Resistance training participation varies substantially by age, sex, geography and how participation is defined. The U.S. figures below distinguish any leisure-time muscle-strengthening activity from meeting a twice-weekly guideline or meeting both aerobic and strengthening guidelines.
Key Resistance Training Statistics
The most useful headline figures are:
- In 2020, 35.2% of U.S. men aged 18 and older met the federal muscle-strengthening guideline.
- In 2020, 26.9% of U.S. women aged 18 and older met the federal muscle-strengthening guideline.
- In 2020, 24.2% of U.S. adults aged 18 and older met both aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines.
- In 2020, 28.3% of U.S. men aged 18 and older met both federal activity guidelines.
- In 2020, 20.4% of U.S. women aged 18 and older met both federal activity guidelines.
- During the 2008–2011 survey cycles, 24% of U.S. adults aged 45 and older reported meeting muscle-strengthening recommendations.
- During the 2008–2011 survey cycles, 17.2% of U.S. adults aged 45 and older met both physical-activity and strength-training recommendations.
- During the 2008–2011 survey cycles, 73.0% of U.S. adults aged 45 and older who met strength-training recommendations also met aerobic recommendations.
- In 2020, 44.5% of U.S. men aged 18–44 met the muscle-strengthening guideline.
- In 2020, 17.2% of U.S. women aged 65 and older met the muscle-strengthening guideline.
- During 2008–2010, 28.1% of U.S. adults aged 18 and older engaged in any age-adjusted muscle-strengthening activity.
- During 2008–2010, 48.5% of U.S. men aged 18–24 engaged in any muscle-strengthening activity.
- During 2008–2010, 13.5% of U.S. adults aged 75 and older engaged in any leisure-time muscle-strengthening activity.
- From 2008 to 2017, national combined-guideline prevalence rose from 18.2% to 24.3% among U.S. adults.
- In 2017, 25.3% of U.S. urban adults met both activity guidelines.
- In 2017, 19.6% of U.S. rural adults met both activity guidelines.
- During the 2008–2011 survey cycles, adults meeting aerobic recommendations had 2.73 times the odds of meeting strength recommendations.
- During the 2008–2011 survey cycles, adults without a high-school diploma had 60% lower odds than college graduates of meeting recommendations.
Contents
- Key Resistance Training Statistics
- How Many U.S. Adults Meet Muscle-Strengthening Guidelines?
- Resistance Training Statistics by Age and Sex
- Resistance Training Participation Trends in Urban and Rural Areas
- Resistance Training Data by Education, Income and Health
- Resistance Training and Combined Aerobic-Exercise Outcomes
- National Survey Definitions and Long-Term Evidence
How Many U.S. Adults Meet Muscle-Strengthening Guidelines?
The CDC’s 2020 QuickStats measure uses a specific threshold: leisure-time muscle-strengthening activity at least twice weekly. It is a survey estimate for the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population, based on household self-report.
| Population | Met muscle-strengthening guideline, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Men aged 18+ | 35.2% |
| Women aged 18+ | 26.9% |
A separate NCHS report found that 24.2% of U.S. adults aged 18 and older met both aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines in 2020. The corresponding figures were 28.3% for men and 20.4% for women, so these values should not be read as resistance-training-only prevalence.
Source: Physical Activity Among Adults Aged 18 and Over: United States, 2020.
An older analysis of U.S. adults aged 45 and older reported that 24% met muscle-strengthening recommendations during the 2008–2011 National Health Interview Survey cycles. Only 17.2% met both physical-activity and strength-training recommendations, while 73.0% of those meeting strength recommendations also met aerobic recommendations.
Resistance Training Statistics by Age and Sex
Participation declined across age groups in the 2020 CDC measure for both men and women. The twice-weekly guideline percentages were:
| Age group | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| 18–44 | 44.5% | 34.1% |
| 45–64 | 29.9% | 23.8% |
| 65+ | 22.0% | 17.2% |
Source: CDC 2020 muscle-strengthening guideline QuickStats.
The older 2008–2010 annualized NHIS series used a broader measure: any leisure-time muscle-strengthening activity, not necessarily twice weekly. Age-adjusted participation was 38.6% among adults aged 18–24, 32.0% among those aged 25–44, 24.7% among those aged 45–64, 19.1% among those aged 65–74 and 13.5% among those aged 75 and older.
Source: Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: National Health Interview Survey, 2008–2010.
The same older series shows a sex difference within selected age groups. Any muscle-strengthening activity reached 48.5% for men aged 18–24 and 28.8% for women in that age group; among adults aged 25–44, the figures were 37.4% for men and 26.8% for women.
At age 75 and older, participation was 15.7% for men and 12.1% for women.
These figures describe different constructs and periods, so the older “any activity” results are not interchangeable with the 2020 twice-weekly guideline estimates.
Resistance Training Participation Trends in Urban and Rural Areas
The CDC’s 2008–2017 urban-rural analysis measured the share meeting both aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines. National age-adjusted prevalence rose from 18.2% in 2008 to 24.3% in 2017, while the urban and rural endpoints were:
| Population | 2008 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|
| Urban U.S. adults | 19.4% | 25.3% |
| Rural U.S. adults | 13.3% | 19.6% |
In 2017, the urban prevalence was 5.7 percentage points higher than the rural prevalence, based on the published 25.3% and 19.6% values. This is a comparison of combined guideline adherence, not a standalone estimate of resistance-training participation.
The endpoints also should not be treated as a continuous annual series here. They show change across the reported period, while the underlying survey estimates remain self-reported.
Resistance Training Data by Education, Income and Health
The 2008–2011 study of U.S. adults aged 45 and older provides context about its analytic sample, but those percentages are sample composition rather than population participation rates. In that sample, 26.0% were college graduates, 43.9% reported annual income of at least $50,000, 68.7% had BMI of at least 25, and 76.3% reported good or better health.
Adjusted observational associations showed lower odds of meeting strength-training recommendations for several groups. Women had 22% lower odds than men, adults aged 55–64 had 10% lower odds than those aged 45–54, adults aged 65–74 had 8% lower odds, adults aged 75–84 had nearly 20% lower odds, and adults aged 85 and older had 31% lower odds.
Education was also associated with participation: adults without a high-school diploma had 60% lower odds than college graduates. These are adjusted observational associations, not causal effects, and they come from the 2008–2011 survey cycles rather than current prevalence.
Resistance Training and Combined Aerobic-Exercise Outcomes
Resistance training statistics often appear alongside aerobic activity because national guidelines measure both behaviors. In the 2008–2011 middle-aged and older-adult analysis, adults meeting aerobic recommendations had 2.73 times the odds of meeting strength recommendations.
The reported 95% confidence interval for that association was 2.63–2.83. The result describes an association between reported behaviors; it does not show that aerobic exercise caused resistance-training participation or establish a health outcome.
The study’s adjusted estimates included the following comparisons:
| Comparison group | Odds ratio | 95% confidence interval |
|---|---|---|
| Women vs men | 0.78 | 0.76–0.81 |
| Ages 55–64 vs 45–54 | 0.90 | 0.86–0.93 |
| Ages 65–74 vs 45–54 | 0.92 | 0.88–0.96 |
| Ages 75–84 vs 45–54 | 0.81 | 0.77–0.86 |
| Ages 85+ vs 45–54 | 0.69 | 0.63–0.75 |
| No high-school diploma vs college graduate | 0.40 | 0.37–0.44 |
National Survey Definitions and Long-Term Evidence
The national evidence is easiest to interpret when the measures are kept separate. “Any muscle-strengthening activity” captures a wider behavior than the federal twice-weekly guideline, while “both guidelines” requires aerobic and strengthening thresholds together.
The 2008–2010 annualized NHIS report estimated that 28.1% of U.S. adults aged 18 and older engaged in any age-adjusted muscle-strengthening activity. The sex-specific estimates were 32.6% for men and 23.9% for women.
Source: Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: National Health Interview Survey, 2008–2010.
The 2011 BRFSS analysis estimated that only about one in five U.S. adults met both aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines. That historical result and the 2008–2017 trend measure combined activity, so neither should be presented as a direct substitute for the 2020 muscle-strengthening-only estimate.
Across these sources, the principal limitations are consistent: the estimates are primarily self-reported, the populations are U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized adults, and the older 2008–2010 and 2008–2011 figures should not be treated as current prevalence without their stated periods.