One And Done

Study suggests just one strength workout a week can bring huge improvements

A single weekly strength session works wonders

THE LIST OF excuses for not doing strength and conditioning work just got shorter. ‘I don’t have time to lift weights,’ simply won’t do, because new research1 suggests even one 20-minute strength workout a week can result in major improvements.

Participants followed a training programme called Fit20, six exercises performed once a week on exercise machines: chest press, pulldown, leg press, abdominal flexion, back extension and either hip abduction or adduction. For each exercise, they did one set with a weight chosen so that they could do no more than six reps. The reps were performed slowly (10 secs up, 10 secs down), without locking the limbs or resting at the top or the bottom, and there was minimal rest (20 secs between moves). After a year, each participant had increased their overall strength by, on average, 30 per cent.