Strength Training: Building, Resilience, Longevity, Mental Health, and Community.
Strength training is not only a path to physical health but a journey towards resilience (Antifragility), longevity, and improved mental health. At The Project PT we aim to create this journey within the embrace of a supportive community. This blog will break down some benefits of strength training beyond the boundaries of muscle growth.
The Foundation of Resilience (Antifragiliy)
In Nassim Taleb's "Antifragile," he writes that true strength lies not just in resilience, the ability to return to a previous state after stress, but in antifragility, which means growing stronger from stress. Strength training exemplifies this principle, teaching us that resilience is not merely about recovery but about using stress to improve and adapt. Through consistent effort, as reflected in our blue training book, we learn that we are capable of withstanding stress and growing from it.
Building a Stronger You
Physical Resilience: Improves bone density, muscle mass, and joint health, enabling our bodies to withstand the stresses of daily life and ageing.
Emotional Resilience: Each workout exercises perseverance, enhancing our ability to navigate stress, overcome obstacles, and recover from setbacks.
The Path to Longevity
Research consistently shows that regular strength training extends our health span, the period of life spent in good health. In keeping in the afermentioned book “Antifragile” strength training tackles the common ailments of aging, such as osteoporosis and sarcopenia (muscle loss), by making us more robust to these stressors. Strength training in this regard can act as a method of combating ailments associated with ageing, retaining some of our vigour and independence.
A Lifetime of Benefits
Enhanced Metabolic Health: Strength training can help with some metabolic diseases, reducing the risk of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Cognitive Preservation: Regular physical activity, including strength training, has been linked to a lower risk of cognitive decline, supporting brain health as we age.
Cultivating Mental Health and Well-being
The mental health benefits of strength training are profound. Beyond the endorphin rush that accompanies physical exertion, strength training provides a structured outlet for stress, a critical factor in managing anxiety and depression. It has been linked to areas of the brain that help form memory and skill acquisition. A psychological concept, internal locus of control, means we can control how we perceive and act on events. Individuals who believe they can influence outcomes are generally more likely to participate in training. This argument can be flipped, meaning that strength training shows we have direct influences on outcomes. With the effort experienced in class and overcome through growth, this mentality can foster an internal locus of control in the individual.
Strength in Mind and Body
Stress Relief: Acts as a physical form of meditation, allowing mental clarity and a break from external life stressors.
Perception of Control: This can positively impact how we perceive events in our lives and how we act on them.
The Role of Community
Perhaps one of the most overlooked aspects of strength training is its ability to unite people. Joining a strength training class introduces you to a community of individuals with diverse lives and backgrounds but a joint health and wellness goal. It can strengthen bonds between individuals in a way that is hard to experience outside the walls of a gym. Strength training in our group classes is the divorce of the ego because we instil a mentality of mutual empathy and growth. Everyone will start somewhere and it is not a competition with others, or even ourselves, it is a comradory of mutual growth.
Together, We Lift
Motivation and Understanding: Being part of a class adds a layer of motivation while understanding that everyone is different.
Shared Experiences: The challenges and triumphs experienced in class can create long-lasting bonds. Strength training creates a supportive network that extends beyond the gym walls.
Conclusion: More Than Muscles
We have seen that strength training can go beyond muscles and weight lifting. It is a practice that can enrich the body, mind, and community.
Let us lift each other and build a solid community built on health, empathy and compassion.
