About 90 to 120 minutes of strength (resistance) training a week was associated with the lowest long-term risk of death in an analysis of 147,374 U.S. adults followed for up to 30 years, with the biggest gains seen when strength work was combined with aerobic exercise, researchers report in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Researchers analyzing long-running health cohorts in the United States report that a moderate weekly dose of strength (resistance) training was linked to lower risks of death over time.
The analysis drew on data from three prospective studies—the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1992–2022), the Nurses’ Health Study (2002–2021), and the Nurses’ Health Study II (2003–2021)—covering 147,374 participants with an average starting age of 54. Participants reported their strength training and aerobic exercise habits on questionnaires every two years.
After adjusting for other factors, people who averaged 90–119 minutes of strength training per week had a 13% lower risk of death from any cause than those who did none. The same range was associated with a 19% lower risk of cardiovascular death and a 27% lower risk of death from neurological diseases.
The researchers reported no additional overall mortality benefit above 120 minutes per week of strength training. For cancer mortality, the pattern differed: lower volumes were associated with the clearest reductions, with 1–29 minutes per week linked to a 21% lower risk of cancer death and 30–59 minutes linked to an 18% lower risk.
When strength training was evaluated alongside aerobic exercise, the lowest overall mortality risk appeared among those who combined substantial aerobic activity with strength work. In joint analyses, participants who reached 45 or more MET-hours per week of aerobic activity had a 53% to 58% lower risk of death, regardless of how much strength training they reported.
The authors cautioned that the findings come from an observational analysis based on self-reported exercise, meaning the study cannot prove that strength training directly caused the reductions in mortality risk. They concluded that the data suggest different “dose-response” patterns across outcomes and support recommendations to combine aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity.