There are six common questions I hear all the time about lifting weights. So, I decided to put them into an episode with some simple answers for you so that you have a resource that you can come back to time and time again. If you are looking for answers to common questions I hear about strength training; this is the episode for you.
If You Want To Embrace The Benefits of Strength Training, You Should:
It’s All Relative
Questions like ‘am I lifting heavy enough?’, ‘am I too old to start lifting weights?’, or ‘how soon can I expect to see results?’, are very nuanced. The short answer is, everybody’s body is different and will look different even if doing the same exercise.
It is about finding a combination of weight lifting and other exercises that feel right for your unique body. What is ‘heavy’ is relative to each person and can change over time. Consistency and progressive overload are the keys to a long game mentality needed when strength training.
The Many Benefits of Strength Training
I know for sure that strength training can give you something to think about besides shrinking your body. Having goals that are only focused on achieving a certain number on the scale or an aesthetic look are not sustainable.
Lifting weights can help you stop focusing on the scale, promote healthy muscle mass, improve your bone density, and boost your metabolism. These are goals that can have a huge impact on your overall health but cannot be measured by the number on the scale. Strength training can help you reconnect with a sense of what your body can do, not what it looks like.
Have you ever asked one of these common questions? How did my answer hold up to what you have been told in the past? Share your experiences with me in the comments section of the episode page.
“Generally speaking, you want to think about grooving in the main functional movement patterns, which are push, pull, hinge, squat, and weighted carries; those are what the Made Strong program is built off of.” (8:24)
“Lifting weights gives you something besides shrinking your body, or the bathroom scale, to focus on.” (11:59)
“If you lift weights two or three times a week, it will make you better at that sport, period.” (15:07)
“To efficiently build and maintain your muscle and bones and keep your metabolism humming along… the answer is lift weights.” (21:52)
“Please focus on some kind of goal that goes beyond what you weigh or exactly having some kind of aesthetic look. Because it is going to be far easier to sustain your work towards what you can do, or developing a new skill, or building your strength in a specific lift, it’s going to be a lot more motivating and a lot easier to stick to that than when you are not seeing the number on the scale go in the direction that you want it to go.” (26:26)
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LTYB 332: 3 Mistakes Keeping You From Getting Stronger In The Gym
LTYB 331: Strength Training & Your Relationship with Exercise
The general narrative in the fitness world says that by getting into shape, you will get smaller. In reality, there are so many other ways to measure your fitness that have nothing to do with the size of your body. ‘Getting In Shape’ really has no concrete meaning, and it's time we stop equating fitness with a specific look.
If You Want To Dig Deeper Into The Problem With ‘Getting in Shape’, You Should:
Fitness Is Not a ‘Look’
Fitness doesn't have a specific look. Instead, it is your ability to do a task. Simple as that. Working out and ‘getting in shape’ simply to get smaller is not sustainable, and the companies or trainers that guarantee that your body will get smaller are not acknowledging all of the other things out of our control that go into fitness, and all of the other benefits of getting stronger and healthier. Your size does not equal your health and has no reflection on how fit or how unfit a person is.
How To Stop Comparing and Start Representing
If we compare ourselves to the highest performing human specimens participating in an activity, is that an accurate representation of all the people who engage with that activity? By comparing ourselves to the top athletes in the world, we are doing a disservice to the people out there who want to engage with a certain type of fitness but don't see anyone who looks like them being represented.
The idea that fit bodies have to look a certain way stops people from engaging with those pursuits and perpetuates the stereotype that fitness is a certain look and only people who look like that can be deemed ‘in shape’. By challenging these narratives and making fitness available to people who don't fit the conventional ‘fitspo’ version of health, we can break down these assumptions and, in turn, make ‘getting in shape’ more beneficial for everyone.
What stood out most to you from this episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments on the episode page.
“Getting in shape when used to mean getting fit is a huge problem because physical fitness isn't a look, it's not a look.” (7:14)
“Strength training can give you a new lease on life because you get to focus on what your body can do, not just on what it looks like.” (15:34)
“I can think of so many people who are not fitting the ‘thin fitspo’ gently toned but not too muscular body who are fit as fuck! Fit as fuck for what they do. And that to me is a cause for applause.” (19:50)
“We have to be able to tease apart fitness from overall health and wellbeing. If we think health is multifactorial and influenced by so many things out of our control, we have to be able to tease apart fitness from health and from weight.” (24:44)
“I hope that this podcast gives you some seeds of ideas to ask or to bring up with that potential personal trainer that you want to work within your city, or that potential email that you open up… what does the person or the company promising to you? What other ways are there going to be to see how your fitness has changed and improved?” (32:01)
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LTYB 335: Breaking the Body Stereotype with Amanda LaCount
LTYB 324: Is It Wrong To Want To Lose Weight?
If you are someone who is not strength training yet or are looking to get back into activity, you might be nervous. Getting back into movement in a way that keeps you safe and healthy starts with understanding your foundation and finding mobility practices that meet you where you are now.
If You Want To Encourage Mobility, Representation, and Justice In The Fitness Space, You Should:
Taking Care Of Yourself as a Whole Person
Rich Thurman, better known as Coach RT3, is a mobility specialist who is passionate about sharing his experiences as a black man in the fitness industry and advocating for coaching in a way that takes care of your body, mind, and spirit as one whole person.
Rich knows that mobility practices are not an optional extra but something that helps you get better at what you are trying to do and is here today to share how mobility, inclusivity, and representation intersect in the fitness space.
Investing In Yourself Through Mobility Practices
Mobility is the best investment you can make for yourself. By giving time to mobility practices that will improve your longevity, and preserve, improve, and enhance your ability to do the things you love longer, you will save yourself the necessity to give it up later.
Something as simple as preparation can help you create strength in the realms you may not have strength in anymore, save you from injury, and help you find a workout that fits your body's strengths and shortcomings. Mobility practices are the key to move better, feel better, and ultimately do more for longer.
Representation Is Power
For too long, underrepresented people in the fitness space, such as Black, Asian, and LGBTQ+ persons, have been burying themselves to make other people feel comfortable. Rich is here to say no more to that and encourage organizations, coaches, trainers, and anyone involved in the fitness space to do the work, become aware, and take steps to view someone as a whole person.
Instead of assuming the needs of others and pushing that agenda, Rich wants to challenge you to work to improve yourself, learn about your community, and recognize the intersections between identity, representation, and fitness. It is only by working to be better, that we can include the voices that have been marginalized for too long and lift up our fellow humans.
Are you ready to give yourself the gift of time through mobility practices? How do you work to stand up for your fellow humans in the fitness space? Share your thoughts about Rich’s perspective with me in the comments on the episode page.
“When we look at training mobility, and why it's important, it's more along the lines of preparing your body for the things that you want to do.” (10:02)
“You can spend the time now, or you can give up the time later. There are only really 2 options. So when we create more room for the things that we love, we are basically creating more time.” (22:31)
“Peripherally, all of the wealth that came as a peripheral means of those bodies, the bodies of my ancestors who survived this ordeal, to make me possible, that is carried inside of me.” (33:07)
“The onus is not on us to find out when these things happen, the onus is on the organization to say ‘this is what we want, this is what we would like, can we find the people who are doing good work within our organization who have paid us money and maintained our certification, can we find those people?’.” (41:34)
“These conversations need to be had throughout all of these organizations and need to be commonplace. Because we need to know how to best serve the people we are working with, the people in front of us.” (48:01)
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LTYB 327: Getting Back to Exercise Without Feeling Wrecked
LTYB 143: Inclusivity & Social Justice In Health & Fitness with Dr. Tee Williams
Have you ever considered that at some point, an obsession with healthy eating can turn unhealthy? Many of us struggle to understand what healthy eating really is and where it crosses the line into an unhealthy preoccupation. This is why I have brought my guest, Mimi Cole, onto the show today. Please be aware there is a trigger warning for weight loss and eating disorders in this episode.
If You Are Ready To Reexamine Your Relationship With Food and Your Body, You Should:
What Is Healthy Eating? With Mimi Cole
Mimi is a graduate student currently working on her Master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling. She is the host of the Lovely Becoming Podcast and specializes in learning about disordered eating and eating disorders. Mimi knows firsthand the issues that those with eating disorders face, which is why she is passionate about breaking down stereotypes, meeting others with compassion, and helping people break out of the labels that surround these topics.
There Are No ‘Bad or Good’ Foods
Clean eating culture is intertwined with many nuanced topics such as fatphobia, orthorexia, and weight-centric care. The clean eating industry wants you to label your food choices as ‘bad or good’, which inherently misses what the fluidity of humanity really is.
By unlearning what diet culture has taught us, we can start to get curious about the dichotomy of the rules of food and begin to view food as neutral. When we understand that food does have to fit into the binary of ‘good and bad’, ‘healthy and unhealthy’, or ‘clean and guilty’, you can give yourself permission to follow your humanity.
Using Your Values as an Anchor
Society tells us that certain eating disorders are only applicable to certain body types. In reality, it is about the mindset of a person, not the size of their body, that determines their relationship with food. We need to do a better job of breaking these labels down and expanding these definitions to include every body.
Mimi suggests getting clear on your values to anchor you when you may feel discomfort about your body. Working on your body really means working on your body image, your perspective, and how you feel about your body. By reminding yourself what you are working towards and what you are living for, you can live a life more aligned with your values and stop focusing on all of the restraints that come with food.
Which of Mimi’s truth bombs today shocked you the most? What piece of her advice are you going to put into practice first? Share your thoughts with me in the comments section of the episode page.
“It doesn't have to be either ‘this or that’, I think there is a lot of nuance to nutrition.” (8:29)
“It's a lot more subtle than we think it is, and I think it's a lot more intertwined with this clean eating culture. And so sometimes that push back where we say ‘I just want to eat healthy’ is really tied to different systems like fat-phobia and weight-centric care, and sometimes it looks like it's a healthy thing, and it sounds like it, but it's not really.” (13:25)
“There are some people that might say, ‘if you are going to be anti-diet, you need to do it all right now’. And I think I take on a slower approach where when we are unlearning it takes time and intentionality, and a lot of compassion for where we are at and meeting people where they are.” (22:20)
“Working on your body for summer means learning how to nourish it, learning how to accept it and collate the distress around it, learning how to put on a swimsuit and work towards your values of enjoying time with friends, enjoying time with loved ones and family members, and being able to move towards your values when you feel uncomfortable in your body.” (31:54)
“Moving towards a value doesn't necessarily mean moving you away from things you don't want to experience. So there is not necessarily less fear, but it means with that fear I can move towards those values.” (35:06)
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LTYB 275: The Anti-Diet Approach to Eating with Evelyn Tribole
Your morning ritual can set the tone for your entire day. Getting up and immediately getting onto the scale can determine whether you will have a good day or a bad day. If you used to do that, or maybe you still do, I want to share five truths with you about the bathroom scale and why you should consider ditching or reducing that habit.
If You Are Ready To Get Real With Your Scale You Should:
Weight Does Not Equal Health
If you keep saying, ‘I just wanted to hop on the scale and see’, and there is an underlying sense of dread there, or the number you see is going to have the potential to wreck or elevate your day, wait.
You don't have to throw your scale out the window today. But, by taking baby steps of cutting back your reliance and focus on the scale, you will realize that the deep sense of self-worth you have always had is not reliant on the number you see on the scale. Having a full, healthy, and happy life is so much more important than the ‘ideal’ number we want to see on the scale, and when you are able to accept that, the whole world opens up.
You Can Only Control Your Habits, Not the Scale
Your health is so much more multifaceted than the number you see on the scale. Your mental, emotional, spiritual, and environmental health play just as important of a role in your overall health as your physical body does. Even though you may be doing things in a health-promoting way, such as eating more vegetables or getting more fresh air, focusing on the number on the scale changing is not what you should be relying on for ‘results’.
The truth is, we are not in control of the number on the scale. What we are in control of is health-promoting habits that can lead to a healthier life, regardless of what the scale says.
Have you ever considered your relationship with your bathroom scale? Share your thoughts with me in the comments on the episode page.
“We have been taught that weight causes health, and that is not the case.” (6:51)
“Weight loss is not a behavior. I will say that again, weight loss is not a behavior.” (16:04)
“If you want peace of mind, and you want your brain space back, focus on healthy habits. Focus on healthy-for-you habits. When you stay hyper-focused on weight loss, this is where you miss body signals; this is where you miss other indicators of your health, for example, your mental health. This is where you miss the consistency that is required to perhaps improve your health over a long period of time.” (17:41)
“It might take years of consistent healing and redefining your beliefs, getting to the root of your beliefs, finding other things to focus on. Really just going through the ebbs and the flows and the ups and the downs of your relationship with your body and food and body image, to get to the point where the scale is a ‘neutral tool’.” (23:34)
“It is very uncommon that someone can just snap their fingers and suddenly see the scale as a neutral tool.” (24:50)
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LTYB 314: How To Set Health Goals Beyond the Scale with Steph Dodier