Why You Should Start Lifting Weights
If you’re someone who’s always avoided lifting weights, we’re here to tell you why you should start. It can seem pretty intimidating to begin weight training, especially since it’s gotten a negative reputation over the years. We’re going to talk about all the reasons you should start lifting weights and what benefits this kind of exercise has.
Strengthen Muscles
Let’s start with the obvious – lifting weights will strengthen the muscles. Building muscle is great since having a higher muscle mass will help you be able to do everyday tasks more easily.
Fights Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis can be rather common with people who are older. This disease weakens the bones and causes them to break easily. As you get older, you naturally lose muscle and bone mass. So, lifting weights consistently, you’ll be able to prevent this disease.
Improves Heart Health
Contrary to popular belief, cardio isn’t the only exercise that is good for the heart. Resistance training has been shown to lower blood pressure. Not to mention, it helps reduce stress as well.
Reduces Risk of Diabetes
Diabetes is a disease that affects people all around the world. You probably know how a healthy lifestyle can help prevent this disease and even manage it. However, did you know that heavy lifting also helps reduce the risk of getting diabetes? Resistance training promotes the growth of white muscle which is known to lower blood glucose as it uses glucose for energy.
Improves Bone Density
Just like your brain need exercise to stay sharp, your bones need to be challenged as well. After age 30 or so, you start losing bone density, as we’ve said before. Weight lifting creates a force on the bone, helping it stay strong. In order to adapt to this new weight, the bone will strengthen accordingly.
Boosts Metabolism
Weight lifting tends to burn more calories than cardio. Why? Building muscle allows the body to burn more calories over a longer period of time. After you’re done working out, the body still burns calories for a few hours. On top of that, having more muscle increases your metabolism overall, leading you to burn more calories throughout the day.
Improves Sleep
It’s a known fact that exercise improves sleep quality. Doing regular exercise will help you sleep that much better at night.
