- According to a study, lifting weights for 30 minutes twice a week helps in muscle development.
- The researchers found that all participants saw results, even when they weren’t pushing themselves to failure.
- Experts share best practices for getting started with a new strength-training regimen.
are innumerable Benefits of strength trainingEspecially for women over 50. But if you’ve ever worried that you don’t have time in your schedule for a strength workout, a study from September 2025 is here to ease your worries. Research shows that just 30 minutes of weight training twice a week is enough to build muscle, which will support a stable metabolism and improved mobility as you age.
Meet the experts: Albert Matheny, RD, CSCS, co-founder of Soho Strength Lab; Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D.Co-author of the study and professor in exercise science at Lehman College in the Bronx, NY; Luke Pryor, Ph.D., CSCS., Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences at the University at Buffalo.
Small study, published in Medicine and science in sports and exerciseIt involved 42 healthy people who were following a weightlifting program with one set of eight to 10 repetitions for each exercise. Participants were divided into two groups: one group pushing themselves until they could do no more reps with perfect form (train to failure), while the other pushed themselves but still had energy to do more (leaving reps in reserve).
Participants underwent nine exercises addressing major muscle groups twice a week for eight weeks. Each session was 30 minutes long. Next, the researchers analyzed the participants for changes in muscle thickness in select areas of the body, as well as measures of muscle strength, power and endurance.
They found that all participants experienced increases in strength and muscle growth, regardless of whether they were training to failure or leaving a few reps in the tank. “In our study, the workouts were difficult enough to challenge participants’ muscles beyond their current capacity,” said Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D.is a co-author of the study and a professor in exercise science at Lehman College in the Bronx, NY. “This is the key to consistently gaining muscle.”
Still, the fact that everyone saw results is impressive and inspiring. The idea of squeezing in two 30-minute lifting sessions per week seems doable, and that’s according to Albert Matheny, RD, CSCS, co-founder of Soho Strength Lab. “I repeat this often: You don’t have to have the most of it to get the benefits,” he said. “There is a law of diminishing returns.”
How do 30-minute sessions benefit? A lot happens in your body when you lift weights, including the release of hormones, metabolic stress (which disrupts the normal condition of the muscle and can cause it to grow), muscle tension, and molecular signaling in the muscles. Luke Pryor, Ph.D., CSCS., Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences at the University at Buffalo. Even short sessions will take advantage of all this. Pryor said shorter sessions also allow for less recovery time between sets. “By reducing recovery time, it increases metabolic stress,” he said. Find muscle growth.
Pryor said the study was conducted on people who already did resistance training, which suggests that even people who are already strong can gain muscle with this approach. “These short sessions are really effective for people who are sedentary, but this shows that even in people who have been exercising for many years, you can maintain or even increase skeletal muscle mass in these short sessions,” he said.
Benefits of strength training
Strength training has many benefits beyond looking fit. This will not only make you physically stronger, but Research It also turns out that lifting weights will help increase bone density, which is an important area of health to pay attention to as we age.
“There are also links to live long And hormonal improvement,” Matheny said. Strength training can also increase your stamina metabolismhe pointed out.
“Resistance training has a ton of benefits for almost all organ systems,” said Schonfeld. “This includes an improved ability to complete tasks of everyday living, increased metabolic function, better heart health, better mental health and greater injury resistance.”
How to start weight-training
If you’re interested in starting a weight lifting routine, Matheny suggests giving yourself a little extra time first to understand what you’re doing. “You have to work a little hard to find the right weight to get the most benefit from each exercise,” he said. If it’s available, consider scheduling a session with a personal trainer who can instruct you in proper form before heading out on your own.
In the study, participants used exercises that mostly targeted just one muscle at a time, but Matheny recommended focusing on exercises that used multiple muscle groups. Pryor agreed: “You want to do exercises that recruit a lot of muscles.”
Matheny recommends focusing on activities like these that target multiple muscle groups at once to get the greatest results:
- push up
- squat
- lungs
- deadlifts
- pull ups
Schonfeld also suggests keeping the time between sets under two minutes to get the most out of your time. But he recommends choosing exercises that will help you reach your goals. “Ultimately, personal preference should dictate which exercise you choose,” he said.
Of course, any strength training is better than no strength training, and you may not even need to set aside 30 minutes. As long as you’re challenging yourself, “you can get results even from a 20-minute session,” Pryor said.
