There are two things in my life that I'm so grateful I became interested in. One is coding, the other is weightlifting. The benefits of each are so great I feel like they're the closest thing to having actual superpowers.

"No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable." - Socrates

I got a coworker of mine into lifting. She's 62, and she's already enjoying a bunch of the benefits.

Unfortunately, she only goes when I go, and she's retiring in seven months. I don't know if she's going to stick with it when she leaves. I hope she does, as she's been making some great progress.

> I don't know if she's going to stick with it when she leaves.

It's lovely that you got her into exercise, when she leaves you could still arrange to meet her at the gym for workouts assuming she doesn't live miles from the gym, retiring can be a nasty shock for lots of people since they go from full days to "what the fuck do I now" in a weekend.

She's retiring to Pocatello, ID, unfortunately. That's a little out of the way for me.

Could you elaborate, in what ways?

Also, I've noticed that people in the gym are somewhat narcissistic, so perhaps the benefits are only for this group?

I started climbing, people at the bouldering wall or at outdoor routes are awesome.

Why is it so great? The control over your body. The feeling awesome and powerful. It has made my life a whole lot less stressful as well, even though I do more.

If you don't have some kind of total physical exertion in your life I highly recommend getting one.

This has always seemed like fun to me - is it hard to get started?

Not at all.

To start, do three things.

Find a bouldering wall. Get a hold of some climbing shoes. Watch videos 5, 6, 7 of Climbing for Beginners [0].

Don't spend a lot on shoes, you will wreck them really quickly and you will certainly buy the wrong sizing when you start.

Boulder a bit and have fun. I enjoy bouldering with a friend the most as it really challenges me. Bouldering walls are often full of really cool and helpful people.

If you like it then watch some more videos to improve technique, think about what you are doing and practice. Consider trying rope climbing (you will want to take a short intro course for this, the rope skills are important).

Then you will start watching super cool videos [1], find yourself at the wall waay too often, and be more interested in finding out somebodies beta than their name.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbIDnMmSLsc&index=5&list=PL-...

[1] http://www.ukclimbing.com/videos/

Nope. Find a bouldering gym, buy a pair of shoes, go climbing and chat with everyone.

Being able to carry the shopping home without struggling. Being able to easily help people move furniture. Better tolerance for kids jumping all over you. More energy. Better sleep. Better mood. Confidence.

Also just the feeling of being firm and toned. When you bump into something or someone brushes by you in the street, that's when you feel the difference. Whatever you bump into doesn't sink into your flab, it bounces off instead. That's what I loved about being all toned from gym, you sort of hold yourself more confidently and it feels great... (I've since let things slide recently, it comes and goes! I'll be back there soon, I don't do gym all year.)

Some are, sure, but those mirrors are actually there so you can check your form.

A CrossFit instructor I know says the best reason to squat is that you will be able to go to the toilet unassisted when you are 80...

Aside from labeling anyone that works out as a narcissist, the sheer 'ability' to do things is what makes it great.

I'm not even referring to just being able to lift something, because plenty of larger framed people can do that. I remember the first time I realized I was no longer "big" came when I squeezed through a thin pathway in my closet. Last week, I ended up doing 7 chained backflips at a trampoline park. What was the point of both incidents? "To see if I could".

If you do some forms of training, you can become very flexible. If you are martial art minded, you can find yourself very disciplined.

Finally, you do get more confident (what someone might see as narcissist or how someone might manifest it).

I'm well into my 40s. People's bodies, in general, decline in strength as they age. I wanted to delay that effect and also be stronger so that I could do things that required strength (e.g. I like scuba diving but lugging around tanks was hard work).

I started with 30, still regret not starting before, haha.

I lifted for a few months two years ago, but stopped because of various factors. My physical therapist friend doesn't like weightlifting, though, she says the risk of injury is too high. I'd like to start exercising again, but I don't know what would be effective enough without as much risk of injury as weightlifting...

In an athletic context, one of the key benefits from weight training is injury prevention.

Yeah, I'm not sure about that. Like your sibling comment, I also injured my back while deadlifting (with proper form and everything) years ago and it's been very tender and ever since. I also get back cramps in that spot around once a year, making me unable to move for about a day.

Same. I crushed my L5 L6 disc and was in pain for 2 years. But fortunately with care it eventually recovered to 100% and I don't feel it at all anymore. However deadlifting is something I would never ever try again, and when I see people doing it I often tell them my story. It's one of the best lifts, but one of the most punishing. I wish I knew how dangerous it was.

That aside, most other lifts are fine. The only other one I would suggest people avoid is bench pressing with the smith rack (that's the rack where the bar is fixed and only moves on the vertical dimension). You'll get weightlifter's shoulder from doing that. Stick to dumbbells.

Weightlifting is definitely injurious -- but also provides you with a lot of strength and physical fortitude that prevents injury doing other random things/sports. Like other physically taxing activities, it's a bit of a double edged sword.

Strength training with free weights actually has one of the lowest injury rates for a form of exercise around. Much lower than soccer or running or pretty much anything else you can think of.

Your friend is probably wrong. Check out the chart listing injury rates by sport. Notice weightlifting has a lower rate than just about any other form of exercise. I'd only consider swimming safer. Start slow and build up strength over a long period of time, like 5 years.

* http://www.bboyscience.com/injury-rates/

I loved weightlifting, but you're right. Currently recovering from a nasty back injury despite doing all the right things, and having a dedicated trainer. You'll never do it all correctly every single time.

I'd love to do it again, but I can't see how I'd ever justify the decision. Luckily swimming, running, yoga are all just as fun.

Yeah, the two options I'm entertaining now are running and tennis. Otherwise, maybe something like TRX or bodyweight exercises.

This, I started lifting at 17 but didn't really work out "how" to lift until mid twenties and didn't get a good grasp of nutrition until 2 years ago.

How did you refine your daily nutrition and start eating more healthy?

I cut out white starchy carbs (change to wholemeal bread and brown rice etc), removed refined sugars as best as possible, increased my protein to 1.5 g per lb of body weight, set my fat to 0.5 g per lb of body weight and then change my carbs depending on if I want to gain weight or loose weight - If It Fits Your Macros has a very good calorie calculator. I also do a lot of bulk cooking so my recipes are logged in MyFitnessPal ahead of time.

what type of gym do you use?

I'm also curious - I find that location plays a much larger role than price (for me). I'm more inclined to go if it's closer and pay a little more.

I still dislike paying as much as I do though.

A small personal training only gym with mostly free weights (dumbbell, Olympic bar, kettle bells) and a small number of machines.