Strength training can do more for you than getting you to pick up heavy things. It can lower your risk of cancer, heart disease or diabetes. It can help your bone density, which is good against fractures. It may even improve your blood lipid profile or blood pressure.

Does Strength Training Improve Health Status

We demonstrated improvements in glucose metabolism with ST independent of changes in body fat or aerobic capacity in subjects with normal (26, 55) as well as in those with abnormal glucose metabolism (56). Furthermore, all subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (prediabetic condition) became normalized following an ST program without significant losses of body fat or increases in aerobic capacity (56).

it has now been demonstrated that ST-induced increases in muscle mass in middle-aged and older men are accompanied by an improvement in glucose metabolism (16, 41, 55, 56), an increase in resting metabolic rate (46), a reduction in regional fat tissue (54), and an increase in bone mineral density (40, 53).

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Further Reading

Hurley, B. “Does Strength Training Improve Health Status?” Strength and Conditioning Journal, Vol. 16 (3), pp. 7-13, 1994. https://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/Citation/1994/06000/Does_Strength_Training_Improve_Health_Status_.1.aspx