RAB Source Entry 1 – Jacob.B

My research question is: How does weightlifting improve mental health and physical health?

My research question is: How does weightlifting improve mental health and physical health? This topic interests me because I weightlift every day. When I’m in the gym and I’m lifting weights, it gives me a euphoric feeling. Although it may look like I’m in pain and make funny faces I can guarantee that I’m having fun. Also, from being a chunky male that had no real muscle mass my physical appearance has now changed and now I’m more defined. I already know that being consistent with the gym it can improve your daily habits. For example, some people my age don’t like to be organized consistently. I found it that ever since I got involved with the gym, it is easier to bring myself to be more organized every day. What I also know is that depending on how much muscle mass I want to gain I need to eat correctly meaning that I must maintain a diet. This is a good thing because now my body can be healthier. The gym can be like a therapist whenever I feel stressed or anger towards something I can channel all those emotions while lifting to give me a boost in strength. After I finish, I feel cleared minded just like a stress reliever. Some points that I plan to explore and find out more about are why does “throwing” around weights make people such as myself keep wanting to go back? Although I know going to the gym consistently can help you with your daily habits, I would like to know why? 

Source Entry #1

Part 1 MLA Citation – 

            Stulberg, Brad. “The Zen of Weight Lifting.” The New York Times, 22 Nov. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/11/22/well/move/the-zen-of-weight-lifting.html.

Part 2 Summary – 

In the article “The Zen of Weight Lifting” the author talks about the beneficial components of weightlifting on mental and physical health. There are thorough recordings on the benefits of the physical and mental health of weight lifting. As the human body ages weight training can help retain strength, muscular mass while improving mobility and cardiovascular health. It might assist in preventing anxiety and sadness as well as enhancing mental clarity. George Leonard, a pioneer of the human potential movement in the 1960s states “but to learn anything significant, to make any lasting change in yourself, you must be willing to spend most of your time on the plateau, to keep practicing even when it seems you are getting nowhere.” However, to get beyond the initial stages of any significant discipline, be it weightlifting, writing, meditation, or marriage you must become committed to dedicating time for it. There are three basic needs that psychological research point to that allow people to develop. Stulberg states that autonomy, mastery, and belonging are the three points. Autonomy being the capability to make an effort on independent thinking and maintain self-control. Mastery is a distinct and ongoing growth route that can be connected to an individual’s efforts. Belonging is to be a member of group that pursues in identical objectives. Stulberg expresses that the beneficial factors of weight training on mental health as well as physical health help keep the body and one’s mind clear. 

Part 3 Refection – 

In “The Zen of Weight Lifting” Stulberg informs that weight training has many benefits on the human’s mental and physical health. I agree with the information that the author had presented because I have personal connections to weight training. This can be associated with my personal experience as a weightlifter because before I have started training, I was a very unbuilt male with no real muscle mass. After I started my journey in the gym, I started to notice my body was changing and I had become more muscular. I have also observed that the more consistent I had become on going the gym I would start to be more mentally clear, it felt as if the gym was a therapist a way to channel stress or any emotion I was feeling. I could also see in myself that I was becoming more discipline. I do believe that weightlifting has a good amount of impact on the mental health and physical health on people.    

Part 4 Rhetorical Analysis – 

“The Zen of Weight Lifting” by Brad Stulbreg is an article posted on The New York Times that is a feature piece. The writing style that the author uses is factual. He uses personal experience and research to back himself up. Stulbreg purpose was to inform the general public. This piece has an informative tone. In the writing the author use logos to engage the reader. Brad Stulbreg is a reliable source because he has written many books one of them being “Master Of Change: How To Excel When Everything Is Changing – Including You” which has many great reviews. The New York Times is a reliable source as well by having won 132 Pulitzer Prizes and has been ranked 17th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the United States. 

Part 5 Notable Quotables – 

“Weight training can help us to maintain muscle mass and strength as we age, as well as better mobility and metabolic and cardiovascular health. It may help ease or prevent depression and anxiety, and promote mental sharpness.” (Brad Stulbreg) (Par. 3)

“A kind of straightforwardness and self-reliance that gives rise to an immense satisfaction, a satiating feeling that makes it easier to fall asleep at night because you know you did something real, something concrete, in the world.” (Brad Stulbreg) (Par. 6)

“In his book “Shop Class as Soulcraft,” the philosopher Matthew Crawford writes that “despite the proliferation of contrived metrics,” so many activities in the modern world suffer from “a lack of objective standards.” (Brad Stulbreg) (Matthew Crawford) (Par. 5)

“In the land of the quick fix it may seem radical,” writes George Leonard, a pioneer of the human potential movement in the 1960s, “but to learn anything significant, to make any lasting change in yourself, you must be willing to spend most of your time on the plateau, to keep practicing even when it seems you are getting nowhere.” (Brad Stulbreg) (George Leonard) (Par.8)

“The perennial wisdom traditions and decades of psychological research point to three basic needs that, when fulfilled, allow people to thrive.” (Brad Stulbreg) (Par. 11)