The Study
The improvement in walking speed induced by resistance training is associated with increased muscular strength but not skeletal muscle mass in older women
This study found that when older women did strength training and walked faster, their muscles got stronger and looked more efficient — but their muscle size didn’t change. So, stronger muscles might help them walk faster, but we can’t say for sure that the training caused it because there was no group that didn’t train to compare.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
Older women did weight training for 8 weeks and walked faster, even though their muscles didn't get much bigger.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 531 / 100
Quality score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — even without bigger muscles, they got stronger and walked faster, meaning their nervous system or muscle efficiency improved.
- 2Walking speed improved by 3.7%, strength went up by 8.6%, muscle quality rose by 7.2%, but muscle mass only increased by 2.4% — not enough to explain the speed gain.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
European Journal of Sport Science
Year
2017
Authors
L. Santos, A. Ribeiro, B. Schoenfeld, M. A. Nascimento, C. Tomeleri, M. F. Souza, F. Pina, E. Cyrino
Related Content
Claims (5)
When you lift weights over time, the main reason your body becomes leaner and more muscular is because your muscles grow bigger—not because you're losing fat or anything else.
Resistance training leads to an increase in muscle size and enhanced muscle performance.
When older women do strength training for 8 weeks, they tend to walk faster if their leg muscles get stronger or work better—but not if they just gain muscle mass or lose fat.
After doing strength training for 8 weeks, older women got stronger and their muscles worked better—but their muscles didn’t get bigger. This suggests their brains and bodies got better at using the muscles they already had, not at making new muscle.
When older women lift weights for 8 weeks, their muscles don’t get much bigger, but they do get stronger and walk faster—so it seems like something other than bigger muscles is helping them move better.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.