Why I love strength training

Happy 2025 everyone! I hope your 2025 is full of both the ordinary and the extraordinary.

Our bodies are for moving and doing.

I don't watch movies much anymore but there was a time in my life when I watched a lot of movies. Going to a movie was a fun night out for many, many years. Most movies were not memorable but there were a couple that I went to see at the theatre multiple times, one of them was Terminator-2. T-2 came out in 1991 and I was in the middle of completing my Phys-Ed degree at Brock University. It was during my time at Brock that I was introduced to strength training by one of my professors, her name was Maureen. I had several women coaches during my tweens and teens when I was active in many sports but I had never met a woman that did strength training. Maureen was strong, she knew her way around the gym, she kicked butt and she left an impression on me.

The special effects in T-2 were pretty mind blowing but the scene that I remember most was the scene where Linda Hamilton's character is doing chin ups. Full, chin ups. Wow, I was so impressed. I wanted to be able to do that! Maureen, my professor from Brock could do chin ups. Seeing a woman doing chin ups left a significant impression on me because I had seen men doing chin ups before and it did not impact me the way it did when I saw Linda Hamilton doing them. That is why "If they can see it, they can be it" is so important. I saw someone who kinda looked like me doing something really difficult and challenging and it inspired me.

That moment played a role in my decision to work as a personal trainer and to make strength training part of my life. I really like feeling strong because I feel confident, able and less dependent. As I experience my body aging, being less dependent feels important. I want to know that I can lift, carry and move heavy things, I want to know that I can get up off the floor, I want to know that I can climb a ladder, I want to know that I won't be hospitalized if I fall and I want to know that I can help someone who needs help.

Julia Turshen a chef, author and power lifter in her spare time describes strength training like this, “Strength training changes how I walk through the world and changes the voice in my head. Power lifting allows me to go through life knowing how strong I am. It is a quiet knowing, I don't have to announce it. Lifting heavy things regularly helps me feel less dependent on everyone else for the types of validation I've long sought. It has allowed me to feel that acceptance and reassurance for myself.” That resonated for me. The quiet confidence of knowing that my body is able to do hard things.

Strength training is adaptable and accessible to every body and strength happens at any age, ability, shape and size.

Strength training is for any body and every body period.

Strong. Able. Free.