcomes, a training dose, and testable targets.

Timestamps

00:00 Where the "lift weights twice a week" rule came from 04:18 What actually counts as resistance training 06:56 Does lifting make your heart wall thicker 15:34 Anabolic steroids and the heart 19:16 Injury rates and cardiac arrest at the gym 22:03 How the lifting J-curve got made 28:05 ACSM audits its own recommendation 31:11 Strength: where the plateau actually sits 35:49 Why grip strength can't answer this 41:43 Muscle mass versus muscle function 44:50 Bone, and the turkey wing that settled the dose 49:50 Fuel handling, insulin sensitivity, and the clock 1:00:46 The 2018 guidelines, and how I would write them

Resources

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Braith RW, Graves JE, Pollock ML, Leggett SL, Carpenter DM, Colvin AB. Comparison of 2 vs 3 days/week of variable resistance training during 10- and 18-week programs. Int J Sports Med. 1989;10(6):450-454. doi:10.1055/s-2007-1024942. PMID 2628366.American College of Sports Medicine. Position stand: the recommended quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness in healthy adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1990;22(2):265-274. PMID 2355825.Sandercock GRH, Moran J, Cohen DD. Who is meeting the strengthening physical activity guidelines by definition: a cross-sectional study of 253,423 English adults? PLoS O