The fountain of youth, can we find it in a dumbbell? Perhaps. While there’s plenty of talk about longevity, have you ever wondered how to reduce skin age or and have the look of younger skin? While many are quick to grab an expensive cream or embark on an extensive skin care routine, the latest research suggests that the answer might be found in resistance training.

Skin

Skin isn’t just something to tattoo, its your body’s largest organ, working as a barrier against infection and disease. Unfortunately, as we age, it doesn’t hold up as well as we’d like. You can blame this on sun exposure, air pollution, hormonal changes and increased levels of inflammatory.

Ageing of The Skin

• Skin elasticity: Picture this, as we grow older, our skin starts to resemble a deflating balloon, because we produce less collagen and elastin. Gravity then steps in and the skin begins to droop and lose its youthful plumpness. Facial lines will become more visible around the facial movement areas, forehead, eyes and mouth as elasticity decreases, Source.
• Upper Dermal Structure: This is your skins frontline of defense against environmental assailants, especially UV radiation. Unfortunately, as we age there is a decrease in cell turnover meaning that it takes longer to replace old cells. This results in a duller complexation and slower wound healing.
• Dermal Thickness: As we age the thickness of the skin reduces, this study suggests that although the number of skin layers remains stable as we age the skin thickness decreases. The thickness decreases particular on the face, neck and upper chest area. This decreases at a rate of about 6.4% per decade on average.

The Science to Younger Skin

 A study published in June 2023 was performed on 56 woman, aged between 45 and 55. Half hit the treadmill for some aerobic action, while the other half decided to embrace their inner Schwarzenegger with resistance training. After 16 weeks, the results were in, and it was a face off – literally!

 Both types of exercises showed fantastic benefits for your skin. Skin elasticity and upper dermal structure was significantly improved in both groups. However when it comes to skin thickness, resistance training proved the winner showing a significant increase in Dermal thickness. Even the participants circulating blood decided to turn back the clock, with decreased inflammatory factors associated with aging.

In a nutshell, the study demonstrated that any exercise is good for you skin, but resistance training is like the VIP spa treatment. It doesn’t just improve your skin; the skin actually grew more youthful improving key age related factors and creating younger skin.

There are some factors to consider here, the study focused on a specific demographic: females aged between 45-55. While the study shows great results in these key factors, skin appearance was not assessed. This study is the first of its kind to show the benefits of resistance training and reducing skin age, so we should expect to have more data in the future.

Benefits of weight training

It has been well documented that resistance training has great benefits, and its not just about looking good in those snug workout clothes.

• Muscle and Joint Protection: Lifting weights improves muscle strength which in turn protects your joints from injury. More muscle also means better balance and coordination. These are very important factors as you age, leaving you more mobile and less likely to be injured or falls in older adults.
• Bone health: Resistance training is like a guardian angel for your bones. It improves bone density and reducing the risk of osteoporosis.
• Chronic disease management: what about the benefits of managing diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, back pain and depression.

So, in summary lifting weights isn’t just about becoming the Greek God or Goddess you always dreamed of, it’s also about living longer, healthier and happier. You’ll be the envy of your peers, both in the gum and on the anti-aging journey.

Training for Younger Skin

In this study the participants show great results from using this simple 3 day full body split.

• Start with a 5 rep warm up on each machine at 50% of your 1 rep max
• Followed by 3 rets of 10 reps on the following machines
• leg curl
• leg extension
• Bicep curl
• Machine row
• Shoulder press
• Chest press
• After each set treat yourself to a 2-3 minute rest.
• Don’t forget to keep things interesting by using progressive overload gradually increasing the machine weight each session.

Conclusion

In the grand quest to cheat the aging game, regular exercise, whether aerobic or resistance training emerges as a true superhero if you want younger skin. However, when it comes to turning back the clock resistance training is the victor. Resistance training didn’t only make skin healthier, the skin actually rejuvenated and grew younger.

Sure, the study didn’t delve into assessing skin appearance, but if your skins thickness, structure and elasticity are improving then so should the appearance.  Now, I cant help but wonder if this explains why The Rock still looks like he’s stuck in his 30s.