50-year-olds with a lower risk of heart attacks may have one thing in common, new study reveals

If there's one activity that promises boundless benefits for body and mind, it's strength training. From stronger bones to a boost in brain health, lifting weights is a versatile and affordable way to improve your health.

A study from the University of Edinburgh, published in Radiology, has added another benefit to this list in recent weeks. Research revealed that having stronger skeletal muscle - particularly in the chest and back - may be linked to a lower risk of heart attacks in people over 50.

The researchers used artificial intelligence analysis to scan 1,722 patients, mostly in their 50s, who experienced chest pain.

They believe that those with this type of "good-quality" muscle generally exercise more and have greater torso strength, and suggest that this could help reduce the risk of having a heart attack or dying early.

Senior author on the study, Professor Michelle Williams, said: "It's fascinating that people's skeletal muscle could be linked to their risk of having a heart attack. The muscles which show up in the scans we used - coronary computed tomography angiogram scans - are principally the back muscles, part of the pectoral muscles - or 'pecs' - and the intercostal muscles between the ribs."

Professor Williams started going to the gym twice a week and now aims to walk for one hour a day, off the back of these results. "I am now personally interested in exercises in cycling, planks, and Pilates, which I enjoy and may have an effect on these muscles," she said.

"However, we need far more research to better understand how exercise may affect muscle density, and how this may relate to heart health."

The researchers used AI to analyse participants' muscles, organs, bones, and fat in their upper bodies. This included examining skeletal muscle attenuation, which refers to the brightness or darkness of muscle on a scan.

Denser muscle is lighter on a scan image as more X-ray beams bounce off it. Someone with denser, higher-quality muscle, which also has less fat, will show a brighter image.

A person was thought to be 31% less likely to have a heart attack for every 10-point increase in scan brightness. They were also 39% less likely to die in the 10 years following the scan, researchers said.

Importantly, muscle size was not linked to the risk of heart attack or premature death. It was the composition of the muscle that mattered, the researchers said.

Professor Bryan Williams, the chief scientific and medical officer at the British Heart Foundation, which part-funded the study, said the results provided "yet more evidence supporting the power of exercise".

What exercises improve chest and back strength?

Compound exercises - movements that engage multiple muscles at once - are the most efficient exercises to include in an upper-body dumbbell workout.

These include:

• Chest press (works the chest, shoulders, and triceps)
• Push-ups (work the chest, shoulders, triceps, and core)
• Barbell deadlifts (work the muscles around the spine, lats, glutes, hamstrings, and core)
• Pull-ups (work the lats, rear shoulders, biceps)
• Bent-over row (works the lats, shoulders, traps)
• Lat pull-down (works the lats, shoulders, upper back muscles, biceps, and core)

You can do these exercises most easily at the gym, using machines, barbells, and cable machines. However, you can replicate many of the movements at home with dumbbells, kettlebells, and resistance bands as well.