How beneficial is resistance exercise for healthy aging and longevity?

The current state of knowledge highlights a state of stark contrast between the proven beneficial effects of resistance exercise and its hypothetical negative impact, with increased risk of mortality, for volumes exceeding 150 min per week, through the changes in cardiovascular functions including an increase in vascular stiffness.

This dichotomy is not currently resolved due to the lack of adequate consideration of numerous confounding factors such as age, sex, pre-existing medical conditions, diet, sleeping habits, medication/supplements intakes, associated endurance activities, as well as the lack of a precise analysis of frequency, intensity, and volume of exercise.

So, currently, the limitations in the scientific approach to the problem do not allow to establish with certainty whether an U-shape relationship between resistance exercise and risk of mortality exists; neither it is currently possible to draw safe conclusions on the possible impact of gender on the physiological determinants of longevity when resistance exercise is acutely or chronically performed.

Considering the fact that the time dedicated to resistance activities often exceeds the above mentioned cut-off of 150 minutes per week, it is of fundamental importance to clarify whether and to what extent and in which terms resistance exercise impacts on the human health and mortality.

To clarify this issue and help finding a consensus within the scientific community on this primary question, this research topic aims to collect original scientific works, narrative reviews and meta-analyses which rigorously consider the effects of resistance exercise, appropriately excluding confounding factors, on positive and negative physiological determinants of longevity.