Weightlifting Essay

The Affects of Weight Lifting on High School Athletes
Is weightlifting a good thing or bad thing for student athletes? Weightlifting is the activity of lifting heavy objects for exercise. These objects consist of barbells or other heavy weights. Weight training is a type of strength training. This is done to improve the strength and size of skeletal muscles. Some would say they are the same thing as both are used to build muscles. The difference between the two is weight lifting uses heavy weight and weight training uses lighter weights or resistance. Weight training comes in different formats such as machine weights, free weights, own body weight exercises and resistance.
This paper will discuss the affects of weightlifting /weight training on the performance of high school athletes. There are differing opinions about high school students participating in a weightlifting/weight training program.
Strength training/weight lifting improves these imbalances and helps reduce the risk of injury. Muscle imbalances is the most common cause of athletic injuries. If one muscle or muscle group becomes stronger than another group, the weaker muscles become fatigued faster and increases the chance for injury. The stronger muscles will cause stretching and pulling of opposing ligaments and cause the supporting ligaments to tighten. This can lead to chronic pain and an unnatural wearing of the bones. To improve muscle imbalances an athlete should perform exercises that are called unilateral exercises like lunges and squats. A balanced strength training program will help to counter these effects by strengthening the of muscles to balance them with their counterparts.Strength is fundamental in improving athletic performance. Strength affects speed, agility, flexibility, mobility and power. An athlete needs all these attributes and all of them are improved with weight