Lifting weights has lifted my career
Six months after I started weightlifting, I feel empowered in a way I never felt before, both in my career and personal life. Weightlifting taught me many life lessons that I would hardly learn so fast and effectively otherwise.
I, as a woman, learnt a lot about the rules of the game by interacting in a highly male-dominated activity, while having very little at stack. These are the nine lessons I learnt throughout the process, and the reasons why I encourage you to weightlift too.
1. Any task is just a sequence of steps
The beauty of this lesson relies on how obvious it sounds. Nevertheless, too often, we look at a goal and feel it is too overwhelming to accomplish.
Weightlifting forced me to break down all exercises to one sequence of steps, with a start and finish position. This skill changed the way I face challenges.
Now, my first instinct when looking at a given task is to split it into multiple step-by-step subtasks and guidelines.
Additionally, by following this thought process, I am asserting the starting point and the expected result, which is usually unclear when approaching a problem for the first time.
2. You can always do one more rep
I leant this lesson years ago but never did I practice it so often as with weightlifting.
Human beings, and especially women, have a natural tendency to undervalue their strength and competencies. As hard as it might be, you can most certainly do one more rep. As scary as it might seem, you can handle the extra responsibilities.
3. It’s okay to drop
A concept I particularly like in weightlifting is drop setting. In simple terms, in the last set, you push yourself to the limit, by using more weight than you can handle for a whole series. After a minimum number of reps, you can drop your weights to about half and finish the set.
I find this concept very empowering! We often try to have it all and struggle to maintain it, a scenario which ends up with discouragement and the haunting feeling of failure.
Drop setting gives me the phycological freedom for taking on the more demanding situation and if necessary step back without feeling I am breaking. When I step back, I feel glad about the opportunity I took to develop the strength and the skills required to catch and maintain the next opportunity.
4. Take breaks
When you are building muscle, it is crucial to give your body what it needs to recover, namely rest. The same goes for your life.
We take on many roles throughout our journey — daughters, sisters, friends, students, professionals, mothers, and many others. Sometimes these roles become so prevalent in our routines we forget to take care of our mental and physical health.
Taking care of oneself is crucial. It makes us able to accomplish our long-term goals and fulfil our roles.
I have struggled with the concept of free time for a long while. I felt I always had something more important to do. In my mind, by taking periods of leisure, I was giving up on my responsibilities.
Weightlifting encourages me to keep my nutrition balanced and, most importantly, it taught me to schedule my time off and dearly respect it.
Now, when I am taking time off, I am not haunted by the ghost of missed opportunities. It is a conscious choice with measured pros and cons.
5. Use your rights
My whole life, I was encouraged to be giving. To share what I have and avoid refusing polite requests. There is the expectation I will anticipate what the person wants and provide it.
In one of the early workouts, when I was about to start my third set, a man politely asked: How many left? My immediate response was to stand up from the machine and offer it to him.
Knowing my background, it is not surprising I did it, but for that person, I was a stranger. My behaviour confused him, so he quickly corrected his actions by saying I should finish. He would use the machine after me.
At that moment, I realized I was the only one there who offered to step back from my workout so someone else could continue without waiting a few minutes.
I wondered how many times had I done it in the past without noticing. How many times did I get out of my way, so someone else did not need to adjust?
Since then, I try to be more aware of my default behaviour. I am still polite, I just avoid sabotaging myself.
6. Consistency goes a long way
During the quarantine, some work colleague started training at home. Once we came back to the office, some were bragging about their workouts.
I noticed a common theme among them. All started with too much intensity. Quickly after, each began to miss a few workout days. A month in, none of the newbies was training anymore.
I do not believe it is due to motivation. I think it is a matter of how much change can you maintain.
When you apply small changes consistently, you can maintain the trend and improve. When you try to disrupt your habits, it requires an immense amount of discipline and self-control daily.
7. Focus on technique, not weights
In weightlifting, maintaining proper form throughout the exercise avoids injuries and builds strength. Way too often, I see people increasing their load in detriment of body position.
The most common reason is that these individuals aim to show quick results to their peers.
I noticed a surprising phenomenon. Inward focus leads to real and longlasting results. I have been trying to do it, I recommend you do too. Centre your energy on your progress, not on other people’s view of it. This shift in perspective yields highly in the longterm.
8. Listen to criticism with a fair dose of scepticism
It is frequent, both at the workplace and at the gym, to find people willing to give you advice on a large variety of topics.
I always thought those people knew more than I do. So I followed their advice. At the gym, I realized that other people’s opinions are not more valuable than mine.
There are several variations of every move, each with their pros and cons. It is recommended to choose the version based on your body’s response and your goals.
People will share with you flaws in your exercise, as well as their personal opinion on the version you should be performing.
While the first one is highly valuable, the second one may not. Nonetheless, individuals usually joint both, without distinction. It is up to you to dismantle the advice and implement the useful parts.
The same happens at work. The advice from colleagues and supervisors contains warnings about risks, which should be taken seriously, and personal opinions, which should be viewed with a healthy dose of scepticism.
9. Be social, but not to the point of harming your goals
We have heard it repeatedly: network, network, network. Although it is a valuable asset in your career, it may shift your focus away from what generates real results.
Take the example of workout buddies, while it has many advantages, as keeping you accountable and receiving feedback. I regularly observe individuals spending the majority of their workout time talking, instead of training.
Aim to spend the majority of your time and energy on what generates results.
The fears that keep women away from weightlifting
Likely, this article is not going to convince you to change your workout style or to even start training altogether.
In case you are one of the exceptions, I will briefly break down the most common fears about weightlifting.
“I do not want to look muscular.” Do not worry, looking muscular does not happen by accident. It develops over a long period when you combine consistent training, with purpose-oriented diets to bulk and cut. Commonly, muscular individuals use bodybuilding-specif nutritional supplements and a coach.
“I do not want to injure myself.” Injuries are a reality. Gladly, you can minimize your risk of injury by focusing on technique and slowly progressing on your load. You can find several high-quality resources online or request the aid of an instructor at your gym.
“I do not know where to start.” Just like with other training styles, you will find weightlifting workout suggestions for beginners online. If you want a more customized journey, you can hire a personal trainer or ask a knowledgable friend for help.