Endless laps around the park or cycles on the treadmill proved my exercise of choice for years. I ran to clear my head and to build my endurance. But I lift to feel powerful.
For years, I harbored preconceived notions that lifting was strictly for guys to bulk, so I ran. For years, I entertained the thought that weightlifting did not correlate with weight loss, so I ran. For years, I felt intimidated by the unconquerable feat of weightlifting, so I ran. It was not until September of 2020 when I discovered the exhilarating force that is weightlifting. So I began to lift.
Feeling comfortable in my form, performance and strength demonstrated to be a sizeable and arduous task, which required some getting used to. Recalling exercises from my high school weight room class, that functioned as a “get out of gym free” card to avoid running laps and sitting in squads. Instead of half-assing organized sports with foam balls, I subconsciously absorbed the proper technique of weightlifting, displaying their importance in the future. Getting back into weightlifting took some time, gradually increasing the weight and learning new exercises to assimilate into my routine. Pretty soon I was a regular; another gym rat working for the post-workout pump of adrenaline and energy.
Weightlifting did not only alter the way I viewed working out; rather, it transformed my ideas of beauty and reasons for working out. Thin and modelesque, the typical Victoria’s Secret model, every young girl’s aspiration to resemble the angels; their long legs, gorgeous smiles and flowing hair. I thought the more I focused on cardio, the more I would look like a Victoria’s Secret Angel. Yet, after dedicating hours of time and energy to weightlifting, I discovered a new sense of power in fitness and the beauty in strength and in myself. Constantly building my strength, even with the most imperceptible of weight, it adds up over time and before I knew it, the numbers on the dumbbells and the plates started to increase. All the years of being intimidated by weights or feeling inadequate to strength change overcame in a couple of months; the feat that was once so invincible became diminished to a mere fraction of what it used to be.
Although my end goal for working out was and still is to always better myself, what I define better as has evolved. Rather than focusing on my weight and how I looked, I began examining how I felt. Not only did I feel accomplished and pride in myself, but a newfound sense of self-confidence and self-appreciation developed. I might never be the Victoria’s Secret Angels that I looked up to when I was younger, but I am someone that the younger version of myself would be proud of and happy to be. Besides, I’m about half of a foot under their height requirement anyways and there is nothing I can do to change that. Weightlifting opened my eyes to a world where strength and power are encouraged and valued as beauty, and I am eternally grateful that I decided to become adventurous and courageous, and tackle my fear.
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