4 Reasons to Strength Train
Strength training is the most valuable thing you can do for your life. I still believe that strength is the one thing that can either limit or amplify all other areas of your life. When I was growing up, strength training was still primarily seen as something that people did for sports or for aesthetic reasons. While those are still very good reasons to strength train, they are far from the only reasons you should be strength training. Some of the most common things we hear at Showtime Strength & Performance from people who aren’t training yet are “I’m so weak I can’t do any of it” and “I’m so behind and it will take too long”. I use phrases like these to remind people that at some point, we had to learn how to walk, cook, grow skills for our profession, but over time we were able to learn all of these things. Where you’re currently it is just where you’re at in that moment. The good news is that each person has the ability to decide to improve from there or let it get worse by doing nothing. Let’s go beyond bigger muscles and improved athletic performance to see how strength training can improve life for every person.
Armor Building
The first time I heard this was from Dan John and I thought it was great. Strength training is essentially building your armor to help protect you against things that come up in daily life. Falls are the leading cause of death for people over 65. By building strength we can protect against this by improving coordination which will lead to a lower chance of falling, but also being able to better protect ourselves from the impact of the fall. It also helps greatly when you’re able to get up from the ground instead of laying unable to get up. Armor building isn’t about big muscles, but it does refer to the ability fight off things that will simply do more damage to someone who is weaker and frail.
Confidence
While everyone can debate about which training method is the greatest, it’s very important to understand that the biggest thing you’ll notice from gaining some strength is an increase in confidence. I have yet to see anyone get stronger and have a lower amount of confidence in their ability. I have seen confidence increase in people as young as 10 all the way up to people in their 80s. Strength is a multiplier that gives you the ability to do the things you enjoy better or the ability to do things that you had thought were no longer possible. I’ve worked with a client for several years now that could no longer play 18 holes of golf on a weekly basis. She now plays 18 holes of golf several times a week in addition to training and swimming. Strength has created a whole new lifestyle for this person.
Improved Mental Health
I’m not a mental health professional, but I do believe that strength training and improving strength will improve mental health greatly. I have seen it enough times from a range of people such as high level athletes, working professionals, teenagers, and myself. There is a reason why many physicians and psychologist will recommend the people they see to begin an exercise routine. The release of endorphins after a strength training session will always have a person feeling better than prior to the session (barring any injury during the session). When the Covid 19 shut downs happened, many people weren’t able to go to their gyms and reported higher levels of depression accompanied by their weight gain and also lack of movement. There is also a sense of satisfaction that comes to us when we do something that is physically challenging. By continuing to participate in something challenging we will be able to handle adversity outside the gym. A general rule I use with all of our clients is that you should feel better after your training session than you did before.
Improved Bone Density
One of the biggest issues that women face as they age is decreased bone density as a result of menopause. This is why many times, women will decrease their activity at this point in life and are more susceptible to broken bones from falls which can then lead into a range of other issues after the fall. I had a client that was facing osteoporosis and after 6 months of strength training, she shifted her bone density to the higher end of the spectrum for women her age. As a result she also had less joint pain and felt more comfortable doing some of her favorite activities like hiking through the mountains with her dogs.
These are just some of the many benefits of strength training. I choose these four because I feel like they don’t get enough credit for the difference it can make in someone’s life. If you take any person and give them more confidence, improved mental health, and improve their ability to withstand the impact of daily life they will appear to be a different person. Strength is one of the greatest gifts in the world and it is my mission to help more people see that.
Nick Showman
Showtime Strength & Performance