Some statements bear repeating, some statements need repeating, and some are both. Such as, weightlifting is the most versatile way to exercise.

It can build muscle or maintain what you got. Help you lose body fat or create a higher level of overall fitness.

All that’s true whether you’re 15, 42, or 82.

Unfortunately, this is too. Regardless of age, too many Americans don’t weight lift enough or even at all.

Which is why last week you read about my baseball-obsessed nephew falling in love with that form of exercise. How that love allowed him regain all the strength and fitness a serious bout of infectious mononucleosis took from him - and then some.

And how he now knows that - unlike playing baseball - he’ll be lifting weights for a lifetime.

While I can’t be sure if Luke’s story gave you a guiding hand or a good swift kick, I do know there are ways in which you benefit from a lifetime of lifting weights that my nephew’s never really considered.

For instance, weightlifting also works its wonders on your brain.

Now you’re probably aware that any form of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise can produce what’s called the “runner’s high,” a period of time after exercise when you’re relaxed, tranquil, and in such a good mood all seems right with the world. What’s wrong, though, is the given reason for your good mood.

That the runner’s high comes from a release of hormones called endorphins is erroneous.

While a release of endorphins does occur during moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise and does indeed help prevent your muscles from feeling discomfort, endorphins are unable to cross the blood-brain barrier. Endocannabinoids, however, can and your body increases its production of them in response to exercise.

To appreciate how potent endocannabinoids can be, look past the prefix. According to the National Cancer Institute, cannabinoids are the chemicals in cannabis (aka marijuana) that cause drug-like effects in the central nervous system and the immune system when introduced into the body.

Dude, could that be why you, like, have, like, the total munchies after a day of shredding killer waves at Windansea beach?

Maybe. But now’s no time lapse into Cali-surfer lingo, engage in any type of digression - or eat an entire box of Twinkies after two dozen totally tubular runs.

Instead, it’s time to acknowledge research performed at the University of Nottingham and published in the November 2021 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Gut Microbes. It shows that only 15 minutes of weightlifting (or other forms of strength training) is also enough to increase your body’s production of endocannabinoids.

It’s research that should be of particular interest if you suffer from osteoarthritis or have a loved one who does.

First, researchers recruited 78 patients with osteoarthritis in their knees. They then divided the 78 into two almost equal groups.

One participated in six weeks of exercise that involved 15-minutes of strength training per day. The other did no exercise.

At the conclusion, the strength trainers had higher levels of anandamide, one specific type of endocannabinoid, when compared to the non-exercisers. An increase that the researchers believe sent signals to the brain that led to improved gut health which in turn decreased knee inflammation in the strength trainers by about one-third.

But the effect weightlifting has on your brain can lead to more than reduced pain. It can make the brain perform better.

Even after a single session.

Since prior research has established brain function improves from regular bouts of weightlifting, a meta-analysis published in the June 2019 issue of Sports Medicine investigated how the brain is affected by a single session. The review of 12 trials concluded that all forms of resistance exercise “immediately enhance” cognitive function in healthy adults.

While the researchers believe further studies are needed in order to determine optimal training intensity and duration for the maximal increase in brain cognition, I believe right now you should be experimenting on your own to determine how weightlifting best serves you.

Less than your mental best before lunch? Maybe you could change that with high-rep sets or circuit training before you start the workday.

Often fall prey to the three-o’clock workday brain drain? Maybe you could avoid that by pumping iron in any imaginable way during your lunch hour.

Do either, and you’ll have fewer anxious moments throughout the course of your days, according to a meta-analysis published in the December 2017 issue of Sports Medicine that focused on the effect of resistance training has on anxiety. After a review of 16 prior articles that created a pool of nearly 1000 participants, the researchers found weightlifting “significantly reduced anxiety symptoms among both healthy participants and participants with a physical or mental illness.”

Moreover, the reductions occurred regardless of the length, frequency, or intensity of the resistance training - and even if the training failed to produced strength gains.