--- title: "Turns Out Weight Lifting Is Really Good for Your Skin, Scientists Say" description: "Throw out those serums and scrubs because, as it turns out, lifting weights may be enough to improve your skin." date: "2023-08-04" modified: "2023-08-04" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/weight-lifting-skin-health" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "exercise" - "skin" - "skincare" - "weight lifting" --- # Turns Out Weight Lifting Is Really Good for Your Skin, Scientists Say ![Throw out those serums and scrubs because, as it turns out, lifting weights may be enough to improve your skin.]() *Wasit up image of a fit, young African American woman working out with hand weights in a fitness gym. \Image: Mireya Acierto via Getty Images\* Serums, scrubs, moisturizer and a sunblock? Sure... but it might turn out that curls and squats could be just as important for your skincare routine. In [interviews with *The Washington Post*](), scientists who worked on and are familiar with the new research described surprising findings: that one of the many benefits of weightlifting — beyond, you know, getting swole — are gains in skin health. Published in the [journal *Scientific Reports*](), the new study examined middle-aged women in Japan. One group cycled for 30 minutes twice a week over a period of 16 weeks while the other lifted weights for the same duration and number of weeks. While both saw many physical improvements, including skin elasticity, only the weightlifting group saw their dermal layers growing thicker, which meant that the proteins involved in skin-rebuilding were working faster for the weightlifters than the cyclists. Satoshi Fujita, an exercise researcher at Kyoto's Ritsumeikan University who oversaw the study, told *WaPo* that while the skin of all the women in the study became "more youthful at a cellular level" following the four months of sustained workouts, it's unclear why the resistance training group experienced the dermal thickness effect at greater levels. Interestingly, the researchers did not discuss in the study how the participants' skin *looked*, though Fujita told *WaPo* that "theoretically, these changes may reduce wrinkles, improve appearance and help people look younger." Overall, however, the study's findings could contribute way more to the understanding of skin health because, as the Japanese researcher noted, they "suggest that the skin is strongly influenced not only by external factors such as UV radiation and dryness, but also by internal factors" like gene expression and inflammation. What's more, the study seems to indicate that those internal factors could change with exercise, too. There are, of course, major limitations: the research was conducted in Japan and among a cohort of only 56 women, all of whom are middle-aged, and had no control group, *WaPo* noted. Nevertheless, it opens a fascinating line of inquiry into the connections between exercise and skin health — and it's one more clue that lifting weights may be [weirdly ]()[good for you](). **More on weird health effects:** *[Doctors Say People Taking Semaglutide Are Suffering From Stomach Paralysis]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()