On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters

by Bonnie Tsui

Weightlifting has also been shown to build resilience in the mind. New research with populations recovering from post-traumatic stress illustrates how lifting weights helps people feel more at ease and in control of their bodies. If you can improve your physical strength in a solid, visible way, it can reframe your self-perception: Look what I did! This is evidence that I’m different now. You can see yourself as a person with agency.

Strength training is the single most important thing you can do to slow or even reverse the normal muscular decline of aging.