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It's something inextricably linked to your quality of life.

The ability to keep doing the activities you love for longer.

In other words, your capacity to “perform” in daily life.

This is just one of the MANY benefits of regular exercise.

But the truth is, not all exercise is equal in this regard.

And it’s not just about building muscle, either.

In fact, training to boost performance can look very different to training to make muscles bigger.

Here's why:

Muscle mass is important - but maybe not for the reasons you think

One of the key benefits of exercise - and resistance training in particular - is improved muscle mass.

More muscle is, of course, a good thing.

And not just from a movement perspective.

Skeletal muscle is the largest metabolic tissue in the body and is critical for glucose disposal.

Muscle, or specifically fat-free mass, is also directly related to resting energy expenditure, which makes up 60-75% of total energy expenditure.

For these reasons, more muscle means considerable metabolic health benefits.

But when it comes to performance, there’s more to it than how much muscle you have.

So let’s talk about performance

“Performance” can mean many things.

But we’ll consider performance as the ability to perform physical tasks.

This could be tasks either in sport or in daily life.

Clearly, being able to perform well is important either way.

And doing so requires well-developed elements of:

• Power
• Balance
• Strength
• And coordination

So where does muscle mass fit in?

It's true there’s a general relationship between muscle size and strength.

A bigger muscle has more force-generating units (known as sarcomeres) within it.

But what’s interesting is that when strength improves with training, its relationship with muscle growth isn’t always as strong (pun intended…).

Sometimes they track in the same direction, but often they don’t.

In other words, you can get seriously strong or powerful without putting on extra muscle.

The reason why?

Because your nervous system plays a big role in how much (and how quickly) your muscles can produce force.

Changes within the nervous system, such as:

• Better neural drive to muscles
• Improved coordination between muscles
• And reduced co-activation of opposing muscles during a movement

Can all improve strength and performance in physical tasks - independent of the size of a muscle itself.

And this has big implications for training to build muscle or improve performance.

How to train to build muscle or boost performance

For a muscle to grow or get stronger, it must be exposed to certain physiological stimuli.

And for muscle growth (hypertrophy), mechanical tension is considered the main factor.

In other words, the “pulling” force muscle fibres experience as they contract.

To improve muscle mass, the overall “dose” of training (or mechanical tension) is important.

That’s why a key determinant of muscle growth with resistance training is the number of sets completed per muscle group per week.

It matters less how heavy the weight is, or how long you rest between your sets.

And the exercises used to "deliver" tension to the muscle don't really matter either.

Now strength is a different story.

What’s most important instead is how heavy the load is - particularly for dynamic strength (or one-rep max).

In contrast to building muscle, the total “dose” of training is less important for strength.

But to lift a heavier weight, or the same weight with faster intent (which may be important for power), having enough rest between sets becomes important.

And unlike muscle growth, the exercises you choose absolutely do matter for strength:

Does improved strength or power in the gym transfer to physical tasks?

This is a key question.

Because at the end of the day, what most people care about is how they perform (or move) in their sport or daily life.

Being stronger is linked to better performance in athletic tasks like jumping or sprinting.

But what about performance in everyday tasks, like walking, rising from a chair, or climbing stairs?

In general, there is limited and mixed evidence for the effects of resistance training on physical function.

One reason for this is because strength is very task-specific.

This means your strength with improve the most in the tasks (or exercises) you used to improve your strength.

This concept is also known as specificity and transfer.

Here's an example:

Let’s say you do back squats for 8 weeks, and your maximum strength jumps by 30%.

If you don’t train any other exercises, your strength might improve in the:

• Front squat (by 20%)
• Leg press (by 15%)
• And leg extension (by 5%)

Even though these exercises involve similar muscle groups and movement patterns, the degree of strength transfer depends on how closely the exercise mimics the training task.

A lesson in task-specific training

A 2024 study exemplified this idea of specificity and transfer with resistance training.

They had two groups of older adults who were aged 71 on average complete 6 weeks of resistance training.

One group did 4 traditional resistance training exercises using free weights or machines.

But the other group simply did 4 “functional” tasks with weighted vests instead:

The gist of the results?

Traditional resistance training improved maximum strength, but had limited transfer over to functional task performance (gait speed, sit-to-stand, and timed up-and-go).

On the flipside, the “functional” training didn’t do much for strength, but improved performance in those functional tasks.

This is an interesting lesson in specificity and the potential benefits of varied (both traditional and task-specific) resistance training.

So adding an element of specificity to your training could ensure your performance is improved in the tasks that matters most.

This begs the next question:

Does this mean all training should be task-specific?

You might be tempted to scrap your current program and just do your daily activities with a little extra weight instead.

But this is probably overkill.

Sure, you might get better transfer of strength gains with more task-specific (or “functional”) training.

And over the short-term, this might work best.

But here’s the thing with non-specific training.

Because you can expose your muscles to higher loads, it’s an opportunity to build general strength in a way that’s not possible elsewhere.

And over time, it’s the interaction between your strength and the “practice” of daily tasks that works together to improve your performance.

This is exactly why athletes don’t need to mimic their sport in the gym.

They already do loads of sport-specific training - all the time.

But the gym is where you get benefits (such as improved muscle mass or strength) you can’t get anywhere else.

Final word

We all have goals in life.

For some people, building muscle is important.

But for others, it’s about being able to go about daily activities with ease.

So by all means, build a solid base of general strength and muscle mass to offset the age-related decline in these important factors.

But sprinkling in a little task-specific training could make an even bigger impact on your performance in day-to-day life.

As always, I appreciate you being here!

Until next Saturday,

Jackson

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IMPORTANT:

The information contained herein is of general nature only and does not constitute personal advice. You should not act on any information without considering your personal needs, circumstances, and objectives. Any exercise program may result in injury. We recommend you obtain advice specific to your circumstances from an appropriate health professional before starting any exercise program.