Scientists say only 30 minutes of weight training leads to muscle growth

Prevention interviewed J. Luke Pryor about recent research on the amount of time needed to gain muscle from lifting weights, which the study concluded was 30 minutes, twice a week, even without pushing to failure. Pryor explained that shorter sessions also tend to have less recovery time between sets. “By shortening the recovery time, it drives up metabolic stress,” he said. Pryor added that the study was done on people who already did resistance training, which suggests that even people who are already strong may gain muscle from this approach. “These shorter sessions are really effective for those who are sedentary, but this shows that even in folks who have been exercising for a number of years, you can still maintain or even grow skeletal muscle in these shorter sessions,” he said.