Reaping the Benefits of Weight Lifting
Tuesday after Labor Day “Jane” came to her fitness appointment and somewhat sheepishly confessed she’d not been active that week with her weight lifting program. I’ve heard lots of apologetic confessions and some of them are valid reasons, so I gave her the “why??” eye and quietly waited for tales of a fabulous European junket or debilitating illness. I heard neither report, but she did rattle off an impressive itinerary of distance kayaking and hours of gardening. She was out there living life! Jane is 61 and came to me last winter for help with strength training. She wanted to get stronger in order to facilitate all the outdoor recreation she and her friends enjoy as they move towards retirement. Hers are the greatest goals as they’re about quality of life, physical and mental health, longevity and independence. Jane radiated talking about the kayaking and happily reported how much stronger she is this summer since she’s been working with weight lifting.
Jane’s been a kayaker all her adult life. Prior to 15 years ago, she didn’t think twice about being on one end of the kayak lowering it down from the pulley system in the garage and helping her husband heft the 60 pound boat to the roof-rack of a vehicle; a process repeated 4 times for every outing. She’d go paddling after work for just an hour, enjoying the beauty of Vermont’s summer and taking advantage of the outdoor quality of life that is a cultural norm here. But as her 40’s drifted by, the process of moving the boat became a barrier such that the frequency of kayaking dwindled because loading / un-loading the boat became a daunting task she dreaded. That’s understandable. Loading a boat onto a car is awkward and difficult carrying risk of back or shoulder injury, not to mention damage to the boat or car if one lost their grip. Now due to the work she’s done to strengthen her upper body, legs and core muscles, she doesn’t think twice about moving the boat, and she’s enjoying more kayaking than she’s done in recent years. As Jane told me about her most recent kayaking adventures I almost burst out laughing out of the sheer joy that this is precisely what we want out of strength training; we want to get back to all our recreational pursuits and be able to do them as long as we’re on this side of the grass. Jane was wholly “off the hook” for not having done her fitness program. She was living the purpose of it.
Unless one is a competitive weight lifter, most people do not lift weights for the sake of lifting weights. Strength training is a means towards other goals related to health, functional independence, weight management, vitality and recreation. I often describe strength training as the “academic” side of health and fitness, directly suggesting it can be somewhat boring (though some love it) and that’s an acceptable fact we deal with. Not all exercise is fun, and tolerating some hard work and boredom is part of life. The benefits of strength training are so widespread that dealing with it being less exciting still makes it the single most worthwhile and beneficial aspect of fitness out there. Once a program is established, great results will come from 3 times a week of about 30 – 40 minutes of work. It’s never too late to feel stronger. Jane saw big, tangible benefits after a couple of months of weight lifting, as she felt 15 years younger in her willingness and ability to heft a kayak overhead. WOW! Does it get any better than that? Are you all high-fiving her in spirit? I sure hope so. Jane gets the gold star of the week and let’s all cheer her on to keep up the good work. How about you? See you out there.