Most women come to me with little to no strength training experience. Many have been doing some kind of exercise or movement, others haven’t in a long time. They’re all starting from the beginning. As with learning any new activity, strength training is a skill. Like all skills, it takes time, hard work, focused intention, and practice to develop.
In the fitness world, there’s a lot of talk about goals and getting results and minimal talk about the practice behind those two. By practice, I mean two things. One is doing the work with intention – that is developing an awareness of what muscles are targeted and what the rest of the body is doing during a particular exercise. This requires focus. More than one client has mentioned that “there is so much to think about.” That’s true, especially when doing compound lifts like squats, deadlifts and bench presses. Progress isn’t made by just getting through the reps. Instead, focus on the quality of the reps and the effort leads to progress and results.
In addition to putting in the reps and developing the skills, when done consistently over time, strength training becomes a practice or ritual. Just like yoga, running, meditation, or any other activity that a person regularly dedicates time and attention to doing. When approached with intention, the practice becomes a time and space separate from life’s other demands. Along with the physical benefits, making time for this practice yields emotional, psychological, and physiological benefits as well.
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