Is lifting weight healthy for you?

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gazaati

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Hi ladies and gents :)

I started walking and jogging six months ago. I lost some wight and gained energy and stamina. I love it and will be doing it from now on.

One of my friends advised me to lift wight as a health thing. And I was wondering if wight lifting is healthy. I heard someone once mentioning that it adds strain to the heart.

What do you think? Is lifting healthy or unhealthy?
 
Many respectable medical studies show that sensible weight-bearing exercise (weight lifting) is quite good for health including for the heart.
 
In addition to the obvious benefit of adding lean muscle to your frame, evidence now suggests that lifting increases the density of your bones which will help protect you as you age. This is true for men and women. Also, exercise improves cardiovascular function and your immune system. Spend the $50 to meet with a personal trainer once or twice, learn how to do things correctly. Good luck and enjoy yourself.
 
Lifting is ok, but I believe Martial Arts and Hiking, Backing Packing, Canyoneering, Snowshoeing are way better for you in the long run.
 
Remember, there's a big difference between "progressive resistance exercise" and "bodybuilding".
As noted above, weight training can add muscle mass, increase bone density, and so forth; all good things.
One does not need to consume gallons of protein shakes and other supplements.
 
Not to be a dick but lifting weights lowers your immune system thats why lifters always take extra vitamins etc to try and counter it.Its because of the extra stress your bodys under getting broken down and growing again.
Ive been lifting weights since i started boxing as a kid and am in the gym with guys that are just into weight lifting period every week.
When i got a injury that kept me from boxing for a while i was lifting a lot for about a year i put on a lot of weight that was impossible to shift like before and when i was that heavy when i lay in bed i could hear and feel my heart beat like a drum i had my blood pressure done and it was really high.I put on 3 stone though and kept pushing the weights up as soon as i could which was a bad move for me.
Dont get me wrong its a must IMO but i wouldnt go heavy you need to work on technique first and that rules out working at your max to start with anyway id also do some sort of cardio for at least 5 min at max heart rate.
Every one i know that trains serious is consuming around one gram of protein for every pound they weigh even more if there cutting protein shakes are just convienent when a meal cant be cooked etc and the fact your body can make the most of it fast so its ideal after work outs other than that you should get the rest from food.
Dont drink Soya protein but its GAY it raises estrogen levels in your body.
Every body tells me its unhealthy and when you do it to get stupid big then it is IMO but as part of an exercise routine not done too serious its healthy IMO it also makes you feel good which cant hurt.
 
Weight training can be very good for you as you get older. If you keep you strength up it will allow you to do may activities much later in life than you could without it. As you get older (40+) it is very easy to injury yourself exercising. Weight training will help you avoid that.
 
Three common plagues of elderly are loss of muscle strength, loss of bone mass and strength, and loss of balance and coordination. These three combine to turn a few drops of water carelessly -- but commonly -- splashed on the kitchen floor into a hip replacement.

Weight lifting -- not body building, just weight lifting -- can reduce all three of these factors.
 
I am not thinking of becoming a body builder. Something like lifting wights 3, 4 times at the gym with out using protein shakes.

What I heard was that lifting wight makes the heart tissues and walls very thick. This could lead to all sorts of problems later. This is all hearsay thought.

Thanks for the comments
 
i don't really use weights, every once in a while to work the backs of my arms and my shoulders, but not too much.

i mostly just do push-ups and stretches, it adds muscle but keeps it sensible, as well as strengthening peripheral muslces too. pushups don't just work the bicep, but also upper back, shoulder and chest. doing bicep curls won't do this for you...

its really up to you though to decide what's right...just be sensible about it, but it sounds like you are so no worries.
 
Close to 20 years ago they did 6 bypasses on my Dad, he started working out shortly afterwards, and worked up to an hour on an Schwinn AirDyne daily and sensible free weights several times a week.

Today I gave him his Father's Day present....

Moderation is key here.
 
In 1994 I was 48 years old, an obese couch potato, 300 pounds, size 48 in the waist. Had five bypasses that fall. Got serious about low fat (heart healthy) diet and exercise. Lost down to 245, size 40 in waist. (I am 6'8", so 245 isn't as heavy as it sounds). In 1996, stress-cracked and then broke a foot running. When I was on crutches, I was so desperate for exercise (I had become addicted) that I started doing what I could with my wife's plastic-coated weights. Started buying dumbbells, now have sets in five pound increments up through 75 pounds, and a Bowflex machine. Have been resistance training heavily for 12 years now. I do a high intensity workout, one set to failure at 8 to 12 reps.

It is difficult for an older man to bulk up, but I have gained twenty pounds while keeping same waist size. I have found that the weights have a tremendous effect in helping control fat, if you eat right. I think that it is fairly remarkable that I weigh within 35 pounds of my maximum weight ever, but have an 8" smaller waist.

As for the heart effects, my doctor on a visit about ten years after my surgery said, "You have the stress test of a man who has never had any heart problems at all."
Late fall last year, on a follow-up arteriogram, he said that the bypasses looked brand new, and I had a "magnificent" heart muscle, with an 80% expulsion rate, whatever that means. Also said, "whatever you're doing, keep doing it."

Good enough for me. I plan on doing whatever weight training I can until I assume room temperature.
 
Gollnick said:
Three common plagues of elderly are loss of muscle strength, loss of bone mass and strength, and loss of balance and coordination. These three combine to turn a few drops of water carelessly -- but commonly -- splashed on the kitchen floor into a hip replacement.

Weight lifting -- not body building, just weight lifting -- can reduce all three of these factors.
Click to expand...
...and after a certain age, odds are a broken hip is a painful six month journey that leads straight to the cemetary. Cardio is great but harder exercise like weight lifting adds to the bones like others have previously said. Don't let your bones go. It happens quicker to women than men, because men have more testosterone which helps keep the stronger bones longer. Once the testosterone goes away, men quickly loose their bone mass as well.
 
Way back when I was in high school around 1962, I was your stereotypical "98 pound weakling". I took the just-made-mandatory "President's fitness test" and failed miserably.

Determined to do something about it (and in my usual fashion), I went to the library and picked up a new book on "progressive resistance exercise" written by an exercise physiologist working in college athletics. The author (long since forgotten) laid out a basic strength-training routine for athletes, explained the mechanics of resistance training, and also had a chapter on the many myths associated with lifting.

I see that many of these myths still abound, over 40 years later.
 
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