# 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:** 32
**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:** [January 26, 2024, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/621 "2024-01-26T03:22:19Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I find regular weight lifting so boring. Not that I’m trying to change your mind, but I think it helps some people if they have a goal with weight lifting. Oftentimes, that goal is to get stronger, so it’s a chance to compete with yourself each time; did I lift more weight, or maybe lift the same weight but more often? Of course, as has been noted many times in this thread, there are other, perhaps better ways of “testing yourself”, such as by doing your exercises with a varied tempo. Also, trying to maintain _perfect_ form can pay off by directly targeting the muscle you are working. It can be rewarding to feel that direct stimulus on the target muscle. > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > . I was shoveling some as b snow and ice today and I thought, this is the perfect workout. Outdoors, using most major muscle groups but not to the point of exhaustion. My kind of exercise. > [@Capn\_Carl](#): > > Twice a week, a truck delivers several pallets of merchandise. I’m the only employee that _wants_ to unload and sort it I can’t stand manual labor. It’s not that I’m too good for it. I just don’t usually like doing it. It either triggers my allergies or I’m just not dressed right, and so I’m just miserable. Give me a gym session where I go all in for 45 minutes, and come out exhausted and dripping witn sweat. But please don’t make me use a shovel or unload a pallet (I’ve done both)! ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/622 "2024-01-26T06:25:43Z")
I felt the same as you about manual labor until I was around 50 or so. I wonder what changed for me. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2024, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/623 "2024-01-26T18:00:39Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > I can’t stand manual labor. It’s not that I’m too good for it. I just don’t usually like doing it. It either triggers my allergies or I’m just not dressed right, and so I’m just miserable. > > Give me a gym session where I go all in for 45 minutes, and come out exhausted and dripping witn sweat. But please don’t make me use a shovel or unload a pallet (I’ve done both)! I’m the exact opposite. Spreading a ton of loam in the spring was extremely satisfying. Shoveling is nice if it’s not too heavy, and not drizzling out. But stand me in a gym and I really don’t want to do anything. And if I get sweaty, well ick. I hate getting sweaty. If I get sweaty while moving that loam, well, it was worth it. But just for the sake of getting tired and sweaty? That’s unpleasant even to type about. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2024, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/624 "2024-01-27T20:25:03Z")
Another one where people be different! Count me enjoying bouts of hard manual labor so long as I don’t have to make my living at it! For me one of the major points of exercise is to live a long _functional_ life. IOW I exercise in part to be _able_ to do those work of life things for a long time and specificity such as it is doing those things when given the chance is great way to be ready to do them in the future! Actually being useful while getting my exercise in is a score. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2024, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/625 "2024-01-27T20:45:46Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > And if I get sweaty, well ick. I hate getting sweaty I sweat _a lot_ when I workout. Like, after an upper body workout my legs will be wet. I will drip (sorry if that’s TMI). (and, yes, I use a towel). I frequently look over at people who are working out near me and none of them seem to be as shiny as me. I presume it’s because I stay hydrated, and eat well (right now, I just finished meal 3, and I’m going to get ready for the gym in an hour), and figure it’s a good sign I’m training hard (that, and the feeling in my target muscles), which I consider a key to progress. If I didn’t embrace it at the gym, I’d be miserable. So it revs me up - if I got through a workout and only my brow started to bead up, I’d feel like I barely showed up. Meanwhile, outside the gym, I **hate** being hot and sticky. It’s gross. Interesting how important context and setting are to this. > [@DSeid](#): > > For me one of the major points of exercise is to live a long _functional_ life. I’ve had occasions where I’ve been working out for a constant spell (my down times are the bane of my existence, but I’ve now been consistent since May), and then am faced with a “functional” task, like climbing up on something or carry or move something. In those instances, I’m surprised at how the exercise I’ve been doing eases the task. (I’m thinking specifically about an instance where I had to climb some steep embankment and impressed myself with how easy it was to take a giant step up with one leg) > [@DSeid](#): > > Actually being useful while getting my exercise in is a score. Actually I don’t mind doing chores where I (who grew up in, and currently live in, Florida) can get wet. Mowing the yard wasn’t bad - I’d hose myself off when I was done. When I vacuumed the pool as a teenager, I’d do it from inside the pool. Or I’d put on a bathing suit to wash the car. So it really does seem to go back to the sweaty thing. I guess I **really** don’t like it, except when I’m working out. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2024, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/626 "2024-01-27T20:58:19Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > And if I get sweaty, well ick. I hate getting sweaty > > I sweat _a lot_ when I workout. Like, after an upper body workout my legs will be wet. I will drip (sorry if that’s TMI). (and, yes, I use a towel). I wonder if it’s partly that i have inadequate eyebrows. My head and face sweat a lot, and then sweat runs into my eyes. Or i frantically mop it away. But my arms, legs, and torso sweat, too. God i hate sweating. I just feel gross and dirty. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2024, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/627 "2024-01-27T21:00:57Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I wonder if it’s partly that i have inadequate eyebrows. A lot of people in the gym blame their genetics for whatever shortfalls they perceive. This is definitely a new spin on that! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2024, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/628 "2024-01-30T02:43:06Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > I sweat _a lot_ when I workout. I always know I got a good workout because I turn bright red and people start asking me if I’m okay. Yeah, I’m fine. My face just does that. It’s a little embarrassing but at least it’s an easy way for me to check the mirror and confirm, “Yup, that was a good workout.” ---
**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:** [January 30, 2024, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/629 "2024-01-30T12:23:31Z")
You glow … 🙂 ---
**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:** [February 3, 2024, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/630 "2024-02-03T01:58:19Z")
If you can access this link, it’s too cute not to share. This girl explains why the gym is so _fun_ (hint: it’s like going to the bathroom at a night club where everybody is drunk and telling you how pretty you are) > **[Clay Edgin on Instagram: "This is so wholesome. The gym isn't scary!...](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2xaLzhr1OB/?igsh=MTZ6eGltdjFoM3p6Yw==)** > > 107K likes, 1,913 comments - edgindary on January 31, 2024: "This is so wholesome. The gym isn't scary! @ottilie.enough is our new spokeswoman" ---
**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:** [February 3, 2024, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/631 "2024-02-03T16:45:19Z")
On why exercise can make your fat cells healthier, why fat is sometimes healthy, and more on the mesmerizing mystery of mitochondrial metabolism. > **[Have you exercised your body fat lately?](https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/10/12/exercises-to-shrink-fat-cells/)** > > Healthy fat cells are smaller. And you don’t have to lose weight or fat to make the body fat you already have metabolically healthier. ---
**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:** [February 26, 2024, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/632 "2024-02-26T04:48:09Z")
It’s a woman’s world! [Sex Differences in Association of Physical Activity With All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality - PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38383092/#:~:text=Conclusions%3A%20Women%20compared%20with%20men,of%20leisure%2Dtime%20physical%20activity). > [@](#): > > … Women compared with men derived greater gains in all-cause and cardiovascular mortality risk reduction from equivalent doses of leisure-time physical activity. … In 140 minutes a week women get the mortality reduction improvements that it takes men 300 minutes a week to achieve. And they can get better from there! ---
**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:** [February 26, 2024, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/633 "2024-02-26T05:29:32Z")
Thanks for posting that. Interesting. ---
**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 1, 2024, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/634 "2024-03-01T21:54:47Z")
People are not getting thinner (even if BMI is an imperfect measure). _…A study published on February 29th in the **Lancet** , a medical journal, shows that more than 1bn people were classified as obese in 2022, the latest year for which data are available. The researchers based their findings on the weight and height measurements of more than 220m people from roughly 190 countries. They found that obesity rates have doubled among adults since 1990 and quadrupled among children and adolescents. Our map below shows which countries have the highest rates…_ _Tonga had the highest rate for women (81% were considered obese); American Samoa had the highest for men (70%). Countries in Africa and the Middle East, historically associated with undernourishment, are now also struggling with weight gain._ _Turkey was the obesity capital of Europe for women, with a rate of 43%. For men it was Romania, at 38%. French women and men were the most slender in the region—only 10% were considered obese. The rates were four times higher in America, where 44% of women and 42% of men had a BMI over 30._ > **[The obesity capitals of the world](https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2024/03/01/the-obesity-capitals-of-the-world)** > > A new study shows that waistlines are widening almost everywhere ---
**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:** [March 2, 2024, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/635 "2024-03-02T02:52:55Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > The researchers based their findings on the weight and height measurements of more than 220m people from roughly 190 countries. Surely that’s a flawed study, right? Right now I stand six feet and weigh about 212 pounds. I don’t know where that puts my on their scale, but I’m not obese. Somebody could easily have these same numbers, though, and be thought fat. Maybe people are _bigger_ on average than before, and I can definitely agree that some significant portion of that is related to obesity, but if people were instead lifting weights, and building muscle, their numbers might be similar. ---
**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 2, 2024, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/636 "2024-03-02T03:04:43Z")
BMIs are well known not to apply at all to serious weightlifters or fitness buffs, which presumably are not the vast majority of those studied. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/637 "2024-03-02T03:32:20Z")
I went for a couple of years not doing any weights because I had rotator cuff issues in my shoulder and a dodgy neck and temperamental lower back. As that’s settled down I’ve got back into the weight training this year but I’m not going to a Gym. I have a weight bench, couple of barbells, a weight machine and pilates incline machine in the shed. I walk 5 days a week (average 4.5km @ just under 7kmh) and on 1-2 days a week I get in the shed after my walk and I have a routine where I work through the different machines. I don’t do heavy stuff, I’m looking for tone not bulk. I weigh 83kg, I currently have 45kg on the bench which I’ve built up from 20kg over several weeks and I 2 10 as part of 1 rep. On other days, I do some inside weights with pushups, kettlebell 15kg dumbells and 10kg dumbells. I’ve accumulated most of the stuff over years, a lot of it is second hand. If I had to go to a Gym I simply wouldn’t do it and I’ve learned from experience not to push it too hard. It’s not something I really enjoy doing and have to push myself to do it for the health benefits. I do enjoy the walking, it’s like meditation when I 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:** [March 2, 2024, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/638 "2024-03-02T04:34:30Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > if people were instead lifting weights, and building muscle, Yeah. They aren’t. Oh some are but statistically not more than previously. BMI is very flawed for individuals, especially those in the “overweight” category, but for populations it really is quite good most of the time > [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > BMIs are well known not to apply at all to serious weightlifters or fitness buffs “At all”? I’d disagree. A weightlifter or even just fitness buff will likely be “overweight” by BMI without being over fat, but get to “obese” numbers, especially BMI 35 plus, and that person may have lots of muscle mass but they also are highly likely to also have excess fat mass to significant degrees. Lots of obese power lifters. And football linemen. ---
**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 2, 2024, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/639 "2024-03-02T15:54:28Z")
Sure. But BMI is a flawed scale for detecting that. There are better ways to determine fat content. Even waist circumference is better. There are also certain ethnic populations that can be obese with a normal BMI. But it’s okay in this study. ---
**Author:** ![Imuseless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbce88/32.png) [@Imuseless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imuseless)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2024, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144/640 "2024-03-17T22:59:48Z")
Lot of people in prison lifts weight and loose weight at the same time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144.md?page=31) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-lift-weights/918144.md?page=33)