Why Strength Training Is For Everyone

Strength training is for everyone.

It’s an out of date concept that the weights section of a gym should be reserved for men in vests or teenage boys trying to grow their biceps.

But this is probably the main reason why such a large proportion of the population are intimidated by heading into the gym.

How we solve that issue should be a whole series of posts in themselves…

But for today, we’re just going to talk about why absolutely everyone should include some form of strength training in their life - it has life-changing potential.

Life-changing potential might sound like an exaggeration, but this could come in any of the forms:

• Feeling great on your next ski trip

• Being able to play football with your kids

• Being able to pick up your grandchildren once you’re older

• Decreasing the risk of osteoporosis during menopause

• Having a new sense of confidence and empowerment in your body

Strength training is a process of making your body more robust.

You’re improving the health of your key joints such as your hips, spine, knees and shoulders by improving the stability, structure and capacity of these joints.

At Patch Fitness, we’ve lost count of the number of people who have come to us with sore, achey lower backs, but then have felt huge improvement after seeing strength gains to their core, lower back and glutes.

Strength training is a form of exercise that can be scaled for any ability, which therefore makes it something you can continue for the rest of your life.

Even in your 80ies?

Yes - even if you’re in your 80ies, there are still suitable resistance-based exercises that can be scaled to benefit you at your level.

The same can’t be said for all forms of exercise, in particular high impact sports that at some point may catch up with you.

When we train our strength, we’re training all the key, functional movements that we would normally work through in our day to day life.

These key movements in the gym might look like squatting, hinging, pushing, pulling and carrying.

But on daily basis, they may look like:

• Climbing up the stairs

• Picking up something heavy off the floor

• Pulling your bodyweight up from a chair

• Carrying in food shopping from the car

• Holding your body stable when you’re on uneven ground

Now strength training doesn’t have to be complicated, even a basic routine done from home can provide great foundations for all the above movements.

Regardless of your age, ability, or even if you’re carrying an injury - the best time to start a routine in strength training is now.

Or if you’re already in a strength training routine - don’t underestimate all the benefit it is doing for you!

If you would like to reach out and see how we can help you get into a strength training routine through personal training, just click the button below and we can arrange a chat.