New Strength Training Guidelines—What Really Matters?

Weekly Wisdom

Episode 64

In 2026, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) published its first major update to its resistance training guidelines since 2009.

The new ACSM Position Stand synthesizes 137 systematic reviews covering more than 30,000 participants. That's a substantial body of research, and the conclusions are worth paying attention to.

Some findings confirm what we've known for years. Others challenge long-standing assumptions about how we should train.

And a few suggest that the fitness industry may have been making things unnecessarily complicated.

What Do the New ACSM Strength Training Guidelines Say?

Here are the key findings:

Consistency is the priority. The greatest benefit comes from moving from no resistance training to regular training. Elaborate programming is secondary.

Train every major muscle group at least twice weekly. Consistent effort matters more than finding the perfect routine.

For strength, lift heavier weights. Loads around 80% of your one-repetition maximum (1RM), for 2–3 sets per exercise, are effective for developing strength.

For muscle growth, volume matters. Approximately 10 sets per muscle group per week is a useful target for maximizing hypertrophy.

For power, move weights quickly. Loads in the range of 30–70% of 1RM, lifted with an emphasis on speed during the concentric (lifting) phase, can improve power.

Equipment is flexible. Resistance bands, bodyweight exercises, free weights, machines, and home workouts can all improve strength, muscle size, and physical function.

Training to failure is optional. Pushing every set until you physically cannot complete another repetition does not consistently produce better results for the average healthy adult.

Complex periodization is optional, too. Systematically manipulating training variables can be useful, particularly for competitive athletes, but it isn't essential for general fitness.

Olympic weightlifting develops power. The snatch and clean and jerk are effective tools for improving explosive strength.

Eccentric training has benefits. Emphasizing the lowering phase of a movement can enhance muscle growth, while specialized eccentric methods may improve strength and power.

The benefits go well beyond muscle. Resistance training can improve muscular endurance, balance, gait speed, movement velocity, and physical function.

More complicated doesn't necessarily mean better. Blood-flow restriction, elaborate set structures, time-under-tension techniques, and other programming variables did not consistently outperform simpler approaches across the outcomes studied.

The guidelines also emphasize individualization. Your goals, abilities, enjoyment, and capacity to recover should determine how you train.

For another perspective, here's a physical therapist's interpretation of the new 2026 strength guidelines. There are points on which we agree and others on which we differ.

So, what do I take away from all this?

My Big Takeaways

1. Consistency Is King

Consistency matters more than programming, equipment, or which exercises you perform.

A sub-par program that you actually follow will produce better results than a superior program that you follow sporadically.

Don't worry so much about optimizing. Find something you enjoy and commit to it.

This is particularly important when we talk about healthy aging and longevity. The benefits of strength training accumulate over years, not weeks.

The best program isn't the one that looks most impressive on paper. It's the one you can sustain.

2. Functional Movements Rule

Multi-joint, full-body compound movements performed through a full functional range of motion provide an excellent foundation for fitness and have tremendous carryover into daily life.

Squat. Hinge. Push. Pull. Carry.

Nothing beats the basics.

These are the movements that allow you to lift groceries, climb stairs, get off the floor, move furniture, play with your grandchildren, and remain physically independent as you age.

They're also the foundation of the functional fitness we teach at Empower Every Body Fitness in Vancouver.

The fancy gimmicks are frills.

Use them to supplement your bread-and-butter movements if they entertain you. But don't replace your foundation with them. And feel free to skip the frills entirely if they don't interest you.

You don't need a complicated exercise routine to develop a strong, capable body.

3. Effort Matters

For developing maximal strength, working with loads around 80% of your one-repetition maximum is a good general guideline.

Two to three sets per exercise, training the major muscle groups two or three times per week, can produce meaningful improvements.

The eccentric phase matters, too. Controlling the lowering portion of a lift provides a training stimulus that you miss when you simply drop the weight. There are times when dropping a barbell is appropriate, but routinely eliminating the eccentric phase means missing an opportunity for strength development.

And here's something worth remembering: you don't need to kill yourself in the gym.

The research found no consistent additional benefit from training every set to failure.

This is good news, particularly for adults over 40 who want to build strength, maintain muscle, and improve their functional capacity without making recovery a full-time occupation.

The benefits extend far beyond the weight you can lift. Strength training helps preserve the physical capacity to live independently and confidently.

4. Power Training Has Benefits Beyond the Gym

Strength is your ability to produce force.

Power is your ability to produce force quickly.

And that distinction matters.

The ACSM findings support power training as a way to improve not only explosive performance but also physical function.

Olympic lifts are particularly effective for developing power. But you can also train it with more familiar movements, including presses, squats, and other appropriate exercises.

Using loads around 30–70% of your maximum and emphasizing an explosive concentric phase allows you to train the ability to produce force rapidly.

Why should you care?

Because life doesn't always give you time to produce force slowly.

Catching yourself when you trip, accelerating to cross a street, or reacting to an unexpected loss of balance all require rapid muscular responses.

As we age, maintaining the ability to move quickly may be just as important as maintaining the ability to move heavy things.

For me, this is one of the most interesting implications of the new guidelines.

5. What Has Actually Changed?

These findings challenge a lot of fitness-industry marketing built around the idea that one particular tool, rep range, or proprietary training method is indispensable.

They suggest that complex periodization and highly specific programming prescriptions may be less important for general fitness than previously believed.

Of course, these are industry conventions that CrossFit founder Greg Glassman challenged a quarter century ago.

My Predictions: Where Strength Training Research Is Headed

I believe these updated guidelines represent a meaningful improvement over previous standards.

But science doesn't stand still.

There are emerging findings that lead me to suspect future guidelines will place greater emphasis on two things: maximal efforts and movement velocity.

1. Maximal Efforts Will Prove Essential

While I believe the 80% of maximum training guideline is a good general rule, I suspect we'll eventually discover additional benefits from occasionally pursuing true maximal efforts.

Provided, of course, that athletes have the appropriate preparation, technical competence, and sufficient recovery between intense sessions.

A true max provides a unique stimulus to the neuromuscular system. I suspect we're only beginning to understand the full range of adaptations that may result.

Depending on where you are in your fitness journey, a maximal effort might be appropriate once per week, once per month, or once every six weeks.

I don’t really know the optimal frequency and expect it will differ based on the individual, but now and then, it behooves you to give it your max effort.

2. Velocity Will Become More Important Than Strength Alone

Oh, I'm all for strength training.

But I think there are even bigger gains to be made by training velocity.

Some world-class coaches already use velocity-based training and bar-speed measurements to develop strength and power in professional athletes.

Not only will your explosive power improve your strength, it improves your athleticism, health span, and is more closely correlated with decreased all-cause mortality than either strength or VO2 Max.

What does this mean for you?

It means that your snatch and clean loads tell us more about your fitness than your squat or deadlift. In the same way, your 50m sprint is more important than your 5k time.

It’s an unpopular opinion for now, but the way things are trending, I expect the science to prove me right.

The Bottom Line: Train for the Life You Want to Live

The most important message from the new ACSM guidelines isn't that you need to overhaul your training.

Quite the opposite.

You need to train consistently.

Build strength. Move through a useful range of motion. Develop power. Challenge yourself appropriately. Recover. Repeat.

And don't get so distracted by the latest fitness trend that you neglect the fundamentals.

Whether you're a beginner, a competitive athlete, or someone in their 40s, 50s, 60s, or beyond who wants to remain strong and independent, the principles are remarkably similar.

At Empower, we've always believed that fitness should prepare you for life outside the gym.

Not just bigger lifts or faster workout times, but a longer health span: more years in which you're strong, mobile, capable, and able to do the things you love.

The science continues to evolve.

The fundamentals remain remarkably consistent.