Contrary to popular belief, there are more benefits to lifting weights than bulging biceps and a rock hard 6 pack. You can transform your mindset, enrich your social life, and build confidence, amongst many more benefits.
And if you’re sitting
Benefit 1. Increases self-belief
The core essence of building Independent confidence and self-belief is setting goals that appear beyond your capabilities and working towards them in a consistent and committed manner until you achieve them. This is lifting weights in a nutshell.
When you start out you’ll be weak like a little kitten. Don’t worry, everyone is. Then you set yourself a goal that seems FAR beyond what’s possible as you start working towards it. Step by step. Taking little steps every day, gradually improving until, all of a sudden, you’re doing things that a few months ago seemed impossible.
That gives you a massive boost in confidence. You prove to yourself, not just logically know, but have actual, first-hand experience, that if you set yourself goals and work towards them, you can achieve anything.
What would change about your life if you had this belief? What would change about the way you live your life if you knew that you just needed to apply yourself to a goal and eventually you’d reach it?Well, this is what you’ll get by lifting weights.
Benefit 2. You learn goal setting, planning, prioritisation, and discipline
Goal setting, planning, and prioritisation are CRUCIAL skills in building the life you want. If you can’t set a goal, then you’ll never achieve that goal. If you can’t plan for that goal, you’ll never achieve it because you won’t have a structured and systematic way of getting there. If you can’t prioritise your activities, then you’ll forever be doing little things that aren’t actually getting you where you want to be. And if you don’t have the discipline to stick with those priorities and keep pushing forward, then the best-laid plans will go to waste.
How do you get better at this? There are a few tricks and techniques you can learn but the more important element is practising it in an area of your life that you actually care about. This is because you can see the benefits of using it and the benefits that come from being good at it.
Lifting weights is the perfect space to practice goal setting, planning, and prioritisation because it’s the fastest and easiest way to improve.
If you don’t know the goals you want to achieve (lose fat, gain muscle, improve strength, increase endurance, increase muscle definition, etc…), you’ll never get there because each goal requires a different workout routine.
If you don’t plan properly, you’ll end up wasting workouts. If you workout before your muscles have had a chance to recover, you won’t be able to get the maximum benefit out of your workout. If you wait too long after they’ve recovered, you will lose the gains you made on the previous workout.
If you don’t learn to prioritise your time properly, you won’t be able to keep to the plan that you’ve made and you’ll suffer the same problems that you face if you just don’t plan at all.
And if you don’t have the discipline to follow through on your plan and work through to your goals, you will waste all the goals you’ve achieved in the previous weeks.
What would be different about your life if you could set goals, plan effectively for them, were able to prioritise your time to meet that plan and had the discipline to carry out those plans? How much easier, simpler, and more rewarding would life be?
Well, this is what you’ll get by lifting weights.
Benefit 3. It’s an automatic wardrobe upgrade
When you work out, your clothes automatically look better on you. Instead of looking like rags draped over an emaciated wire coat hanger or a drop sheet hung over a sack of potatoes, there’s solid, firm muscle filling out all the right places and empty space where space should be.
Your T-shirts will fill out around the sleeves, across the shoulders, through the chest, and give you that nice v-shaped back.
You’ll have thighs to fill out your shorts and an arse to actually fill out your jeans.
What would change about your life if you felt like you looked good in the clothes you wore? What would change if you felt confident and well presented walking into clubs?
Well, this is what you’ll get by lifting weights.
Benefit 4. You’ll become better at other activities
When you’re stronger, fitter, have more endurance and are more explosive, you’re automatically better at other activities.
When you play sports with the other guys in the office, you become an asset rather than a liability. When you kick the ball around with your mates, you can keep going longer than you used to be able to. When you’re throwing the ball around with your kids, you don’t have to sit down whilst they’re still full of energy.
On top of this, because a lot of lifts (especially big, combination lifts like squats and power cleans) require high levels of muscular coordination, you will become more coordinated. The basic movements needed to be good at most activities will become more natural and, if they’re not, you’ll be able to learn them much faster.
What would change about your life if all the other activities in your life suddenly became easier and more natural?
Well, this is what you’ll get from lifting weights.
Benefit 5. You’ll be better in bed
Of all the activities you get better at, this is probably the one that will make the most difference to your relationships with women.
When you work out and are in shape, your endurance goes up and up and up. Instead of running out of breath in 10 minutes and needing a cigarette, you can keep going and going and going and going. Then you can take a break and get going again.
Instead of having her leave the next morning wondering why she wasted her entire night for that 10 minutes of inadequate panting, she’ll be wondering whether or not she REALLY has to go to work today…
Which sounds better to you?
Well, this is what you’ll get from lifting weights.
Benefit 6. Makes your life easier
When you’re strong, fit, and in-shape, every physical activity in life becomes easier. Climbing stairs is simple, carrying heavy objects is a breeze, and you start to look forward to having to rearrange the office because you feel like it’s a challenge you can take on.
Oh, because everything is easier, by the time you get home at night, you don’t feel so exhausted that you have to waste the rest of the night away in front of the TV because you’re too tired to move. You get home feeling fresh, energetic, and excited to get out and take on more challenges and do more exciting things.
What would change about your life if you get home every day feeling strong, fresh, and ready to take on the world?
Well, this is what you’ll get by lifting weights.
Benefit 7. Reduced risk of every major lifestyle disease
When you’re in shape, you reduce the risk of EVERY major lifestyle disease. Depending on how dedicated you are, your risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, a few kinds of cancer, and even black plague are all reduced.
That means that not only will you live longer and have that longer life be more rewarding, exciting, and fulfilling, but you can live that life worrying less about what could happen to you in that time.
This is what you can get lifting weights.
Benefit 8. Meet athletic and confident people
What kind of people do you think go to gyms? The kind of people who not only value their health and takes care of how they look and feel, but also people who have the determination and self-belief to take responsibility into their own hands and do something about it.
You meet confident, strong, determined people who take responsibility for their life.
What would change about your life if you were surrounded by these kinds of people and also had something you could talk to them about (eg. Working out)? Well, this is what you’ll get lifting weights.
Benefit 9. Forces you to look after your diet
One of the things you’ll learn very quickly is that you can amplify your results in the gym 10 fold by looking after your diet.
You can get leaner, stronger, more ripped, and workout harder, just by eating the right things.
And because you’ll be able to see and feel a real and tangible difference in your workouts from eating well, you’ll be more likely to stick to it.
What would change about your life if you could see and feel a direct correlation between eating well and moving forward with your life? Would you be more likely to do it?
Well, that’s what you’ll get when you start working out.
Benefit 10. Teaches you a new skill
There’s more to working out than just pushing heavy things around a mirrored room. There’s proven science behind maximising gains in the gym. If you get into it, there’s a lot you can learn and have a great time learning. This keeps your brain active rather than wasting it away in front of a computer monitor.
What would change about your life if you had something interesting to keep learning about rather than just wanting to waste your time away in front of the TV?
Well, this is what you’ll get lifting weights.
Benefit 11. Develop the habit of pushing through fear
When you’re standing underneath a barbell with it racked across your shoulders and more than your body-weight stacked along its sides, thighs burning from the last 3 sets you’ve already completed and sweat dripping down into your eyes, there’s a certain amount of fear that comes with thinking about your next rep.
It takes courage, commitment, and dedication to drop your arse down and push through. And then even more to do the next. And the next. And the next.
But by doing so, you’re teaching yourself a VERY valuable lesson: fear is not in control.
You’re proving to yourself that you can experience fear and take action anyway.
Can you think of any area of your life where this might come in handy?
How about when you’re walking down the street and you see that stunning Spanish beauty gliding towards you? How about when you start thinking about approaching and feel that fear rise inside you?
Imagine all the times in your life where you’ve known that taking action was the right thing to do but you let fear dictate how you lived your life. Imagine how much different your life would have been today if you’d proven to yourself multiple times every day, that you had the ability to act despite fear. Imagine how different your life would have been right now…
That’s the difference you can get from lifting weights.
Benefit 12. More (positive) attention from the opposite sex
When you look good and feel confident and strong, more attractive people will notice you.
You’ll stand out in a crowd rather than fading into the
How much easier do you think it would be to meet more attractive people if they were already interested in you before you approached them?
Well, that’s what you can get from lifting weights.
Benefit 13. Puts you outside your comfort zone
Nestling yourself firmly inside your comfort zone is a wonderful and pleasant thing to do. It’s also the fastest and surest way to mediocrity.
Why? Because if you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always been getting.
To really live a rewarding, fulfilling, and exciting life, you need to continually push beyond your comfort zone and try new things.
Lifting weights will help you do that.
For starters, if you’ve never been inside a gym, they can be scary places filled with weird people doing stranger movements on even stranger machines.
But even if you have, lifting weights is ALL about putting yourself outside your comfort zone and challenging yourself.
The body is an adaptive organism that responds to new stresses. Once it encounters new challenges (ie. Heavier weights), it develops the abilities to be able to deal with those new challenges (ie. Muscles).
If you don’t keep pushing your comfort zone (ie. Adding more weights and doing different exercises), your body does not develop new responses (ie. Building more muscle).
So, to continue to see gains through lifting weights, you have to constantly push yourself beyond your comfort zone.
What would change about your life if you constantly pushed yourself beyond your comfort zone?
Well, that’s what you can get by lifting weights.
Benefit 14. Gets you out of your head and into your body
I’m sure you know the incredible benefits of being in your body and being present with women, rather than being stuck in your head and over-analytical.
What you might not know is that being in your body and not analysing the situation is a skill that you develop.
The more time you spend logically analysing a situation, the more natural it becomes to analyse situations.
The more time you spend feeling and being in your body, the more natural it becomes to be in your body and just experience the moment.
One of the great things about lifting weights is that it’s an activity that focuses on feeling rather than thinking.
Yes, there are times when you have to think about what you’re doing and how you’re doing it but the majority of the time is spend feeling – where your limits are, how much you have left, whether your form is right, etc…
The more time you spend feeling your way through activities rather than thinking your way through, the easier and more natural it becomes to feel your way through other activities, like meeting women.
What would change about your life if you were more present and less analytical when interacting with women?
Well, that’s what you can get from lifting weights.
Benefit 15. Meet people who’re also committed to building a quality life
If you’re anything like most people, the further down this path of building
Don’t stress, that’s totally normal. When you decide to stop complaining and take full responsibility for your life situation, hanging out with people who still want to bitch and moan and settle for mediocrity just seems less and less productive.
That leaves a hole in your life and one that you’ll undoubtedly want to fill.
But where can you meet other guys who’re committed to taking control of their lives, who’re willing to push through challenges and barriers to become the Man they want to be, have the confidence to branch out and try new things?
At the gym of course!
Lifting weights is a great way to meet more mates who’re also willing to take life by the horns and push towards their goals.
Now, I’m not saying that all the people you meet will be like that, but you’ve got a far higher chance than sitting around on your arse playing
Benefit 16. Increase Testosterone
Testosterone is the raw chemical building block that’s responsible for your ‘manliness’. It’s what’s responsible for your level of aggression, determination, and willingness to fight for what you believe in.
Scientific studies have shown that guys with higher testosterone levels are not only more attractive to women but also, generally more successful in life (still looking for those references).
The good thing for you is that your levels of testosterone aren’t set. They’re completely flexible and you can increase your levels of testosterone through various activities.
Some activities involve changing your diet, whilst others involve lifting weights.
Yes, that’s right. Lifting weights is a great and simple way to increase your testosterone – ESPECIALLY big, full body movements like squats and Olympic lifts (clean and jerk, hang clean, etc…).
What would change about your life if you had more aggression, determination, and drive to achieve your goals?
Well, that’s what you can get through lifting weights.
Benefit 17. Learn the value of working hard for something
Modern technology is great at serving solutions up on a plate. 8 Minute Abs, click button purchasing, and fast food have all instilled the idea that everything should be instant.
This causes a lot of problems, especially when it comes to changing your life because the patterns you’re attempting to change take time to change.
You’ve been reinforcing these old habits of running away from fear and blaming other people for your life situation for many years and they don’t go away overnight.
When a lot of guys realise this, they give up and run back to their safe, comfortable cave. They’re just not used to working hard for anything in their life and so when they’re faced with a challenge, they give up.
Lifting weights is a great place to learn the value of hard work.
Nothing comes easy when you’re lying on your back under a barbell with 100kg stacked on the sides and your mate yelling down at you for one more rep.
Everything you get in a gym, you have to earn.
Even with all the latest advancements in chemicals and hormones, you still have to put the hard work in on your end to get any real improvements from them.
No quick fixes are going to get you results. Your fat isn’t going to melt away by sitting in the sauna and your biceps aren’t going to puff up by standing under the hot showers.
Everything you get, you have to earn.
But in saying that, if you put the hard yards in, you will get returns. Your body will change and you will see results.
What would change about your life if you stopped waiting for a quick fix and you started putting in the hard yards?
This is what you’ll get from lifting weights.
STILL not convinced? Well, maybe this will convince you:
Benefit 18. You just feel better
Do you ever just feel down? Like things are too much?
Do you struggle feeling flat and depressed?
Well, I have a solution. There’s a simple and incredibly beneficial activity you can participate in that increases the levels of endorphins (feel good chemicals) that your body produces.
It’s called: lifting weights.
If you’ve never pushed yourself to absolute exhaustion in the pursuit of physical perfection then you might not know what I’m talking about, but the feeling you get when you’ve collapsed on the benches in the change room after a massive workout is unparalleled.
There are feel good chemicals running through your body and you feel on top of the world. It’s as close to really good sex as you can get by yourself.
What would change about your life if you had a simple and quick way to feel happy and fulfilled, regardless of what’s going on in the world around you?
Well, that’s what you can experience by lifting weights.
Benefit 19. Reduces the possibility of physical confrontation
It’s a sad fact of life that there are guys out there who’re just looking for a fight. And whilst it’s best just to avoid them, sometimes they just go out of their way to try and create reasons to get in a fight.
Whilst lifting weights and getting stronger won’t help you defend yourself against a trained fighter, it will make average Joe’s think twice before starting trouble with you. Being bigger, stronger, and fitter doesn’t automatically make you a better fighter, but it does put doubt in the back of most guy’s heads.
What would change about your life if the fear of physical confrontation was reduced to almost non-existent?
Well, that’s what you can get through lifting weights.
STILL not convinced? Well, here’s my last ditch effort:
Benefit 20. You look good naked
Purely and simply.
TL;DR
In case you couldn’t be bothered reading the whole thing and just skipped to the end, here are the 20 ways that lifting weights will transform your life:
- Feel incredibly powerful and happy
- Become physically stronger
- Less afraid of confrontation
- Increase confidence
- Reduce your risk of every major lifestyle disease
- Develop discipline, time management, and prioritisation
- Automatic upgrade for your wardrobe
- Get better at other activities
- Get better in bed
- Make your day-to-day life easier
- Consistently and confidently push through fear
- Meet lots of confident women you have things in common with
- Keep your brain active
- Get more attention from women
- Push outside your comfort zone
- Get out of your head and into your body
- Meet other guys who’re also committed to building a quality life
- Increase your testosterone
- Teach you the value of hard work
- You look good naked
If just one of these sounds like a change you’d like to see in your life, then I HIGHLY recommend you get your pale, white, pimply arse into a gym.
If two or more of these are changes that you could really see a benefit in, then there should be no questions about it.
Why lifting weights and not just sport in general?
Yes, you can get a lot of these benefits from doing other forms of exercise, but there are two main reasons why I’ve specifically focused on lifting weights and why I believe it’s more beneficial than other forms of exercise:
1. It’s the only activity that gives you everything
Obviously, lifting is not the only way to achieve all these different benefits individually, but lifting weights is the ONLY place to get ALL of them in one go.
You can get certain elements from a Sunday morning boot camp, you can get others from playing football, you can get even more from martial arts, but lifting weights is the ONLY place you get ALL of them in one go.
2. Incremental measurements
One of the elements that set lifting weights apart from other physical activities is your ability to measure your gains in the tiniest of increments. You can measure:
- 1 extra rep
- An extra kilogram of weight on the bar
- The loss of 1cm from your waist line
- The addition of 1cm to your arm girth
The ability to see progress in the smallest of increments lets you know that you’re taking steps forward and when you can see that what you’re doing is making a difference, there’s FAR more incentive to keep going.T
The ball’s in your court. You know what you can get from lifting weights, and if you’re lacking in ANY one of those areas, you can’t blame anyone but yourself.
So, get up off your arse, get into a gym, and start experiencing all the incredible benefits that come from lifting weights.
NOTE 1: Always get a qualified trainer to show you how to lift. If you don’t get your technique right, you can end up just hurting yourself. Can’t afford one, check out some videos on YouTube
DISCLAIMER: I’m not a personal trainer and so take no responsibility for the reliability of these videos. They just look rad.
NOTE 2: Don’t have enough cash to get into a gym? No excuse because neither does this guy:
This is dead-on, Leigh. However most of this applies to pretty much every exercise out there, and all of it ESPECIALLY applies to martial arts.
So you might wanna mention somewhere that if you don’t like lifting weights for whatever legitimate reason (other than being a lazy arse), you might as well just get the hell up and simply EXERCISE. And also eat healthy.
Yeah, good point mate. Though, in my expereince, whilst other activities can give you some of these, lifting weights is the only place where you get ALL of these together.
Work out with a team or buddy. Just like a men’s group or AI you see the REAL results and feel the REAL effects when you have coaches,team members,or close friends behind you riding your ass and screaming at you,pushing you further than you think you can.
It’s sure as hell scarier. But it’s a lot more gratifying and intense.
I highly recommend checking out a guy called “Sean Nalewanyj”.
Whilst looking for a (Non-existant) miracle body building method, I stumbled across his name, and not only was he the only Natural Bodybuilding Coach I could find who stressed there is no magical method to big gains, but explains all the truths about muscle building and how to build your dream body in minimal time, how to eat, live, and work healthily, and be able to push towards your goal no matter how how hard it gets.
This page has some info and links to his books and latest works (Check out “The Truth about muscle building” in the top right corner, I found it really useful.”)
Oh, and great post Leigh.
Definitely my favourite. 😉
Sorry, link dissappeared for some reason, here it is again.
http://seannalewanyj.org/
Interesting stuff mate. I’ll check it out when I get some spare time.
This is great and all, but I can achieve/get/gain most of these things by doing other stuff. The only thing I can’t get is a muscled body, but when I WAS working out there was no difference in the results I got with women.
I’d much rather do something I enjoy, than wasting it in the gym doing something I hate.
Feeling powerful, happy, energetic, pushing through fears, get outside my comfort zone, etc, are all things I already get from approaching and talking to women.
Yeah, you can achieve most of them by doing other things, but lifting weights is the only place I’ve found that you can achieve ALL of these in one go.
If the gym isn’t for you (‘hate’ is a very strong word. Might be a good starting place to look deeper), then that’s fine. There’s more than one way to skin a cat. But in my experience, the gym is the most effective place.
Lifting weights always bored me. Didn’t hate it, but it just never caught on. Cycling in contrast, is just my thing.
But even more important than whether you lift weights, ride a bicycle or whatever is in my opinion THAT YOU DO HAVE AN EXERCISE REGIMEN.
Without physical exercise you will not likely have the energy to sustain an interesting lifestyle. Nothing drains your energy more than being physically inactive.
Great to hear you’ve found what you love mate. The word ‘hate’ popped up in your last comment so I thought there might be something there but if it’s just boredom, then it’s probably nothing.
It wasn’t my comment.
It was Coldman who mentioned he hated lifting weights.
Sorry mate. My bad. I replied to the wrong comment.
I think this is probably my favourite article on AI, mainly because I can relate to all of this.
When I wanted to start changing my life, lifting weights was a pathway that showed me that you can achieve what you set you mind to with effort and consistency.
Its also great because you can measure how much weight you have lost/gained over a certain amount of time and compare what you used to lift to what you can lift now and know that you’re getting stronger.
For me it is by far the easiest way to feel powerful and in control of my life and it is a great starting block for anyone wanting to build confidence. But the real benefits come when you commit to it.
Awesome post Leigh.
Great to hear you enjoyed it.
And that’s a really great point that I didn’t mention about the incremental measurement. I’m going to edit the article now and add it back in.
great post
its interesting to see how powerful the guy doing bodyweight exercises is
a good sourse for bofyweight training is convict conditioning, great book, and perfect if you dont have the money to go to the gym
also the dvd from http://www.calisthenicskingz.net/ its cheap and very good, i would just add to it more leg work, full bridges and hang leg raises and you are good to go to become superman
and i forgot, the in my opinion the best product out there for bodyweight training is convict conditioning, on top of any other
anyway a fast thing you could try and is free, is look for the best exercises for all part of you body, and look for the different variations to increase dificulty
shoulders- handstand pushups
pushing muscles- push ups(you can reach very advanced versions, not just the traditional) and dips
pulling muscles- pull ups, again, you can reach very advanced versions, instruntions free in many places
spine- son, you need a strong one, most important part of your body, by far, yes, more important than your glutes. do full bridges and wrestler bridges(for the neck to)
core(and abs)- hang leg raises, no competition there, ones you can lift your legs to a v shape, with your feet close to your hands, you are as strong as fuck.
lower body- this one is simple, squats, and eventualy pistol squats
anyway, sorry for taking so much space, hope it helps
Leigh,
I think what you are trying to say about working out is great. Recently, I have stumbled upon a book, called Convict Conditioning (http://www.dragondoor.com/b41/). In here, the author,Paul “Coach” Wade, advocates calisthenics over weightlifting for a good reason. And not just any calisthenics-old school calisthenics. Weightlifting as it is only came about the mid/late 20th century. Before that, athletes have always used calisthenics to build strength AND endurance. Weightlifting-especially barbells-damage the muscles surrounding the shoulder,compress the spinal discs- just to name a few things weightlifting does to the body. Good old pullups, pushups, and what not use the muscles of the human body as they were intended. He talks about progressions in technique, like going from wall pushups to one arm pushups. This gives the joints in the body time to strengthen,unlike weightlifting. Like Endgame in which you talked about how we had to unlearn the PUA junk to be natural with women, Wade is saying the same thing about working out. You don’t need gym membership, weights, or anything else besides your body. Plus, you save money too.
Oh, I just scrolled back up to see someone else posted something similar, argh. My apologies. So I guess the only thing I have to add is weightlifting is potentially harmful to your overall health. Regardless, I think you’re doing great here at AI-keep it up!
I’ve heard of that one before. From what I know, it’s an amazing book. Great to see someone’s using it.
I’ve never been through it but I’ll definitely check it out.
Maybe the fitness thing deserves a forum spot, since it is always a beautiful subject of discussion.
And my 2 cents: Body By Science. I mentioned it at the forums already but in short it is a research based high intensity fitness programme. 12 minutes a week (or for some people even 12 minutes every two weeks) and that’s it, with results that easily blow away 5 day a week routines. And the thing I love about it is that it is backed up by solid science.
And what’s best about the Body By Science ‘Big Five workout’ is that it facilitates ass kicking barrier pushing every week like no other training scheme does. Plus you get the inevitable ass kicking results for free, just as a bonus.
http://www.bodybyscience.net/home.html/?page_id=18
Sounds awesome mate. I’ll check it out.
wow thanks bas, im very interested in stuff like this, will check it out
and i second your idea
it would be great to have a part of the forum dedicated to fitness!
I have to admit, I wasn’t really sold on the goal-setting and being better in bed. But when I saw that it protected from the black plague, that sold me straight away!!!
But on a more serious note, this is one of my favorite articles on here. I second the idea of having a section of the forum specifically for working out, where people can post what they know and we can get some guides going for the basics of how to reduce fat, build muscle, increase endurance, and whatever other goals people want.
We use to have one but it didn’t get used enough so we just merged it.
I’ll tell you what, start a thread about it and I’ll sticky it. If it gets popular enough, we’ll turn it into a section.
I’m doing some research on it right now, so I’ll get it started up in a day or two.
Great to hear mate.
ok, I followed your advice and I’m in the gym now. Didn’t plan to make this into a complicated research project, though. So, one more question:
Which style of training do you recommend?
It seems there are several, and I feel rather lost…
Good on you mate. It’s great to see you’re taking action. The style of training you take on really depends on what you’re trying to acheive. What do you want to get out of it?
– Lose fat
– Build muscle
– Increase your cardio-vascular endurance
What’s your goal?
Most importantly, I want to support the personality change, that is building a habit of taking up challenges, and decreasing time of lazily sitting around doing nothing.
Also (less important) I’d like to lose some weight(fat), but only about 10kg.
Those 2 are the main things. Apart from that:
Building muscle may be a nice thing just to experience how it feels, but otherwise it isn’t a priority.
Health gain is important for me too, but I guess there isn’t much of a difference to this concerning various styles of training.
Cardio-vascular endurance is something I guess I don’t have to worry about. I can do cycling for several hours a day without problems.
First of all, I’m not a personal trainer and I haven’t assessed you physically so everything I’m saying is just guess work. You should always speak to a qualified professional before making decisions on these kinds of things.
Here’s what I’d recommend: Get a book called ‘The Testosterone Advantage Plan’. It’s a great book about lifting and health and strength, and most importantly for you, building testosterone that’s going to push you harder and get you challenging your world more.
You can check it out here: Testosterone Advantage Plan
It’s also got workout routines and diet plans in the back of it that will give you a good place to start.
Also, I would HIGHLY recommend you get a personal trainer, even for just a few sessions, just to show you how to do the lifts properly. Bad form and technique can cause you a lot of problems down the road (as I’m finding out).
Hope that helps.
Thanks!
Right now, I have noticed something else: It’s quite interesting to see what happens, when the lifting gets tough, i.e. to observe the different voices in my head either telling me to push through or to give it up, because it is too difficult. Lately I noticed that one voice will keep telling me something like this:
“OK, we had this already, we’ve been at this point. You can either use brute force to do this other repetition, or don’t. Guess what? It’s not worth the effort. Guess why? This has nothing to do with your goals at all. Practicing lifting weights to get better at life is like practicing playing football to get better at cooking. You’re basically wasting your time here. Go out and do something you really value.”
I have to admit that there seems to be truth in this reasoning. Lifting weights is really hard, and if it is not directly connected to something I really value, I can’t see where to take the discipline from. Any suggestions? Do you agree with this analysis? Where exactly do YOU take your motivation from?
For me, it is helping me move closer to my goals.
My goals of being healthy, of being physically strong enough to take on any physical challenges, of being able to walk around with my shirt off and not feel embarrassed of what I’ve let myself become, of being able to run around with my kids when I’m 45, etc…
What’s your dream? Does any of it involve being strong and healthy?
Hey man great article
but why the assumption that “get your pale, white, pimply arse into a gym.”?
Not all white people are out of shape, big stereotype there and viewers from other ethnicity’s will immediately be turned off by this, there are people of all races that need to get to the gym and more people will view this site if you write it as such.
Hey mate,
It wasn’t intended to be any kind of racial stereo typing. It was more of a throw away line.
Most people’s arses are relatively white as they don’t tan them much and if they’re not, well, they probably don’t need to read this article as they’re either a stripper or a professional body builder.
That’s all. Nothing sinister…
Leigh,
It’s the brain nerd scooting in. I’m a dementia administrator and dementia practitioner speaking, writing and blogging about dementia prevention through good brain health. Lifting weights is one of about four main methods to prevent dementia and is an activity I preach to my target market 50+ male AND female.
While researching a definition of ‘muscle retention exercises’ in google, this article was given down the list. Thus how I found you. In an upcoming post on exercise, I would like to refer to you and your article.
Thanks for your contribution. Janet Rich Pittman, OnTheBrain
I think you forgot to mention that “you increase your chances of living longer”. Great post, it i was sold on every reason you mentioned. This is my favorite post from now on.
I find lifting to be very therapeutic. It quiets the mind, gets you breathing deeper, and all sorts of stuff tends to come to the surface that I don’t otherwise think about. But I can get it out of my brain during the workouts. And of course when finished my mind is quiet and I feel good about myself for continuing to better myself.
Wow!
I really need this.
I never thought that such a small thing can make such a big difference in my life.
It’s such an eye-opener to me.
HUGE difference, mate. It definitely played a massive role in my life and hope it can in yours as well.
It’s nice reading such an article on this topic. Only a few recognizes the importance and benefits of Strength Training. Even if your not an athlete or into any sports, just for fitness purposes, strength training is good.
Good article. Well-written, on point and “pale, white pimply arse” is accurate. Sheltering from Covid19 has been a bitch, I hate breathing-in the dust from the floor when dping press-ups on a carpet, or in general, but it can be done. Crunches, too. Squats, thrusts, stretches of all kinds, and with a chin-up bar, one can put on loads of upper-body strength compared to sedentary and weak like I was (900% increase in reps from barely able to do just 1, and this is with multiple injuries in the respective area, and starting from wasted muscles, low oxygen, low cardio fitness and low testosterone, note). Next project is to do loads of cardio – running, cycling (no swimming until Covid is over or I move to near a lake or sea or win the lottery or move in with a wealthy woman, none of which is happening this year). Greater cardio fitness is a better baseline for working on specific muscle groups, at least when you’re an ex-smoker, 10-50 cigarettes a day for years like me. Yes, I’m still alive. No, I’m not in good shape. Good luck to all. I hope to get my hands on some shapely female aRRRRse (the proper way to say it, ripe with ‘r’ sound, not hissy like a snake) sometime soon, I deserve it. Women like my style, and don’t know what they’re missing, but a man should never let himself get out of shape…
Lifting weights has never done anything good for me. I am 30 and have been lifting weights consistently for the last 12yrs.
I have loads of muscle and look good but have never had a girlfriend and picked up quite a few injuries over the yrs as well from lifting weights like lower back.
All lifting weights does is get you attention from random men. You are better off chasing money from a young age instead of lifting weights. If you are a multi millionaire you will get all the sexy girls, women only care about money.