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Written By: Editorial Team | Published : November 15, 2018 7:59 PM IST
Weight lifting provides long-term benefits on various health outcomes. © Shutterstock
A new study suggests that if you indulge in weightlifting for less than an hour a week it may reduce your risk for a heart attack or stroke by 40 to 70 per cent. According to the Day After India report, when compared with no resistance exercise, weight lifting was associated with a 29 per cent lower risk of developing metabolic syndrome including diabetes. Even the risk of high cholesterol was lowered by 32 per cent.
However, the researchers said that spending more than an hour in the weight room did not yield any additional benefit.
Duck-Chul Lee, Associate Professor from the Iowa State University in the US, reportedly said that people may think that they need to spend a lot of time lifting weights but just 2 sets of bench presses that take less than 5 minutes could be effective.
As results, some of the first to look at resistance exercise and cardiovascular disease show benefits of strength training are independent of running, walking or other aerobic activity.
In other words, weight training alone is enough, one does not need to meet the recommended guidelines for aerobic physical activity to lower your risk.
Reportedly, Lee also said that lifting any weight that increases resistance on your muscles is the key.
The findings of the research have been published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. For the study, the team included 13,000 adults with a mean age of 47 years.
However, the researchers recognised that unlike aerobic activity, resistance exercise is not as easy to incorporate into a daily routine. Hence, hitting a gym may be more beneficial.
Lee noted that muscle is the power plant to burn calories. Building muscle helps move your joints and bones and also helps prevent obesity. Also, weight lifting provides long-term benefits on various health outcomes.
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