I recently had a conversation with someone about his fitness progress and also asked about his partner and how she was getting on too. She was someone I was working with previously on beginner strength and trying to get used to using weights to help her body composition. She was trying to increase muscle tone and get leaner and was getting comfortable with technique making great strength gains.
Unfortunately I was told she isn’t doing the resistance training anymore. She didn’t seem to be enjoying exercise because she didn’t feel comfortable and didn’t really get attached to the weights like I or someone else who loves it can, and it really got me thinking.
I’m all for people finding what works for them but more importantly what they enjoy (because resistance can and does work for anyone). I was told she is going to start swimming regularly and she will see how that goes for her.
Despite being disappointed, ultimately any activity is better than no activity. For some people its bhangra, for some its yoga, football, badminton, zumba, crossfit, MMA, boxing, rock climbing etc. The list goes on and on, the ways to keep active make up an endless list and really any movement is always better than no movement.
But what got me thinking was how difficult it is to make people enjoy something. Impossible is the word I’m looking for. Just because I love deadlifts, lifting heavy and improving my weekly strength and ironing out muscle imbalances really doesn’t mean someone else I’m working with will enjoy those things too.
I try my best not to be a zealot. Meaning preaching that my way is superior and it’s my way over every other way. But in all honesty it’s really hard not to do that when it comes to resistance training. Keep in mind there are many ways to use resistance and you certainly don’t need to copy my workouts to get the benefits I’m talking about.
I’m all for getting in any activity you can possibly get in through sports, activities, events etc but ultimately if you wish to experience a stronger, healthier, leaner and pain free existence then resistance training is for you…besides cardio doesn’t build muscle. Plus depending on what you’re doing you’ll probably be more injury prone than when doing resistance training.
The graph above isn’t supposed to be accurate to any scale however is indicative of the injury risk per 1000 hours of exposure to that sport or activity. As you can see weight/resistance training is fairly safe in the scheme of things. Even more-so than cricket! Running may have surprised you but actually presents a big injury risk.
It’s also important to remember it’s strength training, not stretching which helps people to recover from and prevent future injuries.
Here is a list of benefits of resistance training. Hopefully after reading this you’ll want to get your chachi and your gvaand on the weights.
- You’ll look better naked
- You’ll look better in your clothes
- You’ll be able to complete day to day tasks with ease
- You’ll have an easier time lifting things
- You’ll have less knee and back pain
- You’ll be delaying the ageing process
- You’ll be able to lift your kids and grandkids with ease
- You’ll manage your weight better
- You’ll strengthen your bones and joints
- You’ll improve your posture
- You’ll improve your self esteem
- You’ll decrease chances of diabetes, depression, obesity, osteoperosis and heart disease
- You’ll improve your body image
- You’ll improve your mood and wellbeing
- You’ll improve cognitive function
- You won’t look maara too