STOP holding YOUrself back!!

Our mind is our biggest BARRIER OR OUR BIGGEST ASSET in our health efforts. I've said it before and I'll say it over and over. There are stories that we really NEED to pay more attention to. Stories that REALLY DESERVE our attention in the form of THINKING about how we individually approach our health and wellbeing.

The article was from CBC that shared about the Canadian Powerlifting Championships last Thursday in St John's, Nfld.

(Fun fact: 50% of the over 800 participants were women! That's an awesome statistic, showing that STRENGTH is moving in the right direction. I.e. it's not just a male thing. It benefits all of us!)

What really caught my attention with this article and made me smile though, is the mention of some of the participants. One of them being Mava Brydges, who is 68yrs old. Mava squated 132.5kg (291.5lbs) at this event. That's 5kg the national record for her age and weight class (which SHE set back in 2022)!! The article went on to say...

"In the next few hours, she set two new records, finishing the morning by hoisting a 140-kilogram barbell off the ground as a crowd of gobsmacked fans cheered and shouted her name."

I'm guessing maybe a deadlift? Regardless, that's 308lbs she's lifting!! Did I mention she's 68yrs old?? Oh yes, I did.

Another participant, Linda Rousseau participated in the competition as well. She's 72-years old and deadlifted 127.5kg (280.5lbs) while wearing "sparkly glasses and rainbow striped socks" (I wish they had a picture of that - I was smiling just reading about it).

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Here's the full article. It's not long and it's powerful! I highly recommend you take a read: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/record-smashing-powerlifter-68-says-she-lives-for-the-clang-of-the-weights-9.7126974

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I'll repeat the title of this post again now....

STOP holding YOUrself back!!!

Notice the emphasis on the "YOU". This is YOUR barrier. No one elses.

👉 YOU are telling yourself "I'm old" or "I can't"

👉 YOU are letting your mind tell stories on you

Here's the worst one...

👉 YOU think you're "special"

You think YOUR "situation" is unique.

You think YOU are facing odds different than "anyone else out there".

You think YOU just don't have the ability to change.

Sorry to burst your bubble. THAT mindset actually means you're NORMAL, NOT special. Special I would argue are folks like these two women in this article who go AGAINST the grain. They put in the work (see the article for a bit on this). They don't believe the lies that are in their head like "I'm too old".

OUR MINDSET is our BIGGEST barrier!!!

👉 Do you need to lift like a powerlifter? NO.

👉 Do you need to train for a competition like these women? NO.

👉 Do you need to put as much work in as these women have? NO.

BUT YOU CAN if you CHOOSE to. The message here is that it's NOT age, it's NOT ability...

IT'S YOUR OWN HEAD HOLDING YOU BACK.

(Fun Fact: When you search for "senior weightlifting" in images guess what pops up? The stereotypical, light weights with older adults smiling as they lift their 3lbs weights overhead for example. I'm not saying we should be ashamed to start there - it's that MOST of us think we "should" stay there because it's "safer". It's hard to find pictures of an older adult lifting heavy right now due to the decades of stigma. People like the two ladies mentioned in the CBC article shared here are part of that change in mindset and understanding of the benefits of REAL STRENGTH).