Study links 90 minutes strength to 3.9 years

Life Time’s annual wellness survey and two separate academic findings appear to be the basis for a social-media claim that strength training has overtaken weight loss and that 90 minutes a week can cut biological aging by 3.9 years. The survey number — 42.3% of respondents choosing “get physically stronger” as their primary 2026 health goal — comes from a December 30, 2025 company release. (news.lifetime.life) The aging figure comes from a peer-reviewed paper published October 30, 2024 in the journal *Biology*. The post’s cardiovascular claim for women also tracks to a different, earlier study on exercise and mortality, not to the telomere paper. (mdpi.com) ### Where did the 42.3% figure come from? (news.lifetime.life) Life Time said on December 30, 2025 that 42.3% of respondents in its annual wellness survey named getting physically stronger as their primary health goal for 2026, making it the top response in the company’s results. The same release said 46.5% planned to lift more weights in the new year and 82% planned to focus more on overall health and wellbeing. Danny King, Life Time’s director of recovery and performance, said in the release that “strength training is the new weight loss.” The survey release did not, in the excerpt available, spell out the sample size or full methodology, which limits how far the result can be generalized beyond Life Time’s audience and respondents. (news.lifetime.life) ### What study is behind the “3.9 years” aging claim? A paper published October 30, 2024 in *Biology* examined 4,814 U.S. men and women using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data and reported that 90 minutes per week of strength training was associated with 3.9 fewer years of biological aging on average. (news.lifetime.life) The authors were Larry A. Tucker and Carson J. Tucker of Brigham Young University. The study used telomere length in blood cells as its marker of biological aging and relied on a cross-sectional design, meaning it measured associations at one point in time rather than testing whether strength training directly caused slower aging. The paper said researchers adjusted for age, sex, race, income, household size, smoking, body size and other physical activity. (news.lifetime.life) ### Does that paper also show a 30% lower cardiovascular risk in women? The 30% figure does not appear to come from the *Biology* paper. A February 20, 2024 NIH news release summarizing a National Institutes of Health-supported study said women who did strength training had a 30% lower risk of cardiovascular-related death, compared with 11% for men. (mdpi.com) The American College of Cardiology’s summary of the same research said weekly strength training reduced cardiovascular-related death by 30% in women and 11% in men. That study addressed mortality risk, not biological aging, and it was separate from the telomere analysis. (mdpi.com) ### Are these findings proof that lifting weights causes longer life? The *Biology* paper described an association, not proof of cause and effect. Its authors used observational NHANES data and self-reported strength-training habits, which can show links but cannot rule out that people who lift weights also differ in other health behaviors. The NIH-backed exercise study was also observational, drawing on more than 400,000 U.S. adults and comparing reported activity with later mortality outcomes. (nih.gov) NIH said the findings showed women may realize larger benefits from regular exercise than men, but the release did not present the results as a randomized trial. ### What can be verified, and what remains unclear? (acc.org) The verifiable pieces are specific. Life Time publicly released the 42.3% survey figure on December 30, 2025. *Biology* published the 4,814-person telomere paper on October 30, 2024. NIH and the American College of Cardiology separately summarized a study finding a 30% lower risk of cardiovascular-related death for women who did strength training. (mdpi.com) The missing piece is a single study tying all three claims together. The available evidence indicates the social-media post combined a company survey with at least two separate research findings. Readers can check the December 30, 2025 Life Time release, the October 30, 2024 *Biology* paper by Larry A. (nih.gov) Tucker and Carson J. Tucker, and the February 20, 2024 NIH summary of the women-and-exercise study. (news.lifetime.life)