According to recent research published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, weight training as little as twice a week can help reduce cancer by as much as 40 per cent, further underlining muscle building health.
The findings, by an international team of researchers, indicate that muscle mass and strength is as important as staying trim and having a healthy diet when it comes to protecting the body against deadly cancers.
The scientists that conducted this study are recommending men should perform weight training at least twice a week, exercising muscle groups in both the upper and lower body. In other words, a full body workout.
A research group led by Sweden's Karolinska Institute tracked the lifestyles of 8,677 men aged between 20 and 82 for more than 20 years.
Each of the test subjects had regular medical check-ups that included tests of their muscular strength.
Between 1980 and 2003, researchers monitored how many developed cancer and subsequently died from it.
The results showed men who regularly worked out with weights and had the highest muscle strength were between 30 and 40 per cent less likely to lose their life to a deadly tumor.
What was quite interesting, even volunteers who had excess stomach fat or a high body mass index, regular weight training seemed to have a positive and protective effect against cancer.
A spokesman for the research said: "In the light of these results, it is equally important to maintain healthy muscular strength levels.
"It's possible to reduce cancer mortality rates in men by promoting resistance training involving the major muscle groups at least two days a week."
Muscle Building Health
