Exciting New Research: Build Muscle, Beat Cancer

A first-of-its-kind study by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has made life-changing discoveries through their research on strength training and cancer risk. We will break down the exciting findings from this study¹ so you can understand why you may need to build muscle to beat cancer.

Cancer Apocolypse

In 2018, approximately 18.1 million people received a cancer diagnosis, with 9.6 million succumbing to the disease globally, positioning cancer as the second most common cause of death worldwide². Within the United States (US), the lifetime likelihood of developing cancer stands at 40% for men and 38% for women³. Moreover, in the US alone, 1.74 million individuals were diagnosed with cancer in 2018.

As health declines globally, cancer diagnoses rise tremendously. In 2023 approximately 2 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed with an estimated death count of over 600,000.⁴ The American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates 2,001,140 new cancer cases in the United States in 2024.⁵ This is the equivalent of 5,480 new cases per day. The ACS also estimates 611,720 cancer deaths in 2024. The number of new cancer cases and cancer deaths are both at an all-time high. The fact of the matter is, these are horrifying statistics. It is more important now than ever to be proactive, get ahead of cancer development, and beat these statistics.

Build Muscle, Beat Cancer – New Research

Numerous studies have firmly established that engaging in aerobic exercise is linked to a reduced risk of cancer development. However, until the ACSM released their study, the link between strength training and cancer survival was never truly studied.

The ACSM study had three primary groups: those who reported no weight lifting, low weight lifting (5 min-1.5 hours per week), or high weight lifting (2-10+ hours per week). It also took into account multiple variables such as age, race, BMI, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, education, age of menarche, age of menopause, hormone use, and pregnancy histories. This study lasted approximately 10 years while using weight lifting as the continuing variable. It followed the progress of 23,346 cases with the 10 different cancer types listed below:

1. 1715 cases of colon cancer
2. 851 cases of kidney cancer
3. 1836 cases of bladder cancer
4. 3288 cases of breast cancer
5. 3480 cases of lung cancer
6. 1187 cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma
7. 795 cases of pancreatic cancer
8. 7213 cases of prostate cancer
9. 527 cases of rectum cancer
10. 2454 cases of melanoma

ACSM Study Findings

Clearly, this is a very well-performed study. The large case study, the extensive length of research, the consideration of multiple life factors, and the one continuous variable give this study a lot of credibility. The ACSM found that colon cancer had the best response to strength training with kidney cancer trailing closely behind.

Participants who engaged in a low amount of weight lifting (5 min to 3hr weekly) had a substantially lower risk of colon cancer with a hazard ratio of 0.64. Kidney cancer risk had similar reductions with a hazard ratio of 0.701. This means that participants who performed 5 minutes to 3 hours of weekly weight training were 36% less likely to develop colon cancer and 30% less likely to develop kidney cancer. The study found no other risk reduction was associated with higher weight lifting levels. Minimal reductions were associated with the risk factors of the 8 other cancer types, but they were not statistically significant.

Physical Activity and Cancer Survival

Since the ACSM study was released further research on the effects of weightlifting and cancer has emerged. A comprehensive pooled analysis revealed that engaging in strength training, whether using gym machines or free weights, is linked to a 31% reduction in the risk of cancer-related mortality⁶. At the molecular level, it has been found that strength training, unlike aerobic exercise, plays a pivotal role in activating mTOR⁷. MTOR controls cellular growth and metabolism, which are frequently disrupted as cancer progresses⁸. The disruption of mTOR leads to tumorigenesis – a pathological process that transforms healthy cells into malignant cells.

As the research has continued, other studies have found positive responses to physical activity and cancer response. The Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) found that a high level of physical activity was associated with a 27% reduced risk of liver cancer when compared to a sedentary lifestyle⁹. Furthermore, consistent participation in strength training is associated with lower blood pressure levels, lending biological validity to the findings of the ACSM study regarding risk factors for kidney cancer.

Sedentary Lifestyle and Cancer Risk

Many cancers arise in the presence of obesity and obesity-related health conditions such as insulin resistance, inflammation leading to cell damage, and heart disease. It is common knowledge that obesity is heavily associated with a sedentary lifestyle. Meta-analysis has consistently found that prolonged sitting time or sedentary behaviors result in a 30%-36% higher risk of endometrial cancer and a 30% higher risk of colorectal cancer¹⁰. Research conducted by the National Cancer Institute revealed that for every two hours spent sitting, the risk of colorectal cancer increased by 8 percent and the risk of endometrial cancer increased by 10 percent¹¹.

Sedentary behaviors have also been found to affect other types of cancers. Two breast cancer trials found that physically active participants had higher rates of disease-free survival and increased times with no signs or symptoms of cancer. Physically active participants also had a minimum 40% lower risk of all-cause mortality¹² as compared to those with an inactive lifestyle. Sedentary behavior is considered to be a major health risk with many physicians calling it the “new smoking”. This means that a lifetime of sitting is just as, if not more, detrimental to health as smoking cigarettes.

Glucose Fuels Cancer

Unfortunately, the full biomechanics of primary and metastatic cancers is still in part a mystery. However, the current scientific findings make a lot of sense for a number of reasons. It is well known that a cancer cell’s preferred fuel source is glucose (sugar). In fact, cancer cells use 200 times more glucose for energy than healthy cells. They really love sugar!

During aerobic activity, the body primarily utilizes glucose as its energy source, transitioning to fat only once the glucose reserves have been depleted. Glucose is also burned during strength training. However, unlike aerobic exercise, elevated glucose metabolism does not stop when the physical activity has stopped. This occurs because strength training promotes muscular growth. Muscle tissue, unlike fat tissue, is metabolically active¹³. Meaning muscle tissue consumes glucose and fatty acids as fuel resulting in less glucose circulating throughout the body.

The benefit of this is tenfold, not only is there less fuel for cancerous or precancerous cells, but there’s also better insulin control. Out-of-control or excessively high insulin results in several serious health conditions such as obesity, chronic inflammation, type 2 diabetes, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), high triglycerides, heart disease, and yes, cancer.

The addition of strength training likely reduces cancer risk and improves cancer survival due to its impact on weight loss, improved heart health, mTOR regulation, and decreased glucose levels. These factors contribute to a healthier body environment that may lower the risk of cancer development and enhance recovery outcomes. Physical activity is also associated with better immune response, allowing the body to protect itself and be more capable of fighting off precancerous cells and malignant tumors.

So ditch that sedentary lifestyle, go out, build muscle, and beat cancer! Let’s make the 2025 cancer statistics the lowest they’ve ever been.

Supporting Research

1. MAZZILLI, KAITLYN M.; MATTHEWS, CHARLES E.; SALERNO, ELIZABETH A.; MOORE, STEVEN C.. Weight Training and Risk of 10 Common Types of Cancer. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 51(9):p 1845-1851, September 2019. | DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000001987 ↩︎
2. Bray F, Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Siegel RL, Torre LA, Jemal A. Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin. 2018;68(6):394–424. Epub 2018/09/13. doi: ↩︎
3. Noone AM, Howlader N, Krapacho M, Miller D, Brest A, Yu M, et al. SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975–2015 Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute; 2018. ↩︎
4. Siegel RL, Miller KD, Wagle NS, Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2023. CA Cancer J Clin. 2023 Jan;73(1):17-48. doi: 10.3322/caac.21763. PMID: 36633525. ↩︎
5. Siegel RL, Giaquinto AN, Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2024. CA Cancer J Clin. 2024 Jan-Feb;74(1):12-49. doi: 10.3322/caac.21820. Epub 2024 Jan 17. Erratum in: CA Cancer J Clin. 2024 Mar-Apr;74(2):203. PMID: 38230766. ↩︎
6. Stamatakis E, Lee IM, Bennie J, et al. Does strength promoting exercise confer unique health benefits? A pooled analysis of eleven population cohorts with all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular mortality endpoints. Am J Epidemiol. 2017;187(5):1102–12. ↩︎
7. Hawley JA, Hargreaves M, Joyner MJ, Zierath JR. Integrative biology of exercise. Cell. 2014;159(4):738–49. ↩︎
8. Guertin DA, Sabatini DM. Defining the role of mTOR in cancer. Cancer Cell. 2007;12(1):9–22. ↩︎
9. Moore SC, Lee IM, Weiderpass E, Campbell PT, Sampson JN, Kitahara CM, et al. Association of Leisure-Time Physical Activity With Risk of 26 Types of Cancer in 1.44 Million Adults. JAMA internal medicine. 2016;176(6):816–25. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.1548. ↩︎
10. Lynch B, Mahmood S, Boyle T. Sedentary behaviour and cancer In: Leitzmann MFea, editor. Sedentary Behaviour Epidemiology: Springer International Publishing; 2018 ↩︎
11. Daniela Schmid, Michael F. Leitzmann, Television Viewing and Time Spent Sedentary in Relation to Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analysis, JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Volume 106, Issue 7, July 2014, dju098, https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/dju098 ↩︎
12. Courneya KS, Segal RJ, McKenzie DC, Dong H, Gelmon K, Friedenreich CM, et al. Effects of exercise during adjuvant chemotherapy on breast cancer outcomes. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2014;46(9):1744–51. Epub 2014/03/19. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000000297.  ↩︎