Browse the evidence

Higher training volumes impose greater recovery demands, particularly when combined with proximity to failure, requiring strategic placement within the microcycle to avoid performance impairment in subsequent sessions.

Start with moderate volume (e.g., 10-15 sets per muscle group per week) and monitor recovery. If performance drops or fatigue accumulates, reduce volume before increasing it. Prioritize volume on less critical days or for specific muscle groups (specialization) while keeping other volumes lower.

High-intensity exercise training (77-95% max HR) improves walking performance and cardiorespiratory fitness more than low-intensity training in PAD patients.

To maximize your walking distance, aim for high-intensity exercise. Target 77-95% of your maximum heart rate or a Borg scale rating of 14-17. This may involve significant leg pain, which is expected and part of the adaptation process.

Greater variety of stretching exercises, longer mean duration of single stretching exercises, and increased time under stretching per session, week, and in total are associated with greater skeletal muscle hypertrophy.

To maximize any potential muscle growth from stretching, use multiple different stretching exercises, hold each for longer than 60 seconds, and increase the total time you spend stretching per week.

Combined aerobic and resistance exercise provides superior glycemic control in type 2 diabetes compared to either modality alone.

For best blood sugar control, mix your cardio with strength training. You don't need to do them separately; combining both types of movement is more effective for managing glucose than doing just one.

High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) achieves similar or superior glycemic and fitness benefits to endurance training in a shorter duration, making it a time-efficient option for T2D management.

If you are short on time, try High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). It can improve your blood sugar and fitness as well as or better than long, steady workouts, but in less time.

Bariatric surgery, particularly laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, provides durable weight loss and improves obesity-related conditions like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, making it an effective and durable treatment for obesity.

Bariatric surgery, especially sleeve gastrectomy, is a proven, durable treatment for obesity that significantly improves conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease. If you are considering surgery, discuss the benefits and risks with a healthcare provider, and explore both public and private options to find the best fit for your financial and medical situation.

Performing resistance training sets to concentric failure is necessary to optimize strength and muscle mass gains when using low loads (30-50% 1RM), whereas it is not necessary and potentially counterproductive when using high loads (>70% 1RM).

If you are training at home with light weights or bands, push your sets until you can no longer complete a repetition with good form (concentric failure) to ensure you get strength and muscle benefits. If you have heavier weights, you do not need to go to failure on every set; stopping a few reps short may allow you to do more total work and recover better.

Personalized diet counseling combined with exercise can lead to the reversal of Metabolic Syndrome in a subset of patients (19%) over 12 months.

A structured lifestyle intervention involving both diet and exercise can reverse Metabolic Syndrome in nearly 1 in 5 patients over a year.

Spirulina supplementation significantly reduces body weight, BMI, and body fat percentage in adults, with effects being dose- and duration-dependent.

Take 2 grams or more of Spirulina daily for at least 12 weeks. This intervention is most effective for obese individuals or those over 40. It works best as part of a broader weight management strategy, leveraging its high protein content to aid satiety.

Wearing a weight vest loaded to 11% of body weight for 8 hours daily over 5 weeks significantly reduces fat mass and waist circumference while increasing lean mass in individuals with obesity, independent of changes in energy expenditure or physical activity levels.

To improve body composition, wear a weight vest loaded to 11% of your body weight for 8 hours a day for 5 weeks. You do not need to change your diet or increase your exercise routine; the mechanical load itself drives fat loss and muscle gain. Focus on standing as much as possible while wearing the vest. Expect some initial musculoskeletal discomfort, but this does not negate the benefits.

Beta-alanine and creatine significantly improve jump performance in athletes, with beta-alanine showing a marginally higher effectiveness ranking.

To improve your vertical jump, consider supplementing with beta-alanine or creatine alongside your training. Beta-alanine showed a slightly higher effectiveness ranking in this analysis. Ensure you are consistently training with strength and conditioning protocols.

Creatine supplementation significantly improves sprint speed in athletes, while beta-alanine and vitamin D do not.

If your sport relies on short sprints, creatine supplementation combined with training is likely to improve your speed. Beta-alanine and vitamin D did not show significant benefits for sprint speed in this analysis.

Performing past-failure partial repetitions in the lengthened position after reaching momentary failure during standing calf raises increases medial gastrocnemius hypertrophy compared to terminating sets at momentary failure in peak plantarflexion.

If you do calf raises, don't stop when you can no longer lift your heels all the way up. Once you fail a full repetition, immediately drop the heel as low as possible and do partial up-and-down movements until you can't lift your heels to that lowest point anymore. This adds significant volume and tension to the muscle, leading to more growth than stopping at the point of failure. Expect it to be uncomfortable, but for many, the extra growth is worth it.

Resistance training improves handgrip strength in older adults with sarcopenia, with an optimal dose of 3 sessions/week at 49% 1RM, 19 weeks duration, 15 exercises, 16 reps, 6 sets, totaling 1,400 reps/week.

If you are an older adult with sarcopenia, aim for 3 resistance training sessions per week. Use a weight that feels like 49% of your maximum lift (moderate effort). Perform 15 different exercises, doing 6 sets of 16 repetitions for each. Keep your total weekly repetitions around 1,400. Stick to this plan for 19 weeks to see the best improvement in your handgrip strength.

Consuming ≥2 servings/week of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) or artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs) is associated with a significantly higher risk of type 2 diabetes, even among adults who meet physical activity guidelines.

If you drink sugary or artificially sweetened beverages frequently (≥2 servings/week), your risk of type 2 diabetes increases, even if you exercise regularly. While exercise helps mitigate this risk, it does not cancel it out. To lower your diabetes risk, you should reduce your intake of these beverages in addition to staying active.

Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty (ESG) using full-thickness suturing produces durable weight loss (mean 64-67% Excess Weight Loss at 12 months) and significant improvement/remission of metabolic comorbidities (T2DM, hypertension, NAFLD) in patients with BMI 30-50 kg/m2, outperforming lifestyle modifications and intragastric balloons.

ESG is a minimally invasive endoscopic procedure that reduces stomach volume and delays emptying to promote satiety. It is suitable for adults with BMI 30-50 who want a durable alternative to lifestyle changes or balloons, with high success rates for weight loss and metabolic improvement. It requires general anesthesia and has a low risk of serious complications.

Combining bimagrumab (30 mg/kg IV every 12 weeks) with semaglutide (2.4 mg SC weekly) produces synergistic weight loss and body recomposition, achieving significantly greater fat mass reduction and lean mass preservation than either drug alone.

If you have obesity, combining a muscle-preserving antibody (bimagrumab) with a standard GLP-1 drug (semaglutide) yields significantly more fat loss and better muscle retention than using semaglutide alone. This suggests that targeting muscle preservation directly can enhance the efficacy of standard weight loss therapies.

Higher diet quality, as measured by the Healthy Eating Index (HEI), is associated with greater weight loss in the early stages (4 months) of a weight-loss intervention, regardless of macronutrient distribution.

Focus on improving your overall diet quality by eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. This approach is linked to better weight loss outcomes, especially in the first few months of a diet, regardless of whether you choose a low-fat or moderate-fat diet.

Combining exercise with pharmacotherapy (specifically GLP-1 agonists or orlistat) significantly enhances weight loss, BMI reduction, and body fat percentage compared to exercise alone in overweight/obese adults.

If you are overweight or obese, adding a prescribed weight-loss medication (like GLP-1 agonists or orlistat) to your regular exercise routine will likely result in greater weight and fat loss than exercising alone. While exercise is foundational, medication can help overcome compensatory mechanisms like increased appetite, leading to more significant improvements in body composition.

A modified-release combination of orlistat (120 mg) and acarbose (40 mg) produces significantly greater weight loss (mean -7.73%) compared to modified-release orlistat alone (-5.78%) or conventional orlistat (-5.13%) over 26 weeks.

Take the specific combination pill (EMP16) containing 120mg modified-release orlistat and 40mg modified-release acarbose daily with meals for 6 months. Follow a diet limiting fat to 30% of calories and focusing on low-glycemic foods. Expect roughly 7.7% body weight loss, which is significantly better than taking orlistat alone.

Adhering to five low-risk lifestyle factors (never smoking, moderate alcohol, high diet quality, normal BMI, and regular physical activity) significantly increases life expectancy compared to having zero such factors.

To maximize your life expectancy, aim to adopt five specific habits: never smoke, maintain a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9, eat a diet high in vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, and healthy fats (upper 40% of AHEI), limit alcohol to 5-15g/day (women) or 5-30g/day (men), and exercise for at least 3.5 hours per week at a moderate-to-vigorous intensity. Doing all five can add up to 14 years to your life compared to having none.

Increasing daily dietary fibre intake to 35 grams (or by 15 grams from baseline) significantly reduces all-cause mortality, improves glycaemic control (HbA1c), and lowers cardiometabolic risk factors in adults with prediabetes or diabetes.

To manage diabetes and reduce mortality risk, aim to consume 35 grams of dietary fibre daily, or add 15 grams to your current intake. Focus on whole grains and fibre-rich foods without needing to restrict other macronutrients. This change is associated with fewer deaths and better blood sugar control.

Supplementing with 15g of collagen peptides daily, taken immediately after resistance training, significantly increases fat-free mass and muscle protein synthesis markers in recreationally active men compared to placebo, without increasing fat mass.

If you are lifting weights 3 times a week, take 15 grams of collagen peptides immediately after your workout. This specific timing and dosage has been shown to help you gain more lean mass and strength than training alone, likely by supporting the structural proteins in your muscles and tendons. It does not add fat.

Prolonged supplementation with 15g/day of collagen peptides, when combined with resistance exercise training, significantly increases fat-free mass (FFM) in recreationally active men compared to placebo, likely through enhanced passive connective tissue adaptations rather than increased contractile muscle fiber hypertrophy.

If you are lifting weights regularly, adding 15 grams of collagen peptides daily (specifically after your workout) can help you gain more lean mass than training alone. This gain appears to come from stronger connective tissues rather than bigger muscle fibers, which may help you lift heavier or recover faster. It is not a replacement for high-quality protein but a useful addition.