Should I lift weights?
Yes.
Of course, I know you think because we’re a gym we have to say yes.
And you’re right. Kind of.
But, let me spin it this way.
We don’t say yes because we have a gym. Instead, we have a gym because we say yes.
Did I just blow your mind? I sounded like Yoda, didn’t I?
It’s the truth though.
Health is the soil, water, and sunshine that allows happiness to grow and flourish. When you lose it, so will you lose your happiness too.
And what are the most effective way to improve your health? Diet and exercise.
So, yes, you need to be lifting weights.
But what if you only want to lose weight, and you have no interest in gaining muscle?
You still need to lift.
Here’s why….
It’s no secret that men have an easier time not only losing weight but also keeping it off when compared to women. Although you may assume the hormonal difference between the two sexes is the contributing factor, that’s not entirely the case. Although higher testosterone levels make it easier to lose weight, it’s actually the difference in muscle mass that is the largest contributing factor. Muscle burns calories. Fat doesn’t. Muscle helps maintain not just a higher metabolic rate but also insulin sensitivity. Fat doesn’t. So the more muscle you have, the easier it is to lose weight and keep it off. Reason #1.
The 2nd reason isn’t so obvious until you get into the weight room. The stronger you are, the more you can lift, the higher intensity you can work out at and maintain, and thus the more calories you can burn during a workout. That was a mouthful so let me give you an example. Complexes are one of my favorite fat loss tools. A complex is nothing more than performing 4-6 exercises right after each other without resting. So one complex I particularly like is the barbell complex where you perform 8 deadlifts, 8 rows, 8 push presses, and 8 squats all with the same weight while never setting down the bar until you are completely done with the last rep on the last exercise. If you’re not very strong, you won’t get much out of it because you won’t be able to use more than just the bar. That weight isn’t intense enough to burn a lot of calories. However, if you have been lifting for a little while, a female could do 95lbs thereby crossing the intensity threshold allowing you to burn a significant amount of calories during the workout. That’s why beginners struggle with high-intensity interval training (HIIT) using weights. They aren’t strong enough to reach the intensity needed to burn a decent amount of calories. So, it pays to be strong (and I promise you won’t look bulky).
But, what if I just want to age gracefully and don’t care about gaining muscle?
You still need to lift.
Here’s why…..
What’s your biggest fear? If you’re like most, it’s not death. Nor is it public speaking. It’s actually the nursing home. Most of us fear to lose our independence. We can’t imagine enjoying life if we can’t walk outside to get our morning newspaper or sit in our own recliner watching our own TV in our own house. We would rather be dead than lose our freedom of daily living.
When we talk about training for power, most people automatically assume we’re talking about athletes. They picture Michael Jordan dunking from the free throw line, or Tiger Woods crushing a golf ball, or Ray Lewis tackling a quarterback so hard you can feel the impact through the TV. Power training is important to athletes. However, I would argue it’s even more important for older individuals.
What’s the first thing you notice as someone ages? For me, it’s the length of time someone takes to get out of the recliner. As we age, it takes us longer and longer. At first glance, you may not think about power when you see that, but that’s exactly what it is. Power is nothing more than applying force as quickly as possible. Going from a seated, rested position and moving 175lbs of body weight to a standing position takes power.
And what do we need to create power? Strength. And how can we build strength? Lifting weights.
The research is clear. The first thing we lose as we age is our capability of producing power. That’s clearly evident in sports. Michael Jordan couldn’t jump as high towards the end of his career as he could during the beginning of his career. Jerry Rice wasn’t as fast during his last few years in the NFL as he was during the first few years. The same can be said about you and me too. If you really start watching older individuals, you’ll start noticing small decreases of power that eventually hit the breaking point resulting in a fall or something worse.
Balance training is often something that’s discussed frequently when talking about exercise for older individuals. It works, but that’s because it’s strength training disguised as balance training. As we age, we don’t fall down because our center of balance is off. No, we fall because we’ve lost so much strength we’ve become weak and unable to control such basic movements as walking and sitting.
So if you want to enjoy your golden years and reap the rewards of your savings, lift weights.
