Maintaining or continually improving strength, in my opinion could be the secret for staying young. Strength is a vital cog in achieving every health and fitness goal. It provides a significant contribution to maintaining wellbeing and is so essential in having a healthy body and a healthy mind. In the book "Starting Strength", Mark Rippetoe & Lon Kilgore, two strength training experts in the U.S, state "Physical Strength is the most important thing in life". Too many this may seem over the top. But at its core its true. Physical strength of body and mind is everything and helps determine the quality of time here in our bodies.
Before everyone starts thinking; “I don’t want to be big and look like the Incredible Hulk”, fear not. I am not talking size of muscles, I am talking about strength relative to you and how you perform. So in today’s article, I will talk about what strength is, and how it impacts every common health & fitness goal. In the ensuing articles I will delve a little deeper and you can see how working on your strength, is so vital to every goal, hope and dream you have for your aging bodies.
In the pursuit of Strength: Part 1 “What is strength and why should I care?”
If a 99 year old grandmother and a wiry 60kg elite level Martial Arts champion can be described as “strong”, and they can be, then an argument can be made that strength has nothing to do with size (or bulk). It doesn’t. It’s relative to who you are and what you want to do. And if that’s true, then all that matters is what you want to do. So what do you want to do?
I want to improve my self confidence / I want to feel good about myself
I have seen clients of mine, young Mums, lift a weight equal to 120% of their body weight off the ground (and put it back down). They then have this smile that goes from one ear to the other and I would guess the thoughts running through their head are “Holy Sh***t. I can’t believe I just did that. That’s awesome”. Or maybe something more poetic, but you get the picture. It is like their confidence has just trebled in that instance. These are not big people, just very strong. And now confident people.
I want to stop feeling chubby and lose some bodyfat
Lifting weights is long proven to build muscle. It can build excessive muscle if you want, but for most of us, lifting weights will put on a small amount of muscle. This is a good thing. If you improve your ratio of lean muscle to body fat (i.e decrease bodyfat and increase muscle) you should increase your metabolism. Increasing your metabolism means you burn more calories at rest. This is very important when trying to burn up excess fat as fat is the fuel source you burn at rest. So by burning more at rest, means you should have less fat and be a happy little camper.
I don’t want to be old and frail
What is that really saying? If you don’t want to be frail, then you must want to be strong, or at least maintain your strength. Simply the answer lies in the statement “Use it or lose it.” You cannot stop your body aging, sorry, you can’t. But you can slow down the rate you age. If you have been really lazy for a long time and then start strength training it might feel like you are getting younger, because you will be getting your strength back and ultimately your vitality back (all the men will be reading this thinking….look out ladies !!!!).
There is a solid link between resistance (weight) training and reducing the risk of osteoporosis, which I will discuss in a later article.
I want to be as fast as Usain Bolt
Chances are you have the wrong genes, but hey, you can still try. Guaranteed Usain Bolt lifts weights. Sprinters are typically a ball of muscle. Strength is critical in building power and power is critical in running fast.
Long distance runners will always complain their legs feel tired and heavy during a run. Typically a runner will increase mileage to get accustomed to fatigue. But that is an incorrect thought process. Your legs get tired and fatigued because they are not strong enough to support you at the 30km mark (or whatever it is for you). If you improve the relationship between your leg strength and your body weight, your legs become stronger and can then withstand the demand you put on them. You can then run longer, can run more efficiently, and ultimately, run faster.
That is just a short summation on what I hear people want to achieve in their health and fitness goals and how I believe strength is an important contributor in achieving those goals. However it doesn’t just stop there. Strength is seen as a positive attribute in so many other areas:
Strength of relationships
The strength of your shares portfolio
Companies can be seen as strong.
Strength of love
Spiritual strength
There are people far better equipped than me to talk about those topics (phew I hear you say), but if you feel those statements ring true, and you believe that strength is an important cog in your health and fitness, then I will sign off with a simple question:
“What are you going to do today to make you strong?”
