Head to head, what sort of training should you be doing - weight lifting or bodyweight exercises.
I've been asked this question many, many times and the answer remains the same. It depends what you want.
A lean and conditioned body that vibrates with energy and vitality, one that is balanced by consistently performing exercises that increase the strength of your whole musculature, or a body that looks great, extremely pumped, but doesn't feel great, in fact feels lousy.
Look at the facts, on the plus side lifting weights will boost the muscularity of your physique - but in a natural and sustainable way? When people typically think about weight lifting they mentally see pictures of Arnie or the latest model on the cover of the most recent weight lifting magazine.
This is a little bit like thinking that you're going to have a "good time" with alcohol (and you might) and forgetting about the hangover the next morning.
Face it, the long term outlook for weight lifters more closely resembles missed training sessions due to injury. Shoulder and back pain because by repeatedly lifting heavy weights you have thrown your body out of balance, and a predisposition to putting on weight/ the mid life "tyre" simply because many of the traditional weights exercises don't give you total body conditioning.
Because of this vicious combo most weight lifters usually abandon training, due to either injury or become disillusioned with looking good, but feeling bad ie chronic injury.
Many of us know that weights is hard on the body, but persist because looking and feeling a certain way, makes us feel "significant." Weight lifting does give you a quick endorphin rush, and boost your muscles, however there is a better way.
Think marathon, not sprint, long-term thinking. Life is a long-term event, and thats why bodyweight exercises are so ideally suited to you, no matter what your current physical condition.
You're working with your own body weight, instead of ridiculously heavy weights that overstrain both muscles and joints, each and every one of the exercises simultaneously targets multiple muscle groups, therefore enhancing balance and overall muscular development. Importantly, almost every bodyweight exercise targets your core abdominal muscles, as they are forced to stabilise your body as you perform the exercises.
Think about it, how much total body conditioning do you get by "lying down" on a bench and doing the bench press, as compared to the lower back and abdominal workout stress that you get every time you do a decent set of press-ups, not to mention arms, chest and neck that the bench press also targets.
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