Momentum Issue 40: Lift Heavy Stuff
Importance
Our ancestors lifted heavy things on a regular basis.
Women carried babies and the food they had gathered, men carried the game they killed as well as all the tools required to do so.
We have evolved to carry heavy things. And therefore, we can optimize our health by emulating how our ancestors lived.
Lifting heavy things is also good for:
Keeping our mitochondria young: “In the recent study “Resistance Exercise Reverses Aging in Human Skeletal Muscle” it was proven that six months of progressive resistance training, i.e., weight training that gets heavier over time, i.e., “lifting heavy stuff,” made the gene expression pattern of aging mitochondria significantly younger.” - Ben Greenfield
Increasing the number of type II fibers we have in our muscles. Having more of these fibers leads to a reduction in fat mass as well as increasing insulin resistance.
Retaining muscle mass and mitigating sarcopenia. As we age, we inevitably start losing muscle mass. While this is normal, if we can slow this process as much as possible, we can avoid issues later on.
Preventing death: “Older adults who strength trained at least twice a week had 46 percent lower odds of death for any reason than those who did not. They also had 41 percent lower odds of cardiac death and 19 percent lower odds of dying from cancer.”
“Lifting heavy weight could be one of the most potent tactics for defying age.” - Ben Greenfield
Implementation
Lift something heavy, a couple of days each week.
Obviously, all of us are at a different place strength and ability-wise in regards to lifting weights. However, any form of lifting will be beneficial, regardless of your current abilities.
Mark Sisson and Ben Greenfield both advocate for lifting 2-3 times per week, and utilizing full-body movements as much as possible. We learned about these in Momentum issue 38, under “Functional strength training.”
If you’re a novice lifter, you can focus on doing more repetitions rather than lifting really heavy. Both will achieve a similar outcome.
If you’re new to strength training, I have linked a few articles below that will outline some exercises you can try.
Resources
Free links to articles
A Simple Framework for Ultimate Strength and Fitness
In this article, I outline the various ways in which you can work on your fitness, touching on a few different ways to strength train.
How You Can Work Out for 7 Minutes a Week and Still See Results
This is a simple but effective bodyweight routine.
Too Busy to Work Out? Here’s How You Can Build Fitness and Strength in Just 49 Minutes a Day
A Simple Practice to Help You Cope When Nothing Feels Okay
This article really came from the heart, and has had a good response so far.
My Top 20 Healthy Habit Recommendations, Distilled into One Sentence Each
The Top 3 Strategies I Use to Stay Lean
10 Healthy Daily Habits for Busy People
YouTube video
Primal Blueprint Law #4: Lift Heavy Things
Mark Sisson on why lifting heavy things is so important.
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