Physical activity is recommended by the World Health Organisation to prevent and manage chronic diseases. Although they specifically recommend muscle strengthening exercise of moderate or higher intensity, targeting all major muscle groups on two or more days per week, these recommendations are mostly based on the benefits of aerobic exercise.

There is strong evidence of the importance of muscle strengthening in reducing morbidity in people with chronic diseases, as muscle strengthening is associated with better metabolic health (through improved glucose and lipid metabolism, reduction of blood pressure, depression, risk of mortality, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer of the colon and kidney).

Muscle-strengthening exercise, regardless of mode, duration or volume, is associated with a reduced risk of diabetes, heart, respiratory and musculoskeletal disorders and anxiety/depression. These associations remained after adjustment for as many sociodemographic and behavioural factors as possible. Participation in exercise with one's own body weight for 60 minutes or more and in strengthening at the gym for about 21-59 minutes led to the lowest prevalence of having two or more chronic health conditions, and here participation at a high or low volume led to an equal prevalence.This information can really encourage people to do muscle training regularly and can lower the barriers to doing so, since for all chronic health conditions the prevalence was lower when doing some muscle strengthening than when not!Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)