WRONGEST THOUGHT EVER (wrongest may not be a real word, but you get my point).
Most of my personal training clients come to me because they want to look a certain way. Typically wanting to lose weight. So the thought of building big giant muscles makes them cringe. My guarantee to you: “You will not magically wake up one morning looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger on accident”.
Regardless of your fitness goal, strength training is essential to your success.
Knowing that the best reason to implement any fitness training program is to maximize your quality of life, here’s some life changing reasons to jump on to the weight lifting bandwagon:
- Eliminate or reduce aching joints. Strong muscles will help support your joints causing them to hurt less. I’ve had numerous clients come to me and say things like “I forgot that my back used to hurt“ or “My knee doesn’t hurt when I walk upstairs anymore”
- Reduce or eliminate the need for medications. I always love hearing from clients that their doctor took them off half the medications they needed before we started training .
- The ability to enjoy your life. One of my older clients took her dream vacation to Jerusalem. On this vacation she had scheduled several tours that required hiking up and down hills on stone covered paths. She came back to tell me how she was truly able to enjoy these hikes while people half her age had to keep stopping, huffing and puffing because they couldn’t handle the hike . Another client of mine started with me at 5’4” 400 pounds at 23 years old. She told me when she shops at Walmart with her 2-year-old she needs to use the scooter because she can’t handle that much walking. After a month of training she was able to shop at Walmart without using a scooter.
- It’s just nice being stronger. One of my most entertaining strength improvement success stories came from one of my lady clients in her 60s. During one of our training sessions she says to me how impressed she was with her self because she was able to help her husband lift a toilet up into a dumpster. Something she never could have done before we started training. Sure lifting a toilet up into a dumpster was not her goal when we started training, but it was a nice perk for her.
- And yes you’ll look way hotter. As much as I push fitness as the best way to maximize your quality of life, I know that most people just want to look better. NEWS FLASH, Everyone always looks better with nice toned muscles.
I will dig deeper into weight lifting strategies and tips in future posts. But today my hope is to help you understand the importance of lifting weights.