Health Claims

If you're a guy who lifts weights and stops just before your muscles give out, you'll do fewer reps and lift less total weight than if you go all the way to failure — but you'll still gain just as much muscle and strength. That means pushing close to failure might be a smarter, more efficient way to train.

If you're a guy who lifts weights, going all the way to failure or stopping just short gives your muscles about the same kind of growth changes over 10 weeks.

If you're a guy who lifts weights and gets close to failure—like stopping just 1 or 2 reps short—you'll get just as strong as if you pushed yourself to the absolute max. Over 10 weeks, both ways boost leg strength by 20–35%.

If you're lifting heavy weights and stop just before your muscles give out, you'll still gain about as much muscle as if you pushed to the very last rep you can possibly do.

If super strong male judo guys bulk up more with heavy weight training, they might actually get less powerful for their size, meaning bigger muscles don’t always mean better performance.

For elite male judo players, doing explosive strength training with light weights—without pushing to the point of exhaustion—works just as well or even better for building muscle and strength than going until their muscles give out.

For male judo athletes who are already pretty advanced, lifting heavy weights for 6 weeks might build more muscle and strength than doing fast, light lifts—even if both workouts push muscles to the max.

Even if elite male judo athletes lift weights for 6 weeks, it doesn’t seem to make them more explosive — getting stronger or bigger muscles doesn’t necessarily help them punch or throw faster.

If elite male judo guys do bicep curls with dumbbells twice a week for six weeks—whether they go super fast with light weights, lift heavy until they can’t anymore, or go fast without pushing to failure—their biceps still get thicker and stronger, even during their competition season.

Going all the way to failure on every set doesn’t really make you stronger than stopping a few reps short.

Going all the way to exhaustion on every set probably doesn't build more muscle than stopping a few reps short — both seem to work about the same.

Going all the way to muscle burnout during weight training tires out your brain and nerves more than stopping just before total exhaustion.

You can build just as much muscle by stopping a few reps short of total exhaustion as you can by going all the way to failure during weight training.

Eating a diet with lots of white rice, fish, red meat, and veggies might help lower the chances of becoming frail as you age, and a little bit of that benefit could be because it reduces low-level body inflammation.

Older people in long-lived parts of China who eat a lot of grains, starchy veggies, beans, and white meat may be more likely to become frail, according to this study.

Older people in long-lived parts of China who eat a lot of white rice, fish, red meat, and veggies are less likely to become frail — this eating pattern might help them stay stronger as they age.

Eating more monounsaturated fats — like those in olive oil or nuts — doesn’t seem to change your chances of dying from heart disease, at least in US adults when other lifestyle factors are accounted for.

Eating saturated fat doesn’t seem to increase the risk of dying from heart disease in American adults, even after tracking over 45,000 people for many years — so cutting back on saturated fat alone might not help you live longer.

If you've already had a heart attack, eating more healthy fats like those in fish or nuts might not help you live longer — at least that's what one study found in American adults.

Eating more healthy fats like those in fish and nuts might help improve your cholesterol levels—lowering the bad kind and raising the good kind—if you're a US adult who hasn't had a heart attack.

Eating a bit more healthy fats like those in nuts and fish might help lower the chance of dying from heart disease — especially if you've never had a heart attack before.

Older Chinese adults who eat a more varied diet rich in protein are much more likely to live to an extremely old age compared to those who don’t.

Older adults in China who eat a more varied diet with plenty of different protein-rich foods tend to live longer — each step up in dietary variety is linked to a better chance of living longer.

Eating a more varied diet with plenty of protein might help older Chinese adults age more healthily — for every step up in diet quality, the odds of aging well go up by 20%.