As a student, I avoided the “brother zone” of gym like it was a fraternity house after an all-night party. It threatened my sense of safety with its loud snorting, strange machines and predominantly male population outside of cardio area and free weights; protein shakes and brother tanks didn’t concern me at all! Instead I utilized cardio machines while engaging in one or two 8-pound weight activities every time I visited gym.
But I knew I needed something positive to boost me up.
CrossFit quickly made me addicted to lifting heavy. Within months, I was lifting more weight than anticipated; within five years, my squatting output regularly exceeds expectations, and 25-pound hand weights became my go-to weights – today, I feel at home beneath the bar!
Though weightlifting offers many weight-loss and calorie-burning benefits, that isn’t why I do it. Weightlifting forces me to care more about lifting heavier loads on the bar than my own physique; rather than focus solely on losing weight through physical means alone, weightlifting challenges my mind and body by pushing their physical boundaries – I head to the gym because it pushes both. For me it’s about what my body can accomplish rather than what its appearance might be like.
Lifting weighty, such as using weight that I can only do one to six reps with, has forced me to combat the voice in my mind, which can be more oppressive than any physical weight ever could. When using heavy plates on the bar there’s no room for self-doubt or negative thoughts to creep in; everything requires all my concentration for moving forward in charge and smashing through this lift.
Weightlifting makes me feel extraordinary and secure, my lifting shoes being my “power heels.” When I hit a major lift, it makes me unwavering in my determination and my capacity for moving weight and dealing with daily challenges in life. As I walk down the street knowing of both physical and mental strength within me.
My experiences in the gym have rippled out into all aspects of my life, from faster sprinting times and greater freedom, to being more self-confident as an adult. Here are a few reasons why it may be worthwhile for you to take up weight lifting:
- Confidence
Weight training has long been recognized to boost self-confidence. Weight lifting also can reduce anxiety and depression symptoms and increase happiness levels – although sometimes finding motivation to go the gym may prove challenging, the benefits outweigh initial difficulties.
- Start moving toward happiness now.
- Get Stronger
Weight training increases your muscle power and strength without significantly adding size or mass, especially for women. This makes routine tasks simpler while consistent strength training will increase how much weight you can lift over time – as well as giving you greater definition. Strength training with heavy loads also enhances bulk and definition.
- Hello Michelle Obama arms and Beyoncé abs!
- Cut The Fat
- Everyone knows activity helps people burn more calories, but according to Mayo Clinic strength training can also assist you with doing that when not at the gym. Strength preparing can increase “after consume,” where your body continues burning additional calories shortly after exercising; plus strength preparing builds muscle mass which leads to additional caloric intake daily without physical exercise!
- Weighty strength training gives a double reward in terms of consuming calories.
- Fabricate Your Brain
Heavy weights build more than muscle. Lifting heavy lifts develops numerous key hormones in your brain, including IGF-1 which assists with stimulating associations in the mind and increasing intellectual capacity. According to one new study, leg strength was strongly connected with more resilient personalities who are less vulnerable to the negative impacts of aging.
- Strength training can improve your capacity to learn and think as you age.
- Prevent Injury
Resistance training using both bodyweight and free weights helps strengthen more than your muscles; it also fortifies bones and connective tissues for increased strength and steadiness, helping protect you against injuries while keeping a strong and sound body. Resistance training may even assist in alleviating symptoms from conditions such as backache, arthritis, fibromyalgia or chronic pain.
- In this instance, playing reduces pain – specifically through its round of solidarity building.
- Further Develop Endurance
Though strength training may seem counter-intuitive, strength preparing has been demonstrated to increase endurance, speed, and running economy (the amount of energy it takes to accomplish something like running a mile). A recent report demonstrated that lifting heavier weights increases running economy more than lighter ones – something you will definitely notice during your next run or twist class session!
- Do not lower the weights; heavier is always better!
- Next Steps
Get going right away with the weightlifting guide for beginners or become more rooted at any of your lifts using the 13-week weightlifting program – both designed to build strength in equal measures across squats, bench presses, overhead presses and deadlifts – starting off right! All it takes to start lifting is one lift to get underway!
