I wrote yesterday about how I was able to lift heavier weights in my workout and how I was shocked what I was able to do. Those workouts really opened my eyes to where I have been holding myself back without realizing it and it was a game changing moment. Sometimes I can be intimidated by the heavier weights in my workout, but I need to get over that and continue to test myself.
I think one of the reasons why I don’t test myself more often is because I don’t see my progress with strength work in my life. I see the progress in my cardio when I get a new PR with a 5K race. Or I see how much easier it is to spend a day walking at Disneyland. Or for some reason, I see weight loss or smaller clothing sizes as a sign of progress with cardio even though I know that’s not always the case. But I don’t get to see the signs of progress with lifting heavier weights since I don’t really life heavy things in my regular life.
But I had a moment where I got to see my strength in life that really added to the boost I had been feeling after my workouts.
A friend of mine had posted that he needed some help packing up his apartment into a moving truck. He was moving to a new place and he was doing the move on his own. Some of the work was just moving boxes as a team so things got done quicker, but he also had some heavy things that he needed help with. His old apartment was pretty close to my house and I had that afternoon free, so I offered to help my friend.
For most of the time that I was helping, my job was to carry boxes that he packed from his door to the moving truck (which was right next to the door) and lifting them into the back of the truck for his girlfriend to organize. The three of us worked really well as a team and it was so much easier doing it that way than to have us all climb up and down the ramp to the truck. We were very efficient in our work and things were going so much faster than any of us expected.
My friend knows that I work out, but there were still a few boxes that he was worried might be too heavy for me. They were fine (although sometimes it was tough to lift into the truck since the floor of the truck was as tall as I am) and I think there were several times where my friend was honestly impressed by what I could carry. I don’t think he expected that I could do as much as I could, but I think he was so happy that I could do it since that allowed him to keep working on packing up other things.
Once we got all the boxes into the truck, we had to move on to the few pieces of furniture that he was taking. Most of the furniture was awkward to carry, but not too heavy. We moved a dresser and a desk without too much effort. It was a bit tough for me to walk up the ramp to the truck, but that was mainly because I couldn’t see my feet and I was worried I’d fall off. I ended up doing shuffle steps up the ramp so I never had to feel like my feet were going off to the side.
The last thing my friend said he needed help moving was his bed frame. He was going to move his mattress the next day when he officially was moving out, but he said the frame was so heavy that he wanted to do it then when he had the help. I couldn’t understand how a bed frame could be heavy because I’ve only seen normal bed frames. But my friend not only had a special bed frame for a Tempurpedic mattress, it was a frame that had a motor in it so the bed could be lifted and raised in different positions.
When we tried to move it at first, there was no way we could do it. I was using all my strength and force and I could only lift it maybe half an inch off the ground for a few seconds. We weren’t sure what we were going to do, but then my friend said he’d be right back. He went through the boxes in his truck and found furniture moving straps. I had seen those straps before and knew they were supposed to help, but I still wondered if we’d be able to move the frame out of his place and into the truck.
But those straps are magic and we were able to lift it up. We had to take breaks every so often because it was still insanely heavy (I have bruises on my arms from the straps), but we got it done. And when it was in the truck, I was exhausted and so happy to be done lifting anything.
And because that frame was so heavy, of course I wanted to know what it really weighed. My friend thought it was about 300 pounds and I thought it was about 175. After several minutes of research online, we finally found it and discovered it weighed 214 pounds (so my friend and I were both wrong). Since I was helping one person lift the frame, essentially I was able to lift 107 pounds! I knew it was heavier than anything I have ever lifted at Orangetheory, but I had no idea it would be that much more! The sense of accomplishment I felt after realizing that is something I wish I could bottle and use for when I’m feeling low. I was on a high from knowing what I did and nothing could bring me down.
I know that the opportunities to lift very heavy things will be limited in my life, but it’s nice when I do have those moments so I can see some results in a normal setting. It’s a reminder and proof that I am so much stronger than I have ever been and the progress is happening even if I don’t know it.
You Might Also Like
Helping People Help Others (or A Drop Off At My Friend’s Place)
Gaining Confidence (or How Spin And My New Job Are Going Along The Same Path)
Making Time For Real Life (or Trying To Not Just Live Virtually)
Helping Out A Friend (or Getting To Act)
Brunch and Shopping (or Helping A Friend Make Some Upgrades)
Back To Real Life (or One Week Of Normalcy)
