Weight lifting and exercising are both things that take some getting used to if you are not doing them on a regular basis. Some people are afraid or nervous to start weight lifting because they think it will give them muscles larger than what they need or what will look good on their body.
In reality, lifting weights has many benefits and you can lift to a muscle look that you are happy with and simply maintain from there.
There is no perfect muscle and what looks good on one person will not look the same on someone else. It is important to remember that you should only be lifting the amount of weights that you are comfortable with and not overdoing it.
Lifting more than you are comfortable with, or more than you can handle, can cause you to injure yourself or do significant damage. Weight lifting not only helps you build muscles as it also helps you to build muscle strength that you actually need in your everyday life.
It can help you feel better, improve your overall mood, and even lose a little weight. While weight lifting will not help you to lose a large amount of weight, it can help you to lose some weight. That is why you will see people who need to lose around five pounds start weight training as they will be able to gain muscle strength, but also lose those pounds at the same time.
Now, you don’t need to simply be weight training all of the time and not do other workouts. It should be something that is a supplement to your regular workout and added in on a regular basis depending on your level of training.
If you are just starting out with weight training, you should not be doing it on a daily basis. You should have dedicated days in your workout schedule where you lift weights for a few minutes. Once you have gained more muscle strength, you can move to more weight training, eventually adding it into your daily routine.
There are plenty of exercises that you can do at home with weights if you are not comfortable in a gym. However, it should be noted that even if you are more comfortable at home, you should at least take a few classes with a personal trainer to help you get established with weight training.
It is very important to make sure you are training correctly and not doing something wrong that could cause you to damage any of your muscles. Combining your weight training with other workouts and the proper diet will help you to achieve the goals that you are looking to reach.
If you are starting from the ground level with little to no experience in exercising or dieting, you may want to look into getting a trainer for a few private classes to help you get started with your exercise, weight training, and proper nutrition.
Trainers have a broad range of knowledge and should be able to help you get all of your ducks in a row, so to speak. They will also be able to give you pointers and tips for exercises and lifts that you can do at home. In addition to simply helping you to gain muscle strength and give you a more defined look to your muscles, it can also help you in other ways.
Many of those ways, you may not have expected or even thought about when it comes to weight training. There are many benefits, but some stand out more than others do for their ability to help in a large amount of areas in your life.
While weight training is an amazing boost for your exercise routine, it is important to make sure that you are going about it correctly and safely. It should be noted that a talk with your medical doctor is in order before you begin any new workout routine and the same goes for starting to weight train.
Your doctor will more than likely do an exam to make sure you are healthy enough to begin weight training and that you are not suffering from any unknown underlying issues. Once you have been cleared to begin training, you will want to find a trainer that can instruct you and teach you what you need to know about weight training.
Once you have started training and you have been doing it for a while, you will get to start reaping the benefits that come with weight training on a regular basis.
Benefits of Weight Lifting
Here are 13 benefits of lifting weights:
1. Longer Life
Research studies have indicated that the more muscle strength and mass that you have, the longer you will live. Your muscle mass is vital to your overall health and the quality of life that you have. It is something you definitely want to take care of, especially as you age. Your muscles can start to deteriorate over time and if you are not taking care of your muscles, you could lose muscle function all together.
While there are no definitive numbers on the amount of years it can add to your life, research has shown great promise that it can add years to your life and also to the quality of life that you have.
2. Better Sleep
Unless you are getting 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night, you are like the majority of us who need to get better sleep each night. Research has indicated that people who exercise on a daily basis, including weight training, sleep better than people who do not exercise regularly or at all.
We have all woken in the middle of the night, or tossed and turned all night, but the studies have indicated that people who exercise do not wake up as much during the night, if any. The more you exercise, the better sleep you will get, and you will be more refreshed when you wake up in the mornings.
3. Noticeable Progress
We all want our hard work and efforts to be noticed by people, whether they are friends, family, or random strangers.
We want to be noticed for weight loss or exercise goals that we accomplish as well. Weight training can help give you that sense of accomplishment. It might be a little harder for yourself and other people to notice your progress if you are working out at home, but it will be easy if you are at the gym.
Weights will become easier to lift the further you get into your journey, others in the gym will also take notice of the progress that you have made. Before you even realize that you have made any progress, those beginners weights will be too light for you, and people around you will notice what a great job you have done.
4. Bone Protection
Now since we have talked a little bit about weight training safety and making sure that you are taking precautions, you may be a little confused on how weight training could protect your bones. It is not actually forming any types of shields around your bones, or increasing the strength of your bones, but it is working to protect them.
The more time you spend weight training, the denser your bones will become. By building bone density, you are help to protect your bones from fractures and complete breaks. This means that you are able to get a longer life out of your bones, and you lower your risk of fractures as you age and your bones will not be as brittle as someone who doesn’t lift weights.
5. Balance Support
This is mainly for older people and people who are entering their elderly years. Many elderly people fall every year from bone loss or lack of bone support that is causing them to have brittle bones.
Starting at a young age and maintaining weight lifting into your older adult years will help to keep your bones from developing osteoarthritis which can cause you to have support and balance issues.
There are also weight training classes for the elderly who may have already had bone and balance issues. These classes can help them to improve the bones density that they have left and could improve their balance by up to 30% according to research studies.
6. Improved Mood
We all want to be in a good mood every day, but in reality life happens and we experience a variety of emotions from the time we wake up until the time we hit the pillow at night. Adding weight training into your everyday life can do wonders for not only your mood, but also your overall mental health.
Exercising releases endorphins that help put you in a happy mood, reduce stress, anxiety, and even decrease depression. While it is not a cure all for those diseases, it can certainly help to relieve some of the symptoms of them.
7. Skinny Jeans
This is a fun one, we all want to look better in our clothes, and not just skinny jeans. Weight training can not only help you to lose a little bit of weight, but it can also help you to tone up the muscles in your body.
By toning your muscles, you are giving yourself a slimmer look and build that yes, would look nice in skinny jeans. But more importantly than those skinny jeans, is how that toning and sculpting can make you feel in any of the clothes that you wear.
8. Calorie Burn
Exercising of any kind burns calories, and we all want to watch those calories burn bright. When you take the time to do weight training right, you are bulking up and adding more muscles to your body.
By adding more muscle mass, you are allowing your body to be able to burn calories at a faster rate than you would if you were not adding in weight training to your workout routine. Having that extra muscle mass can actually burn calories for you while you are working, exercising, even resting.
9. Quick Workouts
Everyone is so busy these days that they barely have time for breakfast, never mind actually having time to work out every day. This is where weight training can come to your aid and help you get in a great workout in a short amount of time.
You don’t want to overload your body with large amounts of time spent weight lifting so around 30 minutes a day is usually plenty. The longer and harder you weight train, the more likely you will be to develop or cause an injury.
10. Home Workouts
Just like we discussed before, weight training can be done from the comfort of your own home without ever having to step foot in a gym. Unless you are going to be following along with a weight lifting DVD, it is suggested that you at least attend a few sessions with a personal trainer to make sure that you have the form and weights correct for you.
It is highly recommended that beginners start with a trainer since they are at a higher risk of injury than someone who trains on a regular basis.
If you are more comfortable with a lower set of dumb bells, then workouts at home are perfect for you, but if you are wanting to go hardcore into weight lifting and move up in weights the further along you get, then hitting the gym is the way to go.
11. Improved Workouts
While you make think of weight training as something that you simply add to your workouts to help you build muscle, it can improve other aspects of your workouts. By lifting weights on a regular basis, you are increasing the amount of strength that you have in your body.
That increased strength will in turn help your performance improve in running, hiking, biking, swimming, even aerobics. You are adding strength and muscle mass every time you pick up weights, and you are giving your body a better workout even when you aren’t lifting weights.
12. Heart Health
Everyone wants a heart that is healthy and functions properly, and there are many reasons why it may not work right. Research studies have indicated that weight training can help you lower your blood pressure and improve the circulation of your heart.
The American Heart Association has actually suggested that people should lift weights around twice a week, depending on their experience level. By simply lifting weights a few days a week, you can drastically lower your blood pressure and it has been indicated that the blood pressure can be lowered more than medications.
13. Quality of Life
Exercising in general just makes you feel better overall. While it’s true that you may hate it at first, you will most likely love it later. Your quality of life will improve tremendously once you have started exercising or lifting weights.
You might be tired at night before you go to bed, but your overall energy level will increase and you will be more active. The way you view things and the world around you can change also so you might notice that you walk with a little pep in your step.
13 Reasons To Start Weight Lifting Review Summary
Weight lifting might sound a little scary, but you will be glad you started doing it. There are a few things to keep in mind when you decide it is time to try adding weight lifting to your workout routine.
First of all, be sure to see your medical doctor before you begin weight training as you will want to be evaluated to be certain that you are healthy enough to begin a new workout routine.
Even if you are already working out on a daily basis, it is good to check with a physician, especially if you have never seriously lifted weights before. If your plan is to work out from home, you should consider meeting with a professional trainer to get tips and pointers on exercises, form, and injury symptoms.
They will be able to point you in the right direction and make sure that you are performing all lifts, even small ones, in a way that will not cause you to be injured. Know your limitations and stick to them. There is no need to try and lift the heaviest weight on your first try, take it slow.
Listen to what your body is telling you. If you experience any pain or a lot of discomfort, you should stop lifting immediately and get yourself checked out. Make sure that you are adding weight lifting to a healthy diet and exercise plan, you won’t see any good results if you are not already dieting and working out properly.
Your diet is the key to having a great weight training routine, and it will help to ensure that you are getting the most out of each and every workout that you do. Weight lifting is simple if it is done properly, and the benefits can be a lot more than just 13.
