When we talk about exercise, most people think about muscles, fat loss, or endurance. What many don't know is that exercise also affects your skin – and at a very fundamental level.
A recent study investigated exactly that: how do endurance training and strength training affect the skin – especially in middle-aged women?
The results are exciting.
Both endurance and strength training led to an improvement in skin elasticity after 16 weeks (2 training sessions/week). The skin becomes more resilient, can reshape itself better, and appears firmer overall. At the same time, an improvement in skin structure in the more superficial layers was also observed.
This means: exercise itself is already a strong stimulus for the skin. Among other things, it influences blood circulation, metabolic processes, and anti-inflammatory signals in the body – all factors that directly impact skin quality.
But this is where it gets interesting.
The crucial difference lies in strength training.
Only the group that regularly trained with resistance showed an increase in dermal thickness. The dermis is the deeper, structural layer of the skin. It contains collagen, elastin, and the networks that give the skin stability and elasticity.
With increasing age, precisely this layer thins. This is one of the main reasons for wrinkles, loss of firmness, and an overall less "dense" skin appearance.
An increase in dermal thickness therefore means not just a cosmetic change, but a real structural improvement.
These changes can also be explained at a cellular level. Strength training influences the production of so-called extracellular matrix proteins – precisely the building blocks that support the skin from within. Particularly interesting is a protein called Biglycan, which was increasingly produced in the study under strength training. At the same time, inflammatory processes could be reduced.
To put it simply:
The skin gains more "structure" and at the same time less of what breaks it down. This is highly relevant, especially for women over 40. During this phase, hormonal processes change, collagen production decreases, and the skin becomes thinner and less resilient. At the same time, the body reacts less strongly to training stimuli than in younger years. Simply being active is often no longer enough. The body needs targeted "stress."
Cardio still has its place – for the heart, circulation, and general health. It can also contribute to improving skin elasticity. But when it comes to the structural quality of the skin, this study clearly shows that strength training is the decisive factor.
What now?
Both forms of training have their justification. But if your goal goes beyond mere activity – if you want to strengthen your body in the long term and at the same time improve your skin quality – then there is no way around strength training.
Because muscles are far more than an aesthetic factor. They are a central organ for your health. They improve your body composition, stabilize your joints, support your bone density, and increase your basal metabolic rate. At the same time, they play a crucial role in blood sugar regulation and have an anti-inflammatory effect throughout the body via so-called myokines.
This becomes especially crucial with increasing age. The natural breakdown of muscle accelerates, while regeneration and adaptability decrease. It becomes all the more important to counteract this specifically.
Maintaining and building muscle is not an option – it is a prerequisite for long-term health, performance, and independence.
Practical guidance for muscle building
For your training to truly yield results, a few clear fundamentals are needed:
- 2–3 strength training sessions per week are already sufficient if implemented targeted and consistently.
- The weight must be challenging – but: proper technique always comes first.
- Progressive Overload: your training must evolve (more weight, more repetitions, or more volume) – ideally planned in a structured way, for example with a Coach
- Sufficient protein: about 30–40 g per meal to optimally support protein synthesis.
- Creatine as a sensible supplement: supports performance during intense efforts and can effectively enhance the training stimulus.
It's often not the complex strategies that make the difference – but the consistent implementation of these fundamentals.
Sources:
Nishikori S, Yasuda J, Murata K, Takegaki J, Harada Y, Shirai Y, Fujita S. Resistance training rejuvenates aging skin by reducing circulating inflammatory factors and enhancing dermal extracellular matrices. Sci Rep. 2023 Jun 23;13(1):10214. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-37207-9. PMID: 37353523; PMCID: PMC10290068.