Weight training has many benefits including:

Increasing overall strength. Weight training improves a person’s ability to perform taxing physical tasks as well as normal, everyday activities—like bringing in the groceries and playing with the dog.  It also increases the strength of connective tissue, muscles and tendons, decreasing risk for injury.

Managing weight. Simply having more muscle helps the body burn up extra calories — even when just sitting still.

Building up bone density. One of the best ways to control bone loss (which is inevitable with age) is to add weight-bearing exercise to a workout. Increased bone density reduces the risk of fractures, especially in older adults. And protecting the body against osteoporosis may also lead to improvement in balance, resulting in fewer falls.

Helping the heart. “Cardio” exercise isn’t the only physical activity with cardiovascular benefits. A resistance training routine has been shown to lower blood pressure, in some cases as effectively as taking medication. Fit Education recommends adults aim for at least two strength training sessions per week.

Sleeping better. People who regularly exercise sleep better, and those who work out using weights are no exception.

However there are more than the physical benefits behind weight training. Resistance training also has many important positive psychological impacts , and that is what this article will focus on:

1. Pushing Yourself Physically Reveals What You’re Made of Mentally

Challenging your own body is the greatest method for discovering the strength of your mind. Nowhere is this more true than with strength training. There will be days when you don’t feel like coming into the gym. There will be sets that you don’t feel like finishing.

And if you keep showing up anyway, then you’ll develop the mental fortitude to get past failure, work when you don’t feel like it, and discover what you’re really made of mentally and physically.

2. Resistance Training Solidifies Your Sense of Self–Worth

Having confidence that you can move yourself through physical space with control and competence is a deeply satisfying feeling that filters into other areas of life. If you set a new personal record in the gym in the morning, you can be sure that you’ll be feeling more confident at work in the afternoon.

Weight training gives you something to define yourself by. It clarifies who you are in your own mind. Your sense of self–worth will skyrocket with gradual improvements in the gym. You know who you are and you are proving that you can become better than you were before.

“I lifted 10 kilograms more today than I did last week.”

Sometimes, this concrete proof of your improvement can do more for your confidence than all the positive thoughts in the world.

3. Strength Gives You More Opportunities to Contribute to Life

“Health is Wealth.”

Health brings a freedom very few realize, until they no longer have it.

Weight training enables you to transform into a better version of yourself (more confident, more self–aware, more mentally and physically strong), so that you can become a better person for the people around you.

Our community is filled with people who are challenging themselves to become better physically and who are excited about helping the people around them at the same time. Imagine if you spent your entire day surrounded by people like that? What would your world look like?

Get the Benefits of Weight Training

Happy and healthy people have a better chance to live with confidence and contribute value to the world than anyone else. Don’t take that for granted.

• Have you lifted today?
• Have you helped someone else lift today?

Make a positive difference in the community by encouraging others to lift. Learn more about resistance training in the Certificate III in Fitness, Certificate IV in Fitness.

If you enjoyed this article you may also enjoy reading :

• Bone Health In Young Women
• Five Fitness Myths to Avoid
• Circuit Training
• Group Fitness – Something For Everyone.

“Strong People Are More Useful”