This article was written by Joshua Bauer.
Looking good, feeling great and best of all: being swole. Everyone wants to look and feel good. Some people are scared to start their fitness journey. Perhaps all they need are tips or an encouraging voice to get them started on that path of greatness.
Many people go to the gym to lift weights and it recently gained more popularity amongst students. When you go into the high school weight room, there are people everywhere, of all sorts of experience ranging from 7th graders to seniors. All of these people are working out for the numerous physical and mental health benefits.
Sophomore Richard Piotrowski is a great example of that. Piotrowski is a person that you can learn a lot from just by watching him in the weight room.
Lifting will help with relieving stress and also improve your physical look. It’s like killing two birds with one stone.
“I started because I was more insecure. Honestly, I was more insecure and just wanted to feel better about myself,” Piotrowski said. “I’ve noticed [an] increase in physical strength and looks like my physique has gotten better.”
When you start working out, you will see that it brings joy, or at least helps lessen negative emotions. When you are working your body to its limits and challenging yourself, you gain some emotional relief.
“Days I’ve lifted I’m in a much better mood,” Piotrowski said. “It’s a huge release of emotions.”
For senior John Popp, lifting always helps him get in a better mood.
“Lifting releases dopamine, you get all excited, you get happy and so automatically, it just makes you happier as a person,” Popp said. “Just seeing how far and what you can build with the body God’s given you,”
As a beginner, people will struggle with wanting to see a change immediately. However, it won’t happen right away, lifters have to start off slow with precautions. If you want to be the best you can be, you have be committed. Senior Katherine Cook is a great example for that.
“Create a routine, start off lifting wisely,” Cook said. “ Make sure you know what you can lift and how heavy you can lift, start off very light then progressively lift heavier as time goes on.”
The reason why you want to start off by lifting light is to prevent injury and ensure your safety through proper form. Lifting weights with recklessness is known as ego-lifting.
“I warn people, when you’re lifting start really light and get the form down and then go up to heavier weights,” Popp said. “When you’re ego-lifting, you can really hurt yourself.”
When you are working out, you are putting heavy stress on your body and pushing it to its limits. If you want to remain healthy while lifting weights, you need to rest to make sure your body recovers. Pushing heavy weight with little to no rest will end up harming you.
Piotrowski knows this first-hand. While lifting, he pushes himself to his bodily limits every time he touches a bar. With Piotrowski putting all that pressure on his body, there will be setbacks— in his case, a compound stress fracture in his wrist limiting him from working his upper body for two months.
“I’ve definitely noticed physical drawbacks like injury, I fractured my wrist in two places and tore two tendons in it,” Piotrowski said.
Lifting weights provides mental benefits and physical benefits, but none of that will even matter if your diet is poor. You won’t gain any significant muscle and enhance your physique without eating right and taking care of yourself.
“[My] biggest tip is nutrition, it’s very important,” Piotrowski said. “Eating right, and eating enough, especially protein and carbs.”
Putting on body mass is an essential part of lifting weights.
“You can’t build any muscle without protein,” Popp said. “Usually, you want to aim for one gram per pound of body weight.”
Some people may recommend a certain amount of food, but that isn’t necessarily true. You must compensate for yourself because only you know how much you need to eat.
“I eat a lot more carbs and protein throughout the winter. Obviously, everyone’s diet is different and everyone balances how they eat differently,” Cook said.
If you are feeling like you want to lift weights, go for it. I sure don’t regret it.
“I would just totally recommend lifting for anyone wanting to start just you can improve yourself,” Popp said.