Why I Love Lifting Weights

“WEIGHT TRAINING IS FOR EVERYONE. ONCE YOU BEGIN AND BECOME CONSISTENT, YOU’LL SEE IT ISN’T AS INTIMIDATING AS IT LOOKS.“

If you’ve been following along with me, you know I’ve posted a few functional movement exercises and tutorials here and there. I plan to add more of my movement programs to the “Functional Movement” section on this Neu by Nicole site soon so that we may move and train together!

My movements have always been about strength training above all else. Yes, working out for aesthetics (ex. working to get abs, etc.) is nice to do for your body, but working out to build strength comes with benefits. Strength training can make our bodies stronger physically and mentally, improve our bone health, prevent chronic diseases, and for me the most important one of them all: prevent injury (when training correctly with correct form). When you train with me, I will share proper cueing to help you with your form so that you do not injure yourself in the process.

My love for training with weights started 14 years ago in a gym. A close friend of mine brought me to a gym she worked at, and I attended a few classes with her. I remember going to a cycling class and trying so hard to keep up with everyone’s speed and wondering why it was so hard for me to keep up with the speed until the instructor shouted, “okay increase the resistance!” and by then it was halfway to the end of the class as everyone increased their cycle’s resistance by turning the resistance knob located right in the front center of the cycle between the handlebars. I was thinking, wow I had already been going high resistance for straight 30 minutes at everyone else’s speed lol, never will that happen again!

From that day forward I signed up for a membership and going to the gym was an outlet for me at a time in my life when I was trying to figure everything out, especially with my career being that I had just graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology. I had no idea what kind of work I wanted to do. Kinesiology ranges from physical therapy, sports medicine, chiropractic work, personal training, occupational therapy, etc. I just did not know which type of Kinesiology work that I wanted to go into as a career.

Having a full-time job and going to the gym on my free time as well as spending time with friends was my life in California and I enjoyed it! I knew I needed to put my degree to use and so I decided to go through with personal training, and I applied to a few gyms in the area. I received a job offer within a week and worked full time immediately. I was surrounded with other personal trainers who shared similar values and goals. Fitness for me is a lifestyle. It is fun for me, and I try my best to incorporate it in everything I do, not just in the gym.

We all know that exercise is great for us. When we think about movement for health a lot of people train for cardiovascular exercise (going for a run, playing sports, or swimming laps). These activities are all wonderful to stay healthy and fit, but I encourage you to add resistance training into your movements by lifting weights. I know from experience that it can improve our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing while transforming our bodies. I will go more into detail of what’s to come and I hope you will join me in my workouts soon!

Weight training IS for everyone. You don’t need to lift heavy, just know that you will increase strength when you are consistent with my movement programs and tutorials. I’m here to educate and support you through experiencing and understanding the benefits of weightlifting, and the best part of it all is that it does not require a gym or expensive equipment.

I know it can be easier said than done, but I ‘m looking forward to showing you what has helped me to be consistent and get it done. I can’t wait to guide you and share my recommendations for getting started, being consistent, training correctly, and sticking with it!

xo,

Nicole