Lifting weights three times a week can shed 8 years off your biological clock, says new research

‘In this national sample, 90 minutes per week of strength training was associated with 3.9 years less biological ageing, on average,’ the study reads.

‘The findings showed that for each 10 minutes spent on strength training per week, telomeres were 6.7 base pairs longer, on average. Therefore, 90 minutes per week of strength training was predictive of telomeres that were 60.3 base pairs longer, on average. Because each year of chronological age was associated with telomeres that were 15.47 base pairs shorter in this national sample, 90 minutes per week of strength training was associated with 3.9 years less biological ageing, on average. This interpretation suggests that an hour of strength training three times per week (180 total minutes) was associated with 7.8 years less biological ageing.’

The results are compelling proof of just how beneficial consistent strength training can be, and the study goes on to explain exactly how it could reduce biological ageing.

‘As strength training mitigates some of the damage caused by such chronic diseases, reversing muscle loss, raising resting metabolic rate, promoting fat loss, and improving cardiovascular health, it is logical that strength training may limit disease and slow the aging of cells,’ the summary reads. ‘In short, by reducing the effects of chronic disease and metabolic risk factors, resistance training appears to slow the biological ageing process and reduce cell senescence, which is evidenced by longer telomeres.’

There’s plenty of evidence to support the aforementioned benefits, but this is one of the first to pinpoint specifically how long and how often you should strength train to yield the pros, and exactly how many years it could reduce your biological age.

For someone who struggles to stick to a routine, this could be particularly useful – having a concrete programme to stick to with a tangible goal in mind could help you stay accountable, but it’s worth keeping in mind that the time spent strength training was self-reported. As the study’s authors note, this can mean an increase in ‘measurement error’, meaning that you may benefit from the same pros with less or more training time.

It’s also worth considering that time spent strength training was only taken from the previous 30 days, so long-term strength training information couldn’t be evaluated. This could be a good sign – some participants may not have strength trained prior to the intervention, yet still experienced big benefits. But this wasn’t determined beforehand.

Nonetheless, the study was undertaken on a large demographic, and it did control for lifestyle variables including age, sex, race, income and household size.

People in the study who lifted weights most often had telomeres containing around 225 more pieces of DNA than those who didn’t lift weights. We can’t ignore that.

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Bridie is Fitness Director at Women’s Health UK. She spends her days sweating over new workouts, fitness launches and the best home gym kit so you have all that you need to get fit done. Her work has been published in Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan and more. She’s also a part-time yoga teacher with a habit of nodding off mid savasana (not when she’s teaching, promise).