Why you should focus on building strength to achieve any and all of your fitness goals. In today’s world with it’s over abundance of foods and sedentary/inactive lifestyle the rule of the “hunter gather” is at its end. No more do we as humans need to track down or go in search of food for miles and days on end, with just a quick drive to the store or a click of a button we can fill our fridges and have food dropped right to our doorsteps. With food literally available at every corner and our lifestyles of sitting behind a desk or the steering wheel we as humans need to change our habits and approach to how we combat the negative side effects of the current world.
So why should I focus on strength you ask? Strength and building muscle is the number one way we can turn our bodies into energy burning machines to burn calories and burn fat efficiently throughout the whole day even with little movement. Muscle has more density and requires more energy to move than body fat.
Think of it this way, your body is a furnace and muscle is the flame, with food/calories being the wood or fuel for the fire. The hotter the flame( more muscle) the faster the wood(calories) burns. So in simple terms having more muscle burns more calories faster.
So whether you are sitting at your desk working, taking the dog for a walk, or even lifting at the gym your body will be capable of burning more calories more efficiently to keep you leaner and healthier.
Let’s talk about posture now and combating common postural issues with today’s world. The most common position for most people these days is a seated position. Whether that be at a desk, in a car or just at home in front of the TV, it is more common than not that we sit mostly throughout our day. With this comes rounded shoulder, lower back pain, forward head and neck pain, weak glutes and core muscles, and a whole slough of issues that come with any of these. How can focusing on strength help us? When focusing on strength we can actually isolate these problem areas and build the strength and muscles around them to help correct or counter a lot of these common problems.
Examples:
- Say you have rounded shoulders, doing different row variations can help you strengthen your upper back posture and literally pull your shoulders back in proper alignment, helping fix the issue and relieving the pain that comes with it.
- Tight hamstrings and sleepy/weak glutes that may be causing low back and hip pain, doing hip hinging/deadlift movements can not only stretch the hamstrings but strengthen them and the glutes to help support the hips and spine. Again relieving our pain.
So when it comes to the modern human and our lifestyle choices/ evolution focusing on strength is the best way to approach any and all of your fitness/ wellness goals. For a happier, longer and pain free life big up some weights and lift heavy shit!