In 117,025 U.S. women, two hours a week of resistance training tracked a lower risk of major cardiovascular disease

What the research found

Zhang and colleagues report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (published 27 October 2026; Epub 17 June 2026; volume 88, issue 17, pages 1946-1960; DOI 10.1016/j.jacc.2026.04.036; PMID 42307492). The cohorts were the Nurses' Health Study (n = 45,669; 2002-2020) and the Nurses' Health Study II (n = 71,356; 2003-2017), together 117,025 women. Over a mean of 14.5 years, 5,459 major cardiovascular disease events occurred. Major events included myocardial infarction, stroke, and coronary procedures. Compared with no resistance training, at least 2 hours a week had a hazard ratio of 0.80 (95 percent CI 0.69 to 0.92). Each extra 1 hour a week had a hazard ratio of 0.95 (0.92 to 0.99). For myocardial infarction, at least 2 hours versus none had a hazard ratio of 0.56 (0.41 to 0.76). Stroke was not lower (0.99, 0.80 to 1.23). Women who met an aerobic bar of at least 15 MET-hours a week, did resistance training at least 1 hour a week, and kept television under 2 hours a day had a major-event hazard ratio of 0.60 (0.53 to 0.69), versus 0.73 (0.67 to 0.80) for the aerobic bar and low television without resistance training. Keeping the habit for at least 75 percent of follow-up, and training both upper and lower limbs, lined up with stronger inverse associations. This is observational. Age bands were not in the abstract, so the age tag is all ages. Not medical advice.

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

Read the original at PubMed