5 Health Benefits Of Weightlifting

Spending time squeezing those muscles in the gym and sipping on best protein shakes post-workouts can pay off in a big way, much more than you can possibly imagine.

Contrary to popular belief, gaining more muscle through resistance training has many benefits.

Other than fat loss it helps in maintaining healthy bone mass and prevents age related muscle loss. It keeps your brain active, reduces risk of major lifestyle diseases and so much more.

Five Health Benefits Of Weightlifting:

1. Anti- ageing

Sacropenia – The loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength as a result of ageing. Muscle loss is a common phenomenon which is associated with decreasing strength, flexibility and agility and many other disorders.

Men who are physically inactive can lose as much as .3% to .5% of their muscle mass per year as they pass first quarter of their life.

The muscle loss increases significantly as you age. It can be anywhere from .5% – 1% per year after the age of 50.

Eroding muscles signal ageing- weak bones, inflexible joints, floppy posture, with increased chances of immune system getting weak, heart diseases and diabetes.

Weight-lifter muscle mass on left, normal on right.

Guess what muscle wasting can do to normal?

If someone is telling you that you can be fat and still be fit, they are probably messing with your head.

Dieting and cardio isn’t a solution. Incorporate resistance training and high protein diet to your regimen and improve overall quality of your life.

Reversing muscle loss is reversing aging affects.

There are numerous health benefits of weightlifting. The changes start at cellular level, it balance your hormones to begin with. The outside changes that you see occur at a much later stage.

Weight training regularly, is a way of telling your body to keep fighting to maintain your muscle- for a younger, longer and healthier life.

2. Internal Satisfaction and Higher Level of Self-confidence

Human body is made up of variety of chemical reactions which results in diverse physical and mental feelings or emotions.

Weight lifting tones your muscles it gives you that aesthetic look, giving you self confidence about your physique.

There is a direct relation between mental health and physical well being.

Because of the intense workouts more blood with nutrient flows to your brain and other organs, you are more focused, happy, and full of energy.

Tests have proved that lifting weights reduce anger, confusion, tension and changing moods.

Next time when you have the blues ask yourself, ‘Have I lifted recently?’. The answer to your question will give you the solution to your problem too.

You don’t get tired by lifting weights; instead weight training gives you energy for the rest of the day. You can literally feel the energy coursing through your veins throughout the day.

I always walk out of the gym with more energy. Ask any serious lifter and he’d say the same thing.

Read – Why You Should Lift

3. Improved Concentration and Laser-like Focus

Lifting weights not only makes you physically strong but it teaches you discipline and hard work.

Lifting weights is about a routine you set up for your body, it about the consistency you have to show in order to achieve results.

Increased productivity

Strength/Size/Endurance – As you start getting in the depths of weight training, you will learn about different exercises, training tactics and diet protocol. You learn to implement them in order to get desired results.

You can’t spend time toiling around in the gym, playing with your phone and expect results.

As you get serious about results you start giving your 100 percent to each of your training session. You learn time is your most precious equity.

You start treating it as a business. And in business it condenses to ROI. You learn to eliminate exercises that don’t do much good and foods that aren’t nutritious.

This will change your approach towards life; you will become more result oriented. You will learn to ostracize negative people, bad relationships, tasks that distracts you.

4. Improved Posture and Flexibility

Slouched in front of a computer? Or is your neck bent on your not so smart phone?

Men walk with a hunch, like they are carrying the weight of the whole world on their back. Not only is that poor posture a cause of back and neck pain it also effects your digestion and other body processes. To top it all; it makes you appear smaller.

Don’t damage your spine and don’t kill your neck over hunching. You can prevent and even reverse the hunching that’s caused because of poor posture as you gain muscles.

Weight lifting can get you to touch your toes again, increasing the flexibility of calf muscles, hip flexors, and by increasing strength of the joints.

Lifting weights strengthens your body structure, your back and your abs, improving your body posture.

5. Increased Testosterone

If all these above reasons don’t convince you, think about how striking you would look, naked.

A strong attractive looking body signals the opposite sex that you are strong and virile.

Weightlifting increases testosterone production, testosterone is like the holy grail of male hormones. Testosterone is responsible for secondary male sex characteristics like increased muscle mass, facial hair, and a deep voice.

Did you know – The best time to have sex is 1-2 hours after training, when your testosterone levels would be the highest.

Low testosterone levels are responsible for depression, tiredness, stress, sleep disorders, fatigue, depression, irritability and weakness.

Weightlifting increases testosterone, packing on the muscle and keeping you shape.

Bonus

It will make your overall life easier. You’ll feel better about everything.

When the average Joe’s are drinking Coke and accumulating fat, you’d be sucking down a protein shake. You see, that will make it taste even better for you.

While the world is asleep you’re either getting up early or staying up late, hitting the iron, pushing yourselves, learning, succeeding and failing and rising with every rep.

Burn the fat, train the muscle, hit the gym, be happy, be healthy!