The most visible part of weight training are the weights, but the weights are only a means to an end, the creation of resistance. Here’s a little challenge, lift your hand above your head to full extension, then move it back to where it started. This is both a simple and easy movement. But if you do the same movement pulling a rubber resistance band or holding a dumbbell, the movement remains simple but is no longer easy. That’s how uncomplicated the concept of resistance training is! But something can be too simple, and then we have an irresistible urge to make it more difficult, or complicated, or profound, and then lose sight of the whole point.
Years ago I remember going to a gym, there was an old guy, probably my age now, but he stuck out for all the wrong reasons. He would do arm curls with dumbbells, but the weight he was using was far too heavy for him. I’m now going to do my best to describe his action. He bent his knees forward, pushed his bum backwards, and moved the dumbbells behind the line of his shoulders. Everything that had gone backwards now went forwards, his arms swung forward, his pelvis thrust forward, his knees straightened, and the dumbbells he was holding swung forwards. He got himself into a rhythm and did his reps, it was like watching the pendulum of a clock. What he was doing took effort, but not the effort you needed to honestly arm curl that kind of weight. People love to say I can squat this amount of pounds, or bench press ‘x’ amount of kg, but doing this is all about the amount of weight and ego you have. However, if you’re a power lifter, or working towards goals, or sensibly and humbly talking to those who are interested, that’s different, you can talk weight. Mentally you need to understand the purpose of resistance training, and then you need to understand the physicality and biology of your body.
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