Today's Topic 👉 Strength Training

Strength Training, Evidence-Weighted

February 10, 2026

In partnership with

“Muscle-strengthening activities are associated with lower mortality risk.”

— Momma et al., 2022

We’ve all heard the benefits of working out.

While roughly 50% of people meet aerobic exercise guidelines, less than one-third meet resistance exercise recommendations.

You might be thinking, “… but I don’t know where to start.”

I hear you. Most strength advice debates the perfect split and rep scheme.

But it doesn’t have to be that complicated; research actually points to simpler recommendations.

AT A GLANCE

  1. Progression (increasing weight over time)

  2. Enough weekly work (volume of reps x sets)

  3. Training hard enough (hard sets every week for each muscle group)

Want more detailed guidance on strength training? In this week’s Smarter Wellness Weekly, I spent 20+ hours analyzing the latest studies to help simplify strength training for you. Read my full article for:

  • Definitions you can actually use

  • What the evidence actually supports

  • Myths that keep people stuck

  • A simple 12-week plan to get started

Next week 👉 Sleep: Why you shouldn’t ignore circadian timing.

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR

Brian S. Dye, Ed.D., is the founder of Applied Wellness, an evidence-based wellness education platform which helps people access, understand, and apply evidence-based wellness information.

WELLNESS contributor for Slightly Smarter

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