Benefits of Strength Training That Will Convince You To Finally Try It.

I’ve been strength training with BodyRock now for just over a year. I’m 43 years old, and a mother of 3 kids, all under 10.

Before strength training, I was one of those people that you would frequently see at the gym, but only on the bikes, treadmills or sometimes the elliptical.

I’m active more than I like to workout, and I stayed on top of my fitness over the years by doing cardio. I wasn’t fat, but I always had an extra 7-10 pounds on me that I had been half-heartedly battling since the birth of my last child. I looked ok, but felt lazy and complacent. I wanted more. 

I felt that I was more capable - maybe much more capable than I was living, and at some point that started to bother me. I wasn’t gunning for perfection, but I did want more for myself and from my workouts. 

As my kids started to get a bit older, I realized that I was going to be one of the only examples of fitness that my girls were going to get.

Taking that on was really a turning point for me, accepting that it was my responsibility to be the living example of the importance of health and fitness to my children, and knowing that if I didn't take that on, my kids wouldn't get it.

I wanted to show them what Mom was capable of, partly because I was curious, and partly to normalize a daily workout so that it was something that they would grow up around and know was important. I knew that they would start soaking it in as they watched me workout at home, so I chose to do my workouts in the living room where they would see me. 

My biggest regret about Strength Training is that I waited so long to actually try it.

I knew about it, I'd read about the benefits. I'm not sure what it was that actually held me back. It’s hard to say that I wasted all those years trying to get in shape with cardio alone, but if I’m honest, it does start to feel that way. I just had no idea how fast my body would change once I started to lift. 

Nothing I’ve ever tried has been as effective at changing my body as strength training. Strength Training with you guys (BodyRock) got me in the best shape of my life inside of a year.

If you want to change your body then do it. This is how. 

It helped me to visualize the type of body that I wanted. My pre-strength training body, if I was to pull it out of the closet and zip into it like a suit, was soft. If you were to have gently grabbed my arm, you wouldn’t have felt any muscle, it was just soft, fat. I've sometimes heard this called called ‘Skinny Fat’. The problem with fat, I discovered, is that it’s just not as metabolically active as muscle. It doesn't burn that much energy to maintain itself. It’s not helping you get towards your goals. It just kind of hangs on you. Wearing this 'skinny fat' suit wasn't helping me get closer to my goals. 

My strength training body is lean and has visible muscle tone. When you look at me casually, you can tell that I train on a regular basis. I feel athletic. I’ve built my body into a much more efficient ‘strength’ suit. The lean muscle that I’ve built now burns 3-5X more calories when I’m at rest per day than my pre-strength training 'skinny fat'  body could.

My new ‘strength suit’ body is working for me now 24/7, burning more calories and helping me to maintain my ideal weight. I didn't have this going for me before I started to strength train. As soon as I built my ‘strength suit’ body, there was a night and day difference in my overall fitness. Since I’ve started strength training, my body actually does a lot of the work around my weight for me. It’s much easier because I’m no longer swimming against the tide. With strength training, It feels like my body and I are on the same side, pulling together in the same direction towards my goals. I know that as long as I'm doing my workouts consistently, it’s going to be burning calories at an elevated rate, which helps me make consistent progress. 

Cardio was just not going to deliver the changes to my body that I was looking for.  

Almost all the strength training exercises that I’ve done with BodyRock have been low-impact exercises, so I’ve been able to build up my lean muscle and overall endurance while putting much less stress on my joints. I’ve noticed that my day to day movements and activities have become much easier. I feel strong and sturdy in my body. 

Strength Training is one of the best forms of low-impact cardio.

I didn’t expect my heart rate to rev up as much as it did when I started strength training with you guys. Part of me was worried that I would lose my cardio if I started to focus on strength training, but that was just not the case. When you lift, especially if you don’t take too much time between sets, you really do get a solid cardio workout in while you are building your fat burning lean muscles. 

I have a history of heart disease in my family on my mothers side. A study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, found that people who did at least 1 hour of strength training per week were at a 40-70% lower risk of heart attack and stroke compared to those that didn’t. I feel good knowing that I'm also taking good care of my heart when I strength train. 

Strength Training supported my fat loss and weight management goals better than anything else. 

Lifting gave me a boost in confidence. After I realized that hey, I can actually do this, I think my next thought was, holy shit, I’m way stronger than I thought. The first few workouts are just sort of getting used to holding dumbbells, or using the Pink Thing resistance band - the gear is actually the easiest part. 

A boost in progress. Given that my workouts had been the same for years and nothing on my body had changed, I was actually pretty shocked to see physical changes start to be noticeable within the first 6-8 weeks. When you start to see changes, it's a totally different game. I hadn’t been genuinely excited about my fitness in, well, maybe ever. It’s hard to maintain much enthusiasm about something that never seems to yield any results. I’m much more into working out now because my progress is in the mirror waiting to greet me each morning. 

I felt really disengaged from my workouts before. I did them, but I didn’t feel or look any different.

If this is you, and you are serious about making serious changes around your body, then Strength Training is the way to go. It’s changed who I am as a person. I felt lost before, unsure, I was putting in the time, but I almost felt like I was sleepwalking through my workouts. I feel aligned with my body now - it’s doing everything it can to burn calories and keep my weight where I feel good about myself, we are in this fight together now. I’ve never really felt that before, that my body, my mindset, my confidence and my workouts were all pointing in the same direction towards my goals. 

Coach Jessie teaching the Introduction to Strength Training Bootcamp.

If my story spoke to you, and you want to try strength training but don't know where or how to start, I highly suggest starting with The Introduction to Strength Training Bootcamp, or the Beginner Bootcamp. Both of these series, plus many more strength based workouts are available on BodyRockPlus.com. These workouts will get you started and teach you the basics, so that you can get Strength Training working for you. Build your 'strength' suit - it will change everything. 

Thanks for reading my story,

BodyRocker Eve.

Looking for strength training gear? We currently have gym-quality dumbbells on sale for 50% off the regular price. Check them out here.