**1. Introduction**

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterised by disability, cachexia, and obesity, and features exacerbated risk of both cardiovascular disease (CVD) and osteoporosis. To deal with RA generally and these associated conditions specifically, the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2008) and various national health authorities (e.g. American College of Rheumatology, ACR, 2002, 2006; European League Against Rheumatism, EULAR, Combe et al., 2007; American College of Sports Medicine, ACSM, 2010a, 2010b, 2010c, 2010d; American Heart Association, AHA, Williams et al., 2007) have advocated progressive resistance training (PRT; i.e. systematic weight training) as adjunct therapy. Additionally, two Cochrane Reviews (Hurkmans et al., 2009; van den Ende et al., 2000) have supported inclusion of this form of exercise in the routine management of RA patients. However, despite this weighty advocacy regular PRT is rarely prescribed for or undertaken by RA patients.

In this chapter, the efficacy and safety of PRT as a treatment for RA will be discussed, with training recommendations and considerations outlined.
