Do you lift weights?

If so, CONGRATULATIONS, on top of increasing your muscle mass, metabolism, AND bone density you may also be improving your BRAIN!

A recent study was conducted and discovered that the group which weight trained twice a week for six months, (lifting 80% of the maximum amount they could) showed improvement in cognitive ability after the 6 months time and still retained the benefits 12 months later! (The other group did stretching exercises only and didn’t show improvement.) It should also be noted that those in the study already had signs of cognitive impairment. This goes to show it’s never too late to start benefiting from a strength training program. We can also imagine the benefits to individuals not currently experiencing cognitive impairments would be even greater and possibly even prevent cognitive impairments in the future.  


So how do we all start reaping all these awesome benefits? 
We lift HEAVY weights!


Something to keep in mind is that ‘heavy’ is a relative term, this means choosing weights that are heavy for YOU specifically. A good way to gauge the appropriate weight for an exercise would be if by the end of your set (average range: 6-10) you feel like you could do more reps, it’s not heavy enough.. if you can’t even finish one set (average: less than 5), it’s too heavy. From there, simply continue increasing the weight as your strength increases. If you stick with your strength training program your body (and mind) will LOVE you for it!
So pick up those weights and let’s get to it!  
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