The past decade or so, the fitness industry has seen a significant surge of interest in strength training. Some would say that CrossFit played a large role in this growth and social media played a huge part as well. What’s scary is that people are blindly jumping into strength sports without understanding the significant repercussions of such training. We will NOT stand idly by while so many people put themselves at risk. As we are slowly carving out some territory in the fitness space, we felt it was our obligation and duty to say something. So here are our top reasons why you should NOT start any sort of lifting or strength training.
1) Strength training will make you big and bulky: It’s no secret that working out, especially weight training, will make your muscles bigger. What people don’t understand is just how quickly your muscles will grow. In fact, it’s quite easy to get YUGE after starting a strength training program. Look at competitive bodybuilders. Not only are their bodies large and bulky, their results are largely random and accidental. Research also shows that there’s basically no way to find moderation in muscle gain. Once you start lifting, you will inevitably become a disproportionately large and hulking, mass of human flesh with the inability to scratch his own back. Don’t let this be you.
2) Strength training will make you too strong for your own good: Just as muscle growth is a natural consequence of strength training, so is strength. At first reflection, it would seem to be a good thing to gain physical strength as it would make you “harder to kill and […] more useful in general”. But therein lies the problem. Not only will everyone expect you to help them pick up and/or move just about anything and everything, but others will look to YOU to make the difficult decisions, protect the helpless, and risk your life in dangerous situations. Don’t become strong or more useful. You will be putting yourself, your comfort, and your convenience at risk.
3) Strength training is expensive: Not only will you completely change the shape of your body, and thus require a whole new wardrobe, but you will most assuredly feel pressured to buy all of the many lifting accessories that are required to be a legitimate strength trainee. To be considered committed in the least, you must at least have lifting shoes (2 pair minimum), a belt, a singlet, wrist wraps, stretchy bands, deadlift socks, gloves, short shorts, rubber wedding rings, shmedium shirts with bad gym puns, and so much more. Save your money, live in luxury, and don’t lift.
4) You will never be strong enough: This one strikes deep. Anyone with any sort of background in strength training understands exactly what this means. As soon as you reach one goal, it’s on to the next. We set our sights on the next big benchmark or milestone and quickly forget about the progress we’ve made or where we came from. Getting stronger is a long and grueling process and you will never be satisfied with what you have accomplished. Save yourself the frustration, the blood, sweat, and tears, the agony. Don’t lift.
Happy April 1st.
