BryantheRyan.com Challenging conventional wisdom about nutrition, fitness and overall health

Why Weight Lifting Kicks Ass

It is common knowledge that weight training helps build muscle. Many people do not understand that weight training does much more than that. I am going to explain the benefits of weight training in this article. We will also dive into why weight lifting causes the creation of muscle and tackle some other common myths regarding weight training.

Read time: 6 minutes

Why is weight lifting a better than "cardio" and all other fad-forms of exercise?

When a weight is lifted and rep is completed, the muscle that is being worked is demanding the blood pump more oxygen to it so that it has the energy to carry out the movement being forced upon it. This oxygen comes via blood from the heart. The lungs then supply the blood with oxygen, which is taken to the muscles.

This chain of events is also the same process that occurs within any other form of exercise. We tend to forget that we can actually increase our heart rate and breathe heavily while lifting weights.

We are often told that in order to improve our heart and lungs we have to run, bike, swim or any form of exercise for an extended period of time. We think that "cardio" consists of  taking our lungs and heart out of our bodies and working them out on a treadmill or stationary bike.

This is completely untrue. Weight lifting guru and Nautilus Weight Machine inventor Arthur Jones once said that any amount of cardiovascular benefits that result from running, can be matched and exceeded by proper weight training methods. The cardiovascular system and skeletal muscle system are linked. They work together, never apart.

Not only can the cardiovascular benefits be matched by weight training, the results of weight lifting (muscle gain) far outweigh the minimal gains (if we can call them that) we receive form "cardio" exercise.

When muscle is created, it does not go away very easily. Unlike the cardiovascular improvements seen in running and biking, which diminish after a few weeks of inactivity. Muscle stays in our bodies for a much longer period of time.

This leads me into the topic of how our bodies build muscle.

Weight lifting is a stress put on the body. Depending on the intensity of this stress, the body then reacts to it by building muscle and improving oxygen distribution. Our bodies do not create muscle by lifting weights. The act of lifting a weight is simply a form of stress being delivered to a certain muscle or muscle group.

Our bodies make muscle in the days after we lift weights. If our bodies could talk about how we build muscle, it would go something like this:

I do a set of barbell leg squats until I am no longer able to do a full rep. My body says "Holy $hit that was extremely difficult, I better build more muscle in my legs so the next time that same amount of stress is put on my legs, I wont fail." The body then uses protein and many other processes to create muscle fiber.

However, muscle is extremely metabolically expensive for the body to create. Meaning that it takes a lot of energy to not only create muscle, but to sustain it as well.

Think about how easy it is to gain fat? And how hard it is to increase muscle strength (create more muscle)?

The amount of calories that a pound of muscle burns verse the amount of calories a pound of fat burns is not universally accepted. The most recent figure I have seen are that a pound of muscle burns 6 calories per day (not doing movement of any kind). A pound of fat burns roughly 2 calories per day. This may not seem like a lot, but that is 3X the calories. That muscle demands to fed, so the body must come up with extra energy. This comes as either dietary food, or the body literally eats itself.

When we perform "cardio" work outs, the supposed benefits that we obtain are not long lasting, minimal in terms of burning calories, and detrimental in terms of muscle and joint health.

Weight training in general is not performed constantly for long stretches of time (like running), it is quick sets and recovery periods. Our knee joints and ankle joints are therefore not exposed to constant stress, as they are in typical "cardio" exercises.

Also, it is widely known that "cardio" exercise increases appetite. In my experience, weight lifting has subdued my hunger, (If I lift when I'm hungry) and has kept it away for at least an hour afterward.

Now to debunk some common myths associated with weight lifting.

Lifting weights on a regular basis.

When an intense stress is put on a muscle, our bodies do not immediately respond by creating muscle tissue. This process happens over a period of time. And varies greatly from person to person. The days after a work out are the days that are vital to muscle production. If we lift weights in excess of what our bodies can handle, then it is the equivalent of digging a hole and putting the dirt back in. We make no gains.

The act of lifting weights does not build or create muscle. The days after weights are lifted (stress put on the body) are when muscle is created.

However, this rest must be warranted from an intense workout. Intensity and rest are the keys to building muscle.

*When using the word intensity,  I am referring to how hard the muscle is worked.

Intensity = Stress. The more intense a workout is, the higher the stress and the more our bodies will be obligated to adapt to that stress.

A great way to determine if a work out is intense enough is by noticing improvements from workout to workout. If you do not see gains in either reps, or weight on a workout to workout basis, then your workouts are not intense enough, or you have not given yourself enough time to rest.

The best source that I have found online for no nonsense weight lifting advice is Drew Baye's High Intensity Weight Lifting blog. He has a very simplistic, and clear approach to gaining muscle that we can all relate to. Click on the link to visit his site, I highly recommend it.

"I work my back and biceps on Monday, legs on Wednesday, and shoulders and chest on Friday..."

I have heard this from countless gym rats, who spend the majority of their days in the weight room.

The most efficient workouts are the ones that are intense and encompass the entire the body. Intense, complete body workouts jack up our cardiovascular system, build muscle, and send our metabolism into a frenzy.

Think about it. If our calves, quads, chest, shoulders, biceps and back are all demanding oxygen, then our bodies will have to work extra hard to accommodate the stress we are putting on all those muscle groups.

Let's remember these simple weight training rules:

1) When lifting, the intensity of a workout is the key to the success of a workout. The duration is pointless. When I lift, I train for no longer than 20-25 minutes. However, it is 25 minutes of panting like like Chris Farley walking up a flight of stairs.

2) Resting is key to muscle growth.

3) Rest (again, it is that important). I know that it is hard to comprehend because we have been programmed to believe that we should always be moving. Resting allows our bodies to create the maximal amount of muscle needed, depending on the intensity of a workout. Resting also allows our bodies the time it needs to fully recover from a work out.

-I lift once, sometimes twice, every seven days. I also throw in a day of sprints in between weight lifting workouts.

4) Write your workouts down (I write mine down on a note card) and make sure that you are improving on a workout to workout basis. If you're not, then your doing something wrong.

I will go into the specifics of my workout regimen in my next post. Which will be up in a few days.

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