Why train — Westy's Gym, Barnoldswick

Why bother

What training
actually does

Not the sales pitch. What lifting weights does to a body and a head, and how little of it you need to do.

Your bones get stronger, not just your muscles

Bone is living tissue and it answers load. Put weight through it and it lays more down; leave it alone and it gives some back. That is why lifting matters more the older you get, not less — and why it is one of the few things you can do about bone density at all.

Muscle is the thing you lose without asking

From your thirties onwards muscle goes quietly if nothing is asked of it, and it takes strength and balance with it. Resistance training is what stops that. The NHS asks for strengthening work on at least two days a week, covering legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms — which is one sensible full-body session twice a week, not a life sentence.

It does as much for your head as your body

Most people come in for how they look and stay for how it makes them feel. Training is one of the few reliable things anybody can do for their own mood, their sleep and their stress — and an hour where the only thing you have to think about is the next set is worth more than it sounds.

Confidence comes from doing, not from looking

The change people do not expect is the one that shows up outside the gym. Turning up when you said you would, and adding a little each week, is a quiet sort of proof, and it does not stay in the building.

You do not have to live in here

The guideline for adults is 150 minutes a week of moderate activity — half an hour, five days, and some of that is the walk here. Two strength sessions on top of that and you have met it. Consistency beats intensity every time, and nobody ever got strong in one heroic week.

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Activity guidelines are the NHS's own, for adults aged 19 to 64.

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