A large-scale study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine has found that lifting weights for 90 to 119 minutes per week is associated with a 19% lower risk of cardiovascular mortality, offering some of the clearest evidence yet that resistance training plays a meaningful role in long-term heart health.
The research, led by scientists at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, tracked 147,374 participants across three major prospective cohorts over as many as 30 years. During that period, researchers documented 35,798 d3aths, giving the study considerable statistical weight.
Participants who reported 90 to 119 minutes of weekly resistance training showed a 13% lower risk of all-cause mortality, a 19% lower risk of cardiovascular mortality, and a 27% lower risk of neurological disease mortality compared with those who did no resistance training at all. Importantly, these associations held even after adjusting for aerobic physical activity levels.
One of the key findings was that more is not necessarily better. No additional benefit in reducing all-cause or cardiovascular mortality was observed beyond 120 minutes per week. The study found the risk reduction plateaued around that threshold, suggesting a moderate weekly commitment to weight training may be sufficient for meaningful health benefits.
For cancer mortality, the picture was different. A reduced risk appeared only at lower levels of resistance training, specifically between one and 59 minutes per week.
Participants doing 1 to 29 minutes per week had a 9% lower cancer mortality risk, while those doing 30 to 59 minutes per week had a 12% lower risk. Those doing 60 minutes or more per week did not show a statistically significant reduction in cancer mortality after adjusting for aerobic activity.
The study also examined how resistance training interacts with aerobic exercise. Participants who combined high levels of both activities saw the greatest reductions in overall mortality risk, with hazard ratios as low as 0.55 compared to those with low aerobic activity and no resistance training.
However, aerobic activity alone provided greater independent benefit than resistance training alone, with adequate aerobic activity associated with a 26 to 43% lower mortality risk depending on volume.
Researchers noted that resistance training still provided measurable additional benefit across all levels of aerobic activity up to approximately 45 MET-hours per week, reinforcing current public health guidance encouraging people to incorporate both forms of exercise into their routines.
The study relied on self-reported questionnaire data updated every two years, which the authors acknowledged as a limitation. However, the use of validated questionnaires and cumulative averages from repeated assessments over decades makes this one of the more thorough examinations of long-term resistance training patterns conducted to date.
