The answer is yes, although with some caveats (depending on goals and training experience).

Building on the presentation of the 2-day routines available in the StrengthLog app I posted last week, in this article I talk about 2-day splits in general: who're they for, how good are they, what does a well-designed one look like, and so on.

Is a 2-Day Workout Split Enough to Build Muscle & Strength?

Thanks for reading!

Can two workouts a week be enough?

Sure it can. Although a 2-day workout split works best for beginners (and early intermediates), advanced lifters can use one to maintain when life gets busy.

Here’s a selection of our best 2-day workout splits, all free in the StrengthLog app:

The Best 2-Day Workout Splits for Muscle, Strength & Health.

We’ve got a little of this, and a little of that - from general strength training to beginner routines to workout plans for older adults and kids.

While compiling these, it struck me that we don’t have all that many 2-day splits. None for bodybuilding, for example (not “optimal” perhaps, but what if you only have 2 days to train?).

Is that something you guys would be interested in?

A big new (still in preprint) meta-analysis looked at how quickly muscle growth happens. The researchers combined 3,237 observations from 480 strength-training studies lasting longer than 2 weeks that directly measured muscle size using MRI, CT, ultrasound, or muscle biopsy.

Instead of comparing “short” and “long” programs, the researchers did some advanced data crunching to fit them all into one continuous model.

I don’t think their main finding will be very surprising to any of you guys.

You gain muscle faster at the beginning of a training program or when you’re new to lifting, but each week you train produces a smaller increase than the weeks before it.

Here are the estimates from the pooled studies:

• 6 weeks: 5.6% increase in muscle size
• 10 weeks: 7.0%
• 12 weeks: 7.5%
• 20 weeks: 8.9%
• 36 weeks: 10.5%
• 60 weeks: 11.9%
• 78 weeks: 12.6%

Of course, these numbers don’t mean that everyone gains exactly 7% in 10 weeks, so take them with quite a bit of NaCl. There was a lot of variation, and these are averages across the studies, not a personal muscle-gain calculator.

Beyond things like genetics, nutrition, study design, and so on, the participants in these kinds of studies often train harder than they’ve ever trained when they have researchers/coaches standing beside them screaming one more rep. On the other hand, the training plans are often surprisingly garbage.

A few other cool things:

Studies with more men reported larger effects, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that men are more responsive to strength training. That difference could be because of starting muscle size, study design, training experience, or which muscles they measured. Besides, we know from many other studies that men and women gain similar relative amounts of muscle.

The study didn’t find differences in gains based on age or training experience. However, I think that might just be inconsistent reporting, and the fact that the studies included were wildly different, not that age and experience don’t matter.

So, beginner gains are real, but they’re not linear. Gaining 7% in 10 weeks doesn’t mean you’re gaining 35% in 50 weeks. You already knew that, but it’s still cool to get numbers on the speed of muscle gain, although they mean very little on an individual basis.

The paper is free, so you can check it out if you want here:

Modeling the Trajectory of Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy During Resistance Training: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

And feel free to check out Big Daniel’s great article on the subject, which aligns very well with this new research:

How Long Does It Take to Build Muscle?

Maybe, if you take it without actually needing it.

Everyone knows that testosterone is the bee's knees for strength and muscle, and TRT is great if you have low levels. But plenty of guys (and some gals) supplement testosterone without really needing it, because they want those sweet strength and muscle gains.

A new study looked at nearly 359,000 men aged 30 to 75 who started TRT, with 1 in 3 having no evidence of low T.

After the researchers followed them for up to 10 years, they found that the men who were taking testosterone without actual low T had a higher rate of major cardiovascular events: 16.5% versus 11.8%. Plus, they had higher risks of death, stroke, cardiac arrest, and heart failure.

Now, this was an observational study using health records, not real-time blood tests. So it can only show associations, not actual proof that testosterone directly caused these things.

That being said, TRT might not be as safe as you hear some influencers (and that big guy in the gym) claim if you don't have any real need for it or self-prescribe.

Here's the full study (no paywall) if you want to read it:

Off-label testosterone therapy is associated with higher long-term cardiovascular risk in men.

Fresh research time again (I'm on vacation, so no new long articles for a bit, but I can still pump out a few of these a week).

A brand new study (so brand new that it's still in preprint) tested whether you should rest between sets until you feel ready or use a set time.

Forty young, strength-trained men and women completed an 8-week lower-body training program. One group got to choose their own rest intervals (they averaged 3.7 minutes), while the other rested for a fixed 2–3 minutes between sets.

Both groups gained similar amounts of muscle mass and improved similarly in squat strength, isometric strength, and muscular endurance. They also reported pretty much identical perceived effort during training.

The big difference was how long the workouts took. With a fixed rest, the workouts took around 56 minutes, but 78.5 minutes when the participants got to rest as long as they wanted (fixed was 29% shorter).

So: setting a timer (~2 minutes) or resting as long as you feel you need - it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. And if you're in a hurry, you can save a lot of time without sacrificing your gains.

This is a preprint, and it hasn't been peer reviewed yet. The study was also fairly small and lasted only eight weeks, so it might not be the final word.

Here's the full paper (it's free) if you want to take a look:

Freedom of Choice? Effects of Self-Selected Rest Intervals on Muscular Adaptations and Time-Efficiency.

And for more about resting between sets, feel free to check out Big Daniel's neat article How Long Should You Rest Between Sets?

Hey guys,

A new systematic review and meta-analysis published just 2 days ago looked at 20 randomized trials with 556 healthy adults and compared strength training to failure versus stopping before failure.

Both methods resulted in similar results for muscle growth, muscular endurance, power, and isometric strength. Non-failure training was even slightly better for strength gains, especially in trained lifters.

The researchers even concluded that “these findings suggest that reaching muscular failure is not necessary to maximize resistance training adaptations”.

Not just not necessary for results, but not necessary for maximal gains, either.

So, more and more research suggests that grinding out every set until you can’t move the weight gives you more fatigue and recovery costs, but perhaps not that much benefit.

Personally, I like training to failure, and have always felt that I get better results when I do. And I’m sure it can still be useful occasionally, regardless of what studies say, but it probably doesn’t need to be the default.

How about you? Do you train to failure?

PS: Check out my article Training to Failure: Is It Necessary for Muscle Growth & Strength? for a more in-depth look at the topic (updated with these findings).

Hi all,

We now have a beginner-friendly and free 6-week MetCon program designed to build strength and conditioning in the app.

You don't need any experience, just kettlebells, a barbell with weight plates, and dumbbells.

Three workouts/week, and no training experience required.

Check it out if you or someone you know wants to get started with functional fitness from scratch:

Beginner MetCon Program: Build Strength & Conditioning in 6 Weeks.

Or go directly to the program in StrengthLog: Clicky!

Hey all!

This upcoming Thursday, July 2, it's time for another AMA here on r/strengthlog.

Location	Time Zone	Local Time
Stockholm	CET (UTC+2)	17:00
London	GMT (UTC+1, summer time)	16:00
New York	EST (UTC−4)	11:00
Los Angeles	PST (UTC−7)	08:00
Tokyo	JST (UTC+9)	00:00 (+1 day)
Sydney	AEST (UTC+12)	01:00 (+1 day)

Ask me anything, and I’ll do my best to answer.

I have 30+ years of elite-level coaching experience, have designed many of the workout routines in the StrengthLog app (including programs for a wide range of sports), and have written close to 1,000 articles on strength training and nutrition over the years, both for print magazines (back when those were a thing) and for the StrengthLog website and its Swedish predecessor.

If you want to pick my brain about strength training, nutrition, programming, supplements, anything related to StrengthLog (except pure app support), or why not the really important stuff like video games and science fiction, come prepared with some good questions and stop by on Thursday.

Or you can post them up here beforehand in case you can't make it. Either way, I'm looking forward to talking to you and answering your queries.

(For an example of the kind of in-depth answers you'll get, check out previous AMAs).

Few muscle groups do more for your physique than your shoulders. Yet many lifters struggle to grow them.

The good news is that building impressive shoulders isn’t that complicated. The bad news... well, there isn’t any bad news.

In this article, I give you my best no-nonsense tips for adding size to your delts.

Plus, you get two swell shoulder workouts that you can fire up in the StrengthLog app right now.

How to Build Big Shoulders.

Thanks for read, and have a great weekend!

OCR stands for obstacle course racing. You run anything from a few hundred meters to marathon-length events.

All well and good, except someone threw giant wooden walls, barbed wire, heavy sandbags, and slippery monkey bars right in the middle of your route.

To get good at, or even finish, an OCR event, you need cardio fitness, but you also need a body capable of getting past the obstacles. And that means strength training.

We now have a complete 12-week premium OCR training plan, with 3–4 weekly workouts, for anyone who wants to own the mud.

Read the article: OCR Training Plan: 12-Week Strength Program for Obstacle Course Racing.

Go directly to the program in the app: LINKY.

Hey guys,

Let's talk about a new study, published in eClinicalMedicine, a Lancet journal.

It looked at 59,078 adults and found that improving sleep, physical activity, and diet is linked to gains in both lifespan and healthspan (healthspan is a relatively new concept: not just how many years you live, but how many years you live free of major chronic disease).

Much health advice has traditionally focused on one behavior at a time (even though that is slowly changing, and we're now more and more thinking about health as a whole rather than separate pieces).

Here, the researchers found that small changes in all three areas might have a bigger effect than major changes in just one.

Lifespan

First, let's look at just living longer.

The study found that improving all three things (compared with people in the lowest lifestyle category) just a little was associated with 1 extra year of life expectancy:

• 5 extra minutes of sleep per day
• +1.9 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise per day
• +5-point improvement in diet quality (basically the equivalent of eating another half a serving of vegetables)

In other words, changes so small that you don't notice them. But apparently they add up.

Healthspan

For healthspan, you had to make bigger changes (but still nothing dramatic):

• +24 minutes of sleep per day
• +3.7 minutes of exercise per day
• +23-point improvement in diet quality (now the vegetables won't cut it - you have to eat more fish and whole grains, too)

In this study, these somewhat more significant changes were linked to adding 4 more years - and more importantly: disease-free years.

Best Outcomes

The study also identified the participants with the optimal combination of habits:

• 7.2–8.0 hours of sleep
• 42+ minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity daily
• High diet quality

Again, compared with those in the lowest lifestyle category.

These changes were associated with:

• +9.35 years of lifespan
• +9.45 years of healthspan

So, nearly a decade longer life, and a healthy one to boot.

To sum it up, this study suggests that sleeping a little more, increasing your physical activity a little, and eating a little better - at the same time! - may add healthy years to your life.

And out of the three, physical activity was the biggest driver of the associations.

Small changes, big benefits.

And yes, these are all associations that can't prove cause and effect, but do we doubt that sleep, exercise, and diet are important for a healthy life?

Reference: Koemel N, Biswas R, Ahmadi M et al. Minimum combined sleep, physical activity, and nutrition variations associated with lifeSPAN and healthSPAN improvements: a population cohort study. eClinicalMedicine, 2026; 92.

Tired of your puny pecs?

I've written a straight-to-the-point guide to building a bigger chest, with my top tips, exercises, and workouts ready to run in the StrengthLog app.

Check it out if that all sounds interesting to you.

How to Build a Big Chest!

Thanks for reading!

If you're a dancer, you're an athlete. And athletes need strength training.

By popular demand, we now have a training program (premium) for dancers (hip hop, shuffle, house, and similar styles) who want to build strength and stability, improve movement mechanics, and prevent injury in the app.

If that's you or someone you know, check it out!

Article: Strength Training for Dancers: Complete Guide & Training Program.

Or open the program directly in the StrengthLog app.

Compound sets! Are they supersets by another name, and how do they compare to good old straight sets for muscle and strength?

My short and straight-to-the-point article sets things straight. Check it out if you have a minute or two to spare.

Compound Sets: How They Work and When to Use Them.

Thanks for reading, and have a swell weekend.

Building big glutes takes some pretty hard work. You can’t half-ass your workouts and expect whole-ass results.

I've written a no-nonsense guide to growing your glutes, with exercises, tips, and free workouts & programs:

How to Build Big Glutes.

Thanks for reading!

I'm sure all you guys know the answer to that question.

No, it does not.

But if you ever need to let someone know that not only doesn't strength training stunt growth, it's actually beneficial for kids' strength, bones, and health, feel free to send them to my new article, heavily researched with up-to-date research:

Does Strength Training Stunt Growth?

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

So today I want to share a new super cool study with you guys.

It’s not a huge meta-analysis, just a cool case study on a 71-year-old woman who started lifting later in life and what strength training can do.

Having had scoliosis and chronic back pain since her youth, she was advised not to exercise.

After dabbling in yoga and aerobic exercise since her 40s, she started strength training at 63. And after 8 years of heavy lifting, she’s achieved a body composition that would make most 30-year-olds jealous and strength that rivals that of world-class powerlifters.

I have written a more in-depth write-up about the study and this woman’s results on our website. Check it out if her story sounds interesting:

Aging Strong: What 8 Years of Strength Training Did for a 71-Year-Old Woman.

As always, thanks for reading!

The bench press is a suprisingly easy lift to butcher, with plenty of opportunities for slight or not-so-slight mistakes.

In this article, I go through 20 of the most common ones, with practical tips on how to fix them

20 Common Bench Press Mistakes That Are Costing You Gains.

Thanks for reading!