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causal
Analysis v1
Supported

Taking ashwagandha supplements (300-600mg every day) for about 2 months makes people stronger at bench pressing, according to this claim.

68
Pro
61
Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

68

Community contributions welcome

68

Examining the effect of Withania somnifera supplementation on muscle strength and recovery: a randomized controlled trial

Randomized Controlled Trial
Human
2015

This study gave men either ashwagandha pills or fake pills while they did weight training for 8 weeks. The men taking ashwagandha could lift much more weight on the bench press than those taking fake pills - that's strong evidence the supplement works.

Contradicting (1)

61

Community contributions welcome

61

Effects of an 8-week high intensity interval training (HIIT) and ashwagandha supplementation on aerobic capacity, muscle oxygenation and haematological parameters in healthy men

Randomized Controlled Trial
Human
2025 Jul

This study tested if ashwagandha helps aerobic capacity during HIIT training, not if it improves bench press strength. The outcomes are completely different - one is about cardio endurance, the other is about muscular strength. The study found no extra benefit from ashwagandha for the aerobic measures it tested.

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Similar Assertions

Men who took Ashwagandha while weight training gained more muscle strength than those who took a dummy pill - their bench press improved about 23% more and leg press about 15% more over 8 weeks.

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91%

Taking Ashwagandha pills (600mg each day) while doing weight training helps healthy adults under 45 build more muscle strength and endurance, but men and women see different amounts of improvement.

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86%

Taking ashwagandha supplements while doing high-intensity interval training doesn't help your fitness any more than just doing the training by itself. That's what this study found when it tested healthy young men doing 8 weeks of workouts.

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85%

Taking 600mg of Ashwagandha root extract every day while doing strength training helps people build more lower body muscle strength than just doing strength training with a fake pill (placebo). Men got about twice the benefit as women in the study.

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82%

Taking ashwagandha root extract while doing resistance training for 8 weeks helps people build more upper body strength, with bigger improvements in women than in men.

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82%