power lifting

Beginning Yoga (Again)

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yoga mat on rug with puppy

My yoga mat

Here’s the thing about me and fitness goals: They don’t stick unless I find the joy in them. I love long distance running because it calms me down, I love triathlons because they start with a swim and nothing makes me happier than being in the water, I love CrossFit because I’m continually challenged by a grab bag of movements, and I love power lifting because of the confidence it gives me and the immediate satisfaction I feel with every lift.

For years, I’ve been doing yoga on and off because when I moved to San Diego everyone was doing it and I can never stick with it. I love to lift heavy weights and I recognize if I want to continue to grow and benefit my sport I need to spend time on flexibility. I’ve been pondering why my experience “trying” yoga again and again has led me to think I dislike it? Is it because I didn’t identify with with crowd it attracted? Is it because I feel too ADD to every truly relax? Is it because I didn’t want to be packed into another room with other peoples smells too close to me? Or is it because I wasn’t ready to be open to getting in touch with myself on a deeper level?

Hesitant to set myself up for failure by setting a goal doing yoga x days per week, I started with a visual cue. I unrolled my yoga mat on my bedroom floor. Initially I did it as a reminder to do yoga. But my behavior upon seeing it before I went to bed and first thing when I woke up was interesting. At first, I stepped around it to get to my dresser or closet getting dressed in the morning. Then one night I thought: Why does my mat out mean I have to hold a pose that’s difficult for me? One night I went in and laid on my back in shavasana pose with the bottoms of my feet touching together and just tried to relax. “What are you doing, Hannah? This isn’t even yoga,” I told myself on night one. Now it’s been three weeks and I am looking forward to my nightly shavasana. It is my baby step towards meditation/self awareness. I strongly believe it has increased my creativity and I come out of it almost high that for a few minutes each day I get to exist somewhere between dreams and reality.

tricep stretch yoga class

Saturday Yoga at Humanity

My next step is trying to make a point to attend CrossFit Humanity’s Saturday yoga session. Katie Dunn is excellent at what she does and is her authentic dog loving self instead of trying to be some uber zen yoga faker. Yoga is difficult and humbling. I’m continuing to use my mat to build awareness with myself and who knows maybe one of these days I’ll feel the pull to start doing poses on my own.

 

I Lift and I Like It (part 3)

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After my first class I felt like I had a coach who was compassionate and heard my needs. I also realized as fit as I thought I was I had no upper body strength. I was unable to pull up my body weight and able to only do two push-ups without putting my knees (insert grade school taunting here: “You do push ups like a girl”). It was then that it dawned on me: If I’m as fit as I think I am, I should be able to pull up my own weight.

I still thought lifting heavy weights with a barbell was unfeminine but decided to join to be able to conquer the body weight movements and gain some upper body strength. Looking back, I think I really joined because I saw one or two super strong fit female members and I wanted to see if I could ever be like them.  My first year I loved going to CrossFit Humanity and taking as many CrossFit classes as I could. Like endurance sport training, I didn’t have to come up with a random gym routine, the programming was all done for me but even better than my endurance sport background was it didn’t over work the same muscle groups. It was also the first time I became aware of my soft core. I ran with a soft core, I swam with a soft core, I biked with a soft core. When a Strength and Conditioning class began I decided to give that a go and found how much I enjoyed the act of lifting a heavy barbell. With each small gain my confidence increased as well as my appetite for a challenge. I was still worried I’d look manly but I noticed the harder I pushed myself the opposite occurred: my waist shrank, my overall body fat decreased significantly and my body shape began to change into that of an athlete: my lats grew, I had visible traps, shapely quads and hamstrings, but I still looked feminine. I was getting compliments from my family and at almost 30 years old was kicking myself for not lifting weights sooner. As my confidence grew so did my curiosity for competing. The first team competition I did was a last minute fill in for Pete’s Paleo team. It was at least 80 degrees at La Jolla High School and while we got our butts annihilated, I loved being a contributing member of a team putting in work.

Last year, a power lifting coach, Sal Ocampo, joined our gym and was training three girls for a November lifting meet. Three weeks prior to the meet one of the girls couldn’t do it and the coach asked me to take her place. I was thrilled to be exposed to power lifting. At this meet I saw all sorts of female body types and was stunned to see some of the most petite girls moving huge amounts of weight. Since then, I’ve trained seriously for and competed in 2 more powerlifting meets and an Olympic weightlifting meet. I currently deadlift 290 lbs, back squat 240 lbs and bench press 133 lbs. I am 5’4” and weigh 133 lbs. Not only am I the leanest I’ve ever been but the byproduct of all of this lifting has been an exponential growth in confidence: the way I carry myself, the way I own a space when I walk in a room, the way I pose for photographs instead of hiding half of my body behind someone else.

CrossFit showed me I was strong and power lifting has taken my fitness journey to a whole new level. Gaining strength has increased my CrossFit abilities. As a personal trainer and CrossFit coach, it is always the top of my list to encourage women to quiet their fears and put the body image thoughts in a time out to just try. You can try with me as your trainer or without me, but please, TRY. You don’t get big from lifting big weight you lose fat and lean out. You get big based on whether or not you have a healthy relationship with food and an understanding of what it means to eat clean. If you love to run or hike or do triathlons don’t give that up but discover how adding weightlifting will make you faster and stronger in whatever sport you play. Still skeptical? Don’t worry, I was too. I believe strong women change the world and if all you need is information and a little encouragement I want to be the one to show you what I’ve discovered because I’m never looking back.

Action Steps:

1) You don’t get big from lifting weights. You get huge from eating crap or a combination of both.

2) Building strength builds confidence. Who doesn’t want a little more of that?

3) Try is a polite way of saying be CONSISTENT with your new training program and give it enough time to take effect. Then decide if it’s right for you.

I Lift and I Like It (part 1)

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lunging

Photo Credit: Chris Wodjak Photography

“Lifting weights makes you bulky.”

“I don’t want to look too muscular.”

“That’s great that you can lift that much and you don’t look too manly.”

“Wow. I could never do that. I’m not very strong.”

“You do what? You’re too little to do that.”

“I’d have to get in shape first before trying that.”

These are just a handful of excuses that I hear from women about being reluctant to lift weights. Instead, I see them literally running in circles to burn fat and be slim. I was like you, I tell them. If you have the time and you want to listen, I now know a secret. It’s a secret most women, including myself don’t believe until they try: Lifting weights makes you lean, powerful, confident. It changes the way you view yourself and carry yourself through the world.

There is something you need to know about me: I was not an athlete as a kid. I was a social butterfly sports team participant. I was neither fast, nor strong, nor particularly coordinated. The only thing I had going for me was once I set my mind on something I never quit. I was the second to slowest female runner on the cross country team in high school but I trained at every practice and completed every meet. If someone had told me I’d be doing what I’m doing now, I would’ve bet money that I would never be able to accomplish what I have in the world of health and fitness.

I started becoming interested in fitness in college at the University of Wisconsin in 2004. That was where I ran my first 10k and had the thought that someday I’d like to be “fit enough” to run a marathon. In graduate school while living in Chicago, I put my dream into an action plan thanks to a friend who had run one before. He gave me a training schedule swore up and down if I stuck to it I’d get there and we could meet up and run a marathon together. I had six months to build to 20 miles without stopping. I had never run more than 3 miles. I thought okay, I’ll just be disciplined enough to run each day it says run X many miles and I’ll get there. I stuck to the plan and ran my first marathon in 4 hours 15 min up and down the hills of San Francisco.

Action Steps:

1) You didn’t need to be athletic as a kid to get in shape as an adult. It’s never too late

2) Whether you’re big into fitness or looking to get started there’s no right way. Let your journey be your own.

3) As you begin, log your accomplishments no matter how small they may seem. The first time I ever ran more than 3 miles I logged it. Going back to those original logs and reading my sense of pride and confidence fuels me even now.