Older adults who take part in regular weightlifting — either with or without moderate to vigorous aerobic activity — show significant reductions in all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality, with the strongest effects observed when the two types of exercise are combined, new research shows.

“The novel finding from our study is that weightlifting is independently associated with lower all-cause and CVD-specific mortality, regardless of aerobic activity,” first author Jessica Gorzelitz, PhD, told Medscape Medical News.

“What’s less surprising — but consistent and nonetheless noteworthy — is that weightlifting in combination with aerobic exercise provides the lowest…risk for mortality in older adults,” added Gorzelitz, an assistant professor of health promotion in the Department of Health and Human Physiology at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

Those who undertook weightlifting and aerobic exercise in combination had around a 40% lower risk of death than those who reported no moderate to vigorous aerobic activity or weightlifting. The findings were recently published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Physical activity guidelines generally recommend regular moderate to vigorous aerobic physical activity, in addition to at least 2 days per week of muscle-strengthening exercise for all major muscle groups for adults to improve health and boost longevity.

However, few observational studies have examined the association between muscle strengthening and mortality, and even fewer have looked specifically at the benefits of weightlifting, Gorzelitz said.

Benefit of Weightlifting Stronger in Women Than Men

To investigate, Gorzelitz and coauthors evaluated data on participants in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial, which, initiated in 1993, and involved adults aged 55-74 at 10 US cancer centers.

Those reporting weightlifting had a 9% lower risk of combined all-cause mortality and CVD mortality, after adjustment for any moderate to vigorous physical activity (each hazard ratio [HR], 0.91).

Adults who met aerobic activity recommendations but did not weightlift had a 32% lower risk of all-cause mortality (HR, 0.68), while those who also reported weightlifting 1-2 times per week in addition to the aerobic activity had as much as a 41% lower risk of death (HR, 0.59) compared with adults reporting no moderate to vigorous aerobic activity or weightlifting.

The benefit of weightlifting in terms of cancer mortality was only observed without adjustment for moderate to vigorous physical activity, and was therefore considered null, which Gorzelitz noted was somewhat surprising. “We will examine this association further because there could still be a signal there,” she said, noting other studies have shown that muscle strengthening activity is associated with lower cancer-specific mortality.

Of note, the benefit of weightlifting appeared stronger in women versus men, Gorzelitz said.