Older adults could benefit!

New research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine says that regularly exercising with weights is linked to a lower risk of premature death, and is the largest study of its kind.

In an article in The Guardian, it's pointed out that while aerobic exercise is consistently associated with a lower risk of premature death, until now it was not clear if working out with weights might have similar effects.

In an attempt to plug this knowledge gap, the researchers set out to evaluate the potential impact of exercising with weights and aerobic activities on the risk of premature death among older adults.

Researchers led by academics at the US’s National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Maryland examined data on almost 100,000 adults taking part in a US screening study.

Participants, who had an average age of 71, gave information on their weightlifting activity and any other exercise they took part in.