Working out with weights can lower certain inflammatory chemicals in the blood of middle-aged women, and those chemicals normally make a skin protein called biglycan — so when they drop, biglycan drops too, which might help slow down skin aging.

When middle-aged women lift weights or do strength training, their body produces less of two inflammation-related signals (CCL28 and CXCL4), and this seems to go hand-in-hand with their skin making more of a helpful protein called biglycan—which might mean these signals normally slow down skin repair.

Doing strength exercises like lifting weights for 16 weeks can make the skin of middle-aged Japanese women just a tiny bit thicker and boost a specific protein that helps keep skin firm—something that doesn’t happen with activities like walking or cycling.

If middle-aged women lift weights, it lowers certain body chemicals that cause inflammation, but if they do cardio like walking or cycling, it lowers different inflammation chemicals instead—so the kind of exercise you do changes which inflammation signals go down.