The Best Exercise to Live Longer, According to 147,374 People

Over 30 years of follow-up across three US cohorts, the lowest mortality risk was found in people who did both high volumes of aerobic activity and regular resistance training: 45% to 58% lower risk than the least active group. The 2026 British Journal of Sports Medicine analysis tracked 147,374 participants and recorded 35,798 deaths. The answer to “which one” turns out to be “both, in that order”.

How much does each type of exercise contribute?

Aerobic activity did the heavier lifting. Any level above 7.5 MET hours per week was associated with 26% to 43% lower mortality risk. Resistance training alone, at 1 to 119 minutes per week, was associated with a more modest 7% to 11% lower risk.

But resistance training had its own dose curve, and it was not linear. Between 90 and 119 minutes per week was associated with 13% lower all-cause mortality, 19% lower cardiovascular mortality and 27% lower neurological disease mortality. Above 120 minutes per week, no further benefit appeared. Cancer mortality showed a different pattern again, with reductions at low volumes only: 21% at 1 to 29 minutes per week and 18% at 30 to 59 minutes.

That is a more generous curve than the previous benchmark. A 2022 meta-analysis of 16 prospective cohorts in the same journal found maximum risk reduction of roughly 10% to 20% at 30 to 60 minutes per week of muscle-strengthening activity, with a J-shape suggesting no added benefit beyond an hour. The 2026 analysis, with longer follow-up and repeated measurement every two years, puts the plateau higher. Both are observational, and the newer study notes that people doing more strength training were younger, leaner and more active overall.

What does this mean in practice?

The combination is where the numbers concentrate. In the 2026 analysis, adding resistance training reduced mortality risk further at every level of aerobic activity up to 45 MET hours per week. Neither substitutes for the other. The same combination of aerobic volume and consistent wake-time regularity anchors a morning routine built on this same evidence.

Three things are worth noting about how the data was collected. Activity was self-reported. The study excluded calisthenics and Pilates from its definition of resistance training. And it captured no information on session intensity or duration, which means the dose figures are approximate. This is association across a large, long-followed but occupationally narrow population of health professionals, not a randomized trial.

The bottom line

• Combining high aerobic activity with resistance training was associated with 45% to 58% lower mortality risk across 147,374 people over 30 years
• 90 to 119 minutes per week of resistance training was associated with 13% lower all-cause and 27% lower neurological disease mortality, with no added benefit above 120 minutes
• Aerobic activity alone accounted for a 26% to 43% reduction, making it the larger single contributor