Home›Newsletter›Issue 22
Strong Is Not a Trend
Your bones do not care what is trending.
By Jianna Bustamante, DPTWhole Health Weekly
Happy Friday and Happy Newsletter Day!
I have been FLOATING all week. I ran my half marathon in the pouring rain and finished in 1:55, which is a time I genuinely did not think I had in me. This weekend I get to celebrate properly in NYC with Julia, seeing Harry Styles.
But the part I keep coming back to is not the time on the clock. It is that I spent months asking my body to do something hard, and then it went out and did it, in weather that made everyone miserable. That feeling had nothing to do with how I looked doing it.
So a number from this week’s podcast landed differently for me. Somebody polled people on why they exercise, not what they do but why, and 78% gave the same answer. It was not weight. It was not looks. It was their mental health.
That tracks with everything I found myself saying in the clinic this week.
Weekly perspective
The Reason Changed
On this week’s episode, Gary and Peter got into a poll where 78% of people said the main reason they exercise is their mental health. Both of them guessed wrong before the answer came out. They assumed it would be the scale or the mirror, because for a long time that is exactly what it was.
That shift says less about exercise than it does about how people are feeling.
Here is the part I want you to sit with. Feeling bad is almost never one problem. It is sleep, and food, and how much you moved, and how connected you are to other people, and what is going on at work and at home. A thousand small inputs, not one broken thing.
Which sounds overwhelming until you notice something. Movement touches several of those at once. You get the chemistry. You get the sense of having done a hard thing. You often get other people. And you get the quiet confidence of a body that does what you ask it to.
That last one is underrated. So much of what I hear in the clinic is not “I want to look different.” It is “I want to feel like I used to.” People miss being capable. Getting up off the floor without planning it. Carrying everything in one trip. Going up the stairs without thinking about the stairs.
So if you are trying to feel better and you do not know where to start, start where you get the most for your effort.
Not because your body is the problem. Because your body is the lever you can actually pull today.
Exercise of the week
Farmer’s Carry
What is it?
Holding a heavy weight in each hand and walking. That is the whole exercise. Dumbbells, kettlebells, or two very full grocery bags.
Why is it beneficial?
It trains what real life actually asks of you. Your core has to keep your ribs stacked over your hips while you walk, your grip and upper back work the entire time, and your hips and feet learn to stay steady under load.
It also loads your skeleton, which is exactly the stimulus bone needs to hold onto its density.
Who’s it for?
Almost everybody. Great for low back pain, for anyone who feels unsteady on their feet, for postpartum clients rebuilding trunk control, and for athletes who need grip and bracing. It is also one of the easiest ways to start strength training, because you already know how to walk.
How to perform it:
- Set a weight on the floor at each side of you.
- Stand between them, hinge at your hips, and grip both handles.
- Stand tall: chest up, shoulders down and back, ribs stacked over your hips.
- Walk forward with normal, controlled steps for 20 to 40 feet.
- Turn around, walk back, and set the weights down under control.
- Do 3 to 4 trips, resting as needed.
Common mistakes:
Leaning away from the heavier side. Shrugging up toward your ears. Tiny shuffling steps. Rushing. And going too light, this one is supposed to feel heavy.
Healthy tip of the week
Pair One Walk With One Person
That is the whole tip. The same walk you might have taken anyway, with somebody in it.
- Call your sister while you loop the neighborhood.
- Ask your partner to come along after dinner.
- Park at the far end and walk in with a coworker.
- Bring a friend to the gym instead of going alone.
You are stacking two of the biggest inputs on how you feel into one thing you were already going to do.
When was the last time you moved your body with someone else in it?
This week in the clinic
Strong Is Not a Trend
I found myself saying the same thing over and over this week: women need to stay strong, and women need to be proud of what their bodies can do.
Popular culture has decided that skinny is the trend again. Celebrities keep getting smaller. And underneath all of that, the actual numbers are not good. Only about 27% of women in this country meet the basic guideline for strength training twice a week, and it drops to 17% for women over 65. Meanwhile, among adults over 50, more than half of women have low bone mass, the stage before osteoporosis, and about 1 in 5 already has osteoporosis. For women, that has gotten worse over the last decade, not better.
Your bones, muscles and tissues do not care what is trending. They respond to load, and they lose capacity when you do not give them any.
I am not immune to any of this. I catch myself hyperfocusing on how my body looks instead of what my body allows me to do. But my body just carried me 13.1 miles in the rain. That is worth celebrating a lot more than criticizing my belly rolls.
If you are a woman who has never picked up a heavy weight, that is where I want you to start. Not to change how you look. To keep everything you have.
Upcoming Events
- Prenatal Yoga + Pelvic Health Evening
- Tuesday, September 22, 5:30-7pm
- Location: Whole Health Solutions
- ONE SPOT LEFT!
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- Click Below to Register!
Jianna mentioned this week's Different Life podcast episode. Want to hear it?
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