Men with years of training were far stronger and more muscular than untrained men, but their muscle activation matched men with 12 weeks of training. The extra strength from years of lifting tracked muscle size.

Un-racking 110 percent of maximum for 10 seconds kept average bar speed from dropping on the next heavy single, where a light hold did not. Peak speed and muscle activity were unchanged, and it is one acute study.

In failed heavy squats the hip was the joint that most consistently ran out of energy, but in some lifters the knee was the weak link, and under fatigue the load shifted towards the hips and lower back.

In classic powerlifters scanned by DXA, lean body weight correlated strongly with the competition total; evidence on body-mass-adjusted performance is thinner and limited to the bench press. Here is what the evidence supports, and what it cannot tell you.

Some early trials favoured daily undulating periodisation for strength, but a meta-analysis of 17 studies with 510 participants found no difference in effectiveness between linear and undulating models for upper- or lower-body strength.

Research on powerlifters suggests a small number of heavy working sets each week can still produce strength gains, while single daily heavy singles helped some lifters and not others. Here is what the evidence supports and where it runs thin.

Dividing your lift by body weight is the simplest comparison, but in the one study that tested it, in American football players, it left significant differences between positions, while allometric and nonlinear models removed body-mass bias for most lifts studied. Here is what the evidence supports.

In well-trained male athletes, morning ballistic and heavy strength protocols improved jump height 6 hours later, but by 24 hours the gains were largely diminished. Here is what the delayed priming trials show and how far they transfer.

A 2026 meta-analysis found self-selected and fixed rest intervals produce comparable effects on performance in single sessions. Whether self-selected rest costs time depends on the fixed rest it is compared with.

Left to choose their own weights, novice lifters picked 42–57% of 1RM, and trained women picked about 42.3% alone versus about 51.4% with a personal trainer. What self-selected effort tells you about your own training.

Two small EMG studies disagree: one found greater activation of every muscle measured with hips and knees flexed, the other found no difference with the legs in the air. Why, and what it means for your bench.

Combining first-rep velocity with velocity loss across a set tracked fatigue closely in trained men. It is a promising monitoring tool, but the validation study tested only the squat and bench press.

In a small EMG study the reverse hyperextension produced greater peak activity than the hyperextension in the erector spinae, gluteus maximus and biceps femoris. What that does and does not tell you about training.

In a bench press trial in resistance-trained men and women, a carbohydrate rinse did no better than a non-caloric placebo. In 12 trained men lifting with lowered glycogen after evening cycling, a carbohydrate rinse increased total volume and squat repetitions, but not bench press repetitions.

Adaptogens are sold as natural performance aids. In 57 men new to resistance training, ashwagandha added to bench press gains (46.0 kg vs 26.4 kg); in women footballers it improved perceived recovery, and a Rhodiola trial found its best results only alongside caffeine.

Two small trials from one research group found jump power rose after a heavy bench press protocol; a pilot study and a contralateral-limb trial found no such boost.

A meta-analysis favouring bands and chains for strength was retracted after a transcription error in its data. Later meta-analyses disagree, and retracted papers continue to be cited after retraction.

No trial of chewing whole coffee beans was found. Caffeinated gum, dose for dose, matched instant coffee's blood caffeine profile in one study, and in resistance-trained men it improved 1RM, reps to failure, jump height, barbell velocity and power.

A meta-analysis of eighteen studies found trainees self-select loads equal to 53% of their one-repetition maximum on average. Here is what that means for strength and muscle, and who the data covers.

Shatavari is an Ayurvedic herb long used for women's health. In 18 recreationally trained men, 8 weeks of 500 mg a day with bench training increased 1RM 14.3% versus 7.8% with placebo; in 20 postmenopausal women, 6 weeks improved handgrip but not knee strength.