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Winter Retreats, Satsangs and Workshops

Christine Breese will be passing through these locations on her way to LA for the Conscious Life Expo. Staff at UMS thought it would be good for those in San Francisco and Santa Cruz areas who would like to have an opportunity to attend a meeting with her. These meetings are open to all, students of UMS and non-students alike.

Read more about upcoming retreats..

Featured Affirmation

Your spiritual path to enlightenment

My spiritual path is the fastest route to a happier life.

I stay focused on my most important mission, which is becoming awake and enlightened
while in the human form.

Affirmations are words of power that have a healing effect on those who use them. Words truly do have the power to heal, and they can change your life. The Universal Church of Metaphysics invites you to explore the spiritual healing power of affirmations.

 

Weight Lifting

Weight lifting can be beneficial if it is done with the entire being in mind. Sometimes it is practiced with too much focus on the physical strength of the body. Also, it is easy to hurt yourself if you do these exercises wrong. Therefore, it is important to be careful, keep the mind alert, and keep a spiritual connection. By feeling stronger physically, you can feel more confidence and self-love. There is also a place of bliss, emotionally and mentally, that can be reached when you give the weight training all you’ve got.

Saturn is the planet of anatomy and the skeletal system. It symbolizes endurance and patience. The skeletal system must move in order to lift weights. These weights can be seen as symbols of obstacles in our lives that must be moved out of the way. Saturn is the planet of melancholy and the sorrow of the universe. Sorrow is the emotional power that inspires people to emancipate themselves from limitations and stay on track. Saturn also corresponds to lead, one of the heaviest metals, and is thus an appropriate deity for weight lifters. Keep these symbols in your marrow as you weight lift. Do not let your bones deteriorate with a sedentary life.

Mars is the planet that rules over muscles and the will. Weight training is an exercise that not only builds muscle but also builds will power. Such will power is the key to giving you the extra necessary bit of strength or endurance that will allow you to reach your goal. Mars is a planet of fire and war as well, so it is important to have a justified goal and virtue.

An exercise like weightlifting is usually thought of as more physical than otherwise, but it can be whatever you put into it. However, you should remember some physical pointers first so that you don’t hurt yourself. Remembering to warm up and cool down is extremely important. “Warming up is absolutely necessary if you plan to lift heavy weights,” writes Robert G. Price in the book The Ultimate Guide To Weight Training For Running (2003).He also writes that “cooling down will increase range of motion and flexibility” as well as help reduce “soreness from weight training.” There are many ways to do warm up and cool down. But in an intense exercise you should stretch every muscle, joint, ligament, and tendon. Furthermore, you should weight lift with a partner who can help you if you take on too much weight or get hurt. In many types of weight lifting you need to have a partner to spot you.

There are two major ways to lift weights. One way is to build red muscle, which is the type of muscle used for endurance and any type of dexterous, lengthy, or endurance based act. This type of muscle is built by slowly and evenly working the body without forcing the body to reach its maximum level. To build red muscle, start lifting small amounts of weight and slowly increase the weight while striving for the maximum number of repetitions. Also, try lifting smaller amounts of weight for longer periods of time. Your breathing should remain even and rhythmic throughout the workout if endurance is your goal. Do not over-exert yourself, although it is good to break a sweat and to feel the need to breathe deeply. In this way, you will be using the aerobic metabolism in which the carbonic acid produced by your exercises can be eliminated as carbon dioxide through your breath. Push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, and leg-lifts all build muscular endurance and resistance. Again, concentrate on increasing the number of repetitions in each of these exercises.

The other type of way to weight lift will build white muscle. This is the type of muscle used in intense maximum exertion of strength, which lasts for only a few minutes. White muscle will allow you to react to a situation, without preparation, but with great intensity. It is good for defending yourself or reacting to an immediate situation quickly. To build greater strength and muscle mass, you should work up gradually to the maximum amount of weight that you can lift. Once you have found your limit in a certain exercise, such as the bench press, practice lifting this maximum weight until you can no longer lift it. Use your breath to push the weight up. A partner may need to spot you once you can no longer continue. You may feel a burning sensation in your lungs, and you may begin to sweat profusely. These are signs that the anaerobic metabolism has been activated. After you have rested for a few minutes, try lifting this maximum weight again. Such repeated over-exertion, with small periods of rest in between, will cause your muscles to increase in size and strength. In life, sometimes, you cannot warm up. Life can present a situation where intense strength is necessary to survive. White muscle cannot be used for a long time. It requires rest between intense exertions of energy, but this explosive type of strength can be called upon immediately in an emergency situation. Both types of muscle are important for their own reasons and require different types of exercise to build.

Ideally, you should take one day to work out the upper body and another day to work out the lower body. This does not mean to not do any lower body exercise when working the upper body, but you should focus on one part and then the other. This gives the muscles time to rebuild after being broken down by the lactic acid that heavy weight lifting produces. Never do two days in a row of weight training on one part of the body. Start with the easiest type of exercise, after you warm up, and then move on to the harder exercises. After your blood is flowing and your are pumped, you may want to start from the beginning again with more weight.

Weightlifting can help you in other exercise as well. Runners need to have more strength. Sprinters want to have white muscles and cross country runners need red muscles but both will benefit by weightlifting with the lower body. Boxers, wrestlers, and football players will also benefit by weightlifting while concentrating on building white muscle. Divers also spend time in the weight room to keep their bodies toned and strong. Swimmers, on the other hand, don’t need to do weightlifting as much because the muscles built in the water are different than the muscles built in the weight room. Swimming strengthens the muscles that are closest to the bones. Therefore, you should design your weight training around the type of exercise you want to excel in. Weightlifting can help you excel in most other physical sports.


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