On Lifting Heavy Things

A fitness model and writer, Tosca Reno, refers to women who lift weights as "Sisters in Iron". I love this name! I would be thrilled to call Tosca my sister any old day, because she's awesome! She is also, through her publications and that of her husband, Robert Kennedy, saving my life.

Hey, remember that failed relationship I mentioned in the last post?

Here's how my weight-lifting obsessions started.

I had been smoking and drinking too much for quite some time. This, for me, started in my early twenties, somewhat later than some of my peers. It started in college and sort of carried over into my grown-up existence, or what I was trying to get to pass for it.

I had always done some form of movement. Tap, ballet, aerobics, taking walks. . .. and I had always been a skinny kid. It wasn't until I started working for the aforementioned boss who hated me that some of my workmates started to get concerned.

Enter Charlene.

Charlene was a coach at my school, and a good friend. She thought I looked too thin, and I didn't eat enough. She took me under her wing by offering to show me how to lift weights with her and the softball team. That was it. . . . I was hooked.

The same year I started lifting was the same year Robert Kennedy started publishing Oxygen magazine, which is a fitness magazine for women. After the first couple of workouts, I was hooked. I had always had good posture from dance classes, but now my back was strong. I could always lift some things just with regular movement, but now I could walk to the grocery store, buy groceries for the week, and walk back with all my bags. I was eating better, eating more, and able to do more during my day without freaking out or feeling the insane urge to smoke.

When I moved to North Carolina, it was weight lifting that kept me out of harm's way.

Lifting weights, for me, is like knitting. If I don't do it, I'll die.