Resistance Training Linked to Lower CVD Risk in Women

WEDNESDAY, June 24, 2026 (HealthDay News) — For women, resistance training is associated with a lower risk for major cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to a study published online June 17 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Tianyue Zhang, M.D., from The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine in China, and colleagues conducted a prospective cohort study involving 117,025 women from the Nurses” Health Study and Nurses” Health Study II with up to five repeated assessments of physical activity to examine the association between long-term resistance training and risk for major CVD.

The researchers found that 5,459 incident major CVD events occurred during a mean of 14.5 years of follow-up (1,630,964 person-years). Women performing ≥2 hours/week had a significantly lower risk for major CVD compared with those performing no resistance training (hazard ratio, 0.80); a 5 percent lower risk was seen in association with each additional hour/week (hazard ratio, 0.95). A lower risk for major CVD was seen for women who met aerobic activity recommendations (≥15 metabolic equivalent of task hours per week), low sedentary television viewing recommendations (<2 hours/day), and resistance training recommendations (≥1 hour/week) compared with those meeting aerobic and low sedentary television viewing recommendations but not resistance training recommendations (hazard ratios, 0.60 versus 0.73). Stronger inverse associations were seen with greater consistency in maintaining resistance training and engaging in both upper- and lower-limb training.

“We have long encouraged resistance training, and this study provides strong evidence to reinforce that message,” Harlan M. Krumholz, M.D., editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, said in a statement.

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