Your cardio routine could help you live longer. Learn how to optimize your aerobic workouts for longevity.
With just a single session, aerobic exercise can bring about noteworthy mental and physical health benefits, from reduced stress to improved sleep and lower blood pressure. But if you stick with your three-mile treadmill runs, long bike rides, and laps in the pool, the perks become even more profound — and you may live longer, too.
There’s a clear link between endurance exercise and longevity, says Michael Crandall, CSCS, PN2, a Tier X trainer at E by Equinox - Hudson Yards. This type of training involves repeated contractions of large skeletal muscle groups, and it’s typically performed at a submaximal intensity, so it can be sustained for prolonged periods. Over time, it can lead to cardiovascular and metabolic adaptations that may extend your lifespan.
Ahead, experts break down why endurance training can help promote longevity and share how to incorporate this style of exercise into your routine in a way that supports — not harms — your health.
The Benefits of Endurance Training for Longevity
Whether your aerobic activity of choice is swimming, biking, rowing, or even walking, engaging in endurance exercise may prove beneficial for your lifespan. In a study of more than 122,000 people, researchers found that increased cardio fitness levels were associated with reduced risk-adjusted all-cause mortality. Individuals with extreme cardiorespiratory fitness were also found to have the greatest survival.
Other research suggests that aerobic endurance athletes may have a life expectancy that’s 4.3 to 8 years higher than people who engaged in “normal” physical activity. And increases in VO₂ max (read: the maximum amount of oxygen you can use during intense exercise, which is an indicator of aerobic endurance) have been correlated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease development and all-cause mortality.
Even walking more throughout the day can have a positive impact. For example, taking a higher number of steps each day has also been linked with reduced risk of all-cause mortality, says Crandall.
There are likely two main factors contributing to endurance training’s longevity-enhancing effect, says Crandall. The first: the health of your heart, he notes. When performed regularly, moderate to vigorous aerobic activity strengthens your heart, which improves its ability to pump blood to your lungs and throughout your body, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Over time, aerobic exercise can also increase stroke volume (the amount of blood pumped per heartbeat) and lower resting heart rate, both of which are linked with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.
Your body’s ability to remove lactate — a metabolic byproduct of exercise — from your blood may also come into play, says Crandall. “People who are above-averagely trained in cardiovascular endurance do a great job of recycling lactate out of the blood,” he notes. “When people are efficient at recycling lactate, they have really healthy metabolisms that combat all sorts of chronic metabolic diseases.”
When Endurance Training Can Be Harmful
While endurance exercise has been shown to support longevity, it may be possible to do too much of a good thing, says Michael Fredericson, M.D., the director of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Sports Medicine at Stanford and the co-director of the Stanford Longevity Center. “If you're exercising just for longevity benefits and physical fitness, moderate exercise is sufficient to give you that,” he says. “Somewhere around two and a half to five hours a week of moderate or vigorous activity is really sufficient. Once you get closer to about 10 hours a week, you may actually lose some of those benefits and cause potential harm.”
In fact, chronic, excessive endurance exercise has been found to negatively impact cardiovascular health. Ultra-endurance races may cause acute heart damage, and veteran endurance athletes may have an increased risk for myocardial fibrosis (thickening of the heart’s walls) and coronary calcification (the build-up of calcium in your coronary arteries), according to the journal Missouri Medicine. Regularly participating in endurance sports has also been shown to increase the risk of atrial fibrillation (an irregular and often rapid heart rhythm that can lead to blood clots) five-fold, per the journal.
That said, research supporting this tipping point is mixed. In a 2022 study, researchers found that participants who performed two to four times more than the recommended amount for moderate-intensity aerobic activity (a total of 300 to 600 minutes per week) had a 28 to 38 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality and 26 to 31 percent lower risk of mortality from all causes. In comparison, participants who met the aerobic activity guidelines had only a 20 to 21 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality.
Regardless of how much time you spend on it, endurance exercise may have negative impacts if you’re training improperly, says Crandall. “When most lay people go on a run, they are not usually in the aerobic zone and are [instead] running at an intensity where lactate builds up in the blood,” he explains. “This is a harsh stressor on the body and would require more strategic ways to recover…If someone did that week after week after month after year, it could result in serious wear and tear on the body.” However, training within your aerobic zones (for example, 64 to 76 percent of your max heart rate for moderate-intensity exercise) can reduce the stress your body experiences and mitigate those potentially harmful effects, he adds.
How to Use Endurance Training to Promote Longevity
True endurance-training beginners will want to program two types of cardio sessions into their routine, says Crandall. One workout should be a long-distance run or bike ride in which your heart rate stays within zones 1 or 2 (less than 60 percent or 60 to 70 percent of your max heart rate, respectively); you should be able to comfortably breathe through your nose during these sessions, he says.
The second workout should be focused on tempo work: Try intervals in which you run for 3 minutes at a higher intensity (say, a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10), then walk for 1 minute, he suggests. “[These sessions help you] develop the skill of running at faster speeds, while still using that rest break to keep the entire workout aerobic (using oxygen to create energy),” says Crandall. “...This rest break allows for your metabolism to catch up with any blood lactate that is starting to accumulate, thus helping you continue to use oxygen to burn fat and fuel the workout.” As you progress, work your way up to hitting the recommended 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity each week, says Dr. Fredericson.
To promote longevity specifically, aim to complete two to four hours of zone 2 exercise each week, says Crandall. “Some studies show that doing 300 minutes a week [rather than 150 minutes] might give you more benefits for longevity, but going past that is probably going to have diminishing returns, and then you're starting to get into potential harm,” says Dr. Fredericson. Take this time to listen to a podcast, watch a movie, or think through a problem that’s been weighing on you, he adds. What matters most is choosing an activity you enjoy, he adds.
Don’t forget to maintain your strength-training routine, either, says Dr. Fredericson. “They've done studies comparing those who just did aerobic activity, those who did strength training, and those who did both,” he says. “In people who do both activities, their cardiovascular mortality risk is decreased, their longevity is increased, and even their risk of cancers decreased.”
Essentially, a well-rounded routine is a must — and that means you shouldn’t overlook recovery. “I think that part of what induces this chronic stress in the heart, in my opinion, is you don't allow yourself to recover,” he says. “So the heart is always in a chronically stressed state.” Take at least 24 hours to rest in between sessions.
The bottom line: “If your goal is if you're exercising for longevity, it really doesn't take that much exercise,” says Dr. Fredericson. “You don't have to always be pushing your max.”