Personalised Resistance Training Sharply Improves Strength And Daily Life Across Ages 16 To 94

A new pilot study this week shows that tailored strength plans can make everyday life easier, from teenagers to people in their nineties.

What The Researchers Asked And Why It Matters

The team from Yeditepe University in Istanbul asked a simple question: if we design strength training around each person’s muscles and daily stress, can we boost real-world function and reduce strain and worry?

Why you should care: stronger muscles mean easier stairs, fewer aches, better balance, and more energy. For older adults, it can mean staying independent. For younger people, it can mean fewer overuse niggles.

How The Study Worked, In Plain English

Think of your muscles like a phone battery. The researchers measured each muscle group’s “charge” as a percentage. They call this muscle functional capacity. The higher the percentage, the more your muscles can handle daily life without overheating.

• Who took part: 169 people aged 16 to 94, most with joint or health issues.
• What they did: three supervised sessions a week for 12 weeks, using rehab-grade machines with smooth air resistance. Thirteen muscle groups were trained and tested, all while seated for safety.

• How it was personalised: before training, each person did:

  • Objective muscle tests on each machine.
  • Four short questionnaires on psychological stress, physical stress, disease burden, and how daily activities feel.

  A custom computer programme then set the starting weight, sets, and reps for every muscle, like sat‑nav for your workout. Loads were nudged up in tiny steps. - What was measured: the same muscle tests and questionnaires, before and after.

Important note: although the paper is titled a randomised pilot study, this phase did not include a non‑exercising control group. It is a pre‑post design, so results need confirmation in controlled trials.

Key Results In Plain English

• Big strength gains across the board. Average muscle functional capacity rose from 57 percent to 75 percent in 12 weeks, a very large improvement by research standards.
• Better day‑to‑day living. Combined scores for stress, disease burden, and activity limits dropped meaningfully.
• It worked for all ages. People over 65 improved strongly, and no one dropped out.
• Women gained slightly more capacity than men, likely because they started lower, but both improved a lot.
• Feelings do not always match numbers. Strength rose even when quality‑of‑life scores did not move in lockstep, especially in older adults who may need longer to pass a useful threshold.

One striking detail from the authors: personalised exercise “significantly enhance[s] muscle functional capacity while reducing psychological and physical stress and disease severity.”

What This Means For Your Training

You do not need heroic workouts. You need the right load on the right muscle at the right time. Here is how to borrow the study’s best ideas.

• Measure before you load. Treat your muscles like batteries. Test what you can do comfortably on key movements, then start below that level.
• Train the whole body. Include legs, hips, back, chest, shoulders, arms, and core. Do not skip the weaker links.
• Go small, go steady. Increase resistance in tiny steps, session by session. Smooth resistance and seated positions can protect sore joints.
• Three days a week is a sweet spot. Short, repeatable sessions beat long, irregular ones.
• Track stress, not just sets. On busy or anxious days, reduce load or volume. Your brain and joints share the same budget.
• Aim for “good enough,” then build. The study targets 60 to 80 percent functional capacity for coping with normal life. Many older adults may need longer to reach 80 percent, where daily life often feels clearly easier.
• Pain is not a badge. If a movement hurts, lower the load, slow down, or choose a joint‑friendly alternative.

If you have long‑term conditions, talk to a clinician or physiotherapist before you start, and favour controlled machines or cables over free weights at first.

A Simple 12‑Week Template You Can Try

• Frequency: 3 sessions per week on non‑consecutive days.

• Exercises, 1 to 2 sets each to start:

  • Leg press or sit‑to‑stand
  • Leg extension or knee extension with band
  • Leg curl or hip hinge
  • Hip abduction and adduction
  • Row and lat pulldown
  • Chest press or push‑up to a bench
  • Shoulder press
  • Triceps press‑down
  • Back extension and abdominal bracing

• Load: pick a weight you could lift 15 to 20 times, do 10 to 15 smooth reps, stop with 2 to 3 easy reps in reserve.

• Progress: add a small amount of weight or 1 to 2 reps each week if last reps feel tidy and pain free.
• Stress check: if you slept badly or feel wound up, keep the weight the same and do fewer reps, or drop one set.

Why This Study Stands Out

• It tested a wide age range, not just fit retirees or young athletes.
• It measured 13 muscle groups separately, giving a fuller picture than a single grip test.
• It used precise, joint‑friendly machines and tiny load increases, which suits people with sore backs, knees, or shoulders.
• Adherence was perfect. All 169 people finished 36 sessions, which is rare.

What We Still Do Not Know

• No control group. We cannot say how this compares to a standard gym plan yet.
• Short term. We do not know how long the gains last without training.
• Questionnaires were adapted. Some tools may miss subtler changes in older adults.
• Muscle gains and feelings do not always move together. Hitting higher functional capacity, often above 80 percent, may be the point where daily life feels clearly better, and that may take longer.

The authors call for longer, controlled trials that directly compare personalised and traditional methods.

The Bottom Line

Personalised, measured, and modestly progressed strength work, done three times a week, can deliver large gains in usable strength and make daily life feel easier at any age. Start where you are, nudge the load, and train the whole body. The clever part is not going hard. It is getting the dose right for you.

Source

• Ercan S, Yalçınol T, Öngel Ö. The Effect of a Personalized Exercise Program on Muscle Functional Capacity and Quality of Daily Life: A Randomized Pilot Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2025. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22091344