The Strength Training Magic Number: How Many Minutes a Week Do You Need to Lift?
I’ve been advising people to lift weights for 4 decades.
Not just for the obvious reasons--stronger muscles, better posture, healthier joints--but because I’ve always believed the benefits run far deeper than what you can see in the mirror.
Now we have the numbers to back that up.
What the Research Says About Resistance Training and Lifespan
A new study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine followed 147,374 men and women for 30 years, tracking their exercise habits and cross-referencing them with death records. Researchers wanted to determine whether strength training alone, or combined with aerobic exercise, could influence mortality risks.
It’s one of the largest and longest-running investigations into resistance training and longevity ever conducted.
Any amount of strength training — even a few minutes a week — was found to be associated with a lower risk of premature death than doing none at all. That held true for people who werealreadywalking, running, or doing other aerobic exercise.
Early in my career (back in the ‘80s), the standard advice for living a long, healthy life was heavily biased toward cardio. While aerobic exercise is a foundational pillar of health, lifting adds something that cardio alone can’t replicate.
The Minimum vs. The Optimal
Many people approach strength training with a “minimum requirement” mindset. Two days a week....check the box....move on....
That’s better than nothing, but the research suggests there’s a significant difference between doing enough to survive and doing enough to thrive.
The magic number became obvious--90 to 119 minutes of strength training per week.
People who hit that range had:
13% lower risk of dying prematurely from any cause
19% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease
18% to 21% lower risk of cancer-related death(at even lower thresholds of 1–59 minutes).
A27% lower risk of dying from neurological diseases,such as Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
That last number is worth noting--a collective hour and a half to two hours a week pushing and pulling weights reduces your risk of dying from a neurodegenerative brain disease by over a quarter.
Beyond 120 minutes per week, additional benefits flattened out. More lifting didn’t hurt, but it didn’t add more longevity benefit. It doesn’t require grinding yourself into the ground. It’s a specific, achievable target.
How to Get 90 Minutes Into Your Week
Once you break it down into a weekly routine, it’s surprisingly manageable.
If you train two to three times a week, you need roughly 30-40 minutes of actual lifting per session to hit the lower end of that range. Not 30-40 minutes in the gym—30-40 minutes of focused resistance work.
When researchers talk about “minutes of strength training,” they mean time actually lifting—not the warmup or the mobility work at the end or those moments of catching your breath or chatting between sets.
You don’t need to be a bodybuilder. You simply need a focused training program that hits your major muscle groups, challenges your stabilizers, and moves your joints safely through their natural ranges of motion
Why Muscle Tissue Protects Your Lifespan
The study was observational, meaning it tracks associations rather than proving cause-and-effect. But there’s plenty of supporting exercise science that would explainwhyyour body rewards you for building muscle:
1. Lifelong Metabolic Health: Active muscle tissue acts as a massive metabolic sink for glucose. The more muscle you preserve as you age, the better your body manages blood sugar, processes insulin, and fends off metabolic decline.
2. Fall and Fracture Prevention: As we age, we naturally lose muscle mass and bone density. Resistance exercise causes your bones to remodel and get stronger, while building the structural stability required to prevent a dangerous slip or trip.
3. Brain Rejuvenation: When you challenge a muscle against resistance, it releases chemical substances and specialized proteins into your bloodstream. These compounds travel to your brain, where they jump-start youthful biological processes, protect neurons, and sharpen cognitive health.
The Ultimate Longevity Combo
The lowest mortality risk in the study belonged to people who combined strength training with aerobic exercise.
Aerobic activities included brisk walking, running, swimming, cycling, tennis, squash, strenuous outdoor work, and stair climbing.
Those who did meaningful amounts of both aerobic and strength training had up to a 45-58% lower risk of death,compared to people who did neither.
I aim for training 4 days a week in ~30-minute segments because that’s what fits my schedule, in addition to running 3 days a week and a long walk on Sundays. Even when you work amidst weights, it still can be a challenge to find time for your own workout but the data shows it’s worth it!
Your Weekly Longevity Checklist:
Strength: 90 to 119 minutes of focused, full-body resistance training.
Cardio: At least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (such as brisk walking, cycling, swimming, or dancing), OR 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity.
Lifestyle: Keep sedentary time (like recreational TV) under 2 hours a day.
If you’re not sure where to start — or want to make sure you’re training in a way that counts — that’s what we do at TrainSmarter.
Reach out at [email protected] or text 205-255-1561 to learn more.
