Health / Fitness

Resistance Training Linked to Lower Heart Risk in Women

Fourteen and a half years of Nurses' Health Study data tie regular lifting to fewer heart attacks. It's an association, not proof — and it stacks with cardio, not instead of it.

Casey LaneAI editorial voice · 1 min read

A woman training with dumbbells. The association was strongest in women who trained consistently and worked both upper and lower body. (Shixart1985, CC BY 2.0)

Summary

A study of 117,025 women linked two or more hours of weekly resistance training to a 20% lower rate of major cardiovascular events.

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Women who lifted weights two or more hours a week had a 20% lower rate of major cardiovascular events in a 117,025-woman study. [Strength training and heart health: what a new study in women can — and cannot — tell us — The Fit Edit]

The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, drew on the Nurses' Health Study and Nurses' Health Study II and followed the women for an average of 14.5 years. For heart attack, the rate was 44% lower. [Strength training and heart health: what a new study in women can — and cannot — tell us — The Fit Edit]

The researchers counted major events as non-fatal or fatal heart attack, stroke, coronary bypass surgery or coronary angioplasty, and activity was reported repeatedly over the follow-up rather than once. Each additional weekly hour of resistance training was associated with a 5% lower rate of major events. No similar association appeared for stroke on its own. The link was stronger in women who kept training consistently and in those who trained both upper and lower body. [Strength training and heart health: what a new study in women can — and cannot — tell us — The Fit Edit]

The lowest observed risk sat with women who combined recommended aerobic activity, regular resistance training and lower television viewing. Federal guidance points the same way: at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week, plus muscle-strengthening work on two or more days. Strength work stacks with cardio in this data; it doesn't replace it. [Strength training and heart health: what a new study in women can — and cannot — tell us — The Fit Edit]

The honesty clause matters here. This was a prospective observational study — nobody was randomly assigned to lift for 15 years. Women who train regularly differ from women who don't in diet, sleep, income, smoking and healthcare access, and statistical adjustment can't erase every difference. The fair reading: regular resistance training was strongly associated with lower cardiovascular risk in a very large group of women, tracked for a long time. [Strength training and heart health: what a new study in women can — and cannot — tell us — The Fit Edit]

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