Who cares what you’re losing when you’re making all those gains?
It’s the shouting that baffles me. Why would I ever willingly put myself in a situation where I’m told off? Yet, for so long, this seemed to be the only way to strength train. Go to a very loud class and be told to ‘go hard or go home’. I went to a few. I never went back. I tried the weights room at my gym, but there it was less about the shouting and more about the grunting – where musclemen (who, hey, I’m not slagging off, we all have our hobbies) would take over the space, leaving me feeling intimidated because I didn’t know what I was doing.
Yet, I really wanted to lift weights. It keeps your bones healthy and is good for your heart, metabolism, posture and sleep (and loads more). Plus, I wanted to do something regularly where I could see improvement. My existing mix of yoga, spinning and boxing was so inconsistent that I often felt like a beginner, despite going to classes for years. That was when I found Lift Studio London, which has created a women-only space where the emphasis is on training for joy. I signed up to two sessions a week for three months and it ended up transforming the way I felt about exerise and my body. Here’s why.
1 WORK OUT FOR THE JOY OF IT
About five years ago, I ran a half marathon. This should have been an achievement, but I hated myself the entire time. Why? Because I was exercising purely as a way to lose weight. I was angry at myself for not being as lithe as the other runners. This – say Mimi and Danni, who set up Lift Studio London – is common. Thanks to entrenched dietculture values, they have found clients would only choose workouts that they thought would change their body. ‘We set up the studio to create a space where exercise is enjoyable,’ says Danni. ‘Sometimes, people come to us to change their bodies, and building muscle is a way to do that, but then they realise it gives them so much more.’ They’re keen to encourage overall wellbeing and want people to come to classes for a variety of reasons, from making new friends to mental health. It really helps – dragging myself out of bed at 5.30am (my regular class was 6.45am) was a lot easier if I told myself, ‘This will be fun, you’ll listen to The Spice Girls and laugh with people,’ rather than, ‘Go on, you have to, you lazy slob.’ It’s about approaching exercise with joy, not punishment.
