Strength training provides a range of mental and physical health benefits. Below are some of the most noteworthy benefits of strength training, according to experts.

Increase Muscle Size and Strength

Strength training can help increase muscle size and strength, says Dr. Matarazzo. It also helps increase power—the combination of speed and strength—and can help the person training perform better in sports or other physical activities.

Research also shows strength training can lead to more significant muscle growth (hypertrophy) when combined with a proper diet and adequate rest.

Improve Cardiovascular Health

Strength training can help Improve cardiovascular function by strengthening the heart and lungs, as the heart is a muscle that requires regular exercise to stay healthy and strong, says Dr. Matarazzo.

Regular strength training can help increase aerobic capacity, meaning a person can navigate more physical activity for extended periods of time without feeling fatigued. Research suggests strength training can reduce resting blood pressure, cholesterol levels and risk of cardiovascular disease as well.

Increase Bone Density

Strength training can increase bone density and decrease overall bone loss by helping to stimulate bone growth and increase the strength of existing bones, according to Dr. Matarazzo. For optimal results as it relates to bone health, research suggests strength training at least twice each week.

Bone density, which refers to the amount of minerals in the bones, is important for preventing fractures and other bone-related diseases like osteoporosis. People at higher risk of bone-related diseases, such as post-menopausal women or people who smoke tobacco products, should consider adding strength training to their exercise routine.

Stabilize and Protect Joints

Joint health is essential for maintaining an active, healthy lifestyle. Knees, hips and shoulders are all vulnerable to injury and disease, such as osteoarthritis—especially as people age. Strength training can help increase the stability and strength of the joints, which can prevent injuries and Improve overall function, according to Dr. Matarazzo.

Strength training can also help Improve posture and balance as the joints become stronger, adds Kellie Middleton, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist at Northside Hospital in Atlanta.

Reduce Body Fat

The reduction of body fat is another benefit of strength training, especially when combined with aerobic exercise and a balanced diet, says Dr. Middleton. Research suggests strength training helps the body burn calories during and after exercise, a process referred to as post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), enabling the body to burn more calories throughout the day. Research also notes exercises like high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and sprint interval training (SIT) may be more effective in activating EPOC.

What’s more, strength training can help reduce body fat by increasing a person’s metabolic rate. Since muscular tissue is more metabolically active than fat tissue, people with more muscle tend to have a higher metabolic rate. This increase can affect body composition as well.

Support Mental Well-being

According to 2021 research in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, strength training can help Improve mental health by decreasing symptoms of anxiety and depression .

Strength training can be a powerful form of self-care, says Luke Zocchi, author and head trainer at Centr, a digital health, fitness and mindset program. The mind-body connection used in strength training can increase feelings of self-confidence, Improve mood and boost brainpower, he says.

Improve Sleep Quality

Research suggests strength training can help Improve sleep quality, too, which is essential for physical and mental well-being and may help reduce fatigue and increase energy levels throughout the day.

Regular strength training can also help the body adjust to a regular sleeping pattern and Improve stiffness and aches that can cause sleep disturbances, according to Danielle Gray,  trainer and founder of Train Like A Gymnast, an online platform and community for former gymnasts, dancers and cheerleaders.

Strength training should not be performed within 90 minutes of going to bed, as intense workouts may make it harder for some to fall asleep, according to research.

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Cardio vs strength training: the eternal question. Even though these are two very different exercises, each with important benefits on their own and together, it's common to wonder if we should be doing one more than the other - especially when it comes to reaching certain health goals like losing weight. 

You may have heard, for instance, that cardio is the winning ingredient to a healthy weight loss journey considering how effective running, cycling, and swimming are at burning calories. Alternatively, you may have heard that strength training offers a superior 'after-burn' effect that burns calories even when you're out of the gym. We're here to separate fact from fiction and reveal if one is better than the other - and why a combination of the two could actually be most effective.

Of course, the most beneficial exercise will be the one you enjoy the most. As personal trainer Aroosha Nekonam says, "In my experience, those who are the most consistent with their exercise routine are those who have found the exercise they love. So, if you love running, keep running! If you really hate lifting weights, then it's going to be very difficult to maintain that habit long-term," she says. "Doing regular exercise, whether it's cardio or strength training, is always going to be better for you than doing nothing at all."

But what are the benefits of cardio vs strength training when it comes to weight loss if you're torn between the two? We ask Aroosha and other personal trainers to weigh up the benefits to both to help you design the perfect program for you. Whether you're interested in strength training for weight loss or running for weight loss, here's what you need to know.

Cardio vs strength training

1. Running burns more calories

To lose weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit. This is where you burn more calories than you consume every day, so naturally exercise (which burns calories) is hugely beneficial.

Luckily, there's plenty of research that reveals how many calories someone might burn during a workout. Of course, it's all individual, with various factors needing to be taken into account - such as gender, age, and some lifestyle factors - but generally, running burns more calories than strength training.

The study by Arizona State University reveals that someone weighing 73kg (160lb) is likely to burn around 250 calories per 30 minutes of running at a standard pace, increasing to 365 calories at a faster pace. In comparison, you may only burn between 130 and 220 calories in the gym, which is comparable to the calories you'd burn walking.

So, provided that you choose high-intensity cardio like running, cycling, or doing swimming as a workout, you'll burn more calories with cardio than with strength training.

2. Strength training prevents you from burning muscle as well as fat

Unfortunately, running and long-distance cardio in general is very good for burning calories for weight loss - rather than exclusively fat loss. Weight loss involves every part of the body, including water weight and muscle.

"You’re more likely to start burning through muscle rather than fat with long-term, long-distance cardio," says Nekonam, who works with Ultimate Performance. She explains that those who step up their running routine considerably in one go, without fuelling enough properly, will almost certainly see a drop in their muscle mass.

That's why strength training is essential alongside any cardio activity, she says. "Strength training encourages the body to retain muscle and tap into fat stores. So, if a leaner, more shapely look is your goal, weights are your friend."

3. Strength training helps you burn calories even after you've left the gym

That's not to say that strength training doesn't help you burn calories at all. As noted, in the session, someone weighing about 73kg could burn up to 220 calories in 30 minutes. Considering that many people spend about an hour working in the gym per session, at the same pace, that's almost 500 calories per session.

Also, thanks to the positive impact that strength training has on the metabolism, you'll be burning calories long after you've left the gym with strength training as it's one of the most effective workouts for building muscle.

Having more muscle, as research by Columbia University explains, means you will burn more calories when you're resting since your body needs to use more energy to support moving muscle than it does fat. It's for this reason that strength training is known for boosting your metabolism, as your metabolism is what converts the food you eat into energy. With running, the calorie burn lasts until you stop moving.

4. You can eat more and still lose weight with strength training

It may sound counterintuitive to the point about calorie deficits but it's true. "Regular strength training means you can eat more food and still lose weight as you need to feed your muscles to fuel their growth," explains Nekonam.

"If you combine an overly-intense cardio regime with a severely restricted diet, it becomes very hard to sustain. This often leads to a rebound effect where women crave the calories they miss so much they end up eating lots of 'junk' food to satisfy their cravings. If you lift weights, you need to eat more calories to keep your body moving through the session, so at the end of the day, you're eating more but still losing fat. It's a win-win," she says.

5. Strength training for weight loss is better for those going through menopause

For those experiencing menopause symptoms, weight gain is a common complaint. It's a completely natural part of the process, considering the role that hormones like oestrogen play in our bodies.

“In the peri-menopausal and menopausal periods, the production of hormones - including oestrogen - in the ovaries drops, and fat cells and adrenal glands begin increasing sex hormone production. This can result in losses in muscle mass and bone mass, and if they are inactive, it can ultimately lead to weight gain," says Nekonam.

If you're looking to avoid menopausal weight gain or lose weight during menopause, strength training will be your answer. "It's been consistently shown to Improve insulin sensitivity and glucose control, meaning that the body is better able to process, store and uptake carbohydrates when it needs them, rather than storing them as body fat," she says. "Resistance training also increases a woman’s metabolic rate by increasing fat-free mass, which typically drops after menopause."

6. Cardio doesn't require as much equipment

With swimming put to the side for a second, in the debate between cardio vs strength training, cardio wins for cost effectiveness most of the time. Most kinds of cardio don't require much equipment compared to strength training where you'll need a gym membership at the bare minimum to get started. specialists (and us!) also recommend enlisting the help of a personal trainer when you're learning how to start weightlifting as that the activity can be injury prone if your form isn't up to scratch. This is another cost that often outweighs the expense of even a pair of the best running shoes.

If you're new to exercise, running could be a great way to get a feel for what you enjoy. It's such a fantastic sport for so many reasons but what excites me the most is just how accessible it is," says running coach Ben Parker. "You don't need an expensive gym membership, you don't need a team of people, a pitch or court, all you need is some running trainers most of the time and off you can go."

However, if you're looking to start running as a beginner then it's important to go slowly and avoid the common running mistakes that beginners tend to make - like doing too much too soon.

7. They both have great mental health benefits

While weighing up cardio vs strength training has its uses, there are so many other benefits to both activities aside from weight loss. In fact, if you are looking to lose weight, focusing on these instead of the numbers on the scale could be what makes the difference.

If you find that spending time in the fresh air does more for your mental health than going to the gym, then more running, walking, and other cardio outdoors will be better suited to you and you're more likely to go. However, you might find that the joint mental and physical challenge of lifting weights boosts your confidence, leaving you feeling sky-high and wanting to get back in the gym the next day.

"We get endorphins from the exercise, we get to experience fresh air, we challenge and push ourselves when we run, leaving us a sense of achievement all of which go to help our mental state and create a sensation often referred to as a 'Runner's high'," says Parker, who is also the founder of Runna, one of the best running apps to use if you're new to the sport. "Plus, no matter how good or how long you run for, there's still a new challenge or personal best around the corner to challenge you."

When it comes to strength training, Nekonam says, "Aside from the physical benefits of having stronger bones, stronger muscles, and a leaner body, the mental and cognitive benefits of knowing you are fit and healthy and don’t have to deliver in to the aches and pains is incredibly empowering. In fact, a lot of my older female clients tell me that that sense of mental strength gives them a sense of vim and vigour that is even more satisfying than the physical changes to their body."

Can I lose weight by only lifting weights?

Yes, provided you are in a calorie deficit, you can just stick to weightlifting to lose weight. The deficit is all about eating fewer calories than you burn in a day, so provided you have this sorted, you'll lose weight.

If you are looking to learn how to lose weight without dieting though, incorporating some cardio into a routine would be the best way forward. "Cardio or weights is not an ‘either or’ or ‘versus’ situation," explains Nekonam. "Cardio, particularly High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) can be a very useful complement to a well-structured weight training regime and, when used correctly, can be a very effective tool in accelerating your fat loss efforts."

Should I do cardio or strength training first?

Planning on slotting a new-found love for strength training alongside your regular walking workout habit? Parker says that you should lift weights before you hit the treadmill, climb onto the bike, or jump in the pool. "Doing endurance training (i.e. running) before strength can have a negative impact on the strength training performance and the adaptions from it," he explains. "The 'interference effect' is a situation where opposing adaptions are made by our body during both strength training and endurance training. It's why I always recommend doing resistance training first."

However, if possible, avoid going immediately from one session to the other. Instead, the coach suggests leaving at least six hours between the two to deliver your body enough recovery time.

After massive backlash over its wishy-washy communication regarding training artificial intelligence with customer data, Zoom wants to set the record straight. Today, Zoom issued an update to its previous announcement on its plans for AI to formally claim that the company will not use audio, video, chat, or similar data to train its AI models.

Zoom issued the update today to its original blog post, published earlier this week by Chief Product Officer Smita Hashim. Zoom’s terms of service stated that the company could use Customer Content—which is what Zoom calls audio, video, chat, attachments, screen-sharing, etc.—to train its own in-house or third-party AI models. On Monday, however, the blog post from Hashim promised that Zoom wouldn’t use Customer Content to train AI (except in some cases). Today, the company has updated Section 10 of its terms of service to no longer retain the legal right to use Customer Content to train any AI models. Zoom did not immediately return Gizmodo’s request for comment on what data sources these AI features will, in fact, be trained with. The company also updated Hashim’s blog post with an apologetic note:

Following feedback received regarding Zoom’s recently updated terms of service, particularly related to our new generative artificial intelligence features, Zoom has updated our terms of service and the below blog post to make it clear that Zoom does not use any of your audio, video, chat, screen-sharing, attachments, or other communications like customer content (such as poll results, whiteboard, and reactions) to train Zoom’s or third-party artificial intelligence models.

On Monday, Zoom also announced new generative AI features that would be coming to the platform. Zoom IQ Meeting Summary takes “this could’ve been an email” way too literally and offers users a thorough summary of their meeting, while Zoom IQ Team Chat Compose is a text generation tool. Zoom says that all participants in a given meeting will be notified via an on-screen popup when either of these AI tools are enabled.

AI training on user data is a hot button Topic as the tidal wave of artificial intelligence continues to inundate us all with useless applications. Arguably one of the most popular and effective AI models, OpenAI’s GPT-4, is also a black box. At release, OpenAI refused to reveal what kind of data it used to train GPT-4, leaving the world to wonder what kind of garbage scraps, sensitive data, or false information it could be scrounging up and regurgitating onto our computer screens.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Against the background hum of the convention center, Dar Leaf settled into a club chair to explain the sacred mission of America’s sheriffs, his bright blue eyes and warm smile belying the intensity of the cause.

“The safest way to actually achieve that is to have local law enforcement understand that they have no obligation to enforce such laws,” Mack said in an interview. “They’re not laws at all anyway. If they’re unjust laws, they are laws of tyranny.”

The sheriffs group has railed against gun control laws, COVID-19 mask mandates and public health restrictions, as well as alleged election fraud. It has also quietly spread its ideology across the country, seeking to become more mainstream in part by securing state approval for taxpayer-funded law enforcement training, the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism found.

Over the last five years, the group has hosted trainings, rallies, speeches and meetings in at least 30 states for law enforcement officers, political figures, private organizations and members of the public, according to the Howard Center’s seven-month probe, conducted in collaboration with the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.

The group has held formal trainings on its “constitutional” curriculum for law enforcement officers in at least 13 of those states. In six states, the training was approved for officers’ continuing education credits. The group also has supporters who sit on three state boards in charge of law enforcement training standards.

Legal experts warn that such training – especially when it’s approved for state credit – can undermine the democratic processes enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and is part of a “broader insurrectionist ideology” that has gripped the nation since the 2020 presidential election.

“They have no authority, not under their state constitutions or implementing statutes to decide what’s constitutional and what’s not constitutional. That’s what courts have the authority to do, not sheriffs,” said Mary McCord, a former federal prosecutor and executive director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University.

“There’s another sort of evil lurking there,” McCord added, “because CSPOA is now essentially part of a broader movement in the United States to think it’s OK to use political violence if we disagree with some sort of government policy.”

At least one state, Texas, canceled credit for the sheriffs’ training after determining the course content – which it said included a reference to “this is a war” – was more political than educational. But other states, such as Tennessee, have approved the training, in part because it was hosted by a local law enforcement agency.

Unlike other law enforcement continuing education, such as firearms training, the sheriffs’ curriculum is largely a polemic on the alleged constitutional underpinnings of sheriffs’ absolute authority to both interpret and refuse to enforce certain laws. One brochure advertising the group’s seminars states: “The County Sheriff is the one who can say to the feds, ‘Beyond these bounds you shall not pass.’”

Since 2018, the Howard Center-AZCIR investigation found, at least 69 sheriffs nationwide have either been identified as members of the group or publicly supported it, though at least one later disavowed the organization. A 2021 survey of sheriffs by academic researchers working with the nonprofit Marshall Project found that more than 200 of the estimated 500 sheriffs who responded agreed with the group’s ideology.

Amy Cooter, research director at the Middlebury Institute Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism, said many sheriffs join the group from “a misinformed but well-meaning perspective.” But, she added, it also allows some sheriffs to “potentially engage in extremism by not enforcing legal, lawful, legitimate orders.”

Nationwide, there are some 3,000 sheriffs, whose salaries are funded by taxpayers. They serve as the chief law enforcement officers in their counties and are the only elected peace officers in the country. They appoint deputy sheriffs and jailers and service the courts in their jurisdictions. Sheriffs hold immense sway over what happens in their county, especially rural ones.

Some states have pushed back against the group’s training efforts, and not all sheriffs subscribe to the group’s ideology. Many at the National Sheriffs’ Association conference distanced themselves from the constitutional sheriffs or claimed not to know what they were about.

“When I took an oath 17 years ago as sheriff, I took the oath to uphold the Constitution, not overstep it,” said Troy Wellman, sheriff of Moody County, South Dakota, and a vice president of the National Sheriffs’ Association.

And there has been public pushback in some counties led by “constitutional sheriffs.” In Klickitat County, Washington, residents alleged Sheriff Bob Songer, a board member of the sheriffs group, engaged in fearmongering and intimidation. He was the target of a formal complaint in 2022 that the state’s law enforcement standards agency ultimately dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

The public-facing image of the sheriffs group, which is led by white men, prominently features the American flag and the experiences of Black civil rights icons who pushed back against unjust laws. But details of its operations are closely held, and its finances are shielded from public scrutiny. It was briefly registered as a nonprofit in Arizona, but internal records indicate it is now a private company.

The group does not release its list of dues-paying members, nor does it publicize information about where or how it conducts trainings. The sympathies of the group’s leaders for right-wing, white-nationalist extremist causes, however, are well documented.

Mack was an early board member of the Oath Keepers, the group involved in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Although he said he split with the group several years ago when it became a militia, Mack still speaks at Oath Keeper-affiliated rallies.

Jon Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, described the sheriffs group as “insidious” and said it had become “mainstream standard-bearers for entrance into more violent forms of extremism.”

“Just because it’s not as overt in their subversion of the democratic system, just because it’s quieter about how it does it and what it’s calling for, doesn’t make the ideas any less dangerous,” said Lewis.

Two heart attacks. Plans for a book about sheriffs and the pandemic. And a new board position at the right-wing political organization America’s Frontline Doctors. These were the reasons Mack cited in November 2022 for stepping down as head of daily operations for the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, records show.

Mack tapped far-right radio personality Sam Bushman to replace him as chief executive officer, though Mack remains board chairman and retains all authority.

Bushman runs Liberty News Radio, which syndicates white-supremacist programs across the country, including the pro-Confederate show Political Cesspool, which hosted former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke as recently as May 20, 2023. He declined to answer reporters’ written questions.

“What we really need to do is scale up our training. That’s who we are, that’s what we do. And the need for it has never been greater,” Bushman said during a January 2023 board meeting.

Most law enforcement officers are required to participate in taxpayer-funded, continuing education to stay current on their certifications. Training typically focuses on keeping officers sharp in a number of skill sets, including using firearms and encountering mental health situations.

To track the spread of the sheriffs group, the Howard Center filed public records requests with state law enforcement standards boards in 48 states and several sheriffs’ offices, related to the group’s training and communications with officials from 2018 to 2023. The latest records received were from early June 2023.

In that time, the sheriffs group conducted training in at least 13 states. In at least five of those states, the training received continuing education credit, and in six of them the states’ training regulation board approved the sheriffs’ curriculum. An internal November 2022 email shows the sheriffs group claimed its training had been approved for accreditation in seven states.

Reporters also found that members and affiliates of the sheriffs group sit on the law enforcement regulatory boards in Arizona, Florida and Maine. These state training boards determine what officers are taught and which law enforcement philosophies to adopt. In Florida, board approval is required for training to receive continuing education credit.

Lessons must be certified by a state’s training board in order for officers to receive credit in at least 30 states, reporters found, but approval is not necessary for official credit in at least 16 states. The laws pertaining to oversight of law enforcement trainings vary across states, according to a review of the law enforcement standards and training oversight agencies in each state and the District of Columbia.

Mack claimed in a November 2022 conference call that his organization had trained close to 1,000 sheriffs nationwide, in addition to an unspecified number of deputies, undersheriffs and police chiefs.

Experts caution such figures can be inflated. But, as Mack noted, it is nearly impossible to know how many deputies have learned about the organization’s philosophy through someone who attended a training.

Leaf, the 58-year-old Michigan sheriff, said he brings back to his command what he learns during the sheriffs’ training because “it’s very important I have my sergeants on board with my philosophies.”

The recordings of the sheriffs’ advisory board meetings make clear that a new strategy has emerged focused on holding trainings near where board members are based, thus minimizing the travel needed to conduct them. Bushman said they would like to see active members, including board members and sheriffs, conduct those trainings in their locales.

Gaining state-sponsored accreditation also remains a focus of the group, board discussions show.

“We can scale up more of these events to get out more training faster. It takes certifications in the states to do that,” Bushman said in a January meeting.

The group’s then-national director of administration, Tonya Benson, said in a November 2022 email to board members and supporters that “the more states we can get approval and accreditation for the curriculum, the better.” She added: “The best way to get approval is for a ‘friendly’ sheriff to submit the request.”

Experts say the formal trainings deliver the sheriffs’ ideas a facade of authority, as well as provide an opportunity to reach a greater target audience: law enforcement officials.

“If I’m a young police officer, and I have somebody standing in front of me, you know, in a law enforcement uniform, telling me the law, that I’m allowed to interpret the law the way I choose or the way he suggests, how am I supposed to believe that that’s improper if that person is duly certified under the state authority?” asked Michael German, a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty & National Security Program, who spent 16 years as an FBI agent.

“It validates their false information in a way that will make it harder for rank-and-file officers to resist it,” German said, adding that when law enforcement officers are “allowed to interpret the law as they see fit, the chances for error and abuse go way up.”

Despite its spread, the group has faced pushback in some states, including in Texas, where it claimed in December 2021 to have trained about one-fifth of the state’s 254 sheriffs.

After news reports revealed the extent of the group’s involvement with Texas sheriffs, the state agency that regulates law enforcement training investigated and then banned future constitutional sheriffs’ trainings for credit.

The group’s training was “best categorized as political discourse,” the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement wrote in a May 26, 2023, letter to Mack.

In Illinois, where roughly 90% of the state’s sheriffs vowed not to enforce the state’s new ban on semiautomatic weapons, a state official declined to deliver officers credit for the constitutional sheriffs’ training, saying the material wasn’t filed early enough and the state already taught constitutional concepts.

Nebraska’s Police Standards Advisory Council told reporters it would not certify the sheriffs group’s training because it considered the group to be a political organization and the agency avoids any such affiliation.

Even so, trainings don’t need approval in Nebraska, and the state’s sheriffs may independently partner with the constitutional sheriffs group.

That’s what happened in Tennessee. That state’s law enforcement standards board must approve training for credit, but officials also said they approve trainings hosted by local sheriff’s offices, regardless of content.

“We just have to find the right sheriff or right person who can… kind of push that through,” Benson, the group’s national director of administration, said in a January board meeting recording. “It’s kind of a simple process. It just takes someone to kind of babysit it, hound dog it, and be on top of it to get the approval.”

Lt. Joseph Gill, director of training for Madison County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee, became the right person. A July 11, 2023, training was approved by Tennessee’s law enforcement commission, as required for accreditation. “It wasn’t really a training, I mean, he (Richard Mack) just came and spoke,” said Max Milam, a training specialist in the sheriff’s office.

The Tennessee approval came despite the fact that the sheriffs group had declined to provide its presentation materials. Instead, it provided an outline comparing its philosophy with that of civil rights leaders such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.

“Civil disobedience has an honorable tradition in the United States,” German noted. “But the government’s not allowed to engage in civil disobedience. And, as government officials, they actually have a duty to comply with the law.”

Washington state has been the scene of the most organized pushback against the sheriffs group, reporters found.

During their 2021-2022 legislative session, lawmakers empowered Washington’s police oversight agency to hold law enforcement officers accountable for their affiliations with extremist groups. The agency must now expand required background checks to include any extremist affiliations and revoke an officer’s license for misconduct.

“I don’t think it’s a big stretch to say that when we’ve got folks now literally with the power to kill someone that we should expect them to adhere to very high standards of behavior, of impartiality,” said Jamie Pedersen, a state senator from Seattle who sponsored the new law.

Internal working group emails revealed the challenges in developing a workable definition of domestic “extremism.” Regulators agreed such groups seek “to undermine the democratic process” through violence or intimidation or promote the idea that their interpretation of the law “supersedes those of any other federal, state, or local authority.”

“One of our issues was, beyond the Patriot Front and Proud Boys and Klan members and all of that, was the CSPOA,” Olympia attorney Leslie Cushman said, referring to the sheriffs group. Cushman helped advise legislators on behalf of the Washington Coalition for Police Accountability, a group of advocates and people who have lost loved ones to police violence.

“Of grave concern is the relationship of the CSPOA to the Oathkeepers,” Cushman wrote in a March 3, 2022, email to the working group.

The sheriffs group had made inroads in Washington state in early 2021 when it hosted two events there.

In February 2022, the state’s law enforcement training commission received a complaint from a group of unnamed residents about Songer, the Klickitat County sheriff since 2014. It alleged instances in which Songer amplified “baseless rumors” about anti-racism activists and used a local radio show to name people critical of his policies.

Songer also created a “posse” of nearly 150 citizen volunteers, and he told the federal government in 2021 to “stay out of our county” after the Justice Department called on the FBI to work with federal prosecutors on threats of violence against school officials.

The complaint cited Songer’s alleged support for extremist organizations, such as Patriot Prayer, which rallies with members of Proud Boys; and the People’s Rights Network, founded by Ammon Bundy, who led a 40-day long standoff with federal authorities in 2016.

Songer confirmed he attended meetings for People’s Rights Network and Patriot Prayer, but said he didn’t know Patriot Prayer had ties to Proud Boys.

The state’s new extremism law applies to “certified” law enforcement officers. County sheriffs are elected officials and not all have gone through the law enforcement certification process. Members of Songer’s posse are also excluded from the law because they don’t have to be certified.

“They can be an enormous vigilante group,” Cushman said. “I know people in Klickitat County, Skamania and Clark County are intimidated and afraid to speak up.”

Bushman has said that one of his key aims as the group’s new operational leader is to increase the number of state directors who report to him.

But in latest months, there’s been an exodus of the group’s leaders and top supporters. Half of the eight-member advisory board has resigned, and one of the group’s state directors complained the organization “is struggling to remain relevant.”

Internal records indicate that the dispute with America’s Frontline Doctors may have played a role.

In November, the founder of the doctors’ group – a convicted Jan. 6 protester – named Mack along with other board members in a lawsuit that alleged “financial improprieties.” In April, the doctors’ group issued a press release saying it had removed Mack from the board and reported him to local police for allegedly embezzling $350,000 from the organization’s bank account. Police closed the case four weeks later, saying the organization did not provide sufficient documentation to prove a crime had been committed.

The 70-year-old former sheriff said in an interview that he simply moved funds to another of the doctors group’s accounts to protect the organization’s finances. He claimed to have been dropped as a named defendant in the lawsuit, but the most latest court filings in the case don’t support that.

Mack also indicated that some of the sheriffs on his board were unhappy with him and Bushman, but did not further elaborate.

“The CSPOA, since COVID hit, has grown exponentially,” Bushman said during the November 2022 board meeting in which he was named to succeed Mack. “This is an attempt to carry forward Richard Mack’s legacy. This is a growth effort.”

A review of internal meetings and Mack’s weekly webinars show there were at least six state directors in Texas, Virginia, Utah, Arizona and California, though at least one has left the group since June 2023.

Bushman said he had a plan to increase that figure to between 30 and 40 by the end of 2023. According to recordings of the group’s meetings, increasing the number of state directors could help the organization solicit formal credit for its trainings in more states.

The group’s California state director, Jack Frost, also suggested during the November meeting that the group focus on creating a template for conducting voter fraud investigations because “I don’t think our sheriffs and our investigators have a clue what they need to do.”

Internal meeting agendas and recordings, obtained under Public Information Act requests, showed that the sheriffs group planned to partner ahead of the 2024 elections with True the Vote, a right-wing Texas nonprofit that challenged the legitimacy of the last presidential election.

A February 2023 meeting agenda said the two organizations were working to create a “template for comprehensive and effective voter and election integrity” investigations. Discussion of collaboration was listed on the board’s April 2023 meeting agenda. But by May, when the group held four meetings, there was no discussion of elections.

“We would love to continue to work with them on mutual concerns, but it appears that they’re too busy,” Mack told reporters.

While sheriffs offices’ are sometimes asked to assist election officials in investigating allegations of election fraud, a growing number of sheriffs have claimed broad authority to launch voter fraud investigations.

McCord, the Georgetown law professor, likened such sheriffs’ actions to “vigilantism.”

“This is almost like a sheriff being willing to engage in vigilantism, which sends a broader message that vigilantism is actually acceptable. And vigilantism, when it is against the government, is insurrection,” McCord said.

The group’s effort to train more law enforcement officers also increases the number of them who buy into its constitutional philosophy, creating “conditions for some kind of potential brinkmanship or conflict” between local and state or federal law enforcement, said Lewis, the George Washington University research fellow.

“This is kind of the tipping point,” Lewis said. “Hundreds of sheriffs across the country have gained the trust of their locales and are now sitting in elected office … their training booklets from CSPOA right next to them. And I think that’s always going to be a pretty significant cause for concern.”

Brendon Derr of the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting and Jimmy Cloutier, Heaven LaMartz and Annabella Medina of the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism contributed to this story.

This project, In the Sheriff We Trust, was produced by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, in collaboration with the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting. The Howard Center is based at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and is an initiative of the Scripps Howard Fund in honor of the late news industry executive and pioneer Roy W. Howard. AZCIR is a nonpartisan, nonprofit newsroom that focuses on data-driven investigative journalism.