A large 2026 study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (30 years’ worth of data about the exercise habits of more than 147,000 men and women), identified how many minutes per week of resistance training/weightlifting leads to the biggest longevity gains, whether people did cardio or not. First, any strength training/resistance exercise, even a few minutes a week, was associated with a lower risk of premature death, especially from cardiovascular disease and neurological conditions. But the real sweet spot? Between 90 and 119 minutes weekly, which was linked to a 13% lower risk of dying prematurely from any cause, a 19% lower risk of dying from heart disease, and a 27% lowered risk of dying from neurological diseases such as dementia. After 119 minutes per week, there were no further gains.
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