“Fitman” Eric Brown, an NGA professional natural bodybuilder and the owner of the Fitman Performance & Physique Center in Roslyn, says that the benefits of lifting weights will dramatically enhance your life.
“Lifting weights will allow you to improve your health, build physical strength, develop mental toughness, and increase your self-confidence,” the NGA pro natural bodybuilder said.
What are the top 10 benefits of lifting weights? Fitman shares the second half of the series.
1) You Will Face Weekly Challenges
Fitman says that one of the greatest benefits you will get from lifting weights is the regular challenges that are presented to you when you train hard.
“A life without challenges is no life at all,” he said. “Facing challenges reveal a person’s character and their will to win.” He told us that as you continue to overcome the challenges that lifting weights presents, you will build the mental fortitude required to fight through tough times.
“I know for a fact that overcoming challenges in the gym helped me tremendously when I was at the beginning of building my fitness business and struggling badly to obtain clients,” he said. “I would think to myself “If I could complete that crazy leg workout, why am I freaking out about building my business?”
“My mindset was and still is, if I can do a hard, 20 rep set of squats or get through 26 weeks of contest prep, I can definitely deal with the process of becoming successful in the fitness business.”
“It’s a different type of challenge, but a challenge nonetheless, “ he said. “Bring it on!”
2) You Will Build Your Foundation
Fitman shared a narrative with us about growth.
“Have you ever seen a building at its genesis? You might think in that moment that the building looks bad and it will take forever to build.”
“But when you look at that same building 3 years later, when the construction is complete, you will be amazed at how great the building looks and how the process turned out.”
“Your body is the same as that building. When you first begin to lift weights, you will more than likely not look like you are in good shape just like that building at the beginning. I looked awful when I started.” “But as you continue to lift, your physique will begin to come together just like that building. If you do it right, you will look in the mirror and at your progress pictures in a few years and see that all of your hard work has paid off.”
“Developing a building from the ground up is just like developing your body. It will be hard to see the finish line at the start, but if you are consistent, you will eventually cross it.”
3) You Can Dominate Your Sport
Fitman told us with all things being equal, the bigger, stronger, and more powerful athlete wins every time. How do you get bigger, stronger, and more powerful? By consistently lifting relatively heavy weights and sprinting.
“Lifting weights, in addition to my sprint training allowed me to run fast times in my 30’s and crush some younger sprinters in competition,” he said with passion. “It’s unfortunate but many strength coaches do not have a grasp on how to lift or train and therefore they do not have their athletes following a legit lifting program.”
“When they do attempt to have the athletes lift the workouts have a similar look to them: bad form on the exercises, no emphasis on progression, and a lot of yelling to overcompensate for the lack of programming.”
“Ultimately what matters for an athlete is an objective result. If there is no way to show an athlete an objective result, then the program was a complete failure.”
Fitman said that weight training is not the primary means to the end to win in every sport, like in natural bodybuilding. But he also emphasized that being stronger, more powerful, and more resistant to injury will increase your chances of success in your sport.
“When it is the offseason, it is the time to focus on getting stronger, more muscular, and developing power. During your actual season, your goal should switch to sustain and maintain the attributes you gained in the offseason. You can do this with a low-volume lifting program that compliments your in-season, competitive schedule.”
4) You Can Almost Bulletproof Your Body
The benefits of lifting weights are not all centered around building bigger muscles and gaining strength. Lifting weights is also about making your body highly resistant to injury.
“When you are weak and you do not perform any strength training, you are significantly more susceptible to injury,” he said. “I lived that life in 2008 and it’s a lousy life.”
“A lack of strength shows up during activities like helping your friend move. If your body is weak, you have a much higher chance of blowing out your back when you try to lift that couch,” he said. “But when you have been lifting weights for years, that couch has almost no chance of causing any injury because your body is rock solid.”
“Your joints, tendons, and bones will also be stronger too. There is no fun in being frail and brittle like Mr. Burns,” he said laughing.
5) Your Clothes Won’t Make You
“Why do some folks spend so much on clothes?”
“People can spend their money however they choose,” he said smiling. “But why spend hundreds of dollars on clothing when you’ve got a $1 body? The better investment would be to put that money into the training, food, and supplements that will make your body healthier and stronger. When you are in great, physical condition, you can make the much less expensive clothing look like they were made by a top designer.”
“You can go to a store that is less expensive and find some clothing that costs significantly less. And because you are in phenomenal shape, that clothing will look like it costs significantly more.”
“When you lift weights you make every outfit look good regardless of the brand. The brand of the clothing doesn’t make the man or woman.”
For more on the Fitman Performance and Physique Center, located at 1518 Easton Road Unit #10, in Roslyn, you can visit FitmanClassicBodybuilding.com. For the first half of this series, you can click here.