Why You Must Lift Weights

The force that a neck must bear as you look down is equal to a 60lb contraction: https://www.google.com/…/amp.theatlanti…/amp/article/382890/

Any time you take a very light object and move it farther out from the body to place it in a cabinet above or below, but distal from you, the effective force you must apply to manage it goes up dramatically: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/h…/Mechanics/lever.html

Placing a 5-10lb crockpot in a cabinet may demand the equivalent of 40lbs-60lbs of flexion at the shoulder girdle. Just reaching 2 feet ahead of you with 6lb hedge trimmers can load the back well beyond the effect of holding upright over 100lbs.

Getting off of a toilet requires at least body weight strength at or beyond 90 degrees of knee and hip flexion.

In fact, consider any every day activity. Getting into and out of a car. Up stairs. Cooking. Cleaning. Putting books on a shelf.

Incredibly active people may naturally incorporate these movements at high degrees of force production daily (80 year old Okinawan fisherman, for example). Those people don’t need to do artificial strengthening. The rest of us, however, have ZERO guarantee that our bodies can produce enough force to not get hurt with everyday living UNLESS we train.

And in training, we must utilize that controlled environment to ensure our capacity EXCEEDS the forces we will encounter in every day life. Doing a 30lb leg press and 5lb shoulder press at the gym misses the point if you then plan to get on and off the ground to play with your kids, grandkids, cousins, etc. The point of your training efforts is to ensure your ability EXCEEDS the demands you will encounter in day-to-day life.

I once heard a member at my first gym say, “if I didn’t do this every day, I’d be an invalid.” I saw it as hyperbole at the time. But now I realize he meant all of us are training to be invalids if we aren’t training to be valid.

​You must lift weights.