A TCU personal trainer is urging students to add resistance training to their fitness routines, saying it’s physically and mentally beneficial.

Some students tend to avoid resistance training or lifting weights because they worry it creates a “bulky physique,” said TCU Recreation Center personal trainer Henry Aleck.

“Resistance training has numerous physical and mental health benefits for everyone,” Aleck said. “It elicits a number of adaptations in the body to help improve overall daily performance and well-being.”

Lifting weights helps the body develop strength, endurance, balance and a healthy overall composition, including a decrease in body fat. Other benefits include improving bone density and cardiovascular health, as well as chronic illness prevention such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

TCU nutrition major Hannah Sklarov said lifting weights has helped her achieve a healthier looking physique and self-concept.

“I was always that one girl who hated her body and felt so lost because I was on the cardio machines for hours but I wasn’t achieving the muscle tone that I wanted so badly,” she said.

Sklarov said people often skip resistance training because “they are afraid of embarrassing themselves in front of other people when in reality, nobody cares unless you’re doing something that will hurt you.”

Aleck said aside from physical benefits, a number of health benefits can result from resistance training by improving your ability to perform daily tasks with ease and efficiency.

College students are some of the most cognitively and physically active individuals, and for this reason should be participating in some type of resistance training on a weekly basis, he said.