Essay about The Benefits of Lifting Weights

My motivation is being the best. Pretty simple and straightforward”~Brian Shaw. I like this quote because it ties into my topic about lifting. I have been lifting for about five years now. Over the years I have found some benefits that lifting weights bring. The first benefit I have found that I will talk about in the essay is how it can benefit you physically. The second benefit is how it can benefit you mentally. The last benefit I have learned about lifting weights is how it can benefit you by learning about yourself. These are all the ways lifting has benefited me in my five years of doing it. 

The first benefit of lifting weights is how it can change you physically. When lifting weights you can either lose weight or gain weight. If you want to lose weight do higher reps with less weight or if you are like me, a skinny kid that wants to gain weight you do lower reps with heavy weight. I graduated high school at 110 pounds, about six months later I weighed 120 pounds. Of course, increasing my calorie count helped me gain more weight, but it was also me lifting weights 5 days a week for the six months. That was a time in my life I was the most consistent with it. You have to be consistent with lifting weights or you will not see any progress on the scale or in the mirror. I like to see my progress in the mirror because when I see myself in the mirror I can see that my biceps, shoulders, and even my legs have gotten bigger. Another way it can change you physically is that it improves your cardiovascular system. Growing up I had pretty bad asthma, sometimes it will get so bad that I will have to use an albuterol system. I felt my asthma getting better since I started lifting. I go to a Pulmonary doctor every year and I would have to take these breathing tests. The breathing test consists of plugging your nose and putting a funnel in your mouth. Once you do that the goal is to blow out the candles on the birthday cake and ever since I started lifting I have seen improvements in the results of the breathing tests. No matter what lifting split you do, either it’s heavy weight with fewer reps or less weight with more reps you do get your heart rate up and it will improve your cardiovascular system. That is how lifting weights can change you physically, by helping with weight loss, weight gain, and your cardiovascular system. 

The next benefit I have seen since starting lifting weights is that it helps you mentally. The first way it helps you mentally is that it relieves stress and anxiety. The pandemic started at the end of my senior year so, a lot of things like prom were taken away from me because of it. Another thing I was looking forward to was the senior tag and that was also taken away because I could not leave the house. I feel like that was the most stressful time in my life because I feel like my life was on hold. People do a lot of different things to relieve stress like smoking or drinking but, that was not me. I used lifting to pull me out of that tough time because it stressed me out and gave me a lot of anxiety. Anytime I am anxious or stressed about something I go and lift because it does help with my stress and anxiety. I did not realize this at first, I thought the benefit of lifting was looking big but it is not all about that. I have been to a psychologist for my anxiety before but I stopped going because I did not feel that it was working. The thing that did work was lifted, something about lifting heavy weight makes all my anxiety and stress go away. I am not the only person that feels like lifting benefits them mentally. Most people do start lifting because it helps their anxiety, depression, and stress. It is not all about going to a psychologist or taking medication for anxiety or stress, sometimes all you need to do is lift some weights. That is how lifting weights can improve your anxiety, stress, or just your mental state in general.

The last benefit of lifting weights is that it helps you learn more about yourself. Since I have started lifting I have learned a lot about myself. One thing that I have learned is how hard I can push myself. I have always been scared of failing a rep so, I used to do weight that I know I can do. In the last two years, I have been pushing myself to do progression overload, which is just putting on more weight or doing more reps. Now I am not scared of failing a rep because I know that it is only helping me become stronger but, with that being said do not ever lift without a spotter to help you if you do fail the rep. I have realized that I am capable of doing a lot more than what I think I can do. This slowly translated into school and where I work. I push myself to do more because I have learned that I am capable of doing more than I think. Another thing I have learned more about myself since I started lifting is that I am a lot stronger than I think I am. I learned this when I was in weight training during my senior year. I was benching 135 for 5 reps, and when I was done with the set there were people in shock. They were surprised that I was able to do that. I still remember the feeling of people being surprised that I can bench that much and it gave me a good feeling and, since then I have realized that I am a lot stronger than what I think I am. Lifting has changed what I thought of myself and I know it is going to continue to help me learn more about myself as I will continue to lift more. That is how lifting weights can benefit you from being able to learn more about yourself. 

Therefore these are the benefits that come with lifting weight that I have experienced in my five years of lifting.To recap: It benefits you physically because it helps you lose or gain weight. It can also improve your cardiovascular system. It can also help you mentally by helping lower depression, anxiety, and stress. Finally, it can help you learn more about yourself by seeing how hard you can push yourself and lifting can show you that you are stronger than you think. Those are the benefits of lifting weights.