You may have memories of back in the day, especially in the 70s and 80s when Cardio
was being pushed as THE exercise modality. Everyone was out in their neon spandex
and 1kg hand weights loving life. It was popular, and backed by the latest research as
being great for heart health and weight management etc. This is still true today, and if
you love to run or cycle you absolutely should continue to do so.

Cardiovascular training is really important, especially if you have fitness goals related to some
type of endurance event; for example running a 10k or a Tough Mudder event.
However, if your goals are related in any way to body composition or an improvement in
general health and fitness, resistance training should probably be a priority! In general terms,
resistance training is a form of exercise that involves moving your limbs against some
form of resistance, this can be provided by your own bodyweight or any kind of external
load.

Everyone and their Granny (quite literally) should be following some form of resistance
training program, as the benefits are just out of this world. As a result, unless you
REALLY don’t want to, training with me will revolve mostly around weight training. And even
then, I’ll make it my mission in life to convert you.

However, for some, the idea of training with weights comes with the old baggage of ‘it’ll
make you too bulky’. Resistance training CAN lead to bulking up, but it isn’t something
that can happen without you realising. It’s a slow process, which is also limited by your
own specific genetic capacity. Training with weights can make you look and feel amazing
no matter what your parents gave you, but the people you see on fitness influencer
Instagram pages are a mix of insane genes for muscle building and fat loss, good
lighting and quite often editing. But that’s a story for another time.

The reason many of the misconceptions around weight training exist is due to the
media’s historical focus on the people that take it to the extreme. Bodybuilding is a
world in and of itself, and it takes a combination of borderline psychotic dedication,
awful and often dysfunctional eating habits, usually but not always a cocktail of different
drugs, as well as a body ABLE to pack on that amount of muscle.

So what happens when weight training isn’t taken to the extreme?

The fact is that training progressively with weights is unbelievably good for your body.
We can use it as a tool for ‘toning’ the body, as increased muscle size and a lowering of
subcutaneous body fat is how this look is achieved. But this should be viewed as an
addition to the myriad of other ways this style of training can improve your health and
life in general. For example;

If your main fitness goal is fat loss, weight training interrupts the signals that tell your
body to use its protein stores (your muscles) as energy to make up the deficit of calories
brought about by your dieting. Without this training (and a high protein diet) you’ll lose
muscle mass as well as fat mass. This is important as muscle takes a lot of energy to
maintain, meaning that its loss results in your body requiring less energy to
function. The less energy your body needs, the easier it is for you to ‘over-eat’. This is
why crash dieters almost always rebound. They lose a ton of weight, but the number of
calories required at the end of the diet is tiny- partly due to reduced organ function but
also a stark reduction in muscle mass. As soon as they have a bad week, all the body fat
lost is back as their metabolism has been decimated. Resistance training helps to stop
this from happening!

Your muscles also act as storage ‘reservoirs’ for blood glucose, so the more you have
the better your body will be at handling increased carbohydrate intake. This puts you at
a much lesser risk of developing type 2 and type 3 diabetes.

Worried about the effects of ageing?

Sarcopenia (muscle loss) is strictly correlated with physical disability and poor quality of
life, getting more and more severe as people get older.

However, the ageing process as you probably recognise it is a myth.

Getting older doesn’t have to mean losing your mobility or having to settle for a life half
lived. Old age doesn’t prevent you from getting about, it’s the reduction in physical
activity that leads to what we assume is unavoidable. Resistance training in some form
throughout our lives will help prevent this, as well as keeping your bones and joints
strong and healthy at the same time.

Being physically active reduces the likelihood of developing dementia by 20-50%, as well
as reducing the speed of decline in those suffering. Dementia is now the leading cause
of death for women in England and Wales.

Regular exercise reduces the risk of ever developing hypertension by a whopping 52%.
There is a 20-33% lower risk of developing depression for adults, simply by engaging in
some form of regular, structured movement.

Stronger muscles and bones can prevent the increased risk of fractures that becomes a
very real consideration for women post menopause due to a loss of bone density.

These are just a few examples of why we should include resistance training in our lives.
In my opinion it should be as required as brushing your teeth! People tend to over
emphasise financial stability in their lives while remaining physically bankrupt.