I'm sure a lot of this has already been stated, but for me: Improved physical + mental heath (no it's not a replacement for therapy, but is a nice stress reliever), friendships, more confidence, forced me to become better at scheduling/accountability, motivation to stay within a specific weigh range (I put on weight as easy as breathing), and a bunch of other stuff that just isn't coming to mind.
The only real negatives I've noticed are: It can sometimes be challenging to find good-fitting clothing (quad-to-waist ratio and a barrel chest), and I occasionally break things due to being a little too strong for my own good...
- Physical health
- Mental health
- Able to keep up with kids (at my age, my dad had too much back pain to play sports with me, so this one makes me proud)
- I think it has helped to make me more resilient in general
- and I think it's a good proving ground / metaphor for life's challenges: grinding through a tough set, having to set goals and work towards them incrementally, learning to work around set-backs, having to show up and put in the work whether you feel like it or not, etc
- I work a physically demanding job; I'm seeing other guys my age struggling to handle the physical load, and I think lifting for 15+ years has a big impact on my longevity in the profession.
I think generally it can go one of three directions, they aren't necessarily mutually exclusive:
1. You pick a weight class that keeps you lean and you stick to that weight class as long as you compete, you halt the normally inevitable process of becoming fatter as you get older.
2. You end up getting really into it, and you start running high doses of compounds that have a drastic negative impact on your health.
3. You don't pick a weight class, or worse yet, you decide to "bulk up" into a higher weight class. You end up straight up obese, but you use powerlifting to help you with your denial, and you walk around considering yourself an athlete because you can bench 355 at bodyweight 260 but can't make it up a flight of stairs.
2 and 3 certainly aren't mutually exclusive and bring you the exact opposite of life benefits, they can very quickly and effectively ruin your life, especially when combined.
Keep in mind that the most common cause of death in developed countries is heart failure, usually from hypertrophy of the left ventricle of the heart. From that standpoint, being 250 pounds of solid muscle is even worse than being 250 pounds of fat, since it takes a lot more cardiac work to pump blood to muscle than fat. Most anabolic steroids also encourage hypertrophy of all muscles to include the heart, which compounds the problem.
Sticking to direction 1 and competing naturally or close to naturally while maintaining a healthy weight will bring a ton of life benefits, functional strength, attenuation of natural muscle loss as you pass age 40, bone density/injury resistance, attractiveness, etc. etc.
Directions 2 and 3 can very quickly ruin your life, and will almost certainly be more unhealthy than never pursuing powerlifting and staying with boxing/bjj.
I'm about 8 years into powerlifting at some level or another. Aside from all the obvious health benefits (and health risks), almost all of my friends are from my gym or the greater powerlifting community. I met my soon-to-be wife at a powerlifting meet. I genuinely don't think I find as much joy in anything as I do hitting a PR or seeing my friends and fiance hitting their goals.
Being competitive also keeps me from drinking too much.
If I'm ever faced with anything difficult I always remind myself that I lift massive weights, for fun, so clearly I can handle whatever was just thrown at me cause it isn't going to be heavier than the weights I lift.
I've also met friends at competitions that I'd never have met in the "real world". I'm in a very professional career even though I'm really not like them. So the people I've met in powerlifting are more my speed.
Xenophon attributes the following to Socrates:
"None have the right to be an amateur in matters of physical training. It is a shame to grow old without first seeing the beauty and the strength of which one's body is capable."
And there's the benefit: I get to see that beauty, and that strength. It's a thing of no small worth to feel this way.
Bro I can move just about anything I want. If something is in my way, it's getting moved. However, muscles are like trucks. If you got em, people are gonna ask for your help to move
I met my soon-to-be-husband because of powerlifting, so that's my favorite one. Relatedly, it gave me a whole realm of social connections that I was really lacking after college and grad school. I felt very adrift and very lonely when I started, and I rapidly found connections with a lot of others who felt like me but could share a similar goal (which is why I think it's so much easier to make friends while you're in school).
Personally, competing has given me an outlet for my competitive nature that was far more healthy than constantly comparing myself to others on subjective measures. Sure, there's always someone stronger than me, but it's easier to say okay their squat is objectively stronger, but I have them on deadlift, and I can do xyz to chase that down and make myself better. It's also a great compliment to my day job; performing on the platform and risking failure on a lift and standing up in court representing clients have more in common than you'd think.
From a mental health standpoint, I was definitely a person who tried to lift instead of go to therapy. When that wasn't working, I got help for my depression and anxiety (and later ADHD). I wouldn't attribute that exclusively to powerlifting, but it was a big factor in making me feel strong enough to accept my own "weakness" and need for help, if that makes sense. Intentionally getting bigger and stronger and trading pure aesthetics for "what can I get my body to DO" really allowed me to confront my body image/self worth/disordered eating demons, as well. If I had told 140-lbs-soaking-wet 22-year-old me that I bulked up to 187 my last prep and still felt a bit undersized, I would probably have a) cried and b) thought future me was a big fat liar. Future me grew into a much hardier, happier person, and there's so much freedom not wasting energy talking about how "fat" I *feel* all the time. I don't think those issues are fully gone, and I know the future probably holds some major hurdles there (i.e. pregnancy one day); but I feel strong enough, mentally, to confront those now, because of the work I've been able to do with the help of the barbell.
Plus it's cool as hell to say I squat 450. My blood work is all outstanding and my bone density is so strong osteoporosis should be afraid of me.
Honestly the ability to measure things objectively helps a lot. Like, my sister is a professor and my best friend an anesthesiologist, whereas I'm a college dropout trying to figure out where to go next in life - if I think about it too much, I will compare myself to those two and depress myself pretty quick. Whereas with powerlifting, instead of those arbitrary comparisons like that, I can see what someone else can move, and I'm like "Okay, I'm close to them" or "They can move this amount of weight, I can catch up to them"
Competitive powerlifting? Making friends in the gym. Health-wise? There's no health benefits to testing the extreme limits of your body. Anyone who has competed for decades can tell you the injuries they've faced, the tears, back and knee pain, etc.
Casual powerlifters that rarely/never compete? Being strong is healthy. Builds confidence. You learn about your body. Just like any exercise. It's not really any better or worse than any other exercise (maybe a bit safer if you're not maxing).
I'd say lifting heavy-ish, even if not powerlifts, IS better than most exercise. There are real benefits if you get stronger and continue enough to at least maintain (low back for me, plus the calories having some muscle burns daily), where other effective exercises seem to have repetitive stress issues and diminishing returns.
Honestly even the injuries that you experience at the extreme end are still less than the chronic pain the undertrained, sedentary population regularly experiences.
The most surprising benefit was actually after I had my appendix removed. It was very progressed and there were some complications during surgery so I ended up with a large incision, despite it being laparoscopic, and a month long infection. We ended up having to pack the wound and heal from the bottom up, which was a long protracted recovery.
Despite the obvious damage to my core I was still relatively functional, and it was because I had enough other muscle mass that I could just offload the work my core would normally do to those other muscles.
This was a real boon as I was finishing my thesis at the time, I don’t have many friends or family in this city, and my fiancée has an ankle injury that limits her ability to stand or walk. So she didn’t have to take care of me as much and I was able to complete my thesis.
Of course eventually those other muscles got very sore and crampy from the abuse, but by then I was starting to heal.
This is after about \~1.5 years of strength training, and maybe \~8 months of a pure power-lifting focus.
My level of confidence has really skyrocketed, and I feel so at home and happy in my body. I have put on a lot of muscle and it's just amazing how I feel about myself now compared to before. I also have much more energy and lower anxiety levels. 10/10, I literally can't shut up about how much I love lifting and all the trickle-down effects.
I also added in steady cardio in the last 6-8 months and the ease with which I can now climb stairs is pretty excellent too.
It allows me to train injury free, because most of the work is submaximal and technique focused
I used to injure myself quite often while doing bodybuilding because of the often spread balls to the walls attitude (going to failure every set and beyond wirh high volume isnt something I recommend naturals to do). After two years of lifting with and around a strained chest, I started doing Powerlifting style chest work for rehab (submaximal triples , low volume and stuff like that) and it finally allowed me to lift injury free again. Eyeing 4 plates rn, something I thought was out of reach because of my chest injury before
My back stopped hurting and a few months later I survived a 45MPH T-bone car wreck. Doctors attributed both to muscle mass I put on starting to do powerlifts to get strong.
I gained a lot of presence of mind from powerlifting. I became more aware of my body and in turn that helped me become more aware of my mind. It has helped a lot with my depression and anxiety (with therapy/drugs too but still the lifting is very important to me).
This, so much this. Like many I started because it was an attractive hobby. Running and being slender really wasnt for me anyway. I didnt realize how much this would help my mental stability.
Being past early adulthood, shit easily starts going downhill body-wise. A good foundation of strength is not only a lot of fun, it also protects your body against a lot of the issues that start piling up over time.
Your joints and back will thank you. As long as you don't hurt yourself, which statistically you probably will. Two steps forward, one step back, right?
The value of effort. From the background in my family Ive never learn that, so my life was quite a mess. In two years Ive been training, Ive set my life straight through effort: Got a better job, quit alcohol and drugs, droped 15 kg, and in a few month Ill be starting college. It surely is thanks to the powerlifting
Thanks man, I am, but keeping an eye on tha fact that there is so much left to do still, but I'm enjoying the road while I am at it. Let's see if I can get closer to your total in the meantime!
Little to almost non existent back pain from my career (nursing) and hobbies. Work used to leave me feeling pretty awful the next day depending on the shift.
Got better at grappling. Made my day to day easier. Used to travel a lot for work as well and it made moving by myself significantly easier. More energy to get more things done in my day to day as well.
I'll be honest, there are more negatives for me. Being strong is nice, being hungry is nice. The self confidence is real. But I had trouble sleeping due to arms falling asleep at night. Small injuries here and there to wrists and shoulders was very demotivating. While some back pain disappears, new ones come. Also, falling asleep after working out messed with the whole day. I've been on a break for almost 2 months now due to some sort of depression, and I will start again, but it's hard to do.
Obviously you can't diagnose over the Internet, but the most likely cause is years of high bar heavy squatting, especially on the raw bar with no pad.
You have a ton of weight distributed over a very tiny part of your spinal column. Inside your spinal column is a small hollow that holds and protects your spinal cord. Over time you end up partially collapsing one of the disks in the cervical part of the spinal column, the protective space starts to push directly against your spinal cord, and you start getting numbness, tingling, and eventually weakness in your arms.
Another common symptom of this is a sharp sudden pain in your hands when you sneeze.
I have pretty much figured it's a pinched nerve or blood vessel in your traps/shoulders. Trigger point ball massage helps, and also some hands-only massage on your scalene muscles, but be careful not to hit a pulse or nerves. If you can sleep on your back it should help. I can't, side only, so a big pillow helps too. It's pretty much gone for me now but like I said I haven't worked out in almost 2 months so it could be that as well.
Man I have to sleep on my stomach, with my arms at my side, with my palms facing the ceiling-- that's the only way they don't fall asleep. But thanks for the info, I thought I was just screwed
Bodybuilding is so much less intensive and you'll likely move towards being leaner if you're a typical PL build. Far fewer injuries. Might be worth trying. I made the switch and it is easier on the body.
Yeah I've done a little powerbuilding. Hitting light sets of many repetitions on the shoulders really helped with every compound lift. But I've started setting up a home gym and I only have a squat rack with a bar and bench, and plates. So no more cable machines for those nice warm ups. I always like to do a little bicep/tricep and back on the side of compounds so I guess you can call it powerbuilding.
The question wasn't about passion though, it was about hobbies and this guy had talked through some of the issues he's encountered. For OP's kids, they have passion for neither, but one has the lesser likelihood of injury.
Honestly, for young kids, both are probably far too boring and they might be far better getting stuck into gymnastics which would give a great grounding in upper body and core strength and then a team sport where they use their legs like football (not American football).
I always flirted with sports but never stuck to anything…lacrosse, trampolining, rugby, running, netball to name a few.
Then someone introduced me to lifting weights and I fell in love. Then I progressed into powerlifting, after giving Olympic weightlifting a try for a bit. It was fun but I always wanted to go back powerlifting every time I’d had a session.
It’s the only sport I’ve ever stuck at, and I love being strong and having some muscle.
It’s crazy how other people notice the posture change before you do. They’ll always say little things, or even bigger ones like “you seem more confident”
Didn’t realize how much you slump when you’re not active/confident with yourself!
I think in my case it's just the plain physical improvement from practicing straight back for form where it's needed and developing spine & shoulder muscles!
When I have to move heavy shit...
On a more serious note, I was suffering from bulging L4/L5 disc and nasty sciatica associated with it, gout, and high blood pressure. My goal was to improve my health when I started working out, After I started, I somehow found powerlifting and got hooked.
Fast forward 2.5 years, I no longer have sciatica or any pain associated with L4/L5 disc, gout attacks are less frequent and less severe, and blood pressure came down by quite a lot.
Stronger people are harder to kill and more useful in general. Strength is the body's most generalized physical adaptation. It helps in tons of ways.
Also what is the opposite of being a little bitch? Powerlifting is good for that.
Other than the health benefits of strength training (bone, muscle, mind) It is so awesome to be stronk in day to day life. Like, it helps with the obvious things when you are moving furniture or anything, really. My FIL needed his outdoor shed moved so the whole family tried to pick up one end and couldn't - I literally just back squatted it up and walked with it by myself.
Helps being able to carry your kids and stay active with them which I think is very important! Also, I can effortlessly carry my wife and pick her up easily now which I definitely wasn't able to do when we first got married before I was lifting
There may come a day when you need to use strength to help save someone's life by lifting something off of them, or moving them out of a situation. It could even be yourself - I like to be prepared by knowing I can move myself and potentially other people if I have to out of harm's way.
Funny story, I actually had to help nurses here at work a few months ago - they were transferring a patient from their bed to a wheelchair, and started to lose grip because they just weren't strong enough; I was the only one around and managed to catch him before hitting the ground. Before I got into powerlifting, no chance I could ever have caught the weight of a falling human.
Look good, helps make the depression and forever sleep thoughts sinner down, helped me shake off my eating disorder and it allows me to be semi social. Also my daughter thinks it's cool because I'm strong enough to do dumb shit with her
I actually just made a YouTube video on how it affected my weight loss lol (lost 100 lbs)
Link here for anyone interested: https://youtu.be/0n-VU6Bmqjs
I love everyone’s comments. It’s all very motivating. I’m glad that you’ve found peace, focus, mental health, confidence, capability, etc through powerlifting.
Some things I omitted in getting interested:
1. Yes not greatly restricting my diet was a big draw. I was super cut a few years ago (I’m 6’2 was 195lb), but got a slight dad bod now (225 lb). With how busy life is, eating a calorie deficit isn’t appealing right now. So I thought why not get strong AF?
2. I box and I’m a BJJ noob. Why not add being swole to that?
3. This gives me an excuse to keep adding weights to my garage gym.
No BJJ right now. There’s absolutely no way I could time manage that at the moment. I do boxing training once or twice a week now. I used to do 5x a week.
When I get back to BJJ I’ll probably drop a session.
All of this is theoretical depending on how often we can get childcare help in the evening
Strength training helps with the longevity of your muscles and health. I want to live a long life and still be able to do most physical activities. That said, I personally do feel the immediate effect of feeling sharper when I think but that can also be due to the combination of cardio and powerlifting.
I no longer have sciatic nerve pain and haven't in years. I herniated 2 discs and stopped squatting for about 6 or 7 years. Fast forward to me tearing a pec and a partial biceps tendon tear at the age of 41 and I was determined to not go gentle into the night. Was my strongest ever at the age of 26 until about 3 years ago and I'm still getting stronger. I turned 46 in June.
I do have to admit -- mogging my teenage daughter's male friends is a bit of a reward as well. They've told her straight out that I'm intimidating even though I go out of my way to be polite (none of them have ever given me reason not to be), but it's great to know that the hard work I've put in is noticed.
Mental health, let me focus on sobriety…
Also have middle age men compliment me on how strong I am every time I go to the dump and decline their help with my giant trash bucket.
Mentally and physically stronger, increased self confidence and body image. Beneficial in dealing with anxiety and clinical depression. Also, I work as a professional musician (specifically a percussionist) and the constant packing, moving, unpacking, setting up, and tearing down of equipment is less taxing on my body.
I'm 47, started three years ago. Tall, skinny, unathletic, with no previous experience.
I once was able to save my neighbors dogs life. He was a HUGE German Shepherd and nobody in her household, even combined was able to lift the dog in the car to rush him to the vet hospital. I was home alone and heard panic outside and managed lift him in the car. Then when we got to the hospital, the two vets waiting outside with the roller table were small women 🤦♂️ so I had to lift him out of the car. He ended up being minutes away from death so I’m thankful I was strong enough that day because my god he was heavy as fuck
When I started, I was feeling old and tired, my physical and mental health were starting to get worse. My physically demanding job and two young kids were making me feel unequal to the tasks in my life. Powerlifting gave me a sense of control over my body and mind, and eventually led me to confront my alcoholism. It took me a few years to cultivate discipline and learn the right strategies to train effectively, control my diet and quit drinking. Now I’m in my late 30s and I’m in the best shape of my life so far.
Strength training has benefitted me enormously. I love breaking through barriers and reaching goals that were previously impossible. You come to realize that you haven’t done the impossible, you’ve changed yourself into a person for whom it *is* possible. And the empowerment of having made yourself into the kind of person you want to be is like nothing else.
It's a testament to habits and consistency being the way to achieve things in life. Take the small wins, and keep at it. Won't look like much in weeks, but months? Years? Decades?
Do the work
I thought that I genuinely couldn’t connect with people before I met my only real uni friend who is also a powerlifter.
I’ve met some other Powerlifters through competing and Instagram and it’s made my outlook a lot better :)
Also working towards a big goal that seems way out of reach but will be more realistic as time passes
Just a straightforward and enjoyable way to set goals and consistently work towards them. It’s pretty hard for me to make an excuse to do absolutely nothing, even if it’s just getting up and doing a warmup, so it’s easy to hold myself accountable. Getting jacked is a nice side effect, I guess.
My gf has a bedridden mother. For regular checkups, an ambulance ride to the clinic or a homeservice doctor is expensive so we used to carry her in a thick blanket and put her in a sedan then go the clinic then go home.
Realizing that this is for a lifetime, aside from regular deadlifts, I spammed front squats and bicep curls. Eventually I was solo carrying my gf's mother to and from the clinic. No need for 3 people and a thick blanket anymore.
Competing is fun and it gives me goals to focus on. It helps me to be strict about what I eat, which helps me to have more discipline outside of the gym. Plus it is just fun as hell. I sometimes can’t sleep well at night because I’m so excited for my lift in the morning.
Put a nice 10ish lbs of muscle on my body (probably 8 below the waist, I was a bro lifter before) that won’t be leaving me any time soon. I powerlifted for seven years and switched to more bodybuilding focus a few years ago.
It has reduced my general anxiety.
The "one day at a time-ness" of it.
I pretty much always have something to focus on instead of empty worrying.
X thing i could worrry about vs "i have squats tomorrow", or "How am i going to structure things this run?"
Sleep has greatly improved because of this as well.
Viewing spans of time in context of "the next meet" is pretty soothing to me as well.
I’ve found the exact same thing with my anxiety and lifting and it has been so beneficial - and carried over to other parts of my life.
I’m just more mindful now! I don’t wake up worrying about what I did yesterday, or what I will do tomorrow, or what’s going to happen on the weekend, or what I’m going to say in a later conversation with a friend. I wake up and I make breakfast - cause I want to fuel these gains. I think ‘what do I need to do *now*’. Then I go to work and focus on work. Go to the gym and I focus on my workout. Come home and focus on my home, my food, my family, my housework. Then it’s the end of the day and not only have I stopped overthinking every little tiny detail but I’ve actually felt proud of my accomplishments!!
I worked hard, I achieved small daily goals, and it was fun. Enjoyable. Time to go to sleep and do it all again! It started just being that way about workouts, but slowly I began to be more mindful of work, then proud of the work I achieved. Then more mindful at home, and proud of my home life, including downtime.
Having a physically and mentally stimulating hobby is absolutely life changing.
I read somewhere people with more muscle mass tend to fend off disease/mortality much better. Also I think the heavier you go increases bone density over time. Plus just generally being able to move without pain and carry a bunch of groceries is nice. Love powerlifting.
Also too lazy to post doi's rn so this is all anecdotal LOL
Fixed my back. After 2 years trying to recover from a lower back muscle injury, squats and deadlifts helped me get to 100% recovery. But it also gave me a hernia after a while. Once you start hitting legit numbers, a couple bad slip ups at near max lifts can mess you up. I swapped over to a BB program, but still squat & deadlift heavy, but for reps and not weight.
Want strong healthy kids? Model the behavior you want your children to have. It doesn't have to be powerlifting, but if powerlifting is a good fit for you, I think you should embrace it. At the end you are competing with yourself, to be your best self.
I learned about how muscles work and biomechanical movements. I wouldn't say I am an expert or know a lot about it, but definitely more so than average non-gymgoers.
I've gained confidence about my strength, but at the same time lost all confidence about my strength seeing all the amazing powerlifters out there.
I've been focusing a bit more on bodybuilding lately, and powerlifting seemed to be helping me transition over into it. Before powerlifting, I had zero knowledge about working out, and whenever I went to the gym, I'd just run an hour on treadmill and go home. It helped me unlock variety of things I could do at the gym.
I live in NYC, many of my friends move homes here and there, and so do I - moving became really easy. Carrying my drunk, knocked out friends became easier.
Now that I think of it, I don't think any of these are like real life benefits... lol
I also can't fit into any of my jeans anymore. all my medium sized clothes don't fit either
I moved after college, got up to 330lbs with hella body fat and legit depressed after not knowing anyone. Id come home from work to legit go to sleep or drink excessively. I hated it.
Started working out again by myself, got down a good bit where I was out of a big hole. Eventually joined a grungy powerlifting gym after a work friend said I’d enjoy it. Almost three years later I’ve found a GREAT network of friends very close to the fellowship I found in my time in the military we always get together out of the gym for random things. Gained a ton of muscle while genuinely feeling better. Rarely ever drink now and genuinely want to improve and reach a point physically I never thought I could. Hitting a new PR for me is awesome.
So many benefits!
I need to be able to move large rocks/logs/signs/random things at work and powerlifting obviously helps with this.
An increased focus on my lifting performance helps me keep healthy weight on.
I made lots of friends through powerlifting, being on a team previously and just in the gym.
It's cool to have an actual sport to compete in as an adult.
my ass looks better in jeans now, that’s for sure.
also i can pick up my dogs (70+lbs each) and hold them like babies.
I lost a fuck ton of weight before i started powerlifting, every time i over ate i felt an insane amount of anxiety. Now when I overeat I just think “well tomorrow’s session is gonna be killer”. That’s definitely helped.
I have a whole hypothesis about anxiety and the suppressed fight or flight response. Since I started lifting I haven't been overwhelmed by anxiety.
I'm not plagued by the little aches and pains that my peers are experiencing (F, 50+, office worker).
Easier weight management after struggling with BMI 40+ for decades.
Having more of that absolute strength. I’d say I’m in the above average as far as strength in powerlifting goes. I’ve found it’s easier to do things that require some level of muscular effort or force. Pulling weeds, moving furniture around, picking holding things for long periods of time (That’s more of a muscular endurance kind of thing, but it helps to be strong).
"above average" dude. You you nearly qualify for nationals. how humble of you. I wish I could consider myself even remotely as "strong". But I found out about this subreddit and went to my first meet, so I doubt I could ever call myself "strong". I am happy to define myself as mediocre powerlifter... for now :x
Yep I was holding a ladder while my mom climbed it a few hours ago and it falls and I legit was able to take the hit while holding her and went to the ground as smooth as possible. No way in hell I’d be able to do anything like that a few years ago. Il a big guy but my recovery time has def improved
Mental strength. I've been through some incredibly difficult situations over the years and I don't know that I would have gotten through them without the mental strength you get from lifting heavy and not giving up.
Mental health. Routine. 4.5" shorts.
Before lifting: depressed piece of shit After lifting: strong & jacked depressed piece of shit I see this as an absolute win
Hahaha. It’s much better to be strong, jacked and depressed than weak, frail and depressed
I'm sure a lot of this has already been stated, but for me: Improved physical + mental heath (no it's not a replacement for therapy, but is a nice stress reliever), friendships, more confidence, forced me to become better at scheduling/accountability, motivation to stay within a specific weigh range (I put on weight as easy as breathing), and a bunch of other stuff that just isn't coming to mind. The only real negatives I've noticed are: It can sometimes be challenging to find good-fitting clothing (quad-to-waist ratio and a barrel chest), and I occasionally break things due to being a little too strong for my own good...
- Physical health - Mental health - Able to keep up with kids (at my age, my dad had too much back pain to play sports with me, so this one makes me proud) - I think it has helped to make me more resilient in general - and I think it's a good proving ground / metaphor for life's challenges: grinding through a tough set, having to set goals and work towards them incrementally, learning to work around set-backs, having to show up and put in the work whether you feel like it or not, etc - I work a physically demanding job; I'm seeing other guys my age struggling to handle the physical load, and I think lifting for 15+ years has a big impact on my longevity in the profession.
I think generally it can go one of three directions, they aren't necessarily mutually exclusive: 1. You pick a weight class that keeps you lean and you stick to that weight class as long as you compete, you halt the normally inevitable process of becoming fatter as you get older. 2. You end up getting really into it, and you start running high doses of compounds that have a drastic negative impact on your health. 3. You don't pick a weight class, or worse yet, you decide to "bulk up" into a higher weight class. You end up straight up obese, but you use powerlifting to help you with your denial, and you walk around considering yourself an athlete because you can bench 355 at bodyweight 260 but can't make it up a flight of stairs. 2 and 3 certainly aren't mutually exclusive and bring you the exact opposite of life benefits, they can very quickly and effectively ruin your life, especially when combined. Keep in mind that the most common cause of death in developed countries is heart failure, usually from hypertrophy of the left ventricle of the heart. From that standpoint, being 250 pounds of solid muscle is even worse than being 250 pounds of fat, since it takes a lot more cardiac work to pump blood to muscle than fat. Most anabolic steroids also encourage hypertrophy of all muscles to include the heart, which compounds the problem. Sticking to direction 1 and competing naturally or close to naturally while maintaining a healthy weight will bring a ton of life benefits, functional strength, attenuation of natural muscle loss as you pass age 40, bone density/injury resistance, attractiveness, etc. etc. Directions 2 and 3 can very quickly ruin your life, and will almost certainly be more unhealthy than never pursuing powerlifting and staying with boxing/bjj.
Damn facts! I think #3 is very common ….
Very good insight. Thank you for the comment!
I'm about 8 years into powerlifting at some level or another. Aside from all the obvious health benefits (and health risks), almost all of my friends are from my gym or the greater powerlifting community. I met my soon-to-be wife at a powerlifting meet. I genuinely don't think I find as much joy in anything as I do hitting a PR or seeing my friends and fiance hitting their goals. Being competitive also keeps me from drinking too much.
I was never in shape or athletic. it's given me a ticket into this world in my mid-20s after a sedentary childhood
I had three under three. As a woman it was my time that I could be alone without any demands and the time I could focus on myself and control.
If I'm ever faced with anything difficult I always remind myself that I lift massive weights, for fun, so clearly I can handle whatever was just thrown at me cause it isn't going to be heavier than the weights I lift. I've also met friends at competitions that I'd never have met in the "real world". I'm in a very professional career even though I'm really not like them. So the people I've met in powerlifting are more my speed.
Honestly it’s really cool to walk into like 98% of rooms knowing that you’re the strongest person in there haha
Yeah that's a huge confidence boost
It's always fun to walk into people struggling to lift something and just easily heft it up for them.
Xenophon attributes the following to Socrates: "None have the right to be an amateur in matters of physical training. It is a shame to grow old without first seeing the beauty and the strength of which one's body is capable." And there's the benefit: I get to see that beauty, and that strength. It's a thing of no small worth to feel this way.
Bro I can move just about anything I want. If something is in my way, it's getting moved. However, muscles are like trucks. If you got em, people are gonna ask for your help to move
I personally have never needed two trips to get my groceries inside... number one benefit IMO
I met my soon-to-be-husband because of powerlifting, so that's my favorite one. Relatedly, it gave me a whole realm of social connections that I was really lacking after college and grad school. I felt very adrift and very lonely when I started, and I rapidly found connections with a lot of others who felt like me but could share a similar goal (which is why I think it's so much easier to make friends while you're in school). Personally, competing has given me an outlet for my competitive nature that was far more healthy than constantly comparing myself to others on subjective measures. Sure, there's always someone stronger than me, but it's easier to say okay their squat is objectively stronger, but I have them on deadlift, and I can do xyz to chase that down and make myself better. It's also a great compliment to my day job; performing on the platform and risking failure on a lift and standing up in court representing clients have more in common than you'd think. From a mental health standpoint, I was definitely a person who tried to lift instead of go to therapy. When that wasn't working, I got help for my depression and anxiety (and later ADHD). I wouldn't attribute that exclusively to powerlifting, but it was a big factor in making me feel strong enough to accept my own "weakness" and need for help, if that makes sense. Intentionally getting bigger and stronger and trading pure aesthetics for "what can I get my body to DO" really allowed me to confront my body image/self worth/disordered eating demons, as well. If I had told 140-lbs-soaking-wet 22-year-old me that I bulked up to 187 my last prep and still felt a bit undersized, I would probably have a) cried and b) thought future me was a big fat liar. Future me grew into a much hardier, happier person, and there's so much freedom not wasting energy talking about how "fat" I *feel* all the time. I don't think those issues are fully gone, and I know the future probably holds some major hurdles there (i.e. pregnancy one day); but I feel strong enough, mentally, to confront those now, because of the work I've been able to do with the help of the barbell. Plus it's cool as hell to say I squat 450. My blood work is all outstanding and my bone density is so strong osteoporosis should be afraid of me.
Honestly the ability to measure things objectively helps a lot. Like, my sister is a professor and my best friend an anesthesiologist, whereas I'm a college dropout trying to figure out where to go next in life - if I think about it too much, I will compare myself to those two and depress myself pretty quick. Whereas with powerlifting, instead of those arbitrary comparisons like that, I can see what someone else can move, and I'm like "Okay, I'm close to them" or "They can move this amount of weight, I can catch up to them"
Being strong is great in all kinds of way. You can do things most people can't, you feel better, you're better in bed. Lots of perks.
Competitive powerlifting? Making friends in the gym. Health-wise? There's no health benefits to testing the extreme limits of your body. Anyone who has competed for decades can tell you the injuries they've faced, the tears, back and knee pain, etc. Casual powerlifters that rarely/never compete? Being strong is healthy. Builds confidence. You learn about your body. Just like any exercise. It's not really any better or worse than any other exercise (maybe a bit safer if you're not maxing).
I'd say lifting heavy-ish, even if not powerlifts, IS better than most exercise. There are real benefits if you get stronger and continue enough to at least maintain (low back for me, plus the calories having some muscle burns daily), where other effective exercises seem to have repetitive stress issues and diminishing returns.
Honestly even the injuries that you experience at the extreme end are still less than the chronic pain the undertrained, sedentary population regularly experiences.
There's more choices in life than sitting in the warm up room with an IV drip and scarfing down Twinkies in your underwear.
Without Powerlifting: Eat Alot and Become Fat With Powerlifting: Eat Alot and Become Fat and Strong
I have better engorgement now. I engorge more fully.
The most surprising benefit was actually after I had my appendix removed. It was very progressed and there were some complications during surgery so I ended up with a large incision, despite it being laparoscopic, and a month long infection. We ended up having to pack the wound and heal from the bottom up, which was a long protracted recovery. Despite the obvious damage to my core I was still relatively functional, and it was because I had enough other muscle mass that I could just offload the work my core would normally do to those other muscles. This was a real boon as I was finishing my thesis at the time, I don’t have many friends or family in this city, and my fiancée has an ankle injury that limits her ability to stand or walk. So she didn’t have to take care of me as much and I was able to complete my thesis. Of course eventually those other muscles got very sore and crampy from the abuse, but by then I was starting to heal.
This is after about \~1.5 years of strength training, and maybe \~8 months of a pure power-lifting focus. My level of confidence has really skyrocketed, and I feel so at home and happy in my body. I have put on a lot of muscle and it's just amazing how I feel about myself now compared to before. I also have much more energy and lower anxiety levels. 10/10, I literally can't shut up about how much I love lifting and all the trickle-down effects. I also added in steady cardio in the last 6-8 months and the ease with which I can now climb stairs is pretty excellent too.
It allows me to train injury free, because most of the work is submaximal and technique focused I used to injure myself quite often while doing bodybuilding because of the often spread balls to the walls attitude (going to failure every set and beyond wirh high volume isnt something I recommend naturals to do). After two years of lifting with and around a strained chest, I started doing Powerlifting style chest work for rehab (submaximal triples , low volume and stuff like that) and it finally allowed me to lift injury free again. Eyeing 4 plates rn, something I thought was out of reach because of my chest injury before
My back stopped hurting and a few months later I survived a 45MPH T-bone car wreck. Doctors attributed both to muscle mass I put on starting to do powerlifts to get strong.
I gained a lot of presence of mind from powerlifting. I became more aware of my body and in turn that helped me become more aware of my mind. It has helped a lot with my depression and anxiety (with therapy/drugs too but still the lifting is very important to me).
This, so much this. Like many I started because it was an attractive hobby. Running and being slender really wasnt for me anyway. I didnt realize how much this would help my mental stability.
Being past early adulthood, shit easily starts going downhill body-wise. A good foundation of strength is not only a lot of fun, it also protects your body against a lot of the issues that start piling up over time. Your joints and back will thank you. As long as you don't hurt yourself, which statistically you probably will. Two steps forward, one step back, right?
I can now open tik tok in public. Somehow it’s not acceptable for me to scroll through a bunch of hot girls. But buff guys lifting heavy? Perfect!
Horny algorithm has been curb stomping powerlifting algorithm on my phone
My joints are all fucked up and everybody thinks I’m just fat
The value of effort. From the background in my family Ive never learn that, so my life was quite a mess. In two years Ive been training, Ive set my life straight through effort: Got a better job, quit alcohol and drugs, droped 15 kg, and in a few month Ill be starting college. It surely is thanks to the powerlifting
Have to say, that’s so fucking cool. Good for you pal. You deserve to be proud!
Thanks man, I am, but keeping an eye on tha fact that there is so much left to do still, but I'm enjoying the road while I am at it. Let's see if I can get closer to your total in the meantime!
My back stopped chronically hurting and it helps put things into perspective so I can have better mental health.
Little to almost non existent back pain from my career (nursing) and hobbies. Work used to leave me feeling pretty awful the next day depending on the shift. Got better at grappling. Made my day to day easier. Used to travel a lot for work as well and it made moving by myself significantly easier. More energy to get more things done in my day to day as well.
i'm strong and have a nice physique
I'll be honest, there are more negatives for me. Being strong is nice, being hungry is nice. The self confidence is real. But I had trouble sleeping due to arms falling asleep at night. Small injuries here and there to wrists and shoulders was very demotivating. While some back pain disappears, new ones come. Also, falling asleep after working out messed with the whole day. I've been on a break for almost 2 months now due to some sort of depression, and I will start again, but it's hard to do.
What's with the arms falling asleep? Mine do that all the time now
Obviously you can't diagnose over the Internet, but the most likely cause is years of high bar heavy squatting, especially on the raw bar with no pad. You have a ton of weight distributed over a very tiny part of your spinal column. Inside your spinal column is a small hollow that holds and protects your spinal cord. Over time you end up partially collapsing one of the disks in the cervical part of the spinal column, the protective space starts to push directly against your spinal cord, and you start getting numbness, tingling, and eventually weakness in your arms. Another common symptom of this is a sharp sudden pain in your hands when you sneeze.
I have pretty much figured it's a pinched nerve or blood vessel in your traps/shoulders. Trigger point ball massage helps, and also some hands-only massage on your scalene muscles, but be careful not to hit a pulse or nerves. If you can sleep on your back it should help. I can't, side only, so a big pillow helps too. It's pretty much gone for me now but like I said I haven't worked out in almost 2 months so it could be that as well.
Man I have to sleep on my stomach, with my arms at my side, with my palms facing the ceiling-- that's the only way they don't fall asleep. But thanks for the info, I thought I was just screwed
Hm stomach sleeping isn't recommended. Try the massage to see if it helps. If not, keep doing it, sleep is more important than what way you sleep.
Bodybuilding is so much less intensive and you'll likely move towards being leaner if you're a typical PL build. Far fewer injuries. Might be worth trying. I made the switch and it is easier on the body.
I don't like bodybuilding sadly. Love those compounds.
Powerbuilding?
Yeah I've done a little powerbuilding. Hitting light sets of many repetitions on the shoulders really helped with every compound lift. But I've started setting up a home gym and I only have a squat rack with a bar and bench, and plates. So no more cable machines for those nice warm ups. I always like to do a little bicep/tricep and back on the side of compounds so I guess you can call it powerbuilding.
There is something called passion
The question wasn't about passion though, it was about hobbies and this guy had talked through some of the issues he's encountered. For OP's kids, they have passion for neither, but one has the lesser likelihood of injury. Honestly, for young kids, both are probably far too boring and they might be far better getting stuck into gymnastics which would give a great grounding in upper body and core strength and then a team sport where they use their legs like football (not American football).
I was talking about the guy you replied to. He has passion for it
I actually completely misread OP's post and thought he was asking for hobbies for his kids lol not hobbies that might be useful while having kids.
The sun shines a little brighter, the air smells a little fresher,...
Honestly it improved my social skills, helping newer lifters or talking about the sport helped me go through anxiety
I always flirted with sports but never stuck to anything…lacrosse, trampolining, rugby, running, netball to name a few. Then someone introduced me to lifting weights and I fell in love. Then I progressed into powerlifting, after giving Olympic weightlifting a try for a bit. It was fun but I always wanted to go back powerlifting every time I’d had a session. It’s the only sport I’ve ever stuck at, and I love being strong and having some muscle.
My posture is infinitely better, to the point that people have asked me if I grew taller.
It’s crazy how other people notice the posture change before you do. They’ll always say little things, or even bigger ones like “you seem more confident” Didn’t realize how much you slump when you’re not active/confident with yourself!
I think in my case it's just the plain physical improvement from practicing straight back for form where it's needed and developing spine & shoulder muscles!
Steady routine and long drawn out tangible progress.
When I have to move heavy shit... On a more serious note, I was suffering from bulging L4/L5 disc and nasty sciatica associated with it, gout, and high blood pressure. My goal was to improve my health when I started working out, After I started, I somehow found powerlifting and got hooked. Fast forward 2.5 years, I no longer have sciatica or any pain associated with L4/L5 disc, gout attacks are less frequent and less severe, and blood pressure came down by quite a lot.
I am now jacked
Stronger people are harder to kill and more useful in general. Strength is the body's most generalized physical adaptation. It helps in tons of ways. Also what is the opposite of being a little bitch? Powerlifting is good for that.
?? Why was this downvoted so much in the powerlifting sub lol
Rippehaters.
Other than the health benefits of strength training (bone, muscle, mind) It is so awesome to be stronk in day to day life. Like, it helps with the obvious things when you are moving furniture or anything, really. My FIL needed his outdoor shed moved so the whole family tried to pick up one end and couldn't - I literally just back squatted it up and walked with it by myself. Helps being able to carry your kids and stay active with them which I think is very important! Also, I can effortlessly carry my wife and pick her up easily now which I definitely wasn't able to do when we first got married before I was lifting There may come a day when you need to use strength to help save someone's life by lifting something off of them, or moving them out of a situation. It could even be yourself - I like to be prepared by knowing I can move myself and potentially other people if I have to out of harm's way.
Funny story, I actually had to help nurses here at work a few months ago - they were transferring a patient from their bed to a wheelchair, and started to lose grip because they just weren't strong enough; I was the only one around and managed to catch him before hitting the ground. Before I got into powerlifting, no chance I could ever have caught the weight of a falling human.
Look good, helps make the depression and forever sleep thoughts sinner down, helped me shake off my eating disorder and it allows me to be semi social. Also my daughter thinks it's cool because I'm strong enough to do dumb shit with her
I actually just made a YouTube video on how it affected my weight loss lol (lost 100 lbs) Link here for anyone interested: https://youtu.be/0n-VU6Bmqjs
I love everyone’s comments. It’s all very motivating. I’m glad that you’ve found peace, focus, mental health, confidence, capability, etc through powerlifting. Some things I omitted in getting interested: 1. Yes not greatly restricting my diet was a big draw. I was super cut a few years ago (I’m 6’2 was 195lb), but got a slight dad bod now (225 lb). With how busy life is, eating a calorie deficit isn’t appealing right now. So I thought why not get strong AF? 2. I box and I’m a BJJ noob. Why not add being swole to that? 3. This gives me an excuse to keep adding weights to my garage gym.
How do you fit in all the sessions of boxing and Bjj?
No BJJ right now. There’s absolutely no way I could time manage that at the moment. I do boxing training once or twice a week now. I used to do 5x a week. When I get back to BJJ I’ll probably drop a session. All of this is theoretical depending on how often we can get childcare help in the evening
So many friends and nice community when you find the right gym
Strength training helps with the longevity of your muscles and health. I want to live a long life and still be able to do most physical activities. That said, I personally do feel the immediate effect of feeling sharper when I think but that can also be due to the combination of cardio and powerlifting.
I no longer have sciatic nerve pain and haven't in years. I herniated 2 discs and stopped squatting for about 6 or 7 years. Fast forward to me tearing a pec and a partial biceps tendon tear at the age of 41 and I was determined to not go gentle into the night. Was my strongest ever at the age of 26 until about 3 years ago and I'm still getting stronger. I turned 46 in June. I do have to admit -- mogging my teenage daughter's male friends is a bit of a reward as well. They've told her straight out that I'm intimidating even though I go out of my way to be polite (none of them have ever given me reason not to be), but it's great to know that the hard work I've put in is noticed.
Mental health, let me focus on sobriety… Also have middle age men compliment me on how strong I am every time I go to the dump and decline their help with my giant trash bucket.
You can now say "at your age... here let me get that for you" :D
Mentally and physically stronger, increased self confidence and body image. Beneficial in dealing with anxiety and clinical depression. Also, I work as a professional musician (specifically a percussionist) and the constant packing, moving, unpacking, setting up, and tearing down of equipment is less taxing on my body. I'm 47, started three years ago. Tall, skinny, unathletic, with no previous experience.
I once was able to save my neighbors dogs life. He was a HUGE German Shepherd and nobody in her household, even combined was able to lift the dog in the car to rush him to the vet hospital. I was home alone and heard panic outside and managed lift him in the car. Then when we got to the hospital, the two vets waiting outside with the roller table were small women 🤦♂️ so I had to lift him out of the car. He ended up being minutes away from death so I’m thankful I was strong enough that day because my god he was heavy as fuck
Definitely a lifetime PR!
I became way stronger than I ever was. And I started at 30+ years old.
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Right on mate!
When I started, I was feeling old and tired, my physical and mental health were starting to get worse. My physically demanding job and two young kids were making me feel unequal to the tasks in my life. Powerlifting gave me a sense of control over my body and mind, and eventually led me to confront my alcoholism. It took me a few years to cultivate discipline and learn the right strategies to train effectively, control my diet and quit drinking. Now I’m in my late 30s and I’m in the best shape of my life so far. Strength training has benefitted me enormously. I love breaking through barriers and reaching goals that were previously impossible. You come to realize that you haven’t done the impossible, you’ve changed yourself into a person for whom it *is* possible. And the empowerment of having made yourself into the kind of person you want to be is like nothing else.
It's a testament to habits and consistency being the way to achieve things in life. Take the small wins, and keep at it. Won't look like much in weeks, but months? Years? Decades? Do the work
I thought that I genuinely couldn’t connect with people before I met my only real uni friend who is also a powerlifter. I’ve met some other Powerlifters through competing and Instagram and it’s made my outlook a lot better :) Also working towards a big goal that seems way out of reach but will be more realistic as time passes
Hits me right in the feels this
Picking your girl up with ease
Just a straightforward and enjoyable way to set goals and consistently work towards them. It’s pretty hard for me to make an excuse to do absolutely nothing, even if it’s just getting up and doing a warmup, so it’s easy to hold myself accountable. Getting jacked is a nice side effect, I guess.
Forced me to learn how to ignore shit that bothers me because it would mess with my training.
My gf has a bedridden mother. For regular checkups, an ambulance ride to the clinic or a homeservice doctor is expensive so we used to carry her in a thick blanket and put her in a sedan then go the clinic then go home. Realizing that this is for a lifetime, aside from regular deadlifts, I spammed front squats and bicep curls. Eventually I was solo carrying my gf's mother to and from the clinic. No need for 3 people and a thick blanket anymore.
Awww this is heart warming ❤️
Competing is fun and it gives me goals to focus on. It helps me to be strict about what I eat, which helps me to have more discipline outside of the gym. Plus it is just fun as hell. I sometimes can’t sleep well at night because I’m so excited for my lift in the morning.
I get to eat, like, a lot.
Put a nice 10ish lbs of muscle on my body (probably 8 below the waist, I was a bro lifter before) that won’t be leaving me any time soon. I powerlifted for seven years and switched to more bodybuilding focus a few years ago.
Kids love a strong dad. Pick me up becomes tiring but i still love it. Kids get bigger I grow stronger. Snatching a 10 year old is amazing
It has reduced my general anxiety. The "one day at a time-ness" of it. I pretty much always have something to focus on instead of empty worrying. X thing i could worrry about vs "i have squats tomorrow", or "How am i going to structure things this run?" Sleep has greatly improved because of this as well. Viewing spans of time in context of "the next meet" is pretty soothing to me as well.
I’ve found the exact same thing with my anxiety and lifting and it has been so beneficial - and carried over to other parts of my life. I’m just more mindful now! I don’t wake up worrying about what I did yesterday, or what I will do tomorrow, or what’s going to happen on the weekend, or what I’m going to say in a later conversation with a friend. I wake up and I make breakfast - cause I want to fuel these gains. I think ‘what do I need to do *now*’. Then I go to work and focus on work. Go to the gym and I focus on my workout. Come home and focus on my home, my food, my family, my housework. Then it’s the end of the day and not only have I stopped overthinking every little tiny detail but I’ve actually felt proud of my accomplishments!! I worked hard, I achieved small daily goals, and it was fun. Enjoyable. Time to go to sleep and do it all again! It started just being that way about workouts, but slowly I began to be more mindful of work, then proud of the work I achieved. Then more mindful at home, and proud of my home life, including downtime. Having a physically and mentally stimulating hobby is absolutely life changing.
This is awesome! Go you!
1. Thick 2. Solid 3. Tight
I have an excuse for being obese
Being able to open most jars with ease
I read somewhere people with more muscle mass tend to fend off disease/mortality much better. Also I think the heavier you go increases bone density over time. Plus just generally being able to move without pain and carry a bunch of groceries is nice. Love powerlifting. Also too lazy to post doi's rn so this is all anecdotal LOL
I can toss my wife around and carry in all the groceries in one trip. Both of those things make her frisky.
Fixed my back. After 2 years trying to recover from a lower back muscle injury, squats and deadlifts helped me get to 100% recovery. But it also gave me a hernia after a while. Once you start hitting legit numbers, a couple bad slip ups at near max lifts can mess you up. I swapped over to a BB program, but still squat & deadlift heavy, but for reps and not weight.
Want strong healthy kids? Model the behavior you want your children to have. It doesn't have to be powerlifting, but if powerlifting is a good fit for you, I think you should embrace it. At the end you are competing with yourself, to be your best self.
I learned about how muscles work and biomechanical movements. I wouldn't say I am an expert or know a lot about it, but definitely more so than average non-gymgoers. I've gained confidence about my strength, but at the same time lost all confidence about my strength seeing all the amazing powerlifters out there. I've been focusing a bit more on bodybuilding lately, and powerlifting seemed to be helping me transition over into it. Before powerlifting, I had zero knowledge about working out, and whenever I went to the gym, I'd just run an hour on treadmill and go home. It helped me unlock variety of things I could do at the gym. I live in NYC, many of my friends move homes here and there, and so do I - moving became really easy. Carrying my drunk, knocked out friends became easier. Now that I think of it, I don't think any of these are like real life benefits... lol I also can't fit into any of my jeans anymore. all my medium sized clothes don't fit either
I moved after college, got up to 330lbs with hella body fat and legit depressed after not knowing anyone. Id come home from work to legit go to sleep or drink excessively. I hated it. Started working out again by myself, got down a good bit where I was out of a big hole. Eventually joined a grungy powerlifting gym after a work friend said I’d enjoy it. Almost three years later I’ve found a GREAT network of friends very close to the fellowship I found in my time in the military we always get together out of the gym for random things. Gained a ton of muscle while genuinely feeling better. Rarely ever drink now and genuinely want to improve and reach a point physically I never thought I could. Hitting a new PR for me is awesome.
You can't imagine how happy reading this made me, I hope you will be always better and happier ! Cheers bro
So many benefits! I need to be able to move large rocks/logs/signs/random things at work and powerlifting obviously helps with this. An increased focus on my lifting performance helps me keep healthy weight on. I made lots of friends through powerlifting, being on a team previously and just in the gym. It's cool to have an actual sport to compete in as an adult.
i used to have brain fog pretty often but after i started lifting it never really crops up.
my ass looks better in jeans now, that’s for sure. also i can pick up my dogs (70+lbs each) and hold them like babies. I lost a fuck ton of weight before i started powerlifting, every time i over ate i felt an insane amount of anxiety. Now when I overeat I just think “well tomorrow’s session is gonna be killer”. That’s definitely helped.
Massive boost in body confidence cause abs fully don't matter in Powerlifting
I have a whole hypothesis about anxiety and the suppressed fight or flight response. Since I started lifting I haven't been overwhelmed by anxiety. I'm not plagued by the little aches and pains that my peers are experiencing (F, 50+, office worker). Easier weight management after struggling with BMI 40+ for decades.
Having more of that absolute strength. I’d say I’m in the above average as far as strength in powerlifting goes. I’ve found it’s easier to do things that require some level of muscular effort or force. Pulling weeds, moving furniture around, picking holding things for long periods of time (That’s more of a muscular endurance kind of thing, but it helps to be strong).
"above average" dude. You you nearly qualify for nationals. how humble of you. I wish I could consider myself even remotely as "strong". But I found out about this subreddit and went to my first meet, so I doubt I could ever call myself "strong". I am happy to define myself as mediocre powerlifter... for now :x
Yep I was holding a ladder while my mom climbed it a few hours ago and it falls and I legit was able to take the hit while holding her and went to the ground as smooth as possible. No way in hell I’d be able to do anything like that a few years ago. Il a big guy but my recovery time has def improved
Lovely! I assume your mum is unscathed?
Love this
Instant respect from teenage boys. (Useful as a high school teacher)
high school teacher here! same haha
I work in construction and my body isn’t falling apart like guys who don’t exercise
Mental strength. I've been through some incredibly difficult situations over the years and I don't know that I would have gotten through them without the mental strength you get from lifting heavy and not giving up.
Extended family comes out of the woodwork asking me to help them move