Different kinds of exercise help your skin in different ways: lifting weights boosts certain skin-building molecules, while cardio boosts others—so your skin might get healthier in unique ways depending on whether you lift or run.

Working out with weights may help your skin make more of a gooey substance that keeps it plump, while cardio like running or biking helps your skin make more of the strong fibers that give it structure—so different types of exercise might help your skin in different ways.

Working out—whether you're running or lifting weights—can make your skin firmer and more elastic by boosting the production of key skin-building proteins, and lifting weights does something extra: it actually makes the skin layer thicker.

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.

After people lift weights, their blood contains special signals that tell skin cells to make more of the structural stuff that keeps skin firm and youthful—like a natural anti-aging boost from exercise.