Lifting Heavier Can Change Your Life

Lifting Heavier can Change your Life

Remember when women were told that smoking was a great tool for weight management? Remember when women were told not lift to lift over 12lb dumbbells? (Maybe it was 10, maybe 15). It wasn’t long ago that kids were told not to touch a barbell until they had a driver‘s license out of fear of stunting their growth. Little Tommy started playing tackle football at age 6, but a barbell could stunt his growth and limit his movement! All of these examples sound ridiculous, but they’re all things that have been commonly believed to be true in my 25 years of lifting weights. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention maybe the best believed fiction of all,  “If you build a lot of muscle from lifting weights and stop, then it just turns to fat”.  The barbell can do some magic, but it can’t make you fat. I have joked with many of our members that if you put the benefits of getting stronger next to the benefits of the top selling drugs right now (let’s use Testosterone Replacement Therapy and GLP-1‘s) that focusing on gaining strength would probably out perform in most areas for most people. The truth is, no one ever got too strong, became muscle bound, and lost mobility. But, nursing homes and rehab facilities are filled with people who have lost strength, muscle, and movement ability. Strength is the only trait I’ve seen shift someone’s life regardless of age, gender, goals, or ability. Strength can change the physical, which shifts the psychological, which can bring confidence to achieve all other goals. While we know gaining strength is good for athletes, here are some of the more under-appreciated benefits of lifting heavier. 

The Real Benefits: Why YOU Should Lift Heavier

Let’s bring all of this together. Why should you specifically start lifting heavier weights?

For Your Physique: Heavy-lifting builds muscle and burns fat more effectively than any other training modality. This is more effective for building a toned body. The problem with the high-rep, low-weight idea is it doesn’t place enough stress on the muscular or central nervous system. It can have some benefits for your endurance, but as for getting you closer to the physique you want, not likely. 

For Your Health: Bone density improves dramatically with heavy resistance training. Everyone begins to lose bone density around age 40, and the rate for women is more significant due to the drop in estrogen levels. 

Connective tissue becomes stronger and more resilient. Lifting places mechanical stress on tendons, ligaments, and fascia which then signals production of collagen and increases muscle fiber density.

Risk of injury decreases. Falls are one of the major risks for people over age 65. This is due to less muscle, less strength, less coordination, and lower bone density. 

Metabolic health markers improve. These benefits compound over time and become increasingly important as we age. By gaining strength, we can improve our insulin sensitivity, reduce visceral fat surrounding our organs, lower blood pressure, and improve cholesterol. 

For Your Performance: Whether you want to become genuinely stronger, more athletic, or simply move better through daily life, compound lifts with challenging loads provide the most efficient pathway. One of my favorite things to hear is when a member is able to do a task like take the trash out or mow the yard without any issues. These are notable things that change your ability and confidence in real life. This means you will not have to rely on others to perform daily activities. 

For Your Mind: Confidence. Focus. Stress relief. The mental clarity and psychological benefits that come from a challenging strength training session are real and measurable. Everyone has heard that strength training boost your endorphins—which is a big win; but when you see people change how they walk in the door, you see the real benefits. There is a lot of benefit to setting out for a difficult physical task— say doing 10 push ups for the first time— and then achieving it. In the weight room, you can create small wins every session which will build momentum into all other areas of life. 

Practical Tips for Gaining Strength

• Focus on your own journey. What anyone else is able to do has no effect on the progress YOU can make.
• Consistency is your foundation to strength. Each session builds for the next.
• You can increase weight, reps, or perform multiple sets at a certain weight.
• Adjusting your temp on a lift is a great tool to use for building strength.
• Some change is good, too much becomes unmeasurable. A simple grip or foot placement change will alter the exercise enough for variation.
• Give yourself more time than you think is needed.

And here’s the most important point: this approach works at ANY age.  At Showtime, we have members that are 10 years old lifting their first weight,and we have members in their 70’s that lift progressively heavier to assist in their life goals. Celebrities like Justin Timberlake have been seen in recent years placing a priority on strength training to help with career demands. At Showtime, we teach people how to Squat, Bench, Deadlift, and a ton of other things to benefit the mind and body. Safety is an essential part of that teaching process. If you’re on the fence about what to do, book a No Sweat Intro to meet with one of our professional coaches to discuss your goals. 

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