Exercise remains our best intervention for extending an individual’s health span and lifespan. Both our quality and quantity of life are positively impacted by consistent aerobic exercise and strength training performance each week. In particular, strength training is our best tool to reduce the loss of muscle mass associated with aging (sarcopenia). In addition, new research has shown strength training’s positive impact on our mental and physical health, as well as, reducing our disease risk.
A recent study conducted at Harvard’s school of public health examined the impact of an individual’s weekly strength training sessions on their mortality rate (Zhang et al. Br J Sports Med. 2026). Researchers followed 147,374 participants over a 30 year time period to correlate their physical activity with future diseases and death. Authors found individuals who reached 90-120 minutes of strength training per week had a 13%, 19%, 27% reduction in death from all cause mortality, heart disease mortality, or neurological disease death, respectively. Interestingly, no further drop in mortality rates were noted with strength training > 120 minutes per week.
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