Scared to Lift Weights?
I'm here with some practical information today. It can be used today, tomorrow, or not at all...depending on your goals. Sort of.
I think that you all know that any type of movement is good for your health. You can go in the gym and lift the same weight for the same reps every single day and that will always be better than not moving your body at all.
However, if you want to build muscle, this requires a specific approach.
But even if you don't want to build muscle, if you're above 30 years old, pay attention.
Once you enter your 30s, you begin to lose 3-8% of your muscle mass every year (journal article here).
Now, you have heard me talk about the importance of muscle before.
It helps manage blood glucose levels
It increases your resting metabolic rate (aka your basal metabolic rate)
Very importantly, it helps prevent injury from falls and helps speed up recovery after injury.
So once you are in your 30s, it doesn't really matter if you have a muscle building goal. Strength training becomes absolutely essential.
Muscle is what moves you through life. Have you ever thought about this? How much we take this for granted? Our heart and brain keep us alive, our muscles allow us to live our life.
And in order to build muscle, you have to utilize a very specific tool: progressive overload.
I think this is the biggest mistake I see people making in the gym on a regular basis - they're lifting weights in a way that is not challenging their muscles. In other words, they're not lifting heavy enough.
I can just see some of you readers recoiling at the thought of lifting heavy. But when I say heavy, I don't mean squatting 150 lbs. I mean lifting just heavy enough to push your muscles beyond what they were previously capable of. This means that if you're lifting a weight for 10 repetitions, the last 2-3 repetitions should be challenging.
You see, the way building muscle works is that when you lift a challenging weight, it creates little tears in your muscles that are then repaired by your body after you finish working out...while you rest. That's where muscle gets built.
So if you're flying through your repetitions, you're not lifting heavy enough. Even if you're lifting lower weights for more repetitions (which is what you should be doing if you are very new to weight lifting), the last couple of repetitions need to challenge you.
Importantly, this concept carries across time. The weight that challenges you this week won't challenge you as much next week. This is where you need to understand how to progress.
You can increase the weight of the load you are lifting.
You can increase the repetitions that you are lifting that load.
You can increase the complexity of the exercise.
The third option can be difficult to know how to do if you're new to strength training, which is where a trainer can come in handy. However, the first two are pretty straight forward. If you can't increase the load to the next weight option available, you can stay at the same weight and add two repetitions. Then the next week add two more. You can do this until lifting a heavier load becomes possible, which is where you lift the heavier load but go back down to the original number of repetitions you were lifting when you started.
Have you ever used this concept of progressive overload before? If not, what would have to happen for you to try incorporating it into your life?
If you need help answering that last question - now that you know how important muscle is to the quality of your life - I'd love to help you figure out how to bring this concept into your daily living in a way that works for you. Just hit reply and let's talk.
Get out there and take care of that body that takes such good care of you, allowing you to live your life to its fullest.
You can do this.