Can 5 minutes of lifting per day make a difference? • Stronger by Science

You may be reading the title of this newsletter thinking, “Is this a typo?” Fortunately, it is not. A recent study actually looked at whether just five minutes per day of bodyweight resistance training could lead to meaningful changes in fitness and well-being in untrained, but otherwise healthy adults over a four-week period.

For four weeks, 22 participants performed one set of four exercises per day: a squat, a push-up variation, a sit-back for the trunk, and a heel drop for the calves. Each repetition emphasized a slow eccentric (five seconds) and the entire “session” took five minutes. 

Participants could complete the exercises all at once or spread them throughout the day, much like we’ve seen in the exercise snack literature before. Given their training status, progression was handled by switching to more challenging variations of each exercise, like swapping wall push-ups for regular push-ups, when the participants reached an RPE rating below 5/10.

The researchers looked at strength (via isometric mid-thigh pull), strength endurance (via sit-up and push-up tests), mental well-being (via the SF-36 questionnaire), cardiovascular response (via a three-minute step test), body composition (via DEXA) and even looked at various blood markers.

Despite only training for five minutes, the participants increased their strength by roughly 10%, performed ~5 more push-ups and ~10 more sit-ups. They also become more flexible, increasing their sit-and-reach distance by a few centimeters. Additionally, they experienced a slight decrease in their heart rate response (roughly -3 beats per minute) and perceived effort during the step test. Somewhat more importantly, they also reported feeling stronger, fitter, and healthier after the intervention. Even more importantly, 83% of the participants maintained some form of exercise after the study was over. 

That said, there were no major changes in body weight, body composition, or blood markers over the four weeks, which I found somewhat expected. At the end of the day, it was only five minutes of at-home lifting. 

However, when we look at the totality of the current literature, we consistently see that even extremely low doses of lifting – as little as 20 minutes per week – can still lead to substantial strength gains as well as decrease the risk of all-cause mortality. Additionally, even if you’re a trained lifter, you can make both solid strength and hypertrophy gains with low-volume training protocols. Furthermore, the benefits of just doing a little bit of exercise aren’t exclusive to lifting. A recent meta-analysis of “exercise snacks” (brief bouts of aerobic exercise – usually between 20 seconds and 2 minutes per day) found beneficial effects for maximal oxygen uptake, anaerobic power output, and cholesterol levels.

The really cool thing about this study is that it further reinforces the power of “doing something” being better than doing nothing, especially for many out there who may not necessarily have the same passion for lifting as many of us do. At the end of the day, if five minutes of at-home lifting per week can help some people out there get into the habit of “doing something,” then that may ultimately encourage them to do more in the future.