Should you lift weights? (And will it make you bulky?)

WHAT IS STRENGTH TRAINING?

The use of resistance while causing the muscle to contract leading to

• Stronger joints, bones & muscles

• Reduced risk of injury

• Increased metabolism

• Better balance, coordination

• Improved cardiovascular health

• Better sleep

• Better mental health

• Reduced body fat

DO I NEED TO LIFT WEIGHTS FOR THIS RESISTANCE?

Not really, you can do bodyweight exercises, banded exercises, pilates, anything that puts stress on the body/muscles by giving it resistance.

SO I DON’T REALLY NEED TO LIFT WEIGHTS?

(AS IT MAKES PEOPLE BULKY)

Well, everyday you’re completing tasks that involves weights. From carrying your bag, moving the chair, lifting your suitcase. So in a way you’re already lifting weights on a day to day.

Also, lower body weight exercises are easy, but to build upper body strength in movements like pull-up, pushups, using weights to perform similar movements patterns like bench press, lat pulldown, bent over row helps you build strength in a controlled & safe manner.

Movements like deadlifts and squats help build great strength while working on basic functional patterns like picking something off the floor or standing while holding something weighted like a baby?

THEN WHY DO PEOPLE GET BULKY WHEN THEY START LIFTING WEIGHTS?

Lifting weights leads to increased muscle mass. It becomes even more apparent in your upper body, especially if you’re some new to working out. That being said, chances are you were already eating more or have started eating more since you started to workout so you’re gaining more size in the muscles. So gaining and losing size is more to do with your nutrition than training I would say.

Honestly, people spend their whole lives trying to get big so don’t worry so much about it as it isn’t that easy and if anyone tells you otherwise, you’re just looking & getting stronger so more power to you!

HOW OFTEN SHOULD I LIFT WEIGHTS? I’M SCARED TO GET INJURED.

2-3x/week is more than enough from a health perspective. If you focus on quality movements, good technique, enough rest & recovery while listening to your body and respecting its limitations you’ll reap great health benefits while having a high chance of not getting injured.

As far as getting injured is concerned, you can getting injured while walking and twisting your ankle on a pothole so you can’t really control that but strength training would drastically reduce its chances especially as you age as it makes your joints mobile & resilient.

OKAY I’M SOLD! WHERE DO I START? I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO?

You can either hire a personal trainer at your local gym. Or join group classes of any form. You can even find bunch of training programs/apps on the internet for free. Or you can hire someone (like me 😉) to give you training programs and work remotely.

Whatever you do decide, make sure you work with someone with enough knowledge & experience about training and working with human beings.

There's a free workout PDF on my website and you can start with that as you build the habit/confidence to workout regularly.

All the best!