Get into strength training in 2026

There are a lot of myths about strength training. But one thing is true: resistance training has massive benefits for your physical and mental health. NPR health correspondent Will Stone has the tips you need to get stronger in the New Year. Sign up for Life Kit's Guide to Building Strength here: npr.org/stronger http://npr.org/stronger Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekit https://www.instagram.com/nprlifekit/?hl=en Sign up for our newsletter here. https://www.npr.org/newsletter/life-kit Have an episode idea or feedback you want to share? Email us at [email protected] mailto:[email protected] Support the show and listen to it sponsor-free by signing up for Life Kit+ at plus.npr.org/lifekit http://plus.npr.org/lifekit See pcm.adswizz.com https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy

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• 0:17Marielle Segarra?

  You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

• 0:23Marielle Segarra?

  Hey, it's Marielle.

• 0:26Marielle Segarra?

  Experience has taught me that I don't like the gym. They so often have these big, bright lights, and they're loud, and they smell sweaty, and you have to wait in line to use the weights. And then when you are using the weights, there's some guy watching you, wondering when you're going to be done. And then maybe you feel self-conscious, like, am I even doing this right? And don't get me started on those machines. Some of them, I genuinely cannot figure out what they're for, or whether it's worth my time to work that very specific muscle. All of this sensory overload, plus a lack of knowledge, led me for a long time to say, OK, you know what? Weightlifting is not for me. I'll go for a run in the park, I'll do yoga, I'll go rock climbing, maybe I'll do a plank,

• 1:09Marielle Segarra?

  but never a deadlift or a bench press. Until this summer, I ended up going to a gym that is quiet and not crowded, and I worked with someone who knows what they're doing. They taught me some basic movements. It was incredible how quickly I saw results. I felt stronger, more capable of lifting my groceries or a heavy suitcase. I had less lower back pain and neck pain. And I just felt good in my body, present, alive, capable. Strength training has a lot of health benefits. And if you've never really done it, or you find it intimidating, or you just don't know where to start, I promise it is easier than you think. NPR health correspondent Will Stone has been reporting on this topic for a new Life Kit newsletter series.

• 1:53Marielle Segarra?

  It's a guide to getting stronger. On this episode of Life Kit, he shares some common myths about strength training that might just help you commit to a routine.

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• 3:14Marielle Segarra?

  All right, Will, in the newsletter, you dispel some myths that can intimidate people or keep them from ever trying strength training. And one of those myths is the idea that you need to lift heavy weights to see big results.

• 3:26Speaker 03

  Yeah, and this caught my attention because it was ingrained in me when I was getting into resistance training that you really had to pack on the weight to see, you know, big changes in muscle and strength. Over time, the story has changed with more well-controlled studies. And in these studies, researchers would compare people who were using lighter weights and doing more reps with people who were lifting heavier and fewer reps. And heavy here is relative for each person, right? It's basically what you can lift a few times, you know, without taking a break. And, you know, an example of this, one of these studies was done by Brad Schoenfeld at Lehman College in the Bronx, New York. They had a group

• 4:07Speaker 03

  doing about 10 reps with heavier weights, and then another group doing about 30 reps with lighter weights. And at the end of the study, it turned out both had similar increases in muscle. So the message from this research and others is that there are basically many paths to packing on muscle. You can be flexible with the weights you choose and the number of reps you do. But there is one non-negotiable to all of this. Here's Schoenfeld.

• 4:34Speaker 04

  You need to push relatively hard. You do not necessarily need to train to muscle failure, but you need to substantially challenge your muscles. Provided that's the case, lightweights, heavyweights, all build similar amounts of muscle.

• 4:48Speaker 03

  And I think it's pretty intuitive. Your muscles should be really tired during those final reps. Like, you really have to struggle to get them done. One piece of nuance here is that with strength, which is a little different than just building muscle, there are more factors to strength than just the size of your muscle. Research does show that if you're trying to get the most gains in strength possible, specifically, you will have to lift heavier. But Schoenfeld says that probably doesn't matter for most of us, you know, unless you are trying to go into the gym there and impress people with that one max bench press, you can gain sufficient strength with lighter weights or heavier weights as long as you're really taxing and tiring those muscles.

• 5:33Marielle Segarra?

  Okay, got it. I'm trying to lift a car, so what do you think?

• 5:37Speaker 03

  You better, you better lift heavy.

• 5:39Marielle Segarra?

  Okay. Another myth is that you need to spend hours in the gym every week to make progress and get stronger. Not true?

• 5:47Speaker 03

  Not true. There's a lot of interest in this question right now. Basically, what is the least you can get away with and still see meaningful benefits? And the reason is that most adults still don't do any kind of strength muscle building activity regularly, in part because there's been a lot of emphasis on aerobic exercise over the years. You know, we all know about step counts, that type of thing. Research shows resistance training has these massive benefits for your cardiovascular health, your metabolic health, mental health, your brain, I could go on and on. Researchers want to figure out how we can make this doable, really for everybody. And the short answer is that if you can get to the gym once a week, 30 to 45 minutes, doing about two to three sets per exercise, that can be quite effective.

• 6:33Speaker 03

  Two times a week is even better, but we're still talking about aiming for maybe an hour to an hour and a half total in a given week. In other words, you don't need to work your way through every machine in there, targeting every little muscle. There are a handful of big exercises that you can prioritize and still get those major health benefits, including for longevity.

• 6:53Marielle Segarra?

  That's really good to hear because I think there's a lot on social media about maximizing every last bit of your workout. And like you mentioned, there are all these machines at the gym and you might walk in and be like, do I need to be doing those? How do you even use that?

• 7:09Speaker 03

  That's right. And you could end up spending hours at that. I spoke to Stuart Phillips at McMaster University in Kana about this. He's a researcher who focuses on resistance training and muscle. And he had a nice analogy here. He said, imagine you have a wet towel.

• 7:26Speaker 05

  Dip the cloth and you twist it and a ton of water comes out in the first twist. That's the first set. And then the second twist, less comes out. And then, you know, obviously, you can keep twisting the cloth and you do get some water. And that's what the hardcore practitioners, the people who are in the gym four, five, and six, and even seven days a week, that's what they're doing. They're trying to get the very last drop.

• 7:48Speaker 03

  But most of us don't need to stress about getting every little drop out of there. It's really diminishing returns at a certain point. I even saw one study that followed like 15,000 people who only did 20 minutes a week over about seven years. They still had substantial improvements in their strength. Most of those come pretty early on and then you're basically maintaining it from there on.

• 8:12Marielle Segarra?

  That's amazing. Only 20 minutes a week.

• 8:14Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 8:16Marielle Segarra?

  Okay. Well, another myth is that you need to get sore for the exercise to work. I definitely thought that my sore muscles were an indicator of, you know, okay, like we tore, we tore some stuff up in there. We're, we're getting swole.

• 8:32Speaker 03

  That's right. Well, it turns out you do not have to come out of the gym looking like Frankenstein, you know, barely able to walk. It's this mindset really of no pain, no gain, right? And the soreness probably does reflect the fact that you worked hard in that workout. And if you are new to all of this, your body is kind of like, what's going on here? It's trying to adapt. You should expect to be sore. Over time, though, your muscles do get accustomed to resistance training if you're doing it regularly. You won't get very sore. There's even a technical name. For this, it's called the repeated bout effect. Basically, so long as you're working hard, pushing your muscles during the actual workout like we talked about, you can still make progress and you don't have to be

• 9:15Speaker 03

  super sore to know it's quote working. And I think it's an important message when you're starting out in particular because it can be rough, right? Your muscles can feel kind of wrecked after a workout. I lift regularly and when I stop for a few weeks and get back at it, everything is sore. Over time, that will diminish and you are still making progress.

• 9:35Marielle Segarra?

  That's really good to know. One thing I've heard before is that you need to keep changing up your workouts. Otherwise, your body will get used to what you're doing and the training will stop working. Is that true?

• 9:46Speaker 03

  It's not, though I definitely am guilty of falling for this. This idea that you need to throw some new strange painful exercise at yourself, keep your body guessing, change the order of things. The fact is, if you do a new exercise or a bunch of new things, you might be more sore because your body isn't used to that movement or exercise. But the experts I spoke with said, you know, switching things up dramatically like that is really not necessary. What you do need to do is come up with some kind of new stimulus when things start to get a bit easier. So for example, that could be adding a bit more weight. Once you realize that what you've been working with is pretty easy. You could throw in a few more reps. Maybe you could go a bit slower through the movement.

• 10:31Speaker 03

  All of this is just bringing in some new stimulus, but it doesn't mean you have to dramatically alter things. And some of the experts I spoke with told me they've been doing the same kind of workout, the same foundational movements for many years and that's fine.

• 10:45Marielle Segarra?

  Okay, and they can lift cars?

• 10:49Speaker 03

  You know, I'll fall up on that.

• 10:51Marielle Segarra?

  Okay, got it. We'll have more Life Kit after the break.

• 10:55Speaker 02

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• 11:47Marielle Segarra?

  There's an old joke about how you don't want to skip a leg day. I mean, usually it's like when you see somebody who has skinny little legs and it's like, oh, bro's been skipping leg day. But I wonder, do we actually need a separate day to just work out our legs?

• 12:01Speaker 03

  Nope. You know, there are lots of ways to organize your workout routines. Some people like to do it piecemeal, focusing on the different muscle groups each day. This is called splits. But this can be time-consuming, like we've been discussing. There are a handful of these bigger compound movements called multi-joint exercises that you can prioritize. And you can do both upper and lower body in one workout if you want to be efficient. So if you're going to the gym, say, twice a week, the evidence supports doing actually some lower body training on both days, whereas that may not be as necessary to prioritize for the upper body. And this can be for legs, a pushing movement, like a squat, a lunge,

• 12:43Speaker 03

  or one of those leg press machines you see. It can be a pulling movement, like a deadlift. There are lots of variations on the deadlift. Or a machine that you could do a hamstring curl on. Those are like the foundational movements. If you want something extra, you can throw in an exercise for your calves, because those don't get targeted as much. But really, that's enough, and you can do that twice a week if you want.

• 13:06Marielle Segarra?

  If folks are just starting out with strength training, we talked about them going once a week, maybe twice a week if they can fit it in. Is there a point where strength training becomes counterproductive? Where you're going too much?

• 13:21Speaker 03

  You know, it's pretty hard to reach that point. I would say it becomes counterproductive if you are really sore or you're so tired that you start skipping the workouts, or you just feel wiped in the gym. You don't have energy to push yourself. That's when you really need to rein things in. There is a dose response, this wet towel we talked about. And, you know, if your body feels up for it, you can go four or five times a week. But Stuart Phillips and others told me, you know, once you get above three times, it really, for most of us, it's kind of diminishing returns. And you don't need to do that to see the benefits that most people are concerned about.

• 14:00Marielle Segarra?

  Okay. What does recovery from strength training look like?

• 14:05Speaker 03

  Well, it's great to take some rest days. This is when your body is actually building up new muscle. And the advice here, some of it's obvious. Sleep, hydration, nutrition. You do need to get enough protein if you're doing resistance training regularly, especially if you're older. There are lots of things people do for recovery in addition, right? Stretching, foam rolling, massage, heat, active recovery, like, like cardio. Some of these have a bit more data behind them than others. Heat is one of them that can be maybe more helpful. But broadly speaking, there's not great evidence. Any of these make a big difference when you look at the objective measures of recovery. And this is what Jonathan Peak told me. He studies post-exercise recovery at Queensland University of Technology in Australia.

• 14:49Speaker 03

  But he says all of these can change how sore you feel in the moment, which is more subjective, but obviously still a big deal.

• 14:56Speaker 06

  They're not going to be harmful in any way. And I think if they allow you to reduce that muscle soreness and get back to the gym within the next two or three days, that's going to be a good thing.

• 15:08Speaker 03

  So it's kind of like a choose your own adventure here. You do want to make sure you keep moving around, like cardio, yoga, foam rolling. Those are my go-tos. There are a few things that Peak emphasized you want to avoid. And one is taking anti-inflammatory medication like ibuprofen. This can be counterproductive because this inflammatory response in your muscles is actually involved in Muscle growth, so you don't want to tamp that down too much. There's also evidence that cold plunges, ice baths can affect muscle growth. Maybe not a huge amount, but it's something to avoid, at least doing it too often or right after working out. And then alcohol, no surprise, isn't great for growing muscle. Peak says a beer or a glass of wine here and there, probably not a big deal, but drinking

• 15:52Speaker 03

  a lot or every day, you know, can set you back.

• 15:55Marielle Segarra?

  So, like I mentioned at the top of this episode, you've been reporting about this topic for a special Life Kit newsletter series that people can sign up for. What else can folks look forward to in the newsletter?

• 16:09Speaker 03

  Yeah, they can expect really a step-by-step guide on how to get started with resistance training, whether that's in a gym or at their home. And we also start with why this is so important for everybody. The goal here is really to give some of the key principles so people understand what matters based on the actual studies that have been done. I spoke with some of the leading experts in the world and focused on the big takeaways. We also throw in a fun challenge involving body weight exercises, plus some tips about how to make this a long-term habit that sticks. And I think a recurring theme is that none of this needs to be very complicated or expensive, unless you want it to be. By the end, I think people will feel empowered to make this work for them.

• 16:51Speaker 03

  And if they want to find a class, do this in a gym, you know, find a workout buddy, there are a lot of options out there.

• 16:58Marielle Segarra?

  Will, thank you for doing this.

• 16:59Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 17:01Marielle Segarra?

  To sign up for Life Kit's Guide to Building Strength, go to npr.org/stronger. You'll also find a link in the show notes of this episode. All right, time for a recap. You don't need to lift heavy to see big results with strength training. You don't need to spend hours at the gym every week to make progress. Once or maybe twice a week for 30 to 45 minutes a session will work just fine. You don't need to be sore all the time to prove that the training is working. You don't need to dramatically change up your workouts. When things start to get easier, you could just add more weight, do a few more reps, or move through the exercises a little slower. You don't need a separate day to work out your legs, although it is important to do lower body training. And when it comes to recovery, heat can help.

• 17:45Marielle Segarra?

  And it's not a bad idea to avoid alcohol, too, especially if you want to see the max results. And taking a break from alcohol is good for you anyway, so why not try it?

• 17:56Marielle Segarra?

  All right, that's our show. This episode of Life Kit was produced by Sylvie Douglas. Our visuals editor is Beck Harlan, and our digital editor is Malika Gharib. Megan Kane is our senior supervising editor, and Beth Donovan is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tagel, Claire Marie Schneider, Lennon Sherburne, and Margaret Serino. Engineering support comes from Kwasi Lee. Fact checking by Tyler Jones. I'm Marielle Segarra. Thanks for listening.

• 18:35Speaker 02

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