- Combining strength training with regular cardio exercises can help you live longer, a new study finds.
- Weight lifting or other strength training once or twice a week can build muscle and prevent injury.
- Getting 150 to 300 minutes of cardio a week can improve your heart health and improve your mood.
If you want to live a long and healthy life, a mix of weightlifting and cardio in your exercise routine may be best, new research suggests.
Regular aerobic exercise reduces the risk of premature death, as does strength training, but doing both appears to offer additional benefits, according to a study published September 27 in the journal British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Researchers at the National Cancer Institute analyzed data from nearly 100,000 older adults across the United States, comparing exercise habits and the risk of dying from chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease, as well as other causes, over a decade of follow-up. .
They found that participants who got 150 to 300 minutes a week of aerobic exercise were, on average, 32% less likely to die from any cause during the study.
Resistance training, such as weightlifting, was linked to 9% lower death rates.
But participants who did resistance training once or twice a week, in addition to cardio, had 41% lower death rates. And for people who not only lifted weights, but also did more than 300 minutes a week of cardio, their mortality rates were up to 47% lower than their sedentary peers.
The findings suggest that if you’re not active, you should get some exercise, and if you’re active but just do cardio, maybe you want to start lifting weights, also.
The researchers hypothesized that strength training was linked to benefits such as increased lean muscle mass and strengthwhich can help prevent illness and also prevent falls and other injuries.
Exercise also has social and psychological benefits, building community and offering a sense of accomplishment and stress relief, the study authors wrote.
Both strength and cardio training have health benefits, previous research shows
There is much more evidence that all types of physical activity are great for your health.
A February study found that as As little as 30-60 minutes of strength training a week could lower risk of dying of cancer and heart disease, and adding aerobic exercise was even more effective.
Strength training can also boost weight losswhose research suggests that it may help prevent certain diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
A maximize the benefits of strength training and build muscleit’s important to lift a challenging amount of weight, build intensity over time, and focus on good recovery, like eating and getting enough sleep, experts previously told Insider.
Main benefits of cardiovascular or aerobic exercises They include better blood flow, blood pressure, cholesterol, and overall heart health, as well as improved mood. You don’t have to run to do your cardio workout. in either: any activity that raises your heart rate for a sustained period of time, including some types of weightlifting count as cardio.
