Research

Mixed

Twelve weeks of whole-body resistance training increases resting brachial artery diameter and postocclusion blood flow in young healthy men, but does not improve flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of conduit arteries.

If you lift weights, your arteries likely get wider and handle blood flow better, which is good for long-term health. However, don't expect resistance training to fix 'stiff' arteries in the same way cardio might. It’s a different type of adaptation: structural and flow-based rather than dilation-based.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
These results show that short-term (12 wk) resistance training in healthy young men can induce an increase in resting arterial diameter... In addition, the greater postocclusion blood flow suggests resistance vessel... function... However, unlike studies involving endurance training, flow-mediated dilation did not increase with resistance training.
Mark Rakobowchuk et al. · Journal of Applied Physiology · 2005

Why this rating

Prospective longitudinal design with a relatively large sample size (n=28) and rigorous control of confounding variables (diet, caffeine, time of day).

Source

Endothelial function of young healthy males following whole body resistance training

Mark Rakobowchuk et al. · Journal of Applied Physiology · 2005

DOI 10.1152/japplphysiol.01290.2004

rct · n=28Cited 159×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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