Do you FEEL stronger yet??

Ramberta

My story for today about lifting:

Generally, even though at my job (I work as a stocker) I am technically required to lift up to 45 lbs without assistance, the fact is that most of our freight is packaged in boxes less than 30 pounds. Which is fine, except that when it comes to the ACTUALLY heavy stuff, it can be a struggle -- 60 lb boxes of sawhorses, 50 lb boxes of grass seed, 50 lb air compressors, and of course, the dreaded pallets full of dozens of 45 lb boxes of nails and screws. These boxes are only a couple feet long and a foot tall, but they are DENSE.

This morning there were TWO of said pallets, and my male co-worker who normally He-Mans the heavy lifting had to leave early because he also is going to school. He helped me as best he could, but by the time he was gone there was still a full pallet's worth to do. And since at least half of it can't immediately go out on the shelf, it has to be overstocked with a ladder, placed up above the aisle in the "mega rack".

Before I started lifting, I would have looked at that pallet and curled up into a fetal position and wept -- I would not have been able to do it. I've been at this job 7 months, and for the first 5, I always had to ask for help with these damned nail and screw boxes. I couldn't even lift a single box above my shoulders, let alone two dozen!!

But today I busted it out (even though I stayed an extra hour to finish it), and I feel tired, but not strained. It was still hard, but not impossible at all. I feel like I am getting stronger because I am lifting every other day now, and even though it's still in the "weakling" category of weightlifting (the highest weight I can do a full rep set on a machine is 90 lbs) I can already feel the progress in my muscles.

If you don't lift weights already, please please PLEASE consider it! It won't make you "bulky", it will make you STRONG! And in addition to all the health benefits, both in short-term and long-term for your body and your life, it will also boost your confidence, and give you the ability to do things you never thought you could. Believe me, it is such an awesome feeling to have to ask for help less and less at work. I LOVE that I am the strongest girl in my department for the stocker program, and that now the other girls come to me for help! If you're smart about it and don't injure yourself, lifting will never, ever be something you regret doing.

If you already lift, how long have you been doing it? At what point did you really notice yourself becoming stronger? What weight program / routine do you use, and why did you choose that particular one?

Happy Friday everyone

misifer

My "I'm Strong" moment came when I was filling sandbags last Friday as we have major flooding around us. We had quite the pile building up and needed to move them to another area out of the way. Without thinking I picked up two, one in each hand, and walked them to where they needed to be. They were heavy but not impossible to move. I had to do this for several trips. It didn't hit me until we had moved about half of what we needed and someone made a comment about me carrying two "like nothing" while they struggled to carry one sandbag.

I've been lifting since early February, so almost 3 months now. I've increased all of my weights 20-30 lbs.
I do my own version of 5x5, which is based off the Stronglifts 5x5 program. I add some extra stuff and I often sub squats for something else since my gym doesn't have a rack for me to safely do heavy squats (or I do squats with as much as I can safely lift over my head and onto my shoulders).

Sparlingo

Mine was a small one: upping my weights for biceps and triceps.

I had it so ingrained that I *couldn't* and *wouldn't* ever get stronger (years of negative self-thoughts) that even though I was working to overcome that, I didn't really believe that I could get stronger until I found that the same weights weren't challenging me anymore and I needed to increase my weights.

Such a good moment. Can't wait to experience more of them!!

dbmata

I'll break the guy seal.

I'm not exactly lifting, at least not starting strength type stuff.

I'm boxing, doing kettleballs and sledge hammer stuff with it. I've gotten silly stronger. I'm working on some garden planters right now, and our ground is rocky, I've been blasting through the rocks easily and tirelessly. I moved 1.5 yards of dirt in a matter of a few minutes without breaking sweat, using a shovel and a wheelbarrow with a busted wheel.

It's nothing big, like suddenly lifting up a mini like I'm the hulk on a roid rage, it's this little functional stuff that is nice. Also it's getting pretty easy to move around 5 gallon kegs of beer.

squirrell79

I'm in month 2 of Chalean Extreme, which is an "Introduction to Weights for Utter Beginners" type program. No, I haven't lost weight or gotten back into my college jeans, but I'm very pleased with my increased strength. Moving up in weights is very motivating; I can do bicep curls with 15 lb dumbbells now! This would have been impossible before. I can also do more push ups on my toes, which is cool and secretly makes me feel like G.I. Jane.

Edited for grammar