As Strong As Possible.

We should all be preparing for battle.

I am, I suppose, a gym person. I would always prefer to be outside on my bike but that involves a time commitment and non-shitty weather, so off to the gym I go. In the past 25 years I’ve tried it all and have definitely slunk out of more than one step aerobics class. I’ve done Nautilus, kickboxing, spinning, Bodypump, Crossfit, kettlebells, bootcamp, Orange Theory, all of it. I loved Bodypump¹ initially but eventually realized that light weights lifted a million times wasn’t doing a whole lot for me.

So, I started teaching myself how to lift weights because it intrigued me and I couldn’t afford a personal trainer. Back then the weight room felt like a space where women weren’t welcome which only made me want it more. I did the entire New Rules of Lifting for Women back in 2007 and it was truly a revolutionary thing for me. I mastered the basics and became confident in taking up space in the gym. I was limited by my gym’s equipment (one squat rack that some guy was inevitably using for shoulder presses and no bumper plates) but I made it work.

Eventually I tried CrossFit and absolutely loved it. I had a great coach who taught me the big lifts properly- deadlift, back squat, chest press, etc. Crossfit gets a lot of bad press, most of it justified, but I had a good coach and learned a ton - how to lift weights, how to suffer², and how to do 50 burpees without dying. Crossfit taught me that I was capable of doing way more than I thought possible. Unfortunately, as is the way with Crossfit, I injured my shoulder. After it had mostly healed I tried a bunch of other things (see above list) and then got really focused on training for bike racing which didn’t leave as much time for lifting.

When we moved to Oregon in 2021, I was coming off a pandemic year of mostly working out at home in a tiny space with dumbbells and bands, which I hated. For the first couple of months after we moved, I did literally no exercise except the occasional bike ride. I started looking at my gym options and found a local CrossFit-style gym (meaning, group workouts focused mainly on weight lifting) which I followed on Instagram. It took months before I finally got up the nerve to try it out. It changed my life.

To back up a little bit, I want to explain why weight training is so important to me. I mean, obviously I like the way it makes my ass look but mostly I like feeling strong and even though I’m at an age where it’s really hard to progress, it’s not impossible. Before my foot injury I was only lifting two days a week. After my injury, I was determined to get back in shape and committed to lifting three days a week, which is about how much I can do and still be able to function normally because, damn, I do not recover quickly anymore.

Anyway, for the past 18 months I’ve put my all into healing up my foot and getting strong. Recently I’ve bested my pre-injury 1 rep max weight for deadlift, back squat and push press. At 52 I’m stronger now than I was two years ago. And here’s the thing: as much as I love it, I’m not actually that great at it. My PR weights are other people’s warm-up weight but who cares, eyes on your own paper. I’ve made progress and plan to keep going.

I remember limping back into class last June so grateful to even be there. It’s such a privilege to be able to move your body - to lift weight off the floor, to push weight above your head, to be able to squat with weight. To be able to squat period! Doing this now means we’ll all hopefully not have our bones shatter later when we fall (and we will fall. Ask me how I know.) It’s also practical. It means carrying four bags of groceries up the stairs one trip. It means putting your suitcase in the overhead bin without help. It means maybe surviving cancer.

I haven’t really written about this but when my father was 59 he was diagnosed with terminal Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He was initially given about six months to live but thankfully an excellent oncologist decided that a stem cell transplant was worth a try. It was a grueling, horrific year+ for my father but he lived and it gave him another 20 years on earth.

Part of why he survived such an aggressive treatment was because, other than the cancer, he was in really good physical shape. I’m six years away from 59 and I think about this every single day. In a sense, I am preparing for battle. Putting the work in now hopefully means I’ll be able to fight hard later, no matter what comes for me.

Lifting has so many benefits: It builds bone density, makes you stronger, prevents injury, improves sleep, makes you feel like a badass, etc. So many benefits! If all this sounds like too much, please know that it doesn’t have to be complicated. This is weight lifting:

1. Push (chest press)

2. Pull (rows)

3. Hinge (deadlift, swings, etc)

4. Squat (bar, goblet, etc)

5. Loaded Carry (Pick up two heavy weights and walk around.)

You can do all these things with dumbbells. A barbell is the progression for some moves, but you can absolutely just use dumbbells and/or kettlebells. Pick an exercise from each category and do that three times a week, with a day in between to let your muscles rest and repair. Mix it up, continue to add weight (aka progressive overload), repeat.

It doesn’t have to be complicated and since you’re using your entire body for most of these moves, accessory lifts (think, curls, triceps, etc) can be optional unless you have specific weaknesses you are addressing. If you’re concerned about form consider hiring a trainer for at least few sessions to help you learn. Or, do what I did and join the gym that scares you, go consistently, pay attention and see what happens.

1. Oh, Bodypump. “BODYPUMP uses a formula of light weights and high repetitions, called ‘The REP effect’, to develop lean muscle.” This makes me crazy. Y’all. There is only one kind of muscle and all muscle is lean. You can either build it or not. Bodypump is fun and will certainly burn calories and build muscle endurance but you’re not going to build significant strength lifting a 3lb weight 30 times.

2. This sounds extreme but learning how to get through high intensity workouts helped me with my biking racing later on! It’s a skill.