Any odd (but awesome) benefits from strength workouts?

[jamie vaughn]

I have a couple funny stories. My son and I were moving to a new condo last year and my parents were helping before the movers arrived. My dad asked why I was carrying those heavy 25 pound dumb bells up from the basement to the car and I said I didn't want the movers to hurt their backs LOL!!! It didn't even occur to me to have them carry my gym equipment! Then after moving in I realized there was a gym within walking distance so for "socialization" purposes, I joined the circuit class that generally has the same group of people attending. The two guys in the class commented how fit they thought I was and to this day, one of them always thanks me at the end of the class for the "challenge"! Thanks to Cathe I don't pass out during the metabolic sessions! It's very empowering I must admit.

 

[LOVE2RUN]

JeanneMarie you are exactly right! When people ask what I do I always say "I love my DVDs" they look so confused, it's hilarious. I wish so badly they would just try some of my workouts, they are so fun! But they never do, they say I look great, what are you doing, I tell them and they will never try. I can never understand why you wouldn't just try what I am telling you! It feels so good to have energy, calmness, and positivity everyday and it's because of daily exercise, period.

 

[JeanneMarie]

JeanneMarie you are exactly right! When people ask what I do I always say "I love my DVDs" they look so confused, it's hilarious. I wish so badly they would just try some of my workouts, they are so fun! But they never do, they say I look great, what are you doing, I tell them and they will never try. I can never understand why you wouldn't just try what I am telling you! It feels so good to have energy, calmness, and positivity everyday and it's because of daily exercise, period.

I find it interesting that so many people poo-poo the effectiveness of workout DVDs. I chalk it up to ignorance and let it go. My friends who are holding the interval classes that I go to, used to refer to my DVDs as my "little workouts". After they saw what I could do in the classes because of those DVDs, they stopped calling them that.

 

[Stacy]

When the doc was reviewing my routine mammogram with me last year, she said "Do you workout??" And I said yes, why. And she said "you have a great Lat muscle" (I think that was the muscle she pointed out), "we usually don't see this muscle so well developed" on mammograms. And, more important my mammogram was normal.

 

[Cupcake]

1. Improvements in cardio 2. Improvements in flexibility! (This is a weird one - I can understand how doing flyes can give you a good stretch across the chest, but I end up more flexible everywhere, and my Yoga poses are more successful.) 3. Better management of joint issues. (I've had rotator cuff problems, and an ACL reconstruction. Shoulder and knee pain/weakness are pretty much a non-issue as long as I keep up my weight training.) Stebby

Hi,

My right shoulder has been bothering me lately, certain movements like reaching over head or unhooking a bra or pulling a sports bra over my head. It seems to get better when I work out and gets stiff if I don't. It just bothers me that it doesn't have the same ROM it used to. I find planks and burpees bug it or trying to hold a straight barbell for squats.

When you had to rehab your shoulder did they make you stop lifting?

 

[*crazysoccermom*]

Earlier this summer, we were working on an outdoor project (fixing a water fountain.) Hubby ended up needing more bags of concrete and asked me to run to Home Depot.

As I was in the aisle getting ready to load it up, a worker asked if I needed help. I hefted up the 80 lbs bag of concrete and gently laid it in the basket. "Nope, I got it"

Loved his look of astonishment

 

[ReneePruitt]

Earlier this summer, we were working on an outdoor project (fixing a water fountain.) Hubby ended up needing more bags of concrete and asked me to run to Home Depot. As I was in the aisle getting ready to load it up, a worker asked if I needed help. I hefted up the 80 lbs bag of concrete and gently laid it in the basket. "Nope, I got it" Loved his look of astonishment

Wow I am impressed

 

[jodijodi]

This was more of a vanity thing than a useful benefit, but when I went for my mammogram last year, the tech asked me if I lift weights. When I said yes, she told me that my chest muscles looked great on her computer screen!

I wrote this comment 4 years ago, but as an update, in more recent years the tech has said that having well developed chest muscles made it easier to read the mammogram. So that is a useful benefit as well!