Know your Strength

Apr 18
5 min read

What do the New guidelines on Strength Training mean for you?

By Jane Wake MSc

Just a few weeks ago The ACSM - American College of Sports Medicine, brought out a new position stand on Resistance Training. This was important because its last update was written in 2009 and since then there have been over 30,000 studies written on resistance training. This has meant those following the science and practicing strength training were already starting to deviate from these guidelines.

As The ACSM are the global, leading authority it was really important to get their take on these updates and they have done so in a spectacular way. On 5th March 2026 they published their Review of 137 reviews. (1)

Using synthesized data from 137 systematic reviews, including over 30,000 participants and covering adults of all ages, this is the most comprehensive data collection we have ever had. The quality of authorship is also second to none with leading professors from the world of Sports Science, from multiple universities across the world.

With the ACSM standards to uphold, it was carefully assessed, regulated and crossed checked to provide an unbiased result that confirms many things that we have known but not had the evidence to back it up. It also revealed positive findings that push to the sidelines a lot of unfounded rhetoric thats creating waves in the fitness community.

I trained with the ACSM, as both a Health and Fitness Instructor and an Advanced Personal Trainer in my late 20’s. It always struck me how much more advanced the training was compared to other qualifications I had earned. Most importantly it put me on a track that focused more on health than fitness prowess.

How you look when it comes to fitness is still the topic most talked about and it dismays me to see the fast bottomless pit of image centred social media offerings. Most of which I never see as I refuse to go down that particular rabbit hole, but I am fully aware of its presence and how it continues to influence how women and men feel about their bodies. And it doesn’t matter how focused the programme is on mass participation. The fact is, most strength training programmes continue to alienate a large percentage of the population who just don’t see it as for them.

70-80% of women and 55 - 63% of men do not do enough resistance training to gain health benefits. (England Health Survey 2021) (2) and whether it’s the camaraderie of Hyrox or the muscle centric, protein loading experts from Huberman to the new menopause Guru doctors, they really aren’t doing much to change these numbers.

Why do I know this? Because it was the main topic of my studies back in 1992 when I did my research for my MSc in Sports Management and I have been focused on it ever since.

How does the saying go? You can’t bring a horse to water?

Well this really does ring true here and it’s why the new guidance is vitally important.

I’ve written plenty before on why strength training and any exercise for that matter is so important and I’ll be refocusing on the science behind this in future post - not just on here but also on my new Substack channel where you’ll get a little more content from me. Do come and join the fun!

But what the new ACSM guide establishes is that strength training isn’t just a past time, not even just a complimentary healthy lifestyle adjunct - It’s a life saving highly important health component that will save millions of lives.

Seriously, if pharmaceutical companies could bottle what strength training does for you,

they would be making zillions.

The guidelines also report on how the essential components of muscle health - from metabolic, to strength, balance, power and muscle mass - can all be ascertained, not by training in one restrictive way but in multiple different ones and in multiple modalities.

Strength training is not a one trick pony, unlike anyone whose trying to sell you their programme/book or muscle building supplement. In fact the wealth of research establishes the following and this is the most important things you need to know.....

You can use any array of resistance equipment - from bands, to Olympic bars and everything in between - it all works.
You can work in a range of repetitions to failure or near failure - as long as the resistance is sufficient to produce a load that brings your muscles to a point of fatigue, usually within a short time period (think 5 - 90 seconds) then you are good to go.
Whilst doing multiple sets work and might be necessary for volume and muscle size training, you will always gain more from the first set than you do from the second and more from the second than you do from the third - 1-2 set training is enough.
Whilst you can try any number. of training tricks in the book - if you haven't got consistency then you will not win outright - so doing something that you can continue with week after week is going to be more important.
And here’s the most important one of all - If you are starting out , then you always stand to gain more therefore even a really small amount of training counts.

So go do something and do it now and if you’d like some help with it - You’ve come to the right place.

If you would like to learn a little more, watch my webinar recently filmed on the new guidance - this is equally beneficial to professionals and participants or would be participants alike.
If you want to start training but don’t know where to start or have health issues that needs a gentler starting point, join my Strength Fundamentals 6 Week Online Programme, next one starts on 27th April 2026. This is a wonderful way to get the best help in your own environment and under my 1 to 1 supervision.
If you are a professional or just looking to fully understand weight training and own it in the gym, Join my Women’s Strength Training Programme. This is self paced so you can join at any time. Includes certificate.
If you’d like to join a live class you can do so Here Online with me Every Thursday or In Person every Monday. Mondays session is for women only but anyone can join in with my online programmes or classes.
If you’d like more regular articles and MORE from me, sign up to my Substack here.