fitnessbodyequipment.com Home Gym Equipment & Practical Training

Statistics

Strength Training Participation Statistics: U.S. Trends and Differences

A data-led look at U.S. muscle-strengthening participation by year, sex, age, race and ethnicity, education, and older-adult status, with survey measures kept in context.

November 12, 2026 6 min read fitnessbodyequipment.com Editorial Team

Contents

In 2024, 32.9% of U.S. adults aged 18 and older performed leisure-time muscle-strengthening activities on at least two days per week. The national estimate was age-adjusted to the year 2000 standard population, which helps compare estimates across years while accounting for differences in population age structure.

The corresponding estimates were 31.9% in 2020 and 31.5% in 2022. The series therefore shows a small rise from 2022 to 2024, while the 2024 estimate remained close to the 2020 level. These are survey estimates of reported leisure-time activity, not counts of gym memberships or all strength workouts in every setting. Healthy People 2030, PA-04 data

Sex-specific estimates show a wider gap. In 2024, 37.7% of adult men and 28.3% of adult women reported muscle-strengthening activity on two or more leisure-time days each week. In 2020, the respective estimates were 36.0% and 28.0%. The male estimate rose more between those endpoints; the female estimate changed little. These comparisons use age-adjusted estimates from the same national source.

The threshold matters: these figures count adults reaching a frequency of at least two days per week. They do not describe how long each session lasted, which exercises people did, or the loads used. Nor do they measure every form of physical activity outside leisure time. Healthy People 2030, PA-04 data

Strength training participation statistics by age

In 2024, 38.6% of adults ages 18–44 reported leisure-time muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days a week. This age-specific estimate is not age-adjusted, unlike the national total and sex estimates above. It should be read as the reported prevalence for that age group, rather than compared as if every subgroup figure had undergone the same adjustment. Healthy People 2030, PA-04 data

A separate federal report gives a more restrictive measure for older adults: the share meeting both the aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines during leisure time. Among community-dwelling U.S. adults aged 65 and older, 13.9% met both in 2022, an age-adjusted estimate. Because both guidelines must be met, this is not directly comparable to the adult measure that asks only about muscle-strengthening activity.

The older-adult report’s age-specific estimates were not age-adjusted. In 2022, 16.8% of adults ages 65–74 met both guidelines, compared with 12.3% of those ages 75–84 and 6.2% of those aged 85 and older. These figures describe a declining share across the listed age bands, but they do not isolate strength training participation from aerobic activity: meeting both conditions is required for inclusion. NCHS, Characteristics of Older Adults Who Met Federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans: United States, 2022

Strength training participation statistics by race and ethnicity

For U.S. adults overall, the 2024 age-adjusted estimate for adults categorized as Asian only was 33.2%; for adults categorized as two or more races, it was 37.3%. Both figures refer to leisure-time muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days each week. They come from the same national source, but two categories alone do not capture the full range of racial and ethnic estimates or explain why participation differs. Healthy People 2030, PA-04 data

The older-adult report measures a different outcome: meeting both aerobic and strengthening guidelines. In 2022, age-adjusted shares among community-dwelling adults aged 65 and older were 15.2% for White non-Hispanic adults, 10.2% for Black non-Hispanic adults, 10.3% for Hispanic adults, and 12.2% for Asian non-Hispanic adults. The report states that the difference between Asian non-Hispanic and White non-Hispanic adults was not statistically significant. These estimates should not be treated as strength-training-only participation rates. NCHS, Characteristics of Older Adults Who Met Federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans: United States, 2022

A CDC analysis focused on women ages 18–44 provides another useful but distinct view. In pooled 2022 and 2024 NHIS data, 33.1% of non-Hispanic White women reported sufficient leisure-time muscle-strengthening activity, compared with 28.4% of non-Hispanic Black women, 29.6% of Hispanic or Latino women, and 26.4% of non-Hispanic Asian women. Here, “sufficient” means at least two sessions a week. The estimates apply to women ages 18–44, not all adults, and pool two survey years. CDC, Leisure-Time Physical Activity Among Women of Reproductive Age — United States, 2022 and 2024

Strength training participation statistics by education and income

In 2024, 16.4% of U.S. adults aged 25 and older with less than a high-school education reported leisure-time muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days per week. Among adults with family income below 100% of the poverty threshold, the age-adjusted estimate was 20.2%. These figures point to lower reported participation in these particular groups than in the overall adult population, but they do not establish what accounts for the differences. Healthy People 2030, PA-04 data

The women-focused CDC analysis also reports participation by education. Among U.S. women ages 18–44 in pooled 2022 and 2024 data, the shares reporting sufficient muscle-strengthening activity were 18.3% for those with less than a high-school education, 22.4% for those with a high-school diploma or equivalent, 31.0% for those with some college or an associate degree, and 39.4% for those with a bachelor’s degree. The pattern is a difference in reported prevalence across education categories; the figures do not show that education itself caused the difference. CDC, Leisure-Time Physical Activity Among Women of Reproductive Age — United States, 2022 and 2024

The age range and definition are essential context for this comparison: it covers women ages 18–44 and classifies sufficient activity as two or more sessions per week. It should not be merged with the broader adult estimates as though the populations and reporting periods were identical.

Strength training participation statistics among adults 65 and older

For community-dwelling adults aged 65 and older, 13.9% met both federal aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines in 2022, using the age-adjusted estimate. The report also provides age-adjusted sex comparisons: 16.9% of men and 11.5% of women in this age group met both guidelines. These results describe combined guideline adherence, so someone who met the strengthening guideline but not the aerobic one would not count in this measure. NCHS, Characteristics of Older Adults Who Met Federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans: United States, 2022

Location was also associated with different reported shares in this report. In 2022, 14.7% of community-dwelling adults aged 65 and older living in metropolitan areas met both guidelines, compared with 10.0% in nonmetropolitan areas. These are age-adjusted estimates, and the comparison does not identify a cause for the gap. NCHS, Characteristics of Older Adults Who Met Federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans: United States, 2022

Muscle-strengthening participation statistics among women ages 18–44

The CDC analysis of pooled 2022 and 2024 NHIS data separates women’s reported muscle-strengthening activity into three categories. Among U.S. women ages 18–44, 31.1% reported sufficient leisure-time activity—at least two sessions a week—while 13.6% reported activity below that threshold and 55.3% reported none. Together, the categories show that the largest share reported no leisure-time muscle-strengthening activity in the pooled period. They do not describe strength training performed outside leisure time. CDC, Leisure-Time Physical Activity Among Women of Reproductive Age — United States, 2022 and 2024

Within the same analysis, sufficient participation was 30.1% among women ages 30–34 and 28.7% among women ages 40–44. Those age-band estimates are close, and this pair alone does not establish a steady age trend across all ages 18–44. The broader age-group estimate, the subgroup results, and the pooled period each answer a different question; keeping those scopes intact is key when using strength training participation statistics to describe U.S. adults.

Sources

Written by

fitnessbodyequipment.com Editorial Team

Editorial team

Independent editorial coverage of home gym equipment & practical training.

More to Explore