Weightlifting can be good for your heart: study

WASHINGTON: A study found that lifting weights less than an hour a week could reduce your risk of heart attack or stroke by 40 to 70%.

Research conducted by Iowa State University (UIS) in the United States also showed that spending more than an hour in the weight room brought no additional benefit.

"People may think that they have to spend a lot of time lifting weights, but only two sets of presses to calibrate that take less than 5 minutes could be effective," said Duck-chul. Lee, Associate Professor at UIS.

The results – among the first to be interested in resistance exercise and cardiovascular disease – show that the benefits of strength training are independent of running, walking or any other aerobic activity.

In other words, you do not have to adhere to the recommended guidelines for aerobic physical activity to reduce your risk; weight training is enough on its own.

Researchers analyzed data from nearly 13,000 adults. They measured three health outcomes: cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and strokes that did not result in death, all cardiovascular events, including death and all types of deaths. Resistance exercises reduced the risk for all three.

Much of the research on strength training has focused on bone health, physical function, and the quality of life of older adults.

When it comes to reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, most people think of running or other cardiovascular activities. Lee said that bodybuilding is as beneficial to your heart as other benefits.

With the help of the same set of data, researchers examined the relationship between exercise resistance and diabetes, as well as high cholesterol or high cholesterol.

Less than an hour of weekly exercise against resistance was associated with a risk of developing a metabolic syndrome of 29%, which increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

The risk of hypercholesterolemia was 32% lower. The results of both studies were also independent of aerobic exercise.

"Muscle is the engine that burns calories, muscle building can move your joints and bones, but it also has metabolic benefits, which I do not think is appreciated," said Lee.

"If you develop muscle, even if you're not aerobic active, you burn more energy because you have more." This also helps prevent obesity and offers benefits to long term on various health outcomes, "he said.