Movement, sport, is good for your health - so far, so to be expected.
But a new study now shows more precisely how the sport should be structured: Apparently not only those who train their endurance, but also those who regularly lift weights increase their own chances of living longer.
Researchers from the University of Iowa report this in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
The team analyzed data from around 100,000 participants in a cancer screening study, who were divided into four groups based on their activity level.
The researchers followed the recommendations of the World Health Organization, which stipulates 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of intensive (aerobic) physical activity per week.
In addition, participants were asked to indicate how often they exercised with weights.
The result: Strength training and aerobic training are independently associated with a lower risk of death - cases with cancer as the cause of death were excluded.
Those who trained exclusively aerobically had a 24 to 34 percent lower risk of dying in the observation period of 9 years on average than the (physically inactive) reference group.
But even those who didn't do aerobic exercise had a 9 to 22 percent lower risk of dying if they lifted weights instead.
Those who combined both types of training were exposed to the lowest risk of death.
For example, someone who lifted weights once a month and did endurance sports at the lowest level had a 35 percent lower risk, and those who did intensive endurance training even had a 49 percent lower risk.
Conversely, more frequent strength training at lower aerobic exercise intensity did not contribute to a lower risk of death.
In addition, the observed effects were stronger in women than in men, while factors such as access to education, smoking, BMI or ethnicity did not play a significant role.
Participants were primarily white, non-Hispanic, with an average age of 71 years at the time of the survey.