Hello Friends! I like to enumerate the Mental Health benefits of exercise around here. I think that tends to skew cardio friendly, though. And while I have talked a bit about strength training, I want to highlight one of the reasons I think makes it super special.

The other day I came home from the gym and told my husband I had a really good workout. He immediately asked me if I had embarrassed some steel. Which had electrolytes coming out of my nose. But something really clicked in my brain when he asked that.

Part of the reason that going for a walk scratches that calm-me-down itch is because your sneakers don’t ask for anything else. Dumbbells are the same way. They don’t require anything from us other than us showing up every once in awhile to push them around.

There is nowhere else in life that we get to do that. And that is so freeing. A walk can take you anywhere your feet can carry you safely. A barbell’s entire purpose is for you to make it your b****. For lack of a better phrase.

But sometimes a walk or bike ride can feel a bit empty. Sure, you just took 30 minutes of you time, but what was the purpose after that? And that’s where strength training has a leg up. Any further purpose is built right in because you just spent 30 minutes doing something really hard.

Even if you are just starting out or recovering from something or just flat out feel like you aren’t a particularly strong person, there is something super empowering about pulling and squatting and lunging a whole bunch of added weight. No matter what your actual end goal is, you feel awesome leaving knowing you just did all that.

And beyond the Physical Health, there are even other Mental Health purposes built in to strength training. Each and every set you are psyching yourself up to do the thing. Each and every set you finish you know you have to do it again (except your actual last exercise of course).

And that’s just during one singular workout. We know that there’s a solid chance any given workout is going to cause delayed onset muscle soreness and we won’t feel our physical best for a day or two. But we show up for the next workout regardless. Because we know we are getting better slowly but surely.

Strength training requires mental toughness. Apologies to all my (former) athletes out there that just had a very visceral reaction to that phrase, but it is true. The discipline needed to go do something physically challenging when life isn’t being kind is impressive enough. But the grit necessary to access the mental and emotional reserves when it feels like they’re running dry is awe inspiring.

So go ahead. Embarrass some steel. That’s what it’s there for.

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