Years of Conditioning

Lennon started football training the other day, and whilst he was no Lionel Messi -yet- it was great to watch the boys all run around doing some football drills, having fun, meeting other kids and learning how they will eventually play as a team.

Luckily Maeve was entertained by some other kids, and so I was able to hang on the sides and have a chat to some of the parents. One of the mums was talking about her son who has started high school this year and how he has suddenly got into wanting to lift weights and go to the gym. I’m sure there is a big pressure from social media etc… but that’s a chat for another time.

Anyway, she asked me if there were any dangers in him training, or lifting weights at his age, of which there used to be the old rhetoric that it will stunt your growth, which is untrue. Anyway the conversation naturally turned to them asking how the gym was going and we started talking about women and training.

One of the mums, who is lovely was saying about how her whole life, working out has been about being skinny. Years of conditioning from mainstream media about how you should look, and why is set in so deep it’s unreal. She then made the offhand comment

‘You’ll be taking the protein shakes next’ to one of the other mums.

I asked what she meant, and she just went on about taking a protein shake to get buff like the bodybuilders do.

Again, it’s all just narrative that’s been ingrained into us from so young. If you’re around 30 or older, then likely you’ll have been conditioned to see women using light teeny tiny weights, and doing aerobics classes and men like Arnold shwarzanegger lift big ass weights and taking protein shakes.

It’s year of conditioning, and as much as the narrative is changing, it’s so hard to un do all those years of being told this is how and what you should do.

Women were led to believe that if they looked at anything more than a 6kg weight they’d start looking like a bodybuilder, and god forbid if they take a protein shake, well, they’ll just stack the muscle on. I. F-ing. Wish!!!!!

If it was that easy, wouldn’t anyone who went to the gym be walking around like they were jacked. I’ve been going to the gym for years, to constantly try and progress and I look like a pretty average person.

Yes, genetics will play a part and we could all eat and train the same and we’d all look different. But to be afraid of lifting heavier weights and taking a protein shake for the fear of getting bulky is wild, not to mention then all the benefits of strength training and protein intake that you’d be missing out on.

Anyway, the story and the narrative is changing, but it’s hard to un-do the years of conditioning we’ve been exposed to since we were little.Just know, that lifting heavier weights, isn’t going to make you bulky, it’s going to make your bones and muscle strong, and make you more capable to do shit. Having a protein shake isn’t going to turn you into Arnold, it’s literally protein, and it;s a supplement, a cheeky little ‘whey’ (sorry, not sorry) to add a bit more protein into your diet to support your hard earned muscle and overall function of your body.

I’d love for us to age in such a way that we all have such strong bones and good muscle tissue so as to render the orthopedic surgeon job a little redundant, no offense to the surgeons, but i’m looking it at it from the preventative health lens.

Lawrence x