Across 147,374 health workers followed up to 30 years, 90 to 119 minutes a week of resistance work lined up with a 13 percent lower death rate

What the research found

Study (observational, repeated questionnaires). Zhang, Lee, Rezende, Ma, and Giovannucci report in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (2026; 60:874; DOI 10.1136/bjsports-2025-110503). The Nurses' Health Study, the Nurses' Health Study II, and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study included 31,540 men and 115,834 women and recorded 35,798 deaths over up to 30 years. Versus no resistance work, 90 to 119 minutes a week lined up with a hazard ratio of 0.87 for death from any cause (95 percent CI 0.81 to 0.95), 0.81 for cardiovascular death, and 0.73 for neurological-disease death, after accounting for aerobic activity. Above 120 minutes a week the death-rate link did not keep growing. Cancer death was lower only at 1 to 29 minutes (0.91) and 30 to 59 minutes (0.88). People with higher aerobic activity plus 60 to 119 minutes of resistance work had a hazard ratio of about 0.55 versus low aerobic activity and no resistance work. Habits were self-reported. This is not proof that lifting caused longer life. Not medical advice.

Evidence level: Human study. A study in people, but an association isn't proof of cause.

Read the original at British Journal of Sports Medicine