Strength

Why muscular strength is one of the most powerful predictors of longevity and quality of life

The Science

The Data

Individuals in the Lowest Quartile of strength face roughly twice the risk of all-cause mortality over 10 years compared to those in the Highest Quartile. Moving from the weakest group to the strongest cuts mortality risk nearly in half.[1]

Relative risk of mortality by strength levels across multiple studies

Grip Strength Benchmarks by Age (kg)

Use the tables below to identify which quartile you fall into. The goal is to be in the Third or Highest quartile for your age group. Those in the Lowest quartile face significantly elevated mortality risk.

Men

Age Lowest Quartile Second Quartile Third Quartile Highest Quartile
20-29< 42 kg42 - 49 kg49 - 56 kg> 56 kg
30-39< 41 kg41 - 48 kg48 - 55 kg> 55 kg
40-49< 39 kg39 - 46 kg46 - 53 kg> 53 kg
50-59< 36 kg36 - 43 kg43 - 50 kg> 50 kg
60-69< 32 kg32 - 39 kg39 - 46 kg> 46 kg
70-79< 28 kg28 - 35 kg35 - 42 kg> 42 kg

Women

Age Lowest Quartile Second Quartile Third Quartile Highest Quartile
20-29< 25 kg25 - 30 kg30 - 35 kg> 35 kg
30-39< 24 kg24 - 29 kg29 - 34 kg> 34 kg
40-49< 23 kg23 - 28 kg28 - 33 kg> 33 kg
50-59< 21 kg21 - 26 kg26 - 31 kg> 31 kg
60-69< 18 kg18 - 23 kg23 - 28 kg> 28 kg
70-79< 16 kg16 - 21 kg21 - 26 kg> 26 kg

Benchmarks derived from normative data in Dodds et al. (2014) and the PURE study (Leong et al., 2015).

The Studies

Beyond mortality risk, strength impacts nearly every aspect of health and daily function:

  • Metabolic Health: Muscle tissue is metabolically active and improves glucose disposal, insulin sensitivity, and metabolic rate. Grøntved et al. (2014) found that muscle-strengthening activities were independently associated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, confirming that maintaining muscular strength plays a direct role in metabolic health.[3]
  • Injury Prevention: Strong muscles protect joints, tendons, and ligaments from injury during daily activities and exercise. The García-Hermoso meta-analysis (2018) noted that higher muscular strength was associated with reduced injury rates and better recovery outcomes across populations.[1]
  • Functional Independence: Strength maintains the ability to perform daily tasks, climb stairs, carry groceries, and live independently as you age. The PURE study (Leong et al., 2015) identified declining grip strength as one of the earliest measurable signs of age-related functional decline and frailty risk.[2]
  • Bone Density: Hong and Kim (2018) published a comprehensive review in Endocrinology and Metabolism demonstrating that resistance training stimulates bone formation through mechanical loading, increases bone mineral density, and significantly reduces fracture risk in aging populations.[4]

The Plan

Progressive Overload

Getting stronger is simple: lift more weight or do more reps than you did last time. This is progressive overload, and it is the single most reliable metric for tracking your strength training progress.

If you are progressively overloading, you are getting stronger. Period. You should be able to add a rep or add weight to the bar nearly every session when you're training optimally.

  • Immediate feedback: You know within each workout whether you made progress
  • Objective measurement: No ambiguity - either you lifted more or you didn't
  • Session-to-session tracking: Progress is measurable in days, not months
  • Strength predicts outcomes: Getting stronger correlates with all the health benefits we care about

Muscle Mass Isn't the Best Metric

Muscle mass matters for health -- it's metabolically active tissue that improves glucose disposal, protects joints, and maintains functional independence. However, muscle mass is a poor metric for tracking your training progress because:

  • Too Slow to Measure: Muscle tissue grows at approximately 0.25-0.5 lbs per month under ideal conditions. This rate is so slow that it's nearly impossible to reliably measure week-to-week or even month-to-month without expensive equipment.
  • Confounded by Variables: Water retention, glycogen stores, time of day, and recent meals all affect body weight and measurements far more than actual muscle tissue changes.
  • Measurement Unreliable: DEXA scans, bioelectrical impedance, and tape measurements all have significant error margins that exceed the rate of actual muscle gain.
  • Strength Comes First: Neurological adaptations and strength gains precede visible muscle growth. You will get significantly stronger before you see meaningful muscle size changes.

Bottom line: Focus on getting stronger. Muscle mass will follow as a consequence of progressive overload over time, but it's not a useful metric for tracking your training effectiveness.

Minimum Effective Dose

Your training volume should be the minimum effective dose required to progressively overload. Nothing more. The minimum effective dose is the smallest amount of training stimulus required to produce progress. For most people, that means one hard set per body part per week, achievable with one full-body workout per week. Training beyond this does not accelerate progress proportionally.

This may seem counterintuitive. Isn't more training better? The research and practical experience show otherwise. What matters is that you are progressively overloading. If you can add weight or reps each session with one hard set per week, additional volume provides no benefit.

Most People Train Too Much

Your workout breaks down muscle tissue -- that's the stimulus. The actual growth and repair happens during rest, not during the workout itself. Training more frequently or with more volume than necessary doesn't speed up this process; it just delays recovery and increases injury risk.

  • Training Beyond the Minimum Leads to Injury: Every set and rep carries injury risk. Tendons, joints, and connective tissue accumulate stress. When you train beyond what's necessary for progress, you're adding injury risk without proportional benefit. Most chronic training injuries come from volume accumulation, not from single heavy sets.
  • Excessive Volume Creates Constant Fatigue: If you're always sore, always tired, and always recovering - you're training too much. This fatigue doesn't indicate "hard work paying off." It indicates you're digging a recovery hole that limits your ability to progressively overload.
  • Overtraining Leads to Giving Up: Unsustainable training programs lead to burnout. People start strong with 5-6 day routines, then miss sessions, feel guilty, and eventually quit entirely. A sustainable minimum dose is something you can maintain for decades.
  • More Volume Doesn't Mean More Progress: Studies show diminishing returns on volume. The first hard set provides the majority of the stimulus. Additional sets provide progressively smaller benefits while accumulating fatigue and injury risk.

How To Train

Here's how to train when you're focused on what actually matters:

  • Track Every Set: Record the exercise, weight, and reps for every working set. This is your data. Without this record, you cannot track progressive overload.
  • Add a Rep or Add Weight: Each session, your goal is simple: do more than last time. Either add a rep at the same weight, or if you've hit your rep target, add weight and start at the lower end of your rep range.
  • One Hard Set Per Movement Pattern: Perform one set taken close to muscular failure for each major movement: push, pull, squat/leg press, hinge. That's your minimum. If you're progressing, it's also your maximum.
  • Prioritize Recovery: Your muscles grow between sessions, not during them. Adequate sleep (7-9 hours), sufficient protein (0.7-1g per pound bodyweight), and stress management are not optional - they're essential for progressive overload.

Sample Minimum Effective Dose Workout

This can be completed in 20-30 minutes, once per week:

  • Push: 1 set x 10-15 reps -- Incline Barbell or Dumbbell Press
  • Pull: 1 set x 10-15 reps -- Barbell or Dumbbell Rows
  • Arms: 1 set x 10-15 reps Barbell or Dumbbell Curls, 1 set x 10-15 reps Overhead Tricep Extensions
  • Legs: 1 set x 10-15 reps Deadlifts, 1 set x 10-15 reps Squats

If you add weight or reps to each exercise every week, you are optimally progressing. Adding more sets or more days does not change this fundamental truth.

Workout Modifications

  • At Home: Replace with Push Ups, Pull Ups, Chair Dips, and Bodyweight Squats.
  • Machine Substitutes: Machine substitutes are great if you are at a commercial gym.
  • Reps: Anywhere from 5-15 is fine. Lower reps and heavier weights do carry greater risk of injury.
  • Split: You can split to a 2-day Upper/Lower if the intensity of doing this all on 1 day is too much.
  • Should I add a second set? Can I do this twice per week? No, just don't.

Rep Cadence

Controlling the weight is the most important thing. The muscles you are training should be moving the weight — not momentum, not gravity, and not breaking form to cheat the rep up.

A typical cadence of roughly 1 second on the way up and 3 seconds on the way down is fine. Don't overthink it. Controlling the movement with proper form is the key.

Progressive Overload Example

Here's what progressive overload looks like in practice using bench press in the 10–15 rep range:

  • Week 1: 135 lbs x 10 reps
  • Week 2: 135 lbs x 11 reps
  • Week 3: 135 lbs x 12 reps
  • Week 4: 135 lbs x 13 reps
  • Week 5: 135 lbs x 14 reps
  • Week 6: 135 lbs x 15 reps
  • Week 7: 137.5 lbs x 10 reps — add weight and reset reps

When it's time to add weight on a barbell, add 2.5 lbs (1.25 lbs per side) for most exercises. This may require purchasing "change plates" in 1.25 lb and 2.5 lb increments since most commercial gyms don't carry them.

Rest Intervals Between Sets

Whatever rest interval you pick, make sure it's consistent across workouts. Don't rest 1 minute one week and 5 minutes the next. Consistency matters because your rest period is a variable — if it changes, you can't tell whether improvements are from getting stronger or just from resting longer.

The interval should be enough time to fully recover and go max effort on the next set — around 5 minutes.

Soreness

You will likely experience Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) for 1–3 days after a workout, especially when starting out or after increasing intensity.

Soreness is not required for muscle growth, but it is an indicator that you are training properly with good form and hitting the muscles you mean to hit — assuming the soreness is in the right muscles. If you're sore in your lower back after a set of bicep curls, something went wrong.

References

  1. García-Hermoso A, et al. Muscular strength as a predictor of all-cause mortality in apparently healthy population: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Phys Act Health. 2018.
  2. Leong DP, et al. Prognostic value of grip strength: findings from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study. Lancet. 2015.
  3. Grøntved A, et al. Muscle-strengthening and conditioning activities and risk of type 2 diabetes. PLoS One. 2014.
  4. Hong AR, Kim SW. Effects of resistance exercise on bone health. Endocrinol Metab. 2018.