Working at the YMCA gives me a chance to work with a wide variety of people. Occasionally, those people let me share their a piece of their lives with the outside world.
Not everyone I train has aspirations of competition or joining the lifting team. Most are working to better themselves - to be strong enough to rise to the challenges that life brings, to change their body shape, to test the waters and see what they are capable of. For Hannah, it was a bit of all of those things. We first started training together in March of 2017. She was looking for a way to regain her fitness while juggling all of the challenges that come along with being a professional (who occasionally travels on business) and a new mother. While that's a common enough, and big enough hurtle for anyone to travel, the biggest motivator to get strong may have come from chronic pain.
Weight lifting and chronic pain may not seem to be obvious bed fellows, but research is proving that prudent strength training often slows the progress of various degenerative issues and assists with pain management and slows the progression of various spinal degenerative conditions. With the help of a small village (Physical Therapy, Chiropractic care, Orthopedist), she's come a long way.
If you've ever been the mother of a small child, you probably understand what it's like to be sick for the better part of their first few years of life. For some parents, it's all warm and fuzzy cuddles and coos. For many of us, though, there it can feel like an eternity of late nights, runny noses, and a delve into the black hole of unfathomable exhaustion. While many women taught breastfeeding as being the key to getting the 'pre baby body back', 60% of women who do breast feed report weight gain, which can be further frustrating to anyone who isn't basking in the postpartum glow.
Early Motherhood Is Hard. It's a new kind of hard for all first time moms.
(Video date 1/2019)
But no matter how tough those nights are, Hannah shows up. She shows up when it's easy. She shows up when it's hard. As many people in chronic pain are, she's very much in tune with her body, but we're still discovering what she's capable of. Reaping the benefits of intelligent consistency, Hannah has continued to stretch her boundaries, and we're still finding the limits of her capabilities and pushing them just a little bit more.
Yes, motherhood is hard - but it also adds a unique edge to an already powerful spirit.
I know whatever challenge I give her, she'll rise to meet it.
Not everyone I train has aspirations of competition or joining the lifting team. Most are working to better themselves - to be strong enough to rise to the challenges that life brings, to change their body shape, to test the waters and see what they are capable of. For Hannah, it was a bit of all of those things. We first started training together in March of 2017. She was looking for a way to regain her fitness while juggling all of the challenges that come along with being a professional (who occasionally travels on business) and a new mother. While that's a common enough, and big enough hurtle for anyone to travel, the biggest motivator to get strong may have come from chronic pain.
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| First Deadlift PR - 90lbs, May 2017 |
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| 150lbs Deadlift - Jan 2019 |
If you've ever been the mother of a small child, you probably understand what it's like to be sick for the better part of their first few years of life. For some parents, it's all warm and fuzzy cuddles and coos. For many of us, though, there it can feel like an eternity of late nights, runny noses, and a delve into the black hole of unfathomable exhaustion. While many women taught breastfeeding as being the key to getting the 'pre baby body back', 60% of women who do breast feed report weight gain, which can be further frustrating to anyone who isn't basking in the postpartum glow.
Early Motherhood Is Hard. It's a new kind of hard for all first time moms.
But no matter how tough those nights are, Hannah shows up. She shows up when it's easy. She shows up when it's hard. As many people in chronic pain are, she's very much in tune with her body, but we're still discovering what she's capable of. Reaping the benefits of intelligent consistency, Hannah has continued to stretch her boundaries, and we're still finding the limits of her capabilities and pushing them just a little bit more.
Yes, motherhood is hard - but it also adds a unique edge to an already powerful spirit.
I know whatever challenge I give her, she'll rise to meet it.
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