Strength Training Basics
|If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that strength is the cool kid in town. No one ever wished to be less strong. Superman is all tights, cape and muscles, not suits, specs and being desk-bound. Don’t we all want to be able to open that pesky pickle jar ourselves? So this week we’re devoting our words to the topic of being strong: what does it feel like, what we do with our strength, etc.
Unlike silverback gorillas we have to work on our strength. Or maybe Ms. Fossey never reported on the gym habits of male gorillas? Anyway, humans are rather soft creatures, and strength can feel fleeting if we don’t work at it consistently. As incentive to do those planks I remind myself that: I like the feel of a well-muscled arm, my own or anyone willing to offer up a limb for a squeeze. There’s something about muscles, right?
I’ve never had gym-strength, being the type of girl who doesn’t shave often enough to make a gym membership worth it. Instead, my strength training comes from running, the occasional yoga session, volunteering to lift heavy things, cleaning out dust bunnies, holding up books, lifting tea mugs, etc. I only feel weak when I’m laid out with the blues, and all the fun stuff languishes on the shelf.
To me, being strong is more a state of mind than a goal one reaches after weeks of boot-camp class. Trust me, I did the military boot camp, and it was back to bon-bons and books the next week. It’s not the number of push-ups or pull-ups you can do, it’s how you can count on yourself, rely on your strength to get you through tough moments. We’re all superchicks underneath our business casual, it’s up to you to throw the kryptonite out the window.
[Img.Src: Working on Vengeance, 1939]