Strength Training Shows Us That Our Work Matters.
Whatever modality of exercise is your jam, I encourage you to find it. When we step into the fullness of being that occurs when we move, sweat, and explore our physical bodies, we learn more about ourselves. Not just physically, but also mentally, emotionally, and energetically.
No matter the movement, we learn to express ourselves, to question the dogmas we hold, and, above all, to let go, laugh, and investigate.
I’m often asked why I choose strength training, and I think that’s a valid question.
With so much out there, why settle on lifting heavy things?
With so many demands on our time pulling us apart on the rack of life, why prioritize what some see as a selfish pursuit? Isn’t that vain?
Shouldn’t you be working on your business? Taking care of your partner? Calling your dad more?
Have you heard of our Lord and Savior, the CrossFit Open?
Yes, to many of those things (except I do call my dad a lot, and there’s nothing wrong with CrossFit). But I am worthy of my own damn time. And so are you.
Strength training helps me be better at everything I do. Carving out the space to tune into myself, learning where I am physically and energetically, allows me to honor myself, and to select the work that will move the needle the most that day. I may not have the luxury of picking up or putting down ALL of my work (and many of you don’t either, I would wager), but I can stack the deck in favor of more task-based work that requires less creative energy on a day I’m feeling drained and grindy, or let the juices flow on a day I’m feeling inspired and crushing things like Sherman marching through the South.
Additionally, there are quite a few days in strength training during which the work is unsexy. It’s not the PRs and the pullups and the flashy exercises; it’s the squat with a dowel rod and selfie camera, the lunge (after lunge, after lunge…), the dead bugs and supermans and the lying on the floor breathing.
It’s those moments – those building blocks – that make up our highlights. We do a disservice to ourselves and others by pretending fitness feats can be achieved overnight with the wave of a magic wand. Not much in life can.
Eventually, though, those bricks get stacked into something magical – something we may never have thought we could reach.
Above all, I choose strength training because it was the first place I knew for an indisputable fact a kernel of wisdom that changed my life: we can show up fully, do the work, and expect a powerful result. We have some level of control over the path on which we walk.
Strength training shows us that our work in the minutiae matters – that even when it feels stagnant, we are powerful warriors on a path of our own creation.
PS- need a guide to help create your path? Click here. I've got you.
