Twenty years ago, you struggled to find many people going to the gym to do weights. Yes – there were a few fanatics. But they were few in number. Working out just wasn’t all that popular.
Then social media happened and everything changed. All of a sudden, people wanted perfect bodies and they were willing to do anything to get them.
But weightlifting is about more than vanity. It’s actually one of the best ways to get in shape. People who do it seem to be fitter and healthier than those who focus exclusively on long-distance training.
But why? What makes weight lifting so beneficial for health?
It Improves Your Posture
Doing cardio doesn’t always improve your posture. In fact, if you look at many endurance athletes, it almost looks like it makes it worse.
Weight lifting in the right way, however, achieves the opposite effects. It actually changes the structure of your bones and muscles, encouraging your body to adopt a better posture.
It Boosts Sleep
There are also numerous studies showing that doing weights can help with sleep. People who regularly train are usually much better able to shut off their minds at night. The body instinctively switches off to provide time for it to carry out repairs after a hard training session.
It Improves Practical Strength
Using various types of dumbbells also helps people to improve their practical strength, making it easier for them to enjoy their lives. As muscles grow, they can better support the body, allowing people to engage in new forms of physical activity.For instance, when people increase their leg strength, it allows them to hike for longer or sprint faster. Runners who train their legs can actually increase their running efficiency by improving the quality of the muscles they use. While some have struggled with their ability to gain muscle growth, they have found that with the help of a good weightlifting routine and fitness supplements similar to clenbuterol for women, they can reach their fitness goals.
It Boosts Balance
Weightlifting is also a powerful tool that people use to improve their balance. As most people start to get older, they become more frail and lose their autonomy. Other people then have to ride in and help them.
But training slows down frailty and may even help to stop it altogether. Research shows that people who carry heavy groceries from their cars to their homes are less likely to become frail than those who don’t. They’re also less likely to trip and fall, causing additional injuries.
If you want to balance properly, make weight lifting a life-long habit. Keep your muscle mass high and ensure that it doesn’t deteriorate as you get older.
It Burns More Calories
It seems strange to say that weight lifting burns more calories, but it does. That’s because weights increase the amount of lean tissue on your frame. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate and the more calories you burn when you fast.
You can think of weight training as an investment. Every time you go to the gym, you are building muscle that increases your capacity to burn fat. The more muscle you gain, the more fat you can lose in a short space of time.
It Makes You Feel Younger
Having a muscular body also makes you feel younger. You find yourself being able to do things that people 10 or 20 years your junior would struggle with.
Feeling younger itself may also benefit your health, independent of the effect of exercise on your body. People who consider themselves to be younger than they are tend to have lower disease risk and better outcomes long term.
It Gives You Confidence
Muscles, not leanness, are what shapes our bodies. So building muscle is a fabulous way to improve your physique. After a few months in the gym, you can feel infinitely more confident than you ever did before.
Other people will notice too. If you have good muscles, it will make you appear healthier and more athletic. People will naturally want to be around you.
It Helps To Keep Chronic Diseases At Bay
Chronic diseases are currently a major burden for both individuals and societies. Most people will wind up developing one of them at some point in their lives. So it is important to make lifestyle choices that reduce their risk.
And that brings us onto another reason why people swear by weight lifting: it helps to keep a whole laundry list of nasty diseases at bay. It lowers inflammation, fights diabetes, improves immunity, fights obesity and helps people resist conditions such as sarcopenia.
It Strengthens Bones
When you work out, you don’t just train your muscles. You actually increase the strength of all of the tissues that you use, including the bones themselves. Researchers have found that people who train regularly have stronger bones than those who do. Their bones are better mineralized and they have better structure. This means that people who regularly train in the gym are less likely to break a bone.
It Improves Insulin Function
People get sick with diabetes when the insulin in their body can’t do its job. Instead of going into cells, glucose remains in the bloodstream.
Researchers think that the main reason for this is fat inside muscle cells. Training muscles reduces the fat that they contain, helping insulin do its job. Blood sugar levels go down following several months of training, reducing the risk of full-blown diabetes,
It Makes You Happier
Why are so many people unhappy in the modern world? Partly, it has to do with a lack of movement. People simply aren’t moving their bodies enough, and it is taking its toll on their wellbeing.
Weight training, however, has some profound psychological benefits. People who train regularly typically feel happier and healthier than those around them. Slowly, going to the gym can become a habit – something people actually want to go out and do. That’s because they know that when they finish a session, they will feel better.
So there you have it: some of the reasons why people swear weightlifting is the best exercise. Naturally, it’s not the only exercise that you could do, but it offers some unique benefits that you’ll struggle to find elsewhere.
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