( Women ’ s Health )
LET GO OF PRETTY TO FIND STRONG
Nardia Norman shares her lightbulb moment about training .
NARDIA NORMAN ecently I ’ ve been following a
R specific Strength Training
program with my flatmate and fellow personal trainer , Lisa . It ’ s the first one I have stuck to in years ( due to the amazing programming of Bret Contreras ( the Glute Guy ). We ’ ve only been into it a short time but the benefits are already starting to show : I have less pain in my joints , I am moving more freely , I can run up a flight of stairs without fatiguing in my legs , and I am getting stronger ( which is the whole point of the program ).
Normally following a program so strictly would bore me to tears but I am really enjoying the structure and routine of it . I especially enjoy training with Lisa too but apart from the camaraderie involved , I truly believe that lifting heavy weights is a metaphor for life . There are so many lessons that can be learned from being under a bar , and well , since I am a firm believer in the saying ‘ how you do anything is how you do everything ’ I am being confronted with some interesting truths .
The aim of the program is to progressively add weights , to challenge ourselves session to session , in order to achieve the gains we desire . This seems quite straightforward but when we are dealing with heavy weights ( weights that can seem ridiculously heavy and scary ), it fast becomes a mental game . For days now Lisa and I have been nudging our weights up to our red zone , which is the zone that is extremely physically and mentally challenging ; it ’ s a place that ’ s beyond our cozy , comfortable and happy place – the danger zone if you will ( much like Maverick says in Top Gun ).
One day , as we were pushing to go heavier in our squats , I said something that was pure genius ( in my head it was , anyway !). Before I enlighten you with my endorphin-charged thought I want to give you some useful background information about how Lisa and I roll as personal trainers .
We both come from the same school of thought that encourages perfect technique and form in everything we and our clients do . It was drilled into us since we were infant trainers and we pride ourselves on our technical knowledge and the fact that coaching our clients safely is always at the centre of everything we do . We also appreciate ‘ pretty ’ movement . By this I mean we ’ ve historically stuck to the idea that true strength lies in being able to execute movement with control and form . Another way of describing this is to borrow form the ancient Greek words kalos sthenos , which translates into ‘ beautiful strength ’.
Kalos sthenos is one of my core philosophies – both professionally and personally – and I draw on it all the time . So while this philosophy serves me well 99 per cent of the time , I ’ ve realised that it may actually now be starting to hold me back . Here ’ s why : I am so accustomed to having near perfect form in all my movements that I cannot allow myself to have ‘ ugly ’ form . However , and this is the big kicker right here , I will NEVER get stronger trying to retain perfect form because it means I will never push through my red zone .
Strength gains require points where you break down . This is because new strength can only be obtained when we find a weakness and improve it ; we can ’ t get stronger if we aren ’ t allowing ourselves to find our weakness .
So , going back to my post-squat lightbulb moment , I said to Lisa ‘ our obsession with pretty is stopping us from reaching our goals ; we need to let to learn how to play with imperfect form and be okay with that .’
Click to tweet . Boom . Mic drop .
We have to learn to be okay with it , not just from an aesthetic perspective but also from a trust perspective . In my head anything less than perfect form signals potential for injury , and historically , moving away from the safe zone – for me – triggers fear . And where there is fear there is retreat . Yet in this situation , the fear is keeping me small and weak , which is a space I do not want to play in . I want to be big , strong and confident – under the bar and in real life . As I mentioned earlier , I believe lifting weights is a metaphor for life and in this specific scenario I cannot think of a better lesson .
So from here on in I am committed to letting go of pretty in order to find strong – in ALL areas of my life . And as Lisa and I continue on our strength journey I will continue to embrace the ugly , uncomfortable and downright scary . Are you ready to join us too ?
YOU CAN CONTACT NARDIA VIA : Web : nardianorman . com Facebook : nardia . norman Twitter : @ nardianorman Instagram : @ nardianorman
32 OH ! MAGAZINE ( JANUARY 2017 )