HOW OFTEN SHOULD I LIFT WEIGHTS?

For all you visual people out there, this may be a very unfortunate image for you to see. Imagine that you are at someone’s house and you have taken a big poo in their toilet. You go to flush, and it doesn’t go down. Panic sets in and you begin to get impatient and you flush the toilet again before it fills back up with water. Only challenge is that amount of water isn’t anywhere near enough to move the big poo. While the system tries to fill up again you are now looking for a toilet brush to help push it down. Unfortunately your impatience is just making a mess.

In this analogy the ’poo’ represents the exercise you have done (lifting weights). ‘Water System’ represents your energy systems/muscles needing to recover. The ‘Panic’ and ‘Impatience’ represents you. The ‘Toilet Brush’ represents you looking to speed up the process e.g youtube, friends, instabook.

Lifting weights works the same way. If you don’t give the muscles enough time to recover then you are working out on a half full system instead of giving it an appropriate amount of time to fully recover. Our bodies are amazing machines that when guided right, can do some very special things. One of them being the ability to get stronger.

Most people when they go to the gym, lift weights 3-4 times a week. Big challenge here is that the muscles never really get a chance to recover and get stronger. Depending on the person they typically need around 7-10 days to reach the point of optimised recovery. The typical gym junkie trains weights Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and maybe a Saturday. If the system (energy systems and muscles) needs around 7-10 days to fully recover and they are lifting weights every 2-3 days it is very hard for them to get what they are wanting to achieve.

So, they begin to look around (toilet brush) to speed up the process fully unaware that they are just fatigued, and the body needs rest from resistance training (poo/weights). However, they talk to someone who has a cousin with a dog who knew a guy that worked out every day for 5 years and they looked great. So, they begin to copy them. Fully unaware of why that person was even working out every day for 5 years. That kind of obsession to lifting weights comes with a lot of sacrifice from enjoying life.

Here is something to think about when we go through the different stages of life.

When we reach late teens and through our 20’s, our bodies are at an optimal performance level. We operate like a Ferrari with a big V12 engine. Responsive and fast. Ready for anything and everything. We look good and feel great.

Then when we reach our 30’s and we turn more into BMW with a V8 engine. Still got some grunt but can be a bit more temperamental and needs a bit more care. Still looks good and feels good. It’s just not a Ferrari anymore. We still push it like a Ferrari but we know that it’s not one.

We enter our 40's and that engine has now became a 4 Cylinder Honda Civic. It revs optimistically, still looks ok and feels alright but it’s not that Ferrari we used to be. We still try to treat it like a Ferrari. However, when we do this, it needs a lot more repairs.

Then we head towards those later years of our 50s region and that engine is fast becoming a ride on lawn mower. Does only what it needs to do. Can often be seen lying around not doing a lot. When we get it out it’s a bit more restricted with it's top end speed. We often won’t use it if the weather is bad.

Then we reach our 60’s and that engine has become more like a Push Mower. She turns over after a few pulls, gives out a puff of smoke then away she goes. It runs well after its up and running. 6 Makes a lot of noise and takes a lot of work to get things done.

To summarise, when you are in your 20's you have the blessing of youth. Your recovery is quicker, strength is faster, and your responsibilities are lower. As we transition to that next bracket of life we need to learn quickly that the Ferarri has changed. However, we tend to think the Ferrari is going to last forever. When the model changes, it's about giving it new wheels, clean it, add some seat covers and maybe even give it a new paint job. But you need to acknowledge that the Ferrari has changed. That’s the key to it all. Modifying the current model as much as you can to optimise all of it's functions and features for as long as you can.