Over 50? Do Exactly These Seven Things To Improve Your Muscle Strength - 30 Years Research

It's clear and simple but not what you might expect

Photo by Vicky Sim on Unsplash

The most confusing aspects of how to start exercising are to decide on how many repetitions, how many sets, what weight load, what rest between sets, etc etc. When I first enrolled in a gym more than 20 years ago, like most men I just started jiggling dumbbells about, then barbells. It was inefficient and ultimately unsatisfying.

To be honest, I wasted a couple of years which could have been better spent.

One of the things which held me back from asking the trainers was my age. I was over 50, and it was rare to see anyone else my age doing strength training. I knew enough to see that the younger ones were doing things that had little relevance to living longer better or fitness, which were my objectives. I drifted into classes, and kettlebells, and came back to barbell training years later.

Two recent studies provided the answers that would have helped me then, and it is clear and simple. These two studies compared young and old healthy adults, and older adults, across different strength training protocols.
The results are very interesting.

The first study examined 506 studies over 30 years which analysed the relationship between muscle growth and resistance training. Ultimately only 25 of those 506 studies could be normalised to be comparable.

How training protocols affected different outcomes

The objective of this "study of studies" was to identify training differences between groups who exercised, and to measure those differences and to identify associations with outcomes.

Here is what they found, and it is relevant to how we might set up our own program:

1. Resistance training worked in every study to "improve muscle strength substantially". That's a fantastic thing, especially as we get older. You do the work, you get the results. But what is "the work"?
2. How long people had been consistently training had a significant effect on strength outcomes. Results started to show after 10 to 13 weeks and were still improving after 52 weeks. The most strength was developed by those who had been training the longest, adjusted for other factors.
3. How hard you train - intensity - was also found to significantly affect the development of strength. The best gains were achieved when people trained at 70 to 75% of their maximum 1 repetition effort. There was only one more significant finding regarding the inputs that you need to take into account.
4. The final factor found to significantly improve muscle strength was "time under tension".  The statistical analysis revealed that the magic number per repetition was 6 seconds under load. The analysis also revealed that the benefits of increased with how long people had been training (in weeks).

No other input factors significantly improved muscle strength, but some were modestly influential and provide some extra guidance on how to set up an effective training program.

But firstly, I want to wrap up the significant findings, because their relative influence is very interesting. 

Relative impact of intensity, period and time under tension

Sometimes we have an emotional leaning towards a particular way of training, for example, we might like to "go hard" and push the intensity up to 100%.

​That might be emotionally satisfying, but here is what this study found to be relatively most effective:

1. Training intensity had the least multiplier effect on muscular strength, compared to the training period and time under tension.
2. The training period had 24% greater multiplier effect on improved muscle strength than training intensity.
3. Time under tension was 91% more effective than intensity, and 54% more effective than the training period in significantly improving muscular strength.

​If we stop here and rather our thoughts, these results say that more time under tension, and keeping up training for long periods - in terms of years - is more important than training intensity.

Other useful but less significant inputs

The study identified other variables that are helpful in planning our exercise routine, but which had less significance than those factors above in improving muscle strength:

• A "tendency towards significance" was found in the rest time between sets, with 60 seconds showing the largest effect on muscle strength.
• A training volume of two to three sets per exercise.
• Seven to nine repetitions per set.
• A rest of 4.0 s between repetitions. 
• A training frequency of two sessions per week.

There you have it. Enough for you to build the most-effective strength-training regime for "healthy older adults".

My way, good but slightly different

To me, based on my 23 years of training, those findings ring true. I am not going to argue with the statistics, and I suggest that you follow those guidelines. What I feel from all those years is something slightly different.

Here's what I do:

• Three sets, at 50%, 60%, 70% of maximum, and maximum (100%) once every three weeks.
• Sets of six repetitions, 20 seconds rest between sets (no rest between repetitions).
•  Aiming for about 6 seconds per repetition, so that time under tension per set is 36-40 seconds.

That gets the job done without hanging about too long, and with quite effective results. Put is this way - you might get better results by sitting about for 3 minutes in-between sets but not by sitting on the gym machines for 3 minutes.

​Most people use the gym machines. By using free weights in the above program will put you miles ahead if you are over 50, even without the "official" 3-minute recovery that your PT has told you.

All that said, I recommend that you keep reading and take the advice from the study recommendations.

About time under tension - it is important

The significance of the time under tension is very interesting. It validates the common idea of "40-seconds under tension" as an exercise target, even for bodyweight exercises.

​The analysis found that 7 to 9 repetitions per set was optimal, and if each movement takes say 5 or 6 seconds, then the set creates 35 to 54 seconds under tension - thus bracketing the "40-seconds" advice.

I recommend that you apply this "time under tension" concept to other training that you do, particularly to your bodyweight exercises. If you do, your results will improve.

What not to do - too many sets slow growth

A related study of 158 groups with 1927 participants - younger adults and strength training programs - was only able to identify one training input that significantly affected strength outcomes - the number of sets per workout "showing a significant negative interaction".
​
That is, excessive sets per workout affects negatively the muscle mass gain. That's kind of good news, it means that sticking with two to four sets will not produce adverse results.

Here's the optimal strength-training program according to science

With respect to the analysis of the research on strength training protocols for healthy older adults, the study isolated the seven following parameters as the most effective protocol across all variables:
​

1. A training period of 50-53 weeks.
2. A training frequency of three sessions per week.
3. A training volume of two to three sets per exercise, seven to nine repetitions per set.
4. A training intensity from 51 to 69% of your 1 repetition maximum.
5. A total time under tension of 6.0 seconds.
6. A rest time of 120 seconds between sets. And,
7. A rest of 2.5 seconds between repetitions.

Here you have a very pragmatic and a very effective strength training protocol which you can apply to your favourite form of strength training.

Put the seven factors into action

For we older adults, training period, intensity, time under tension, and rest in between sets play a very important role in improving muscle strength.

I strongly recommend that you implemented these concepts and details into your exercise training. If you do, it will help you live longer better.
​
Good luck. Get strong. Keep at it.

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