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Lifting weights is hard. It’s time consuming, takes effort and can
be expensive. So why even consider it? Research shows that the
health benefits far outweigh the time commitment of signing up
for a gym membership or hiring your own personal trainer. This
does not necessarily mean that you need to go to the gym and try
to become the next Arnold Schwarzenegger, but you should be
participating in weight-bearing activities that can make your life
easier and keep you in tip-top shape.
The biggest and best benefit of strength training, in my opinion,
is the ability that it gives you to stay in shape and burn fat fast.
It’s even more efficient than cardio. When you build muscle, your
body needs to continually feed that tissue. This means that even
sitting around watching TV, your body is burning more calories
than it normally would by feeding those extra muscle cells. The
body needs to continually push and pull nutrients from that extra
muscle. This takes calories. After all, the calorie is just a way of
measuring energy transfer in the body. This means that a stronger
body burns more calories than a weak body.
Next time you feel like exercising make the choice to lift some
weights. Strength training also slows and can even reverse many
factors that contribute to aging and age-related disease. As humans
age, we lose mass in our muscles and density in our bones.
These losses contribute to many diseases including osteoporosis,
sarcopenia, and osteoarthritis. This could happen because of hormone
changes, lack of movement or use, and a variety of other
reasons.
However, by putting the muscles under some tension, this
strengthens the bones and can prevent or reverse the effects of
these age-related diseases.
Finally, strength training makes life easier. Carrying groceries,
doing yard work, even getting up and down out of chairs or off
the floor gets easier. A little bit of strength goes a long way in
assisting with daily activities. May I repeat, nobody said go out
and be the next Arnold, but take a page out of his book and do a
little self-care to make your body feel and work better. One of my
professors at university always said, “Motion is lotion.”
Another common expression is “If
you don’t use it you lose it.” People
say this phrase a lot and it applies to
many things, but it directly applies
to the topics of movement, our bodies,
and muscle mass. Do your body
a favor and hit the weights to make
life that much easier.
There are so many things that I
could say about strength training
that would help any individual with
overall health and wellness, but you
can’t just take my word for it. Start
easy —do some push-ups, some
bodyweight squats, crunches and
work up from there. There isn’t a
need to be in the gym for hours on
end. Strength training can be done
at home or anywhere you want
to do it. It’s the new year — take
advantage of it — find out what
you like and go for
it. Thirty minutes
three times a week
is all you need to
feel better. Get off
that couch and get
to work!
Shawn is a Pullman native that now works as a
personal trainer with a couple of the local fitness
facilities. With the help of his team at Hawk Strength
they now specialize in at home personal training.
Shawn and his wife, Emelee own a local cycling
studio in Em-Power Cycling which they hope will
become a staple of Pullman health and fitness. With
a Kinesiology major at WSU and a variety of
nationally recognized fitness certifications Shawn
and his team will help you achieve your fitness
goals.
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 509-432-5925
Instagram: @Shawnfield11
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