The benefits of weight lifting have often been neglected, with most people looking only at the physical aspect, and view it as one that consumes narcissistic people. But weight training in itself doesn’t merely grant the practitioner's muscles, it encompasses a whole other set of benefits. Today, we’ll be taking a look at 4 benefits of weight lifting that people often overlook, and hopefully convince you to start this training regime yourself.
Stronger Bones, And Structural Integrity
When you carry weights to exercise, you are essentially loading excess weight and stress on your bones, joints, ligaments, cartilage and tendons. Over time, this increased stress on your body will translate to an increased density as well as the thickness in your body. This is especially important as our bone densities and cartilage degenerate as we age and weight training can really help to slow down this process.
Greater Energy Demands
When you lift weights, your heart rate will naturally rise and cause you to burn more calories. Over time as you build more muscles, the energy needed to maintain them is also higher, meaning that your overall base metabolic rate will rise. Not only does this help to burn more calories, but it aids in helping your body lose fat. The old rumor of girls not lifting weight due to excess muscles gain is also false because hypertrophy does not happen overnight and requires years and years of training.
Improved Posture and Mobility
When you train with weights, you gain an awareness of your body and the way it functions, allowing you to better understand the biomechanics of your structure. This allows you to properly recruit the right muscles and is key to creating better posture. You have to focus on the right form and perform core exercises such as your deadlifts, squats and bench press in order to benefit from the functional aspect of the exercise.
Improved Mental Health
Being physically stronger not only carries over to your physical health, but also to your mental health. When you train with weights, your body releases hormones such as dopamine and serotonin that decreases stress levels and increases your happiness. Your ability to overcome discomfort and persevere through the exercises are also extremely important and can greatly help to improve your mindset. With that being said, you cannot neglect your cardiovascular work and have to incorporate both weight training and cardiovascular training into your weekly routine.