A pooled data analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine reveals the powerful efficiency of strength training.
Just 30 to 60 minutes of muscle-strengthening activity every week is linked to a 10–20% lower risk of death from all causes. This goes to show that just a small amount gym strength work provides significant protection against the development of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.
Crucially, there is no conclusive evidence that exercising for more than one hour per week provides further reduction in risk. The analysis points to a J-shaped curve for most outcomes, suggesting that when it comes to longevity benefits, optimal returns are achieved quickly, and more isn't necessarily better. These protective benefits are observed regardless of the amount of aerobic exercise performed.
Muhdo Longevity Research
Over the last nine years, Muhdo has analysed tens of thousands of people globally, representing an extremely diverse genetic pool to work through and understand.
We obviously look at a whole variety of diet, lifestyle and environmental factors to better ascertain what effects they both individually and collectively have on epigenetic signatures (how your genes function) and the ageing process.
Ageing, as the term suggests, is the progression of age and therefore becoming “older”. We use the term for nearly all living things. Human ageing is often just represented in time and how many years the person has been alive, however new methods of assessing ageing such as epigenetic DNA methylation clocks may be more accurate in their assessment of age when in relation to health or longevity.
When most people think of ageing and DNA, they consider telomeres, with cell death being attributed to telomere shortening. Some might therefore call telomere shortening our biological clock. However, this has been disputed, and recent studies indicate that telomere shortening might not have a dramatic impact on lifespan, although it will have some.
DNA methylation clocks, such as the Muhdo Health Methylpace clock (which was peer reviewed in May this year) have been associated with all mortality with the removal of accidental injury.
Unlike time, we can reverse the epigenetic clock or speed it up through environmental factors including diet and exercise.
Resistance Training vs. Ageing
We have analysed data from 474 individuals in our database to try and find clues to how we can begin reversing the clock, improving quality and perhaps quantity of life.
The database analysis for this blog looks at resistance training at 30m/+ per week at moderate level (5+ RPE) averaging out each group’s chronological and biological age.
The results indicate that resistance exercise does, in fact, reduce ageing, however the benefits are seen in those that train at least three times per week.
Those that trained four times per week showed to have the largest reduction in age (-6 years).
Those that trained seven times per week were beginning to show little reduction in age (-1 years).
Interestingly, this shows that more exercise is not always superior, but it is still recommended to none at all. Overtraining and burnout may have a role to play in the loss of benefit when training seven days per week.
