Women who add at least two hours of strength training to their weekly routine may lower their risk of heart attack by 44%, according to a new study published in JACC, the journal of the American College of Cardiology. The research analyzed data from more than 117,000 women participating in the Nurses’ Health Study and NHS II.
Strength training benefits heart health.
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What the data shows about strength training and heart risk
Every four years, participants reported how much resistance training they performed each week. The investigators found that women who completed two or more hours of strength training per week lowered their risk of major cardiovascular disease by 20% and their heart attack risk by 44%, compared with those who did no resistance training at all.
For each additional hour of strength training per week, the risk of major cardiovascular disease dropped by 5% and heart attack risk fell by 14%. “These findings suggest that even relatively small amounts of resistance training can meaningfully lower women’s risk of serious heart problems,” said Tianyue Zhang, MD, an endocrinologist at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine and a researcher at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who served as first author.
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Zhang called the risk reduction “clinically important” and noted that the dose‑response relationship—more training, more benefit—strengthens the case for including resistance exercise in prevention strategies. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in women worldwide, and previous research has shown women are more likely than men to die from a heart attack or stroke.
The study also examined how strength training combined with aerobic activity. Women who did at least two hours of strength training plus 150 minutes of aerobic exercise each week had a 45% lower chance of heart attack than those who were sedentary. Those who met weekly recommendations for both types of exercise and watched less than two hours of TV per day had the lowest risks of all for major cardiovascular events, heart attack, and stroke.
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“This shows that resistance training and aerobic exercise work together to give extra heart protection, rather than replacing each other,” said Edward Giovannucci, MD, ScD, professor of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and co‑corresponding author.
Why strength training matters differently for women
“We chose to focus on resistance training because it’s a practical, widely accessible form of exercise that many women can do, yet its specific effects on women’s heart disease risk are not as well understood as aerobic exercise,” explained Giovannucci.
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