You may have heard that strengthening exercises are best for your muscular and skeletal health, but they may also help you prevent disease and live longer.
According to new research published Monday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, we may now know how much time to devote to those exercises.
Those who did 30 to 60 minutes of resistance, strength, or weight training weekly had a 10% to 20% lower risk of premature death from any cause, as well as a 10% to 20% lower risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, or cancer at all, according to the study's authors. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, these exercises are designed to improve muscular fitness by working muscles against external resistance.
Combining 30 to 60 minutes of strengthening exercises with any amount of aerobic activity increased the benefit, resulting in a 40% lower risk of premature death, a 46% lower incidence of heart disease, and a 28% lower risk of cancer death. The study is also the first to look at long-term links between muscle-strengthening activities and diabetes risk, according to the authors.
"Many previous studies showed a beneficial influence of muscle-strengthening exercises on noncommunicable diseases and early death risk," said Haruki Momma, a lecturer in the department of medicine and science in sports and exercise at Tohoku University in Japan, via email. "Our findings could be expected to some extent because this study was designed to integrate previous findings."
The new study is a meta-analysis of 16 previous studies, resulting in a data pool of nearly 480,000 study participants. They ranged in age from 18 to 98 years old, with the majority residing in the United States. Participants either self-reported their participation in muscle-strengthening activities or responded to questions during interviews.
"The study methods are sound, and the findings are important, but not surprising to me," said Dr. William Roberts, a professor in the University of Minnesota's department of family medicine and community health, via email. He was not a participant in the study. Thirty to "60 minutes per week stands out as a manageable amount for most people, and it makes me feel good about the 5 to 15 minutes of strength exercises I do each week.
The findings are "great news for active people and even better news for inactive people because they can improve their health with a small time investment," said Roberts, a past president and current fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine. "However, people should start slowly and build slowly to avoid the pain of doing too much too soon."
The new study did not investigate why strength training is so effective in lowering the risk of premature death and certain diseases. However, according to Dr. Nieca Goldberg, medical director of Atria New York City and clinical associate professor of medicine at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine, this type of exercise is important for reducing body fat and building lean muscle, which can help with balance, posture, and cholesterol levels. Goldberg was not a participant in the study.
"We know that people who are obese are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, glucose intolerance, and some cancers, so improving that (health) profile is beneficial," Goldberg said. Furthermore, "people who engage in regular activity... may have a healthier outlook and other healthy lifestyles."
The combination of aerobics and strengthening exercises may provide a greater benefit because the two "appear to work together and help each other move toward better outcomes," according to Roberts. "A balanced program of strength and aerobic activity is probably best and most closely mimics the activities of our forefathers, which helped determine our current gene sets."
Walking, dancing, running or jogging, cycling, and swimming are examples of aerobic exercises, according to Goldberg. Deadlifts, overheard dumbbell presses, and dumbbell lateral raises, which involve using your back and shoulder muscles to lift light dumbbells so that your arms and body form a T shape, are weight-training exercises you can do for 30 to 60 minutes.
The majority of participants did not benefit from doing the strengthening exercises for more than an hour, but the study did not investigate why this was the case. Previous studies' findings, however, have varied, according to Roberts: some have shown improved health at higher activity levels, while others have not.
"This is pool data, which means it is a compilation of several studies. So, when you conduct a large-scale study with a large number of people, you can look for other variables that may be causing (the worse outcome after 60 minutes) "According to Goldberg. "Based on this research, we are unable to explain it. More research will be required."
According to the authors, the finding about lower diabetes risk could be explained by muscle-strengthening activities increasing or preserving skeletal muscle mass, which plays an important role in regulating blood sugar levels.
The main takeaway, according to Roberts and Goldberg, is to get active and stay active with an exercise program you enjoy and can stick with.
"You don't have to train for the marathon to be healthy and improve your health," Roberts explained via email. "A combination of 5-10 minutes of strength exercise and 30 minutes of walking most days of the week will result in significant health benefits for the entire population."
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