Why lift weights?
Rewind back to December 2013, this was the first time I EVER did resistance training. It was during my time working on a reception at a gym, ironic as I had no clue what anyone was doing in there! Although I did used to attend a gym at the time. I had a pretty regimented routine, I would do 20 minutes on the cross trainer, 20 minutes on the bike, maybe a little walk on the treadmill, if I was feeling like pushing the boat out I would do some sit ups at the end. I look back at this now and think wow what a waste of time, I could have been going for a walk and saved myself the gym membership, but it was just a case of being uneducated and I thought cardio was the only way to look ‘toned’ (side note: being toned is literally the definition of having muscle and a fairly low body fat percentage)
Back to 2013, working in a gym, a PT took me for a session and I remember it well (it was roughly the 20th December, and I remember that because I still couldn’t walk on Christmas Day and it had been nearly a week since the session) we did squats, lunges, step ups. My. legs. were. shaking. It was definitely eye opening, I look back now and think, I NEED to be doing this to make sure my joints and limbs still work when I start to get older! When you look back to the caveman days they would lift and carry heavy rocks, climb using their body weight and just generally be agile, I believe that’s what humans are supposed to do.
Bearing in mind that first resistance style training session was 7 years ago now, and it hasn’t been smooth sailing since. It wasn’t until around 4 years ago after 3 years of occasional gym sessions and a very much ‘on’ or ‘off’ mentality when it came to nutrition, I completely had a lifestyle overhaul and have been resistance/weight training consistently since (well…we’ll ignore that pretty much a whole year of that the gym has been closed due to a pandemic, love that for me)
I will admit, the reason I started lifting weights consistently was purely for aesthetic purposes, i’m not ashamed to admit it, and to be honest I think if anyone says any different then they’re lying. I love the look of a ‘toned’ physique, a round bum, quads, lean arms. I do, I love it. You can completely change your body composition by lifting weights. But aesthetic reasons probably won’t get you out of bed in the morning to go to the gym. Here are a few reasons why I love lifting weights;
There is no end goal - y’know how we’re always being told to enjoy the process? This will do it for you. You don’t just hip thrust 100kg and say, okay cool I’m finished now. You can progress constantly, you get that buzz when you hit a personal best, and there’s just no cap on strength and progression. Whether you want to be able to do chin ups or squat a certain amount, whatever it is, it keeps you focused and gives you a huge sense of pride when you can visibly see your numbers improving (you can’t get that from 20 minutes on a cross trainer every few days)
The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn at rest. Muscle tissue is metabolically more active than fat tissue, so you can eat more without gaining fat. For someone with a HUGE appetite like me, this is very appealing! I personally think you shouldn’t just go to the gym to burn calories, that will never be fulfilling. What IS fulfilling is training regularly, fuelling your body with lots of food and just seeing inches appear in the places you actually want them to!
The final reason, it benefits you in every day life. In 2019 I had to sell my house and move in by myself, carrying chests of drawers, beds, bedside tables, and many suitcases full of clothes was A LOT easier than it would have been had I not been lifting weights!
What’s important to remember is, no one is good at anything the first time they do it. It’s hard, you’ll ache for days, maybe feel self conscious (you shouldn’t, but I used to, I get it) but you just have to keep going because it’s not supposed to be easy and the only way to get better at something is by doing it more (shocking, right?) at the end of the day you have to do what you enjoy, especially if you want it to be maintainable, but i’m not sure quite sure anyone enjoys anything that they’re not good at? I stand by ‘find an exercise you enjoy’ but I also stand by my point, don’t expect to enjoy anything first time, so don’t give up. If you still hate it after 6 months, then we can have a chat!