5 hours Ago By Heather Saul
This week I had the most incredible endorphin rush. I was grunting loudly, releasing every single bit of pent-up aggression and stress that had been sitting in my body. In one fell swoop the mental load I was carrying, from work to parenting, was lifted.
I felt pure joy emanating from every single corner of my body. I’d done it. I’d finally managed to lift 75kg on my shoulders, from a weighted squat.
Those are words I never thought I’d utter. Weightlifting isn’t for women, right? It’s for those men who like parading around gyms, checking their pecs, measuring their “gains”, and obsessing over their six packs. Well, that’s what women were raised to think: cardio and group classes for the girls , weights for the boys.
We were made to believe that weight training was just not the “feminine” thing to do, that if we dared to wander over to that side of the gym, we risked developing a “manly” body that no one would find attractive. But like a lot of things in this world, education on the gym and exercise is historically sexist. One thing I’m thankful for this year is the realisation that weight training can be one of the most emotionally and physically satisfying things older women could possibly do.
For me, it’s been the biggest “self-care” change I’ve made in 2024. Read Next Poorna Bell: Powerlifting taught me to live with my grief – and showed me the strength I had all along I’m what you would call a disloyal gym-goer. I’m really good at that initial stage, and I push through the start of every year when you’re bombarded by gym discounts, fitness books, and weight loss gurus hawking their latest wares, be that some new diet plan or pill.
Invariably, I’d end up ditching my new routine within a couple of months and return to the gym every now and then when I had a big event I needed to dress up for. I completely understood the concept of exercise making you feel better, but it never connected with me. It felt like a chore to add to the never-ending list of chores we must get done in everyday life.
If there was something that I didn’t need in my life, it was this – yet another task to have to remember to do in the midst of parenting and a hectic work schedule. But a year ago, something changed in me. I’d had enough of feeling sluggish all the time.
It was less about weight loss and more about just feeling more like “me” again. Two kids in quick succession can do that. It wasn’t just the weight thing: despite being a confident self-assured woman, I just didn’t feel, well, strong.
At the same time, I’d noticed that my mate Caroline, a mum of three, had gone through a sort of metamorphosis. She had very obvious changes to her body, but it wasn’t just that. She stood taller, she held herself in a totally different way.
She just seemed...
stronger. We sat and had a chat and Caroline told me she was weight training. I wanted in.
She talked me through it all, but most importantly, she told me not to be afraid of it. She told me of the joy of feeling strong. From that day on, I’ve not looked back.
I’ve had wobbles where I’ve felt none of it is worth it and that I was wasting my time. I’ve had a couple of days where I finally learned what DOMS [delayed onset muscle soreness] meant – I could barely walk the next day after a particularly grueling session. My friend Lee had to explain why I felt like my legs were about to fall off.
I’ve had those days where it all just seemed impossible. But do you know what? It’s the first time in my life that I’ve stuck with a particular exercise for a whole year and not given up. Let me tell you why.
I feel stronger, yes. I feel healthier, yes. But it’s the sense of accomplishment at succeeding in something I never thought I could that really makes me feel happy.
When I started, I laughed in the face of heavily weighted squats – they just seemed like an impossible task I’d never crack. But my goodness, when I finally smashed through the 75kg squats this week, I could have cried. We often talk about women being emotionally strong, but being physically strong adds a whole new layer that I genuinely can’t imagine not having in my arsenal now.
It’s a level of power that boosts mental well-being. I haven’t yet reached the dizzy heights of staring at myself in gym mirror, flexing my muscles, or parading around to show off my gains, but hey, there’s still time. Charlene White is a presenter for ‘ITV News’ and ‘Loose Women’.
