New Research Shows How Resistance Training May Help Reduce Cardiovascular Disease Risk

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) most recent data, one in every five deaths in America is caused by heart disease, and physical inactivity is a prominent risk factor. When looking to increase activity to support heart health, you might think that cardio movement is the most effective method, but new research suggests that a variety of types of movement can help you reap cardiovascular health benefits. Movement can take almost any form: standing, gardening, cooking, dancing, etc. And mounds of research have shown that even short bouts of exercise may help improve heart health. Now, for people with cardiovascular disease risks like overweight or elevated blood pressure, a new study is helping to determine just how much more flexible you can be with exercise when it comes to your heart.

What This Study on Exercise Found

According to a new study published January 17, 2024, in the European Heart Journal, a combination of aerobic exercise and resistance training may help lower the risk of cardiovascular disease in people with obesity or overweight and elevated blood pressure.

The researchers at Iowa State University studied 406 adults between ages 35 and 70. Throughout the year-long follow up period, all participants were given counseling on the ​​Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet by a registered dietitian to encourage heart health-conscious eating behaviors. In addition, participants were split into four groups for supervised, 60-minute exercise sessions three times per week: 

• Resistance Training: This group used weightlifting machines to perform exercises like the leg press and lat pulldown.
• Aerobic Exercise: This group used treadmills, stationary bikes and elliptical machines for moderate-to-intense cardio.
• Combination: This group performed resistance exercises for half the time and aerobic exercise for the other half.
• No Exercise: This group received nutritional guidance but did not exercise.

Researchers continually monitored risk factors of cardiovascular disease in participants. These included blood pressure levels, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, fasting glucose and body fat percentage.

At the end of the year, researchers found that only two groups had a significant reduction in heart-related disease factors: the aerobic exercise and combination groups. While the aerobic exercise group proved most efficient at using oxygen in the muscles, the combination group significantly improved in both cardiovascular and muscular fitness. Nonetheless, the reduction in heart-related disease factors overall was equal for both groups.

According to the study, this research could be paramount in pinpointing the best heart-healthy balance between aerobic and resistance exercise. The researchers write, “These findings may help develop clinical and public health practices and recommendations for the [roughly] 2 billion adults with overweight or obesity worldwide who are at increased risk of [cardiovascular disease].” 

It’s worth noting that more research on a larger, more diverse participant pool is needed to draw conclusions on the effects of aerobic and resistance exercises on long-term heart health.

The Bottom Line

When it comes to the heart, there’s no right or wrong way to increase movement. Any physical activity can be beneficial in improving your cardiovascular fitness and reducing risk factors for heart-related diseases. So, if you don’t like walking, running and cycling as much as you do lifting weights and performing repetitions, new research is starting to suggest that a mix of the two kinds of exercise is just as effective for improving heart health.

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