STUDY OF 147,000 PEOPLE FINDS STRENGTH TRAINING MAY CUT THE RISK OF EARLY DEATH AND IMPROVE LONG-TERM HEALTH

Lifting weights a couple of hours a week could potentially add years to your life. That is the striking takeaway from one of the longest studies ever conducted on resistance exercise, and it flips the old assumption that cardio alone is the ticket to a longer life. Researchers tracked nearly 150,000 adults for up to three decades and found a clear sweet spot for how much strength training actually moves the needle on mortality risk.

The findings, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, arrive at a moment when gym memberships, home workout equipment and social media fitness influencers are pushing more people than ever toward the weight rack. The question has always been how much is enough. Now there is a research-backed answer.

How Strength Training Affects Longevity

The study drew on data from three major long-term health cohorts, the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, the Nurses’ Health Study and the Nurses’ Health Study II. Of the 147,374 participants tracked, 35,798 died during the follow-up period. Researchers compared people who lifted weights regularly with those who did not, adjusting for aerobic activity and other lifestyle factors.

People who did 90 to 119 minutes of resistance training each week had a 13% lower risk of death from any cause compared with those who did none. The same group saw a 19% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a 27% lower risk of dying from neurological conditions.

Even small amounts helped. Just one to 29 minutes of weekly strength training was linked to a 21% lower risk of cancer death, and 30 to 59 minutes was tied to an 18% lower risk.

Why 90 to 120 Minutes a Week Is the Sweet Spot

More is not always better. The researchers found that mortality benefits plateaued after about 120 minutes per week, meaning extra time at the squat rack did not translate to further gains in life expectancy.

“Many people assume that more is always better, but biological systems rarely behave that way,” said Ulrik Wisløff, PhD, who heads the Cardiac Exercise Research Group at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and was not involved in the research. He spoke with Everyday Health about what the findings mean for regular people.

“A few minutes of functional strength training per day appears sufficient to capture most of the mortality benefits observed in this study,” Wisløff said.

What Happens When You Combine Strength Training With Cardio

The lowest mortality risks in the study belonged to people who did both. Participants who logged 30 to 44 MET-hours of aerobic activity plus 60 to 119 minutes of strength training a week had a 45% lower risk of death. Those who reached 45 or more MET-hours of aerobic exercise saw reductions of 53% to 58%, regardless of how much they lifted.

Wisløff described strength and cardio as “complementary rather than competing health attributes.”

What the Experts Say About Starting Out

For anyone intimidated by the numbers, the study authors offered reassurance. “For people who are less active, the key message is that small amounts can still matter,” said Edward Giovannucci, MD, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology, and Yiwen Zhang, PhD, a postdoctoral research fellow, both at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

“Building a routine gradually may be more important than trying to do a lot at once,” they said.

The researchers cautioned that the study is observational and cannot prove strength training directly caused the drop in mortality. Exercise data was self-reported, and some activities like calisthenics and Pilates were not counted. Still, as Science Daily reported, the pattern held across a massive sample and three decades of follow-up, making the findings hard to dismiss.

This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.

2026-08-05T03:28:22Z