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For years, athletes have strived to do a lot of exercise. cardio. And while cardio is still considered a great way to workout, more recent data suggests that adding strength training this blend is a great way to stay strong and healthy.

Of course, adding strength training to your regular routine requires careful thought and planning, especially if you’ve never done it in the past. New research now suggests that strength training could help reduce your biological age, highlighting the importance of adding lifting to your life.

Here are the study results, plus simple ways to incorporate strength training into your life, according to a trainer.

Meet the expert: Albert Matheny, RD, CSCS, co-founder of SoHo Force Lab.

What did the study reveal?

The study, published in the journal Biologyanalyzed the impact of strength training on aging in nearly 5,000 men and women aged 20 to 69.

For the study, researchers looked at participants’ lifespans. telomereswhich are protective DNA caps on the ends of chromosomes, using blood tests. (Telomeres help, among other things, prevent your DNA from being damaged and are typically measured during biological aging.) Participants were also asked how often they exercised, including how often they did strength training.

Ultimately, researchers found that doing 90 minutes of strength training per week was associated with reduced biological aging by almost four years. This means that if you did 180 minutes of strength training per week, you could reduce your biological age by up to eight years.

What are the lessons to be learned from the results?

The results align well with current exercise guidelines in the United States. Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend that adults engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, with at least two days of muscle-strengthening activity per week.

What is the link with aging? The researchers explained this in the study, noting that strength training “mitigates some of the damage caused by these chronic diseases, reversing muscle loss, increasing resting metabolic rate, promoting fat loss and by improving cardiovascular health. As a result, this could “limit diseases and slow down the aging of cells”.

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Basically, the main takeaway is that strength training could help you look biologically younger.

But Albert Matheny, RD, CSCS, co-founder of SoHo Force Labpoints out that all of this was self-reported, meaning it’s possible that some people may have faked or exaggerated the amount of lifting they actually do. There still hasn’t been a specific weightlifting protocol, which leaves a lot of room for variation.

But the study found that more is better when it comes to weightlifting and telomere length. “More hours correlate with longer telomere length,” says Matheny.

Simple ways to start strength training.

If you’ve never lifted weights, it’s understandable to feel a little intimidated. But Matheny says it’s possible to start an easy-to-follow routine without equipment.

“You don’t need weights above body weight to start strength training,” says Matheny. “Start with bodyweight stuff.”

He suggests starting your routine by focusing on larger muscle groups, like your legs and glutes. This means doing things like lunges, squats, walking lunges, step-ups, and step-back lunges. “These are the easiest things to do to recruit large muscle groups,” he says.

To work your upper body, try push-ups and pull-ups. “For push-ups, you can start with a plank, which is strength training,” says Matheny. You can do kneeling push-ups if a full push-up seems like too much. “For pull-ups, you can use a band (to help you) and progress,” he says.

To challenge yourself, simply add more reps, go higher, or use fewer aids to achieve full-body resistance, says Matheny.

“Once you’ve harnessed that, start adding weights,” says Matheny. “Then, ideally, you go to the gym.”

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