Rose City Strength

Some PR’s from today.

One of my guys brought his college age son with him this morning. We talked about his training and how he almost exclusively uses machines. This lead to a discussion about the merits of free weight exercise (e.g. barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells) for someone with mostly aesthetic goals. I told him there is no reason he ever needs to do a single squat, deadlift, etc. HOWEVER what he may find is that by incorporating a certain amount his old back injury could very well trouble him less (or completely resolve), that he notices his physique fill out in a way that it only will when the core is challenged under load (which doesn’t happen using machines), and that his machine exercises see a boost.

The woman in the first video is 80 years old and this footage is from her initial assessment. When we first spoke on the phone she said she only wanted to train upper body which is something I expect to hear from a 16 year old boy or 40 year old man but not an 80 year old woman. When I asked why she said she walks 4 miles per day and has done so for the last several years almost without missing (except for one day when she flew to Portugal 😆). Which is fantastic but obviously doesn’t tick the box for having a stable, mobile, strong, injury resilient lower body. When I asked her to sit to the plates she could sit just fine but was unable to stand back up without using her hands to assist. Which is at the same time incredible considering the joint angle of her hips and knees in the sitting position but also not at all surprising or uncommon for a woman her age. With a few simple cues and some reassurance she was able to knock out 10 reps with ease. It’s amazing to think about how much this woman’s life is going to be improved by a little targeted lower body and core work (and how if she had it her way we would just be knocking out heavy bench presses each week 😝)

# morristownnj

Some PR’s from today

The snow
Turned in
To
Rain

I deeply miss this man. So much time spent in deep conversation - “the well of thoughts” as he called it.

Gyms had been allowed to reopen for a grand total of two days when the old-old gym flooded. It was a strange time to be looking for commercial space and of what little was available very little was suitable (or affordable 😅). I had spoken with everyone I could think of but I hadn’t found the right place and the clock was ticking so I thought what the heck let me go talk with the crazy old man who has that building on the corner. In the warm weather the front door was propped wide open and the smell of lubricating oil rolled coolly out to greet me on the sidewalk. Standing on the threshold I called out and a voice called back. Stepping inside my hand gripped a worn wooden banister and I heard my feet make a hollow ringing sound against the spiral steel stairs as I climbed. Coming out of the final turn three things happened in immediate succession of one another: my second foot hit the landing; my eyes locked with those of an elderly man - obscured and magnified by thick glasses - sitting behind a desk at the opposite end of a long room; and on an otherwise clear summer day lightning crashed and thunder boomed and shook through the bones of that old building.

And a heartbeat later rain began to fall in sheets on the thin roof.