#11 Programming Exercise for Longevity
Learn about new research that breaks down the best balance of cardio and weight training for longevity.
Cardio. Weight training. High-intensity exercise. Which one is best for longevity? New research suggests that a balanced approach to training is the answer.
This study included over 500,000 adults from 1997 to 2018 from the US National Health Interview Survey with at least two years of follow-up data.
One caveat from this data is that nearly 30,000 people were removed from missing data, inability to do aerobic exercise, inability to do muscle strengthening exercise, or having functional limitations. Thus, there could be some healthy user bias in this sample.
Participants
Here’s a breakdown of participants split into 4 groups.
Here’s how the researchers broke down participants into groups:
Aerobic exercise activity
This categorized participants into 2 groups:
1) recommended
≥150 min/wk of moderate-intensity or ≥75 min/wk of vigorous-intensity
2) lower than recommended
Muscle strengthening activity
This categorized participants into 2 groups:
1) recommended
≥2 times/wk
2) lower than recommended
Overall Results
First is the rate of death from all causes split up by those with lower than recommended (blue) and recommended amounts of muscle strengthening activity (orange).
The bottom grid cutoffs are for moderate-intensity exercise and the left grid cutoffs are for vigorous-intensity exercise (i.e., aerobic training type subgroups). Lower numbers/lighter shades are optimal.
The first takeaway is the not-too-surprising finding that the rate of death is higher in the blue grid than the orange grid for any aerobic exercise combination - i.e., muscle strengthening was helpful to reduce risk.
Interestingly, the lowest risk was at modest levels of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise.
For non-lifters, the optimal balance was 75-150 min/wk of vigorous and 0-75 min/wk of moderate aerobic exercise. For lifters, the optimal balance was >150 min/wk of vigorous and 0-75 min/wk of moderate aerobic exercise.
Now, you may wonder what exactly delineates moderate and vigorous aerobic activity. The CDC has a helpful document for this. You’ll see that this is split up by METs. One MET is the amount of energy used while sitting quietly. Three to six METs is moderate and over six METs is vigorous intensity.
Fishing with a spear? 2.3 METs. Planting trees? 4.5 METs. Carrying groceries upstairs? 7.5 METs. (resource)
Cardiovascular Disease
The authors also split up the data for cardiovascular disease (next) and cancer (next section) specifically.
You can see a bit more variability in where the lowest values are. For the orange graph, there are two 0.9’s. So I suppose you could choose between some extra vigorous or extra moderate exercise onto your base of activity in both areas.
Cancer
Unlike the two pairs of graphs above, there’s a different story for cancer.
The optimal pattern was 0-75 min/wk of vigorous and >300 min/wk of moderate aerobic exercise, with strength training helping lower the rate of cancer death a bit more.
Another caveat from this dataset is that the exercise habit survey was done only once and was self-reported. It’s very possible habits changed over the observation period. Plus, people aren’t so great at reporting how much exercise they actually do.
Summary
Despite the limitations of this report, the best combination of exercise for longevity was to strength train at least twice per week, do moderate aerobic exercise for up to 75 minutes per week, and do at least 150 minutes of vigorous exercise per week.
Thanks for reading. Please share your thoughts, comments, or questions!
Stay curious,
Joe
Resources
How to start an exercise program: here & here
Keep it simple. There’s a neat list of activities with their MET level here. Pick your favorite. The best exercise is the one you can do sustainably.