Tons of Resistance Exercise Research, But Does it Apply to Highly Trained Athletes?

Fry, AC, Schechter, EGK, Johnson, QR, and Cabarkapa, D. Tons of resistance exercise research, but does it apply to highly trained athletes? J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2026-The volume of scientific research reviews on resistance exercise has increased markedly in recent years. The purpose of this report was to determine what subject populations have been studied to determine whether the findings are relevant to highly trained and elite athletes. A representative sample of 26 highly cited systematic reviews and meta-analyses on resistance exercise topics from the most recent 15 years (2010-2024) were analyzed to determine the subject characteristics of each study cited in the reviews. All reviews included dependent variables of strength or hypertrophy, and dependent variables of exercise choice, order, intensity [load], volume, interset rest, frequency, or lifting tempo. Subjects were classified with a 6-tiered scale ranging from sedentary (tier 0) to world class athlete (tier 5). Of 18,574 subjects reported in the selected reviews, only 2.3% were classified as highly trained or elite athletes. Similar distributions were observed when reviews were analyzed separately for each resistance exercise topic. Cumulatively, the reviews included have been cited by scientific and lay literature more than 7,000 times to date, indicating how effectively their findings are being disseminated. Although each of the reviews cited may provide helpful information for the general population for health and fitness purposes, the findings are not primarily based on the study of highly trained elite athletes, and does not consider training performed outside the weight room, training histories, competition schedules, or the specific demands of their sports. Several practical suggestions are presented that may facilitate research access to highly trained or elite athletes.