Live Well Lift More

Lifting is so important!  Especially for us ladies.  Truthfully, I do not love lifting.  Maybe because I compare myself to my college self.  In college, I swam for Cornell's division I swim team.  I am only 5 feet 1 inch and was the smallest swimmer on the team.  But, I trained hard and even got my name up on the lifting wall as one of the best lifters on the women's swim team.  At the end of college I topped off at 128 pounds.  For a few years I kept up running, swimming, and lifting.  Then I got sick.

My first year of medical school, I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease.  Crohn's disease is an autoimmune disease where your body attacks its own intestinal lining.  I had not been feeling well for awhile and started losing weight.  At my low I was 85 pounds.  On top of that, I was on A LOT of steroids.  The combination of weight loss, steroids, and malabsorption led me to develop osteoporosis, or weak brittle bones.  The first step to helping my bones was to get off steroids.  After months of not improving with steroids, I finally agreed to switch to a life long immune suppressive therapy.  It finally worked!  Next, was for my gut lining to heal, so I could absorb nutrients like calcium and Vitamin D.  Lastly, I needed to lift again.  Weight lifting helps stress your bones so that they grow back stronger.

Me at 85 pounds and still enjoying baking ha

Let me tell you, it was really hard to get back into lifting.  I felt so weak.  I thank my boyfriend, Mike, for getting me into crossfit.  I needed the team environment to get me motivated to lift again.  I recommend if you want to start crossfit please, please find a gym that has coaches that focus on technique.  The one I went to, Corssfit Furion, had the most amazing coaching staff!  They really did help me get comfortable lifting again.  They also helped me get my bone density almost back to normal!!  At the same time, I am in so, so much debt as a 4th year medical student that I no longer could afford crossfit classes, so I joined a community gym, Echelon Health and Fitness.

At first I kept lifting on my own.  However, when I had to live away from home for a few months for auditioning at different hospitals, I lost my motivation to lift.  I got into a rut of spin classes (which I LOVE for cardio) and the elliptical while watching lectures.  I didn't realize how weak I became until I developed knee pain (patella-femoral syndrome) from weak inner thigh muscles.  I told myself... THAT IS IT! You are going back to lifting!

Next, I got into Les Mills Body Pump classes... which I need to thank one of my favorite group fitness instructors, Spring, for encouraging me to do.  Yesterday, I completed Les Mills Body Pump class 104 and was able to use my heaviest weights so far!

My point of this long post is to encourage women to lift.  Lift to help your bones!  Lift to help your mood and get out stress!  Lift to make you physically and mentally stronger!  Lift because you deserve to keep your body healthy so that you can LIVE WELL!

Me now at 110 pounds.