5 Reasons You Cannot Afford to Forget to Lift Heavy Weights

There is a stigma surrounding lifting heavy weights. Some people don't want to get bulky. This is a common thought process especially by  females. This idea that lifting heavy weights will make you look like Arnold is unfounded and pretty far from the truth. You don't get huge overnight; you don't magically wake up and find that you can't reach your opposite shoulder because your biceps get in the way. Bodybuilders work for years and years to achieve the body that you see. 

There are many benefits that lifting heavier weights will provide you. I will go through 5 of the main ones here. 

1. Increase Calories Burned-

Lifting heavier weights will increase your caloric output dramatically. It will do this two different ways.

        a. Calories burned after heavier workouts through-out the day are raised. 

        b. Lifting heavier weights will help you build muscle faster. More muscle on your body leads to more basal calories (calories burned to maintain normal health) burned throughout the day. 

2. You Build Muscle Faster-

I understand that this was said just a few lines above, but it is important enough to restate with greater detail. If you do want to get huge like a bodybuilder, this isn't quite the article for you, but you have to more than simply lift heavier. It is a big part, but as all physiques, it requires a heavy dose of kitchen therapy.

Building muscle will make you look more toned. Every pound of muscle you put on is like losing fat. More muscle will make you look thinner. Lifting heavy weights, will get you thinner, and get you there faster. 

3. Lifting Heavy Will Reduce Injuries-

Yes you must lift heavy with good form and proper safety precautions. This is a must, but building more muscle will help stabilize your major injury sources, your joints. I know that building strength around a joint is huge. After both of my ACL reconstructions main goal along the way was to increase the strength in all the muscles that surround the joint. When a muscle is weak you have less control of it and cannot rely on it for stabilization. By working harder in the gym, you can reduce the chance of a freak injury. 

4. Increase Bone Density-

Lifting heavy weight puts more stress on your bones, this recruits more osteoblastic (bone building) activity and will increase your bone density. Your body is an amazing adaption machine, when you stress your body; it adapts to be able to take on this increased stress, causing improvements. 

You should already be having enough calcium in your diet, your maximum Calcium levels in your bones peaks at around 25 so try to have enough calcium to get that starting point high to have higher bone density as you age and get closer to osteoporosis.  

5. Lifting Heavy Weights Makes You Feel Good-

There isn't much that gives you a better feeling than doing something that you were unable to do a short time before. Building the muscle to be able to lift a heavier weight than you could before causes me to have a great sense of accomplishment. I reached a new personal best on Dead Lift yesterday. The whole room seemed brighter afterwards. I am going to write an article about this soon, but one of my main motivations to lift is my competitive nature. I am not able to compete in organized sports like I was in High School. I needed to have a new fitness mindset, so I created my new philosophy of trying to beat myself. There isn't anything wrong with trying to be the best you can be at something.

A few disclaimers: Always lift what you are comfortable with. This is not an excuse to go try and load up more than you are ready for. No, you shouldn't only lift Heavy. You should incorporate lifting heavy into a routine that gives you a high enough degree of variation. Muscle confusion is important this is the reason you need to load up the weight sometimes. Keep your muscles guessing. 

Finally, have a great day. You deserve to feel good about yourself. Make today the day you give yourself a pat on the back.