BENEFITS OF WEIGHT TRAINING!

WE ALL KNOW IT IS GOOD FOR YOU, BUT WHY?

You have likely been told to do it, you may even actively be lifting weights. Or, you may be a little unsure on if it is something that is beneficial for you? Well, think no more! See below for some of the amazing benefits of weight lifting and how it can benefit your health, confidence and overall life.

1. Physical Strength

Quite an obvious benefit of lifting weights is that you will become stronger physically. Especially if you follow a programme, perform compound movements well and progressively overload on the weight. Now, at first, you may think ‘why would strength in the gym help me?’.

In short, the stronger you become in the gym, the easier any type of lifting will become in your day to day life. It could be your shopping, DIY tasks, movement of items, lifting the kids… you name it! You will be better equipped so to speak to tackle the physical demands life throws at you.

2. Lowers your risk of injury

Including weight training in your routine and lifting with proper technique will likely reduce your risk of injury, not just from the training itself but from the demands and accidents of life.

For example, when you lift weights, you will develop strength, improve your range of motion as well as the overall health of muscle, ligament and tendons. That in turn will help strengthen your shoulders, hips, knees and ankles (not knees and toes, knees and toes) as well as creating more stabilty.

Additionally, if you have any muscular imbalances, training will help even this out and ensure you are stronger overall. For example the stronger your core, hamstrings and glutes (and knowing how to activate/use them), certain movements will feel more comfortable and reduce the load/danger on the lower back.

3. Boosts mood, confidence and self-esteem

Regular training can help boost your mood and improve your mental health, not to mention an increase in self-confidence too.

It can help reduce anxiety and exercise is also known to release mood-boosting endorphins, this plays a huge role and results in a positive and long lasting mood.

Having a plan and lifting weights can help you overcome challenges in and out of the gym and a sense of purpose with a goal to work towards which can also transfer well into life as well. It is known also that weight lifting can result in positive feelings of body image, satisfaction, appearance and confidence socially amongst your peers.

4. Quality of life

Strength training has benefits for all age groups and genders, however, as you age, the benefits stack up much more.

As you age the risk of certain diseases increases… This can be heart, brain or bone related for example. Weight training will decrease your risk of certain heart diseases, keep your brain active/healthy and make your bones and joints stronger. This decreases your risk of or can help with arthritis.

Studies have also shown that as you age and incorporate training into your lifestyle you will feel much better and more positive overall due to how much better you will be able to physically perform in/out of the gym, manage pain or side effects of menopause for example and have better general health/vitality.

After the age of roughly 30 years old, without any resistance training, we will start to lose muscle mass.. The older we get, the faster that decline becomes.. Ultimately compounding the effect of muscle loss, the less active we are the more muscle we lose which then means we lose more muscle and become less active, the cycle continues until we are no longer able to move unassisted and so require help either from carers or mobility aids. Resistance training will not only reduce this effect of muscle wastage, but it can also actually completely reverse it! So if you think you’re ‘too old' to lift weights... You’re the exact person who should be doing it to prevent muscle loss and drops in bone density.

5. How you look

Your appearance and body composition is highly likely to change. This of course comes down to diet as well, so nutrition does play a key role. However, when you lift weights, you will get stronger, develop or improve upon muscle mass and likely drop overall body fat.

This in turn will improve your physique which is likely going to keep you at it long term, not to mention the additional confidence you will feel. In simple terms, the more muscle mass you have you will have a better frame, posture and shape compared to someone who doesn't lift at all. You will feel good in clothes and more…

These are only a few of the benefits, there are many, many more and my advice to you would be to try it for yourself!

If you'd like some extra guidance or some motivation to help you build strength and enjoy the benefits of resistance training, book your first session free!

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