Last week we took a closer look at whether swimming or running was better for your heart health, and you can click on over to that blog to see which form of exercise came out on top. Today, a new study pits cardiovascular training against weight lifting to see which is better for health and your lifespan. Which one came out on top? Keep reading to find out!
Cardio Vs. Weights For Life Expectancy
For the longest time, the general consensus was that you should pursue both weight training and cardiovascular exercise if you wanted to live a long life, but a new study involving over 147,000 over the course of three decades put that sentiment to the test. To make this as simple as possible, we put some of the key findings in bullet points below:
- Cardio appears to have a bigger impact on longevity than weight training.
- Very high levels of aerobic activity (>45 MET hours/week, which is equivalent to roughly 900+ minutes of moderate activity or 450+ minutes of vigorous activity, or a combination of the two each week) were associated with a 43% lower risk of mortality compared to those who were least active.
- The largest reduction in mortality risk for weight training was 13%, and that was for individuals pursuing 90-119 minutes per week, as no additional benefits were seen above 120 minutes per week. So while high levels of aerobic exercise proved more beneficial than weight lifting when it comes to longevity, the time commitment to hit that level is much greater.
- Even low amounts of weight training (1-59 minutes per week) were associated with reductions in some health outcomes, including cancer mortality.
But what does the study tell us about people who pursue both activities? Perhaps not surprisingly, researchers found that pursuing both cardiovascular training and weight training was a more ideal approach. They found that people doing 300-600 min of moderate aerobic activity (or 150-300 min of vigorous activity) per week had around 32% lower mortality risk, but adding about 1-2 hours of resistance training per week increased the reduction to around 38-44%.
However, it’s important to remember that you will see some of these benefits before you hit these larger activity goals. If you’re like most people, 900+ minutes of moderate physical activity each week is out of the question, but don’t assume there’s no point in trying to become a little more active. Strive to move more, pick up some weights a couple of times a week, and find ways to gradually take on more physical activity each and every week. Over time, this progress will build on itself and you’ll be lowering your morality risk, even if you’re not hitting those lofty weekly cardio or weight lifting numbers. If you’re going to pursue more of one technique, cardio is probably the answer given the diminishing returns seen in the weight lifting group, but finding some balance between the two exercise forms, and a balance that you can sustain for years, will be best.
For more information about all things health and wellness, connect with Dr. Silverman or keep clicking around his blog!