Introduction

I guess we’ve all been there. Periods where time for training is limited. Phases where climbing volume is high, or other training priorities become more important than strength training. Given the high importance of strength for climbing performance, one important question emerges:

What is the minimal amount of strength training required to improve – or at least maintain – strength?

This concept is commonly referred to as the minimal effective dose (MED) or minimum effective training dose (METD). It describes the lowest amount of training required to produce a meaningful increase in strength.

Importantly, the minimal effective dose depends on:

• training status
• age
• and whether the goal is improving or maintaining strength.

Current evidence suggests that strength can be improved—or maintained—with surprisingly low training volumes, provided that training intensity and effort remain sufficiently high.

Minimal Effective Dose for Recreational and Novice Trainees

A narrative review by Spiering et al. (2021) concluded that strength can be maintained for up to 32 weeks with as little as:

• 1 strength-training session per week,
• and only 1 set per exercise,
• provided that training intensity remains high.

For older populations, maintaining muscle mass and strength may require slightly higher volumes, typically:

• ~2 sessions per week,
• and 2–3 sets per exercise.

Across the available literature, one factor repeatedly emerges as critical: intensity. Spiering et al. (2021) concluded that training intensity appears to be the key variable for maintaining physical performance despite substantial reductions in training frequency and volume. The broader strength-training literature supports this conclusion: high relative load, high effort and training close to failure appear to be substantially more important than simply accumulating large training volumes when the goal is strength maintenance or minimal-dose strength development.

For untrained individuals, very small amounts of resistance training can already produce meaningful improvements in strength. Behm et al. (2023) concluded that:

• 1 weekly resistance-training session,
• using 1–3 sets per exercise,
• with light to moderate loads,

can meaningfully improve strength over at least 12 weeks. Similarly single-set training approaches consistently produce substantial strength gains in untrained individuals, although multiple sets generally produce somewhat larger long-term improvements.

One particularly interesting long-term dataset examined 14,690 adults performing:

• 1 training session per week,
• single sets to failure,
• across 6 exercises.

The results showed:

• ~30–50% strength gains during the first year,
• followed by a plateau after approximately 1–2 years,
• while strength levels remained ~50–60% above baseline for up to 6 years.

These findings demonstrate that even very low training volumes can produce meaningful long-term strength adaptations in previously untrained populations.

Minimal Effective Dose for Athletes

In trained athletes, the minimal effective dose is higher than in beginners, but still substantially lower than many traditional strength-training programs.

A systematic review by Androulakis-Korakakis et al. (2019) found that significant increases in 1RM strength in resistance-trained men can be achieved with:

• 1 hard set per exercise,
• 2–3 times per week,
• using ~70–85% 1RM,
• performed close to failure,
• for 8–12 weeks.

For powerlifters and highly trained athletes, Androulakis-Korakakis et al. (2021) proposed that a practical minimal effective dose for maximal strength development consists of approximately:

• 3–6 working sets per exercise/ muscle group per week,
• distributed across 1–3 sessions,
• using >80% 1RM,
• at an RPE of ~7.5–9.5,
• with 1–5 repetitions per set.

The same paper also suggested that very heavy single repetitions can maintain or increase strength, but additional back-off sets improve the likelihood of meaningful progress. At the same time higher-volume programs still appear superior when the goal is maximizing long-term strength development.  It is simply the lowest amount of training capable of producing or maintaining adaptation.

References

Androulakis-Korakakis, P., Fisher, J., & Steele, J. (2019). The minimum effective training dose required to increase 1RM strength in resistance-trained men: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 50, 751–765.

Androulakis-Korakakis, P., Michalopoulos, N., Fisher, J. P., Keogh, J., Loenneke, J. P., Helms, E., Wolf, M., Nuckols, G., & Steele, J. (2021). The minimum effective training dose required for 1RM strength in powerlifters. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 3, 713655.

Behm, D., Granacher, U., Warneke, K., Aragão-Santos, J., Da Silva-Grigoletto, M., & Konrad, A. (2023). Minimalist training: Is lower dosage or intensity resistance training effective to improve physical fitness? Sports Medicine, 54, 289–302.

Fyfe, J. J., Hamilton, D. L., & Daly, R. M. (2021). Minimal-dose resistance training for improving muscle mass, strength, and function: A narrative review of current evidence and practical considerations. Sports Medicine, 52, 463–479.

Spiering, B. A., Mujika, I., Sharp, M. A., & Foulis, S. A. (2021). Maintaining physical performance: The minimal dose of exercise needed to preserve endurance and strength over time. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 35(5), 1449–1458.

Steele, J., Fisher, J., Giessing, J., Androulakis-Korakakis, P., Wolf, M., Kroeske, B., & Reuters, R. (2022). Long-term time-course of strength adaptation to minimal dose resistance training: Retrospective longitudinal growth modelling of a large cohort through training records. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport.