Connect Strength Training Research to Codex

Answers training questions from the literature instead of from folklore, and connects the findings to concrete exercises.

Tools:

• search_strength_training_studies: PubMed, narrowed with MeSH terms so a query like 'training volume' returns resistance-training work rather than general exercise or rehabilitation. Metadata and links only.
• search_strength_training_fulltext: Europe PMC, for broader coverage and abstracts of open-access articles.
• lookup_exercises_by_muscle: the wger open exercise database, listing exercises for a target muscle with category, primary and secondary muscles and required equipment.

Scoping the population: most resistance-training research is done on older adults and clinical populations, so a plain query about sets and volume returns sarcopenia and geriatric-rehabilitation papers alongside the trainee-focused work. Both literature tools therefore take population ('healthy_trained', 'older_adults', 'clinical') and study_design ('review', 'systematic_review', 'meta_analysis', 'randomized_trial') arguments. These are applied as query clauses whose exact shape was verified against the live APIs, because Europe PMC fails silently on some hand-written filter expressions - it drops MeSH terms inside an OR group and returns zero results for unparenthesized NOT chains. Prefer these arguments over writing filters into the query.

Preprints are deliberately not here: SportRxiv covers strength and endurance alike, so searching it from two servers returned identical results. That search lives on the sports-science server instead.

Abstract handling: abstracts are returned only for open-access articles under a CC license; other records carry metadata and a link, because abstract text remains the publisher's copyright. PubMed results never include abstract text for the same reason.

This server reports what studies found. It does not prescribe a training program, and it is not medical advice - anyone with an injury or a medical condition should consult a professional.