Or, surprising professional benefits of becoming seriously strong

We have all been there….‘Should I go do some exercise….or shall I just sack it off?’. We know that it’s good for us, particularly a growing understanding of strength training benefits, but that doesn’t necessarily make it more attractive in the moment. We also have Other Things To Do! Including maybe work/kids/parents/home/life-admin, and often all of these, all at the same time.

So for me to go and train heavy squats on any given day (in fact three days a week at the moment) my reasons for doing so have to include something much more immediate than knowing that it’ll make me less likely to fall over and improve my lifespan/quality: Evidence mounts on the benefits of strength training | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The benefits of strength really need to be felt in the here and now. And new research from the University of Pennsylvania shows what many of us already knew, that it can help us with our mental health, now: Strength training is key to physical and mental health | Penn Medicine.

In fact I mostly started at the gym to help me with my mood, which was too often erring on the side of tetchy and irritable. Going into the gym and putting one’s all into lifting a really heavy thing is the ultimate mood enhancer and best stress reliever.

But here’s been the most surprising thing for me.

The stronger I get in the gym the more capable I feel at life, even though the business co-owning, sandwich generational, menopausal female years are no picnic (for anyone). I think I used to feel that one (strength training) was the antithesis of the other (work responsibilities) but now I couldn’t do one (work) without the other (strength train)…..

Here’s why:

1. Challenge: Doing hard things help us to do more hard things. It gives rather than taking away. Lifting heavy stuff and pushing through the fear barrier whilst doing so has given me the confidence to attempt and commit to work projects that seem incredibly daunting. I guess training for and competing at the British Masters Powerlifting in 2023 in Belfast would have been the fear, work and challenge pinnacle. This year we have undertaken some of our most challenging and time-critical research projects in the education sector yet, but I found it absolutely essential to completing the project to be able to carry on strength training even if it was pared back…
2. Trust: I trust myself more, much more, in the physical realm than before and that has helped me build trust in myself elsewhere. Being strong fills one with a feeling of capability that is not just limited to knowing I can carry in the shopping. I back myself, and when clients trust us with an important challenge or project, we have broad shoulders that can happily take on that responsibility to deliver the best possible result to help them in their jobs.
3. Presence: My bearing and posture has changed. Walking into a room to present research or consulting work is not everyone’s cup of tea, and surely everyone feels somewhat nervous and a little bit of imposter syndrome, but feeling physically strong helps one with the feelings of super-confidence that one needs to take the first breath and start talking with assuredness and authority. Again, this has helped me enormously at times this year.
4. Growth: To be serious about the gym one is investing in self-development and growth. I take myself seriously and I am working hard to grow in all areas, as well as in strength. Hard physical training has gotten my brain working better in all sorts of ways, again entirely unexpected. Gone are the ‘meathead’ monikers of old when students at uni got a bit too into rowing or rugby, now I think we are all more aware of the massive link between our physical bodies and our minds….

….which brings us back to the first point about the here and now. When I started at the gym I could not do a bodyweight squat, I could not bench press even just the bar and I could not do very much at all. But I immediately felt happier and better about everything after every session, even when it sucked. I think they call that Type II fun.