Weightlifting is good for your heart and it doesn’t take much

Health and Wellness News
By Isaac Sinclair
11/13/2018

Iowa State researcher DC Lee discovered you dont have to invest a lot of time lifting weights to lower your risk for cardiovascular disease. Photo by Christopher Gannon

Weightlifting for less than an hour a week may reduce your risk for a heart attack or stroke by 40 to 70 percent, according to a new study led by DC (Duck-chul) Lee, an Iowa State University associate professor in kinesiology.  

“People may think they need to spend a lot of time lifting weights, but just two sets of bench presses that take less than 5 minutes could be effective,” Lee said.

Spending more than an hour in the weight room did not yield any additional benefit, the researchers found.

Read full story on the ISU News Service website.

 

Key contacts

DC Lee, Kinesiology, dclee@iastate.edu, 515-294-8042.

Angie Hunt, News Service, amhunt@iastate.edu, 515-294-8986.

Isaac Sinclair, Communications Assistant, hswriter@iastate.edu, 515-294-1326.

By Isaac Sinclair
News

Quick Look

Lifting weights for less than an hour a week may reduce your risk for a heart attack or stroke by 40 to 70 percent, according to a new Iowa State University study. Spending more than an hour in the weight room did not yield any additional benefit, the researchers found. The results show benefits of strength training are independent of running, walking or other aerobic activity.

“People may think they need to spend a lot of time lifting weights, but just two sets of bench presses that take less than 5 minutes could be effective.”
DC Lee