1. Being thin is not the same as being strong and fit.
I actually didn't know this as a teenager. I had an attractive, stick-thin, hipster friend in college whose dorm room was on the second floor of her building. One day she told me that she couldn't climb the whole flight of stairs without getting out of breath. That was a revelation to me. I had assumed since she was thin that she was strong and fit. It shocks me that I had never realized the difference.
I think that "being thin" is a superficial and potentially unhealthy goal while "becoming stronger and fitter" is a worthy and healthy goal.
2. Strength training helps to prevent injury.
For years, I didn't understand the purpose of strength-training. I worked as a theater electrician throughout college and afterwards and that was my main source of exercise. I was very fit from scurrying up and down ladders and carrying lights and lighting equipment. My strength-training logic was: If I want to be strong enough to carry two 10-K Altmans, wouldn't the best method be to just carry two 10-K Altmans? This system seemed to be simple, elegant, and effective. Why invest extra time into pointlessly lifting heavy metal objects when I could get paid to productively lift heavy lighting equipment?
Answer: Because. . .
3. Women (or at least me!) get more injury prone in their early 20's.
I set out for a 13 mile run on a lovely Saturday morning in October 2007 in Portland, Oregon. I was training for the NYC Marathon that November. (I had run 10 NYRR races in 5 months in 2005 before moving away from New York so that I could qualify for the marathon the following year. I had broken a bone in my hand hours before flying to New York for the 2006 marathon and so had withdrawn, giving me a spot in the 2007 marathon.) Suddenly and inexplicably my right knee began to hurt. I tried walking a little, stretching a little, and at last decided to turn around and walk the 5 miles home. By the time I reached home I was limping such that I could barely walk.
I am still hoping and working to find a reasonable solution to that knee pain that allows me to run (at least 5K's!) again, but that pain (which a physical therapist told me is at least partially due to muscular imbalances in my legs) has been the most dramatic instance of sudden frailty. Could I have warded off that mysterious injury and be running right now if I had been consistently, safely, and evenly strengthening my legs? Maybe.
Whether or not strength training will help my knee, I know that it will help my arms. Which I have discovered need all the strength they can get, because babies are heavy! (17 lbs 4 oz as weighed today by the pediatrician)
4. Keep (or increase!) your arm strength when you are pregnant.
Kind friends and family, especially my considerate husband (who is known to enjoy lifting heavy objects) carried things (even small things!) for me throughout my pregnancy and whatever arm strength I had withered away, so that when my son was born in July I could barely lift him. Of course I do pick him up many, many times a day and carry him for much of every day and have gotten stronger (a la my old strength training philosophy: if you want to be able to lift a baby, just lift a baby!), but there has been a very noticeable cost: I have strained (at various times and multiple times) my wrists, my shoulders and even my elbows.
When being a new mother stopped feeling quite so crazy (right before New Year's), I decided that I desperately, passionately wanted to become stronger: to be able to easily, carelessly, gracefully lift my growing baby, all his paraphernalia, or anything else with out strain or fear of injury. Imagining moving through my life in a body strong and supple filled me with awe.
Could I do it? Well, it helps that. . .
5. A strength training session only requires three exercises and ten minutes, twice a week.
I am blessed with a personal trainer who is not only knowledgeable about strength training but uniquely knowledgeable about and in love with me: my husband. All of the following information can be cited to him.
The three most important exercises in any strength training program are:
1. A leg exercise. (I'm doing a leg press with a machine at the Y: currently 20 reps of 182.5 lbs)
2. A pulling exercise for your arms. (I'm doing a pulldown machine: 10 reps of 67.5 lbs)
3. A pushing exercise for your arms. (I'm doing a forward press machine: 10 reps of 75 lbs)
That's all that's needed, but it is important to be warmed up (i.e. physically very warm, for example after getting your heartrate up to 165 for 10 minutes on a stationary bike, just say.) and you can add a few more exercises if you want.
These are my four minor exercises:
1. Sit ups (10 reps but they are really good sit-ups!)
2. Shoulder external rotators (20 reps each side with a 3 lb weight; this is a fabulous shoulder injury-prevention exercise!)
3. Toe raises (or are they called heel drops? Anyway, I do 20 of them and they work my calves)
4. Back extensions (These are fun! I do 10, holding a 5 lb weight)
Anyway, I never knew that strength-training could be so simple, take so little time, and by so exciting.
6. The joy of sports/exercise is long-term dedication and mastery.
I dabbled in gymnastics, track and field, field hockey, and lacrosse in middle school and high school, as well as taking a few dance classes and suffering through a bunch of P.E. classes. It never occurred to me that my goal should be to find a physical activity that I enjoyed and devote years to increasing my mastery. Now, I am still just at the beginning of those years of devotion, but I have found three that thrill me:
1. Running
It was all over for me when I watched the 2004 New York City Marathon from 4th Avenue and Carroll Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The rush of runners and color and noise and sweat and exhilaration and exhaustion was intoxicating. The sea of runners - everyday, amazing people of all kinds - left me awed, hoarse, and desperate to start running. I started with the New Year's Eve run in Central Park where they hand out fake champagne at the water station, earned a mug for running so many winter races including the Frostbite 7-Miler when it was 5 degrees out and I had to run with my hands in front of my mouth, and improved my times throughout the spring with my best time being in the Coogan and Salsa Blues 5K where I raced past dozens of bands and local cheerleaders.
After moving to Portland, Oregon, my running became a more solitary and meditative activity, thrilling in a different way. I went on long runs exploring new neighborhoods, proudly cresting Mount Tabor and then soaring down, or meandering through the nature paths down behind Reed College, delighting in watching my mileage increase and my times decrease.
When I read inspirational running stories, like The Perfect Mile, I know that I need to sort out my knee and get back out there. This spring I plan to begin again slowly, looping my large grassy backyard in my Vibram 5 Fingers shoes and steadily building muscle evenly in both legs. I hope to run local 5K's, maybe as early as this fall.
2. Acrobatics
I had the luck to fall into the vibrant and inspiring circus arts community in Portland (originally as a stage manager and electrician). The last year we were in Portland, my husband and I were regulars at a partner acrobatics class as well as students in a trapeze class and rope class. I had never been so inspired to be strong or found such joy in becoming stronger. To be mastering a beautiful art form and expressing myself through my body while gaining strength and balance was exhilarating.
My husband just gave me a climbing rope for Christmas which is hanging in our barn. I have been climbing it once a week to gauge my progress back to (and beyond!) my former arm strength. When my core strength returns and it becomes possible to leave our son happily with his aunt for a few hours, we are looking forward to taking occasional open circus arts classes in Easthampton, MA.
3. Strength Training
I am thrilled to be beginning a lifelong practice of strength training to allow me to live a life both full and full of ease, to keep me strong and supple, and to prevent frailty even into old age. . .
Why didn't anyone tell me that this was supposed to be what gym class is about?
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