Too many of us think that lifting weights will make us bulky (yeah, I am looking at your ladies). These bulky looks you fear comes down a few things, to say the least, genetics, food and trying REALLY hard to achieve this look through workouts, which certainly doesn’t happen by strength training a couple days a week. There are other things you have to do as well to get you that bulky look that we don’t need to go into in this blog post. Let go of the fear and trust that strength training can not only create a leaner sculpted look for you but also give you more strength. Plus many other benefits, but here are just three reasons that should make you want to pick up the weights tomorrow.
Increases your confidence
Lifting some weights just makes you feel accomplishing. The act of lifting weight is quantifiable which is something you can literally record and say you did. You can say I did 150-pound squats today 10 times and that is something to be proud of. When you have something that makes you feel accomplished this actually boosts your confidence. Some things you are probably a bit more aware of when they boost your confidence, but I bet if you continue weight lifting and keep it in your workout routine I bet your confidence will increase over time and give you a whole new sense of you.
Helps your posture
This one might be a little bit less obvious, but when you are strength training it is important to have good posture and form when executing strength training exercises. The more your muscles get conditioned to this proper form, the more they want to be in these positions. For example, there are a lot of exercises where you should have your chest lifted and your shoulders down. Through strength training your muscles are just learning to be in these positions but also gaining the strength to pull in the right directions and sit in these postures, which then looks like you have great posture.
Increases your metabolism
Bare with me as I get a bit technical here, but strength training raises excess post oxygen consumption (EPOC). The best part about EPOC is that this process can raise your metabolism for up to 24 hours after your done working out. This change allows the body to burn fat more efficiently throughout the day while securing sustained energy. Workout for an hour and reap the benefits for 24 more hours. Sign me up!
