Why Do It?
Combat Sarcopenia - Muscle loss (sarcopenia) is the degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength associated with ageing. Fighting the gradual loss of muscle (which will occur if you do not actively work to prevent it) is the most effective tactic to slow down the physical effects of ageing.
Translation: If you don’t want to look and feel old, then you gotta build muscle.
Maintain Independence - Getting older is no damn fun if you depend on others to take care of you. A healthy and fit brain and body are essential to living a long, independent life. Your goal is to wipe your own butt on your last day on this earth. Your kids love you but they don’t want to see you that way.
Increase Energy - Brain fog and perpetual tiredness are byproducts of ill-health and a deconditioned body. When you prioritize health and fitness, energy soars and everything gets better.
Be an Awesome Dad - An active, fun dad is a fit, healthy dad. You need a full tank of gas to keep up with growing kids (and eventually grandkids). Strength and conditioning are essential elements of Awesome Dadhood.
Increase Confidence - If you don’t like what you see in the mirror, your confidence is adversely affected and you’ll be more introverted. It’s a simple relationship: when you’re healthy and fit, you look healthy and fit and then you act healthy and fit which is confidence building and rewarding. Fitness begets fitness.
Impress Girls - The dad-bod is out. A strong body is an attractive body. Plus you’ll be way more active and fun when you’re healthy, fit and full of energy (and testosterone).
Why Focus on Strength?
The Glass
Strength coach, Dan John, says: Your absolute strength is like a drinking glass. Whatever you want to achieve in terms of physical performance, endurance, flexibility, resilience, has to fit into your glass. If you have a small glass, i.e. little absolute strength, you will not fit much in there. If you have a big glass, you will be able to fit a lot more inside. No matter what your fitness goal, being stronger will help you get there faster.
Stronger muscles are more efficient. It is easier for stronger muscles to do the same tasks. Greater strength means less effort will be required to do anything, from lifting a weight to walking up a hill.
Imagine that you are twice as strong as your weaker friend. That means (as an example) that you have 20 “units of strength” per muscle fiber, while your weaker friend only has 10 units. If it takes 2,000 units to climb a hill, your cardiovascular system will only have to support the work of 100 fibers (2000 divided by 20) to get you to the top, whereas your pal will need to recruit and fuel 200 fibers (2000 divided by 10).
You get to the top feeling fine but he is out of breath because his cardiovascular system had to provide oxygen to power twice as many muscle fibers.
Strength Solves All Problems
When you are stronger, your heart and lungs do not need to work as hard to support the same amount of muscle-work. Stronger muscles make everything easier.
This is what making your glass bigger means. With stronger muscles, everything gets easier and you can go at higher intensities for longer periods.
Stronger muscles, bones and connective tissues are more resilient and therefore less prone to injury. This strengthened structure acts as the body’s major shock-absorber to protect you from the trauma of impact, whether as a result of a fall, or the repeated minor insults of every step that you take.
Strong muscles also enable you to maintain good posture, which itself prevents injury by directing the force of your movements through the most appropriate structures and tissues. This avoids excess wear and tear on your bones, tendons and ligaments.
Inefficient Randomness
Use it to your advantage to get stronger faster.
What is it? Read about it here.
How do you stay strong?
Let me know in the comments.