By ZACH BALES
Sheridan High School Student
The Sheridan Student Column is brought to readers by Sheridan High School’s 10th grade English class, taught by Abby Williams.
Lifting weights: It isn’t a sport, yet not a fun pastime. It’s a process that has many benefits to what the lifter wants to accomplish.
In the gym, people build friendships and many muscles that are hard to break. When people go to the gym there are many different goals they could want to achieve – goals like losing weight, building muscle, training for a sport, and overall self-improvement.
The gym is a sacred place for some people but to others, a waste of time. People mistake it for a waste of time by thinking it’s a negative environment. In most places it’s a positive place where people have a common goal in mind. It boosts confidence in people to do what they want. Different gyms have different types of training types to best suit some people. For example, an Olympic weightlifting gym or powerlifting gym are very different in what they offer.
There are many sports within lifting. Olympic weightlifting and powerlifting are two of the bigger sports. People in these sports compete on all different levels of competition. In Olympic lifting, it is divided into classes dependent on weight, while powerlifting age and weight make up the classes. Another sport that can be included with lifting is bodybuilding. It is a very competitive sport based on how good your body looks compared to a certain physique. The classes are divided into what physique a person has, and their height determines how much they weigh.
Although these sports are some of the most popular ways to train, there are so many more ways to train. Most options to train are either split into strength or endurance training. Both have their benefits, and depending on what someone’s goal is, they can decide what’s best for them. Strength training is more for athletes in powerlifting or Olympic weightlifting, while endurance training is for athletes in sports that run a lot or require a lot of conditioning. For athletes who play contact sports such as football and other kinds of sports, both strength and endurance training are optimal for them.
Lifting can be very beneficial to many people if done the right way. The industry is booming at the moment. More and more people are influencing others through lifting. As more gyms open, more people get memberships.