How much strength work actually moves the needle?

Cardio has carried the public health message for forty years. The data now shows that lifting — or any muscle-strengthening work — cuts mortality risk on its own, on top of whatever cardio you do. The striking part is the dose: the benefit appears to peak somewhere around an hour a week, and adding more does not obviously help.

Strong and consistent observational evidence; the shape of the dose-response curve is still being argued over

Movement & Strength · tracking since 2026-09-03