Is Weight Training Good For Your Skin?

I talk a lot about the importance of lifestyle for skin health. And one of the most important aspects of your lifestyle is making sure to get enough exercise every day. If I could give just one prescription to every single one of my patients, this very well might be the one. 

Getting enough exercise has enormous benefits for basically every aspect of your physical health and even your mental health. I’ve personally experienced this on my own journey. At this point, daily exercise is a non-negotiable for me – I need it in order to feel okay both mentally and physically.

When they think about exercise, most people think about cardio – things like walking, running, cycling, or swimming. This is the type of exercise that gets your heart rate up, gets you out of breath, and makes you sweat a little. And this definitely has benefits. In fact, even just adding a tiny bit of this type of exercise to your day can make a huge difference.

But most of my patients and clients don’t really think about weight training for skin health. When I first started researching this topic, I was surprised to learn what the evidence says about how this type of exercise can impact your skin.

How resistance training benefits your skin

Scientifically, lifting weights falls into an exercise category known as resistance training, which is also sometimes called strength training. This type of exercise involves using your muscles to work against an external force. Besides weight lifting, other types of resistance training include pulling on resistance bands, doing bodyweight exercises, using machines that provide resistance, or doing functional movements like carrying heavy objects.

Research has shown that resistance training can have several different benefits for your skin, including:

• Increased dermal thickness. The dermis is the layer that provides the skin’s structure and strength. It contains proteins like collagen and elastin, along with nerves and blood vessels. One study found that doing resistance training twice a week significantly increased the thickness of the dermis after 16 weeks, while aerobic exercise didn’t have the same effect.

• Increased blood flow to the skin. Blood flow is important, because it brings in the necessary nutrients and cells to maintain skin tissue and repair any damage. Studies have found that a session of weight training increases blood flow to the skin by about 50%.

• Increased production of biglycan. Biglycan is a proteoglycan – a small protein with sugar chains attached. It’s known to be an important structural component of skin, and it also serves as a signaling molecule, helping to regulate inflammation in the skin. One study showed that a resistance training program significantly increased the skin’s production of biglycan. Aerobic exercise didn’t have this effect.

• Reduced inflammation. There is some evidence that resistance training is particularly effective at reducing levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of chronic inflammation. For those living with inflammatory skin conditions, this could translate into fewer and less intense skin flares. Aerobic exercise also reduces inflammation, but the specific markers that it impacts are different – meaning that resistance training and aerobic exercise work together to help keep your immune system balanced.

The many other benefits of resistance training

So resistance training is great for your skin – but that’s not all it does. This type of exercise is important for other aspects of your health as well. It’s been shown to have benefits for your:

• Bone density. This is important for reducing your risk of a fracture (a broken bone). Older people who experience a fracture may lose the ability to live independently and are even more likely to die, so it’s crucial to protect your bone density, especially as you age.

• Muscle mass. Greater muscle mass is strongly correlated with a longer lifespan. It also helps to reduce the risk of falls, and helps you be more functional in your daily life.

• Metabolism. Resistance training builds muscle. Because muscle tissue burns a lot of calories even at rest, regular resistance training raises your metabolic rate, which in turn helps to prevent weight gain (or boost weight loss efforts).

• Heart health. Research has shown that regular weight training significantly reduces the risk of having a heart attack. Building lean muscle helps to reduce the workload on your heart. It also reduces blood pressure and helps to balance your cholesterol levels.

• Mental health. Many studies have shown that resistance training is associated with a reduced risk for mental health issues like depression and anxiety. Resistance training also triggers the release of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which helps to protect brain cells and reduce the risk of age-related cognitive decline.

How to include resistance training in your life

It’s clear that doing some resistance training on a regular basis can have huge benefits. So how can you get started?

There are many different ways to do resistance training. You can try:

• Hand weights

• Resistance training machines

• Resistance bands

• Body weight exercises

If you’re not sure how to get started, it’s a great idea to have a few sessions with a personal trainer at a gym. There are trainers who specialize in working with certain groups, such as women in midlife, seniors, or people with injuries. Your trainer can help you learn how to do resistance training safely, to minimize the risk of injury. They can also introduce you to all of the different options and help you find a routine that will work for your body and that feels sustainable to you.

In most studies, people do resistance training two to three times per week. It’s crucial to ensure that you take rest days to allow your body to heal and recover, so it’s not a good idea to do this type of exercise every single day. For most people, I suggest choosing two or possibly three days per week when you’ll do your resistance training, with at least one rest day in between. (For example, you could choose Tuesday/Saturday, or Monday/Wednesday/Friday.)

Each resistance training session only needs to last about 15 to 20 minutes. The goal is to perform exercises targeting each of the major muscle groups of your body. You could target all of the groups at each session, or you could rotate through different routines, ensuring that all of your muscle groups get a workout at least once per week.

Your trainer can give you specific workout ideas. You can also find tons of ideas for workouts online, although it’s important to be careful, since resistance training can potentially cause injuries if it’s not done correctly. Make sure that you fully understand how to safely perform each exercise.

Adding resistance training to your skin-healthy lifestyle

Exercise is absolutely crucial for your skin and all other aspects of your health. Resistance training has specific benefits for your skin, and it’s worth adding this to your exercise routine. If you’re not consistently getting cardio (aerobic exercise), make sure to include that as well, because it has its own different benefits.

If you’re having trouble finding the time, consider using opportunistic exercise. This involves adding a bit of exercise into your daily life. For example, you could do squats while brushing your teeth, or do planks and lunges while you’re watching TV. You could also choose to carry your groceries instead of using a cart. These are simple ways to add a little extra resistance training into your life, without having to find the time for a full workout.

Once you start to be consistent with resistance training, you’ll see huge benefits, including better skin health. This is certainly a non-negotiable in my own life, and I’ve seen how powerful it is for my patients as well. 

I love to see the transformations that occur when people shift their lifestyle to truly support their own well-being. Reach out if you’d like some support in developing a skin-healthy lifestyle that feels sustainable for you. At the very bottom of this page, there’s a little form where you can contact me.