# Why don’t you lift weights? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** diet-weight-loss\ **Created:** [August 15, 2020, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144 "2020-08-15T01:48:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2023, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/341 "2023-03-29T23:43:31Z")
I go to Gold’s gym 3x a week, about 1-1.5 hours each. 20 minutes treadmill, then an hour or so on the various machines. Don’t deadlift, just not interested for some reason, but I do enjoy my machines. Benefits were almost immediate. I had these bizarre abdominal cramps which have effectively gone away, I’m 99% positive it’s because of the exercise. I’ve lost (the easy) 6 pounds over the past 2 months, and I enjoy the shared activity with Inna. I also got my employer to pay for the gym, lol. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/342 "2023-03-30T01:44:11Z")
If we’re witnessing … since this thread inspired me to re-up my exercise game inclusive of more strength training, I’ve gotten three belt notches down, tighter than my previous in shape belt location, down about 7 to 8% of body mass, while adding to my strength metrics. The bit of GERD I was getting is gone. I’m not in my half Ironman shape cardio wise perhaps, but … again thanks for the thread @Dr_Paprika! (It also helps me mentally cope with some stresses in life too!) ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/343 "2023-03-30T02:47:18Z")
I can’t take the credit for your hard work, but am pleased for you. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/344 "2023-03-30T03:23:22Z")
Point of witnessing - not so hard of work. Strength training just twice a week, sometimes once. Never two hard cardio days in a row or a hard cardio adjacent to a strength training day. With every other as a respected light cardio recovery or off day I feel like I am not really working very hard at it at all. It’s more play. And bluntly if I can do it pretty much anyone can. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2023, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/345 "2023-04-01T18:38:15Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I’ve gotten three belt notches down, tighter than my previous in shape belt location, down about 7 to 8% of body mass, while adding to my strength metrics. The bit of GERD I was getting is gone. That’s awesome! Woot woot! Way to go!! ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/346 "2023-04-06T20:45:25Z")
Why do i lift weights? So when i have my retaining wall replaced, and the mason destroyed my lawn, i can spread a ton of top soil in an afternoon, before planting fresh grass seed. I’m a little achy, but i also feel empowered. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2023, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/347 "2023-04-07T02:46:54Z")
You go! Heck yeah. So we can DO THINGS even though our parents could not when they were our age, and beyond. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2023, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/348 "2023-04-07T12:50:44Z")
And easy things count. > **[Stand on one leg – and 16 other life-changing daily moves that will keep your...](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/apr/07/life-changing-daily-moves-that-will-keep-your-body-happy)** > > Are you sitting comfortably? Well, get up! Stay healthy and supple by adding these basic movements to your daily routine ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2023, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/349 "2023-04-07T14:02:23Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > So we can DO THINGS even though our parents could not when they were our age, and beyond. Definitely so i can do things. But to be fair, my father was still doing heavy gardening at my age, and my mother had (undiagnosed) myasthenia. She was weak enough that she found it difficult to lift a regular bottle of clothing detergent, and bought little ones. But the nature of myasthenia is that exercise exacerbates the problem. She didn’t know she had myasthenia, but she knew exercise was bad for her. (Technically, a little exercise is needed for everyone. But normal levels of exercise that are healthy for almost everyone triggered a flare up in her. So she avoided exercise.) ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/350 "2023-04-18T00:50:31Z")
So strength training can help extend life, and allow us to physically function better longer, keeping us from physical disability as we age. Cognitive disability prevention too, by increased neuroplasticity in specific hippocampal areas. > **[Strength training can help protect the brain from degeneration](https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2020/02/11/strength-training-can-help-protect-the-brain-from-degeneration.html)** > > For the first time, an intervention - lifting weights - has been able to slow and even halt degeneration, over a long period, in brain areas particularly vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease. > [@](#): > > “Our research shows that strength training can protect some hippocampal subregions from degeneration or shrinkage for up to 12-months after the training has stopped,” Dr Broadhouse said. … > > … “This is the first time any intervention, medical or lifestyle, has been able to slow and even halt degeneration in brain areas particularly vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease over such a long time,” said Professor Valenzuela, from the [Sydney Medical School](https://sydney.edu.au/medicine-health/schools/sydney-medical-school.html) in the [Faculty of Medicine and Health](https://sydney.edu.au/medicine-health/). > > “Given this was also linked to protection from cognitive decline, the message is clear: resistance exercise needs to become a standard part of dementia risk-reduction strategies,” he said. The actual research article in all its details: [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158220300206?via%3Dihub](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158220300206?via%3Dihub) ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/351 "2023-04-18T01:45:14Z")
While exercise is not a panacea, the fact is people were built to move and do physical things. It’s written in the genome, irrespective of a handful of decades of automation… a blink of an eye in the larger scheme. Most people don’t go to the gym. They can be intimidating places. At the gym, more than half the floor space is devoted to treadmills and whatnot that are worthwhile, but do not offer the full benefits of strength training. The biochemistry lays it clear: varied strength training uses both anaerobic and aerobic metabolism; the reverse is usually not true. Anything you can do for longer than a few minutes is aerobic. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/352 "2023-04-18T15:38:33Z")
Thanks for the interesting links, @DSeid Here is an article promoting glute exercises. No one did these ten years ago, and even still it is relatively rare in my limited experience to see men doing these in the gym. But they work well, maybe even for preventing back pain. > **[Why a Move Inspired by Ultimate Fighting Should Be a Staple in Your Workout...](https://slate.com/technology/2023/04/hip-thrust-how-to-why-glutes.html)** > > Meet the hip thrust. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2023, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/353 "2023-04-19T02:34:01Z")
Even a two minute walk an hour after dinner might lower your post-meal blood sugar… > **[Just 2 Minutes of Walking After a Meal Is Surprisingly Good for You](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/04/well/move/walking-after-eating-blood-sugar.html)** > > A new paper suggests that it takes far less exercise than was previously thought to lower blood sugar after eating. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/354 "2023-04-20T12:31:04Z")
And if weights are not your thing, and you seek motivation… > **[Celebrate yourself – and try a naked 5k! 30 ways to make fitness more fun](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/apr/20/celebrate-yourself-and-try-a-naked-5k-30-ways-to-make-fitness-more-fun)** > > Even enthusiastic athletes can fall into a rut. Here, readers and experts offer their best motivation tips, from getting a dog to fleeing zombies ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/355 "2023-04-20T14:50:54Z")
For those who do not know Mark Rippetoe wrote what many consider the Bible of strength training. This is an interview with on strength training as we age. Interesting perspectives. He emphasizes that recovery is more important. Lift less volume less often. When you lift of course lift with good form and lift with intensity. The interviewer could shut up more. > **[Mark Rippetoe Answers: How Do You Keep Making Gains Past Age 40? - Legion...](https://legionathletics.com/mark-rippetoe-interview-build-muscle-after-40/)** > > If you want to know the best ways to keep making gains after age 40, without spending hours every day in the gym, taking a boatload of supplements, or destroying your joints, then you want to read this interview with Mark Rippetoe. > [@](#): > > Mark: **In other words, heavy weight is fine. That’s not the problem. The problem is doing a bunch of sets with the heavy weight.** > > Mike: Mm-hmm (affirmative). > > Mark: I personally, for instance, right now I’m just trying to stave off death with my training. I [squat](https://legionathletics.com/how-to-squat/) one heavy set of five once every two weeks. … > > … Mark: If stress is inadequate, you [don’t make progress](https://legionathletics.com/hypertrophy-how-to-build-muscle/). You don’t adapt. If recovery is inadequate, you [don’t adapt](https://legionathletics.com/the-definitive-guide-to-muscle-recovery-and-muscle-growth/). Both factors must be there, and the older you get, the easier it is to provide the stress or hurt, than it is to provide the recovery. That’s just biology. … The whole thing is a long but interesting read. Despite his having written the Bible there is no cause to read it as Gospel, but I do take his perspectives seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/356 "2023-04-20T15:46:37Z")
Rippetoe has written four books, available on Kindle. _Starting Strength_ is the best popular book on how to use free weights to do the basic lifts that most strengthen the body: low back squats, deadlifts, the press, the bench press and Olympic lifts - it is detailed and moderately academic, a tough read for many muscle heads. It includes several bits of useful advice I have not seen repeated in any other place. _Practical Programming_ is a decent guide on how to write a workout. His other books repeat some of the same themes with less content. I find his advice on “the big lifts” good. He has his reasons for not liking exercise machines, the Smith Machine and “the business of fitness”. But some of the reasons are wrong and outdated, especially for older lifters. Machines are very useful adjuncts. Very little about exercise works for everyone so the advice of any guru requires consideration. But the best works on programming and strength training include Thibaudeau’s _Black Book of Training_ and Bill Pearl’s _Getting Stronger_ among others. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/357 "2023-04-20T16:44:52Z")
FWIW looking at photos of him currently he does not represent the exact fitness path I’d aim for for myself. I think he’s right on the need for increased emphasis on recovery, the value of the compound lifts as a core base, and quality strength training more than quantity. Careful with the volume and frequency. I do however think that aerobic conditioning is even more important. Some strength training in addition to aerobic is my priority. Lifting heavy alone is not enough. Better than nothing but not enough. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/358 "2023-04-20T17:43:52Z")
I used to be very fit up into my 50’s. I was doing three aerobic dance classes and two Body Pump (mixture of free weights and aerobics with light weights) a week. However, as I got older, I started feeling _worse_ after exercising instead of better or stronger, and my joints started to suffer. The trainers at the gym I belonged to really weren’t great at modifying their programs for aging adults; all the classes geared towards older people were laughably light and the others were too much. Then, of course, the pandemic hit and I still don’t feel comfortable going to breathe heavily and sweat in close proximity to others. However, all your posts are starting to make me feel motivated to try this technique instead! All I need now is to actually do it. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/359 "2023-04-21T01:56:54Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > FWIW looking at photos of him currently he does not represent the exact fitness path I’d aim for for myself. This does get me thinking about the original question some more, and to return to it. There are in fact images we have associated with the body types of those who are most associated with particular fitness activities, and from the vanity side some of those images more fit what we are looking for for ourselves than others. _Reality_ of course is that I would always be a long way from the bulk of a competitive power lifter or body builder, and women doing strength training have little fear of bulking up, but those archetypes still likely keep some from from putting their energy focus there. My _fantasy_ build would be of a male gymnast, or wrestler, boxer, or even MMA, next a top level triathlete … not of a football lineman or power lifter. Many women have been scared off by (baseless) fears of becoming “too muscular”. I do suspect these archetypes, and seeing aging lifters being on the heavy side, impacts how many take strength as a primary focus. > [@InternetLegend](#): > > However, all your posts are starting to make me feel motivated … The naked 5K did it I am sure! 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/360 "2023-04-21T02:56:26Z")
A lot of the great coaches also competed at a high level. This does not diminish the value of their advice if they were natural; the best advice comes from hard-won experience and those who have coached thousands of different people. But many of these dudes have had multiple surgeries and are now in their fifties or sixties. Some of the older powerlifters did not much care about physique, just strength. Rippetoe is a smart dude with some understanding of weightlifting physics (and is one of the few to discuss these). He says (in a book published in 2013) he would find squatting 185 without a belt painful due to these surgeries. The smarter older lifters tone things down a bit and emphasize hypertrophy over strength while also doing exercises for .cardiovascular health. As you said, a mixture of strength training and sport or cardio is probably best. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144.md?page=19)