Why I Resistance Train

Shalom Friends,

I'll admit, when I was in high school, I wanted to lift weights to look strong and take my shirt off at the beach. Now, many years later, I have a different perspective on life, shaped by my desire to live according to my religious values. But nonetheless, I still lift weights now, after taking a break of about 25 years. In fact, I lift weights probably six days a week now.

So is it the same? Am I still doing this "take your shirt off" motion? What am I doing this for? And obviously, it's not that. I am looking to be as strong as I can, but for a completely different reason than when I was growing up.

I want to be strong now to live life. I want to have the strength to move, carry, and push things until I'm 120, G-d Willing. Not to lift something heavy one time, but to have the endurance to walk down a mountain on a long hike with a bag on my back, or, G-d Willing, hold great-grandchildren in my arms while I play with them for hours. And most importantly, to have the physical and mental strength which, yes, lifting weights helps, to sit and learn for hours and hours and hours.

That's why I lift weights and spend lots of hours jumping rope as well. Trust me, we have over 5,000 classes. I could go years without providing new content to my members, and they'd still have plenty to do. When I make classes, I want to give them new content, and that's important. But selfishly I joke that "I pay myself to exercise," because I know it's the right thing to do. I get to do it because it's healthy, and it's the right thing to do, and I want to do it.

And it's not just that I want to do it. The science supports how important it is: you need 10 to 15 reps per week per muscle just to maintain the muscle you naturally lose. Do you hear that? Do you hear how important that is?

People come up to me all the time that they are out of breath walking upstairs, unable to open things, unable to carry things like they used to. And we're talking about people in their 40s. I don't know that this existed 20 or 30 years ago, but of course, smartphones, screen addiction, lack of communication with other people, lack of mobility, and just not going outside anymore have all contributed to it.

So friends, when you hear "strength training" or "weight training," it should not be about vanity. It should not be about winning the next arm-wrestling contest. It should not be about flexing. It should be for yourself. It should be for you to live healthy until 120.

So I give everyone my blessing: pick up those weights or those resistance bands, or use your body weight and get to work.

Moshe