Weightlifting is experiencing a renaissance

As more and more people are learning about how exercise can help improve their quality of life, weightlifting has seen staggering growth among adults in America. According to The Wall Street Journal, the sport’s popularity has been rising due to the prevalence of CrossFit-style training gyms and the exposure of weightlifting personalities on social media that have helped push the idea into the mainstream.

Whether the direction comes from a personal trainer or just a local gym, the community of weightlifting has been very welcoming to newcomers who need help to succeed.

CNBC highlights the fact that there are over 13,000 CrossFit gyms across the world and over 4 million people subscribe to its philosophy which revolves around functional movements that aim to improve a person’s work capacity as well as translating well to other sports and physical activities. These gyms can be started relatively inexpensively and the type of community that forms is more interested in overall health and fitness than transforming into the Hulk.

Far from wanting the extreme body of today’s professional bodybuilders, in fact, most people who turn to lifting weights do so to help improve their day-to-day quality of life and to help prevent premature aging. As The Telegraph points out, many middle-aged men and women who found themselves riddled with anxiety, lacking focus, and overwhelmed with fatigue have found relief with basic weightlifting performed several times each week. In fact, weightlifting is a goldmine for the over-forty crowd, helping to maintain a healthy metabolism, preventing age-related stomach fat, helping control blood sugar in diabetic patients, improving bone density, and even promoting a more positive mood by increasing the amount of serotonin produced in the brain.

It’s a good sign for America’s obesity epidemic that weightlifting and other forms of exercise have been gaining momentum and, according to the State of Obesity Organization, in fact, obesity rates have been leveling off in recent years and currently sit at about 38 percent of all adults. Far from just losing a few pounds, a lifestyle that includes fitness as a major foundational piece will help lead to a more healthy population and weightlifting seems to be pulling its weight in this area.