A couple weeks ago, we posted about how to decide if you’re ready for competition. Maybe you read that and thought to yourself, “Nice try, but you’ll never catch me in a singlet on a competition platform!” That’s completely fine if you know competing just is not for you. There’s still a ton of benefits to barbell lifting, and you can still pursue powerlifting goals without ever competing! Let’s talk about the many benefits of a barbell based strength program for people training to compete in the sport of life!
Improved Functional Strength
A barbell based strength training program helps you build muscle that enables you to engage in day-to-day activities with more ease and safety. Strength training improves joint health, and strengthens your connective tissues, making them more injury resistant. Being stronger helps make activities easier, from hauling groceries, moving furniture, and even carrying your kids or pets around.
Stress Reduction
Regular strength training gives a great outlet for stress! Research shows that resistance training (another name for strength training) helps reduce anxiety. Many regular lifters find that their training sessions give them a mental break from whatever else is going on in their lives, and it’s a bit of time in their day to just focus on training.
Better Posture and Injury Prevention
A barbell-based strength program encourages good posture and alignment. As you strengthen your core, back, and supporting muscles, you’ll naturally improve your posture. A weight lifting program can be a great way to counter the effects of a sedentary job.
Improved Bone Health
Okay, I realize if you’re young that having healthy bones doesn’t sound all that exciting. Hear me out, especially if you were assigned female at birth. Women lose 30-50% of our bone density as we age, and this bone density loss puts us at risk for broken bones. Mortality rates post-hip fracture are really high, with estimates from 20-30% of people die within a year of a broken hip. I’m not saying that lifting weights guarantees this won’t happen to you, but lifting when you’re younger is money in the bank against osteoporosis and fractures later.
Sense of Achievement
We love to see our clients hit new PRs! There’s nothing like the feeling from hitting a lift with a weight that would have been impossible even a few short weeks ago. It might sound corny, but that feeling can carry over into other areas of your life, giving you the confidence to reach a little higher.
Building a Supportive Community
This is truly our strong suit at Power Plant Gym. Whether you come out to our LIFT program, a Strongman Saturday, or just catch open gym hours, it’s a great group of diverse people all just trying to get a little bit stronger. We support each other, have big laughs with each other, debate about the playlist, and hype each other up to get stronger!
Competing is cool, but if it’s not for you, that doesn’t mean lifting isn’t for you! There’s so many benefits to a solid strength training program, and ours has been proven over time to get people stronger, healthier, and feeling good! Let our team help you get started.