Do Not Discount Strength Training Effects On Telomeres Yet!!!

Do not write off strength training as a telomere lever yet

A new study has been making the rounds and I want to weigh in, because it reiterates something I have been saying for several years. Endurance training and HIIT may lengthen telomeres and improve healthspan and lifespan. Strength training does not appear to lengthen telomeres in the same way.

That has led some readers to ask me whether they should stop strength training and just run or do HIIT. The simple answer is no, absolutely not.

Here is the important point: strength training does not appear to shorten telomeres globally. It just does not lengthen them. That is a different conversation. Plenty of work shows that strength training is an essential part of fitness and may improve longevity by other mechanisms, such as preserving muscle mass, insulin sensitivity, and bone density. It just does not do it through telomere elongation. Reaching your non-telomere-enhanced physical limit is a different game from turning on telomerase and potentially lengthening both lifespan and healthspan.

One thing I liked about this particular paper was that it looked at different types of telomere assays, including some that are more robust than QPCR. QPCR still dominated, which is a limitation. It was also not clear to me whether the data was pooled across measurement types rather than unified under a single assay across all participants. Whenever you mix telomere measurement methods, the noise gets very loud.

So what should you actually do? Train all three. Strength, endurance, and HIIT. If you are an aging adult, you cannot afford to skip strength work, no matter what any single study says about telomere length. The data on falls, fractures, frailty, and metabolic health is overwhelming.

The reference for the study referenced above:

Werner CM et al. Differential effects of endurance, interval, and resistance training on telomerase activity and telomere length in a randomized, controlled study. Eur Heart J. December 2018.

Dr. Dave