The evidence
Every study and guideline behind our articles and plans, plus the best of the rest. Every one open to read in full.
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103 sources. Open any one to read it in full.
Strength & muscle
- How many sets and reps, and how heavy, for strength and sizeGuidance · 2026 · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
- Expert advice on strength, balance and cardio for older adultsGuidance · 2025 · Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging
- Even one set, twice a week, makes beginners strongerReview · 2024 · Sports Medicine
- A new worldwide definition of age-related muscle lossGuidance · 2024 · Age and Ageing
- Which sets, reps and loads build strength and muscle bestReview · 2023 · British Journal of Sports Medicine
- You don't have to lift to total failure to build muscleReview · 2023 · Sports Medicine
- 30 to 60 minutes of weekly strength work linked to longer lifeReview · 2022 · British Journal of Sports Medicine
- Heavy vs light weights: what each rep range buildsReview · 2021 · Sports
- How tendons adapt to training, rest, age and injuryReview · 2019 · Journal of Physiology
- How older adults should lift weights safely and effectivelyGuidance · 2019 · Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
- How experts define and test for age-related muscle lossGuidance · 2019 · Age and Ageing
- How often lifters get hurt, and whereReview · 2017 · Sports Medicine
- How much strength training older adults needReview · 2015 · Sports Medicine
- Older adults gain real strength from lifting weightsReview · 2010 · Ageing Research Reviews
- Muscle's central role in blood sugar and diabetesReview · 2009 · Diabetes Care
- Why older muscles may need longer to recoverReview · 2008 · Journal of Aging and Physical Activity
- How and why muscle shrinks as we ageReview · 2004 · Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care
Protein & weight
- About a third of weight lost on GLP-1 drugs is lean massReview · 2026 · Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews
- UK health service guidance on managing weightGuidance · 2025 · NICE
- On weight-loss jabs? Eat enough protein and lift weightsGuidance · 2025 · Obesity
- Lifting while dieting burns more fat and keeps more muscleReview · 2025 · BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine
- A big protein meal isn't wasted: muscles use it for hoursStudy · 2023 · Cell Reports Medicine
- Creatine adds a little extra muscle on top of liftingReview · 2023 · Nutrients
- Does eating more protein add muscle and strength?Review · 2022 · Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle
- How much protein helps muscle gains from liftingReview · 2018 · British Journal of Sports Medicine
- Expert guidance on protein amounts, timing and sourcesGuidance · 2017 · Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition
- What different diets do to fat and muscleGuidance · 2017 · Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition
- Calories, not low-carb or low-fat, drive fat lossReview · 2017 · Gastroenterology
- Eating to lose fat while keeping muscleReview · 2014 · Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition
- US medical guideline for safe, lasting weight lossGuidance · 2014 · Circulation
- Total daily protein matters more than exact timingReview · 2013 · Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition
- Older adults need more protein than younger onesGuidance · 2013 · Journal of the American Medical Directors Association
- Official daily needs for calories, protein, carbs and fatGuidance · 2005 · The National Academies Press
- How many calories people of different sizes needGuidance · 2001 · FAO
Walking & cardio
- About 7,000 steps a day brings most of the health gainsReview · 2025 · The Lancet Public Health
- Fitter hearts and lungs mean lower risk of early death and diseaseReview · 2024 · British Journal of Sports Medicine
- Walking faster is linked to a lower risk of type 2 diabetesReview · 2024 · British Journal of Sports Medicine
- Even about 4,000 steps a day lowers death riskReview · 2023 · European Journal of Preventive Cardiology
- Benefits start near 2,600 steps a day and grow to about 8,800Review · 2023 · Journal of the American College of Cardiology
- More daily steps, lower death risk, levelling off by ageReview · 2022 · Lancet Public Health
- WHO's weekly exercise targets for every age groupGuidance · 2020 · British Journal of Sports Medicine
- Benefits start well below 10,000 steps a dayStudy · 2019 · JAMA Internal Medicine
- UK activity, strength and balance advice by ageGuidance · 2019 · GOV.UK
- Higher fitness linked to longer life, with no upper limitStudy · 2018 · JAMA Network Open
- The official US guide to how much activity adults needGuidance · 2018 · US Department of Health and Human Services
- Enough daily activity offsets the harm of sittingReview · 2016 · The Lancet
- Realistic daily step targets for healthy adultsReview · 2011 · International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
- Each step up in fitness lowers the risk of dying earlyReview · 2009 · JAMA
- A better max heart rate formula: 208 minus 0.7 × ageReview · 2001 · Journal of the American College of Cardiology
Energy systems
- How much energy over 1,000 everyday activities useData · 2024 · Journal of Sport and Health Science
- Energy used by everyday activities for people over 60Data · 2024 · Journal of Sport and Health Science
- Half of new exercisers offset some calories, but not by slower metabolismStudy · 2024 · iScience
- Exercise burns extra calories, but a bit less than you'd thinkReview · 2023 · Advances in Nutrition
- Lactate is a fuel, not a waste productReview · 2018 · Cell Metabolism
- How the three energy systems work together in hard exerciseReview · 2010 · Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism
- What actually causes muscles to tireReview · 2008 · Physiological Reviews
- Lactic acid is not what makes muscles burnReview · 2004 · American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology
Health checks & heart
- High blood pressure basics: risks, checks and treatmentGuidance · 2025 · World Health Organization
- The latest US guideline on checking and treating blood pressureGuidance · 2025 · Circulation
- Europe's latest guideline on raised blood pressureGuidance · 2024 · European Heart Journal
- All exercise lowers blood pressure; wall sits and planks work bestReview · 2023 · British Journal of Sports Medicine
- Eight everyday measures that together score your heart healthGuidance · 2022 · Circulation
- When cholesterol-lowering statins are recommended from 40 to 75Guidance · 2022 · USPSTF
- Who should get their blood pressure checked, and howGuidance · 2021 · USPSTF
- A higher resting heart rate, a higher risk of dying earlyReview · 2016 · CMAJ
- A parent's heart disease roughly doubles your riskStudy · 2004 · JAMA
Balance & falls
- UK guidance on spotting fall risk and preventing fallsGuidance · 2025 · NICE
- How common and harmful falls are in older adultsData · 2024 · CDC
- Exercise is advised for over-65s at higher risk of fallsGuidance · 2024 · USPSTF
- Failing a 10-second one-leg stand predicts earlier deathStudy · 2022 · British Journal of Sports Medicine
- Worldwide expert guidance on preventing fallsGuidance · 2022 · Age and Ageing
- Balance and functional exercise cut falls by about a quarterReview · 2020 · International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
- Which exercise programmes prevent falls in older peopleReview · 2019 · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Sleep, mood & friends
- One in six people is lonely, and it harms healthGuidance · 2025 · WHO Commission on Social Connection
- In older adults, strength training helped sleep the mostReview · 2025 · Family Medicine and Community Health
- Which types of exercise ease depression mostReview · 2024 · BMJ
- Loneliness harms health; social connection protects itGuidance · 2023 · US Department of Health and Human Services
- Activity reduces depression, anxiety and stressReview · 2023 · British Journal of Sports Medicine
- Experts agree adults need seven or more hours a nightGuidance · 2015 · Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine
- Strong social ties are linked to living longerReview · 2010 · PLoS Medicine
- Less sleep makes you more likely to catch coldsStudy · 2009 · Archives of Internal Medicine
Alcohol & smoking
- Nicotine vapes help more people quit than patches or gumReview · 2026 · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
- How alcohol raises the risk of cancerGuidance · 2024 · Cancer Research UK
- WHO: no amount of alcohol is risk-freeGuidance · 2024 · World Health Organization
- Alcohol causes 2.6 million deaths a year worldwideData · 2024 · World Health Organization
- How health risk rises with each extra drink a weekGuidance · 2023 · Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction
- Vapes, varenicline and cytisine are the best quit aidsReview · 2023 · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
- Quit pills varenicline and cytisine help more people quitReview · 2023 · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
- Light drinking doesn't help you live longerReview · 2023 · JAMA Network Open
- For under-40s, the healthiest amount of alcohol is close to noneStudy · 2022 · The Lancet
- Quitting helps at any age, and what helps people quitGuidance · 2020 · US Department of Health and Human Services
- Even one cigarette a day carries a big heart riskReview · 2018 · BMJ
- UK advice: keep drinking under 14 units a weekGuidance · 2016 · GOV.UK
- Typical weight gain after quitting smokingReview · 2012 · BMJ
- Smoking costs about ten years; quitting wins them backStudy · 2004 · BMJ
Healthy eating
- Ultra-processed food is linked to many health problemsReview · 2024 · BMJ
- Eat at least 25 g of fibre and 400 g of fruit and veg a dayGuidance · 2023 · World Health Organization
- Any healthy eating pattern was linked to living longerStudy · 2023 · JAMA Internal Medicine
- Five portions of fruit and veg a day is the sweet spotReview · 2021 · Circulation
- A free database of the nutrients in thousands of foodsData · 2019 · USDA
- Poor diet is linked to one in five deaths worldwideStudy · 2019 · The Lancet
- WHO advice: keep free sugars under 10% of energyGuidance · 2015 · World Health Organization
- WHO advice: under 2 g sodium (5 g salt) a dayGuidance · 2012 · World Health Organization