Weight Training 💪

Weight training is the practice of exercising against a progressive resistance — pushing, pulling or working the legs — in sessions of 30 to 45 minutes. The core idea is progressive overload: gradually increasing the weight, repetitions or difficulty so the muscles keep adapting.

To start small, pick a few basic movements (one push, one pull, one leg exercise) and train two or three times per week with light loads. Increase the challenge in small steps once the repetitions feel easy, rather than trying to lift heavy from day one.

A large review of 173 trials found that medium- and long-term resistance training reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and that medium-term training reduced fasting insulin and insulin resistance, with greater effects in people with elevated cardiometabolic risk — though the quality of evidence was low or very low (Ashton et al., 2018).

In people over 50 at risk of fracture, progressive resistance training improved mobility, health-related quality of life and pain, and may increase femoral neck bone density, while effects on falls were uncertain (Ponzano et al., 2020). Another meta-analysis in older adults found improvements across several dimensions of quality of life, including mental health measures (Hart & Buck, 2019).

Studies suggest further benefits: in independent older adults, high-speed resistance training improved cognitive, neuromuscular and physical function (Martins et al., 2022), and a small review in youth examined effects on self-esteem and self-efficacy, with evidence still limited (Collins et al., 2019).