The Secret Benefits Of Lifting Weights

February 28, 2019

The Secret Benefits Of Lifting Weights

Many gym fans integrate lifting weights into their fitness regime to build muscle and aid movement.

But, did you know that lifting weights has a range of secret benefits for your health, fitness and wellbeing that you won’t want to ignore?

Stronger Muscles Make Daily Tasks Easier

Moving boxes, carrying shopping bags, going up stairs, picking your kids up: these all seem like small actions, but stronger muscles give you the ability to do the day-to-day physical activity of life with fewer aches and pains.

Build confidence

Weight lifting offers a host of physiological benefits but more than that, the confidence which accompanies lifting weights is unlike anything else.

When you’re able to step outside your comfort zone and lift weights you never dreamed you’d be able to, you’ll quickly notice a change in your confidence and self-esteem.

What you learn in the weight room, you can apply throughout the rest of your life.

Feel stronger mentally

Feeling physically strong also helps feel mentally and emotionally strong enough to face any challenges you encounter during your everyday life.

Exceeding expectations of what your body can accomplish can make you feel more capable of overcoming challenges in general.

Reduce anxiety

A 2017 analysis that looked at the effects of resistance training on anxiety found that strength training improves anxiety symptoms. “[Lifting] can be a focus unto itself that can help reduce the anxious cognition that would otherwise enter one’s head,” says Dr Baum.

Focus on numbers going up, instead of down

Stash away your scale for several weeks and set a strength training goal instead. Strength training can shift your perspective whereby happiness doesn’t come from achieving a certain number [on the scale]. It comes from the process of getting stronger and feeling empowered that you’re navigating your own success.

Each time you go to the gym you can either lift a little bit heavier or do a few more reps, and being able to visibly see yourself progress gives a positive sense of achievement each time.

Keen to add weight lifting to your gym routine?  Don’t hesitate to speak to the SSP gym team.

If you’re a woman wanting to learn more about lifting, our female-only course ‘Girls Who Lift’is designed to teach you how to add strength training into your routine and approach the free-weights with confidence!

Our next Girls Who Lift course starts Tuesday 12 March and Thursday 14 March.

If your lifting is affected by any discomfort or pain, and need guidance on how to overcome it, look no further than The Treatment Room

In The Treatment Room in Guildford we provide Sports Therapy, Sports Massage, Osteopathy and Physiotherapy with a key difference – our small, specialist team.

Click here to find out more about The Treatment Room