Hi Everyone,
There are some things in life that are non-negotiable, and working on your strength should be one of them if you want to live your life in good physical conditions.
By ‘strength’ I mean lifting weights with the goal to build and maintain muscles. I am not talking about light weight-bearing exercises to look toned. I mean muscles as an essential and necessary component of our bodies. This has nothing to do with aesthetics: science is proving that one of the most important factors for a healthy life, together with diet, is exercise – specifically strength training to build muscles in order to have healthier organs and stronger bones.
The Washington Post posted a research in 2022, studying 1.5 million individuals that showed that muscle-strengthening activities lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and all causes of mortality by 20%.
Every year we age after 30 we lose 1% of muscle and 3-5% of our strength. The only way to fight that is weight training.
Dr. Mark Peterson of the University of Michigan, whose research focuses on understanding factors that influence health and life expectancy in persons with disabilities, concludes that muscular strength is a predictor of longevity: “For the first time we have found a link between muscle weakness and acceleration in biological age – muscle weakness could be the new ‘smoking'”.
I am not the type of person to motivate through fear, myself or others. It doesn’t work, even if it makes you think. What motivates us needs to be rooted in something we believe and embrace – only then we take action and stick to it. Fear – and lack of knowledge – can discourage us from doing what is actually good for us, like lifting weights.
I write this because in my years of teaching fitness, and specifically teaching strength programs, I have witnessed skepticism and refusal when it comes to training with a heavy weight.
Don’t get me wrong, there are many people who have embraced strength training and work hard at getting strong. Still I think we are far from giving strength training and muscles the appreciation and respect they deserve.
We tend to put unjustified limitations on our bodies and often shortchange ourselves. We underestimate the functional demands of everyday life and the challenges our bodies face as we get older. I still see women (mostly, but not only) at the gym afraid of a 10-15 lbs weights (given no injuries, of course) and underestimating their strength. Yet on a daily basis we likely carry around more weight than that – think groceries, backpacks and children.
Why this resistance to heavier weights?
A lot of the feedback I get is about being scared of looking ‘too muscular;. Seriously? This is such an irrational worry. That muscular look comes from years of dedicated, specific day-in day-out training and targeted nutrition. It doesn’t happen just by devoting some of our time and energy to lifting heavy. It’s almost offensive to the people who dedicate their lives to look a certain way to assume that we all can look like that with a few sessions of strength training per week.
Having muscles is a beautiful thing, for everyone at any age. It means you are taking care of yourself, you are not afraid of hard work and that you are a dedicated person.
There are a lot of things we can buy in life. Muscles are not one of them. You either work for them or you don’t.
Muscles are crucial for better health and overall quality of life. Age strong and appreciate and honor them for what they do for you.
In Health,
Ilaria