I’m bad at math. I know that, you know that because I’ve written about it, and at least a handful of my clients know it because of that one time someone accidentally hit a personal record of 205lbs on the trap bar deadlift…

One the biggest challenges I have day to day is helping clients focus on what they are gaining, and not what they are losing. On convincing them that they can set out to be more, and not less. This is an uphill battle when most of us, women especially, come in to the gym trying to lose body fat, inches, weight or appetite.

If you include a dynamic warm up in your program (hint: do your warm up and here’s why), as well as using the foam roller, you’re gaining better range of motion. Hopefully exercise is helping you to move better, think better, sleep better and feel better overall.

These are the things that you’re gaining.

But often, after a few months in the gym, clients can become frustrated with all of the things that they are “only” doing. (Which is why no one is allowed to say only to me.) On the other hand, I understand how lifting weights can feel stagnant sometimes. Which is when I like to bring out my calculator and introduce the concepts of progressive overload and total volume.

Progressive whaaaa??

Progressive overload is fancy schmancy way of saying that you increased your workload for an exercise by either adding more weight or more repetitions to your workout. For example, if you perform three sets of eight dumbbell goblet squats with 15 pounds in week one, you squatted a total of 360 pounds.

15x8x3.

The next week, let’s say you lifted 15 pounds, but added more repetitions and sets. So you did 15x10x4.

Most clients are still stuck on the idea that they are “only” lifting 15 pounds. But when you do the math (with a calculator if you’re me), the reality is that you have now lifted a total of 600 pounds.

600 pounds.

That’s an increase of almost 50%.

The deadlift is another lift where clients tend to minimize their workload.

In the beginning, we start with the kettlebell deadlift, which is an excellent exercise to learn how to properly hip hinge (which translates into helping you pick things up from the floor in a way that keeps your back healthy and your knees happy).

Often we begin clients with a 35lb kettlebell to build a solid movement pattern, but it isn’t very long before we graduate to 50 or 60lbs. After that we progress to the trap bar.

Most clients average between 85-105lbs when they begin using the trap bar. Last week, I had two clients use the trap bar for the first time, both at 85lbs. They did 8 reps for four sets.

They lifted 2,720 pounds. And that was just on the deadlift.

Next time you’re frustrated with what you’re not losing, or the fact that you only lifted a certain amount of weight, step back, pull out your calculator, and do the math.

You’re gaining strength every day.

Celebrate that.

Celebrate you.

It’s been a quiet week on Kim Lloyd fitness.com.

And for good reason.

Josh ties a mean double knot.

Last Friday I went in for what I had hoped would be a minor surgery on my shoulder, but came out with a full repair of my labrum which means I’ll be in a sling for the next 4 to 6 weeks and recovering for the next 4 to 6 months.

Sigh.

I was typing left-handed but recently discovered the value of talk to text. So I’m dictating this post as we speak... actually as I speak.

Pun intended.

I’ve got one week in the bank which feels really good,  but already this week I’ve discovered what I think the hardest part of being in this position really is. And it’s not just putting a sports bra on over your feet or plucking chin hair with your left hand.

No, the thing I found most challenging in the last seven days is needing other people.

Like constantly.

I can’t tie my shoes, can’t open a bottle of pills, struggle to dress myself and can’t do my hair. Listen I know that doesn’t seem like a big deal because I have a really short hair but actually it’s as annoying as sand in my bathing suit. If I don’t put gel in my hair I look like a baby bird.

My hair is so fluffy… just…so fluffy.

Tasks I haven’t thought twice about in the past, like pumping my gas or putting toothpaste on my toothbrush suddenly go a lot easier with a little help.

And that’s hard.

It takes a lot of courage to ask for help. I think it takes comfort in your own skin. And yes I think above all it takes strength.

I might be strong enough to deadlift 280 pounds but asking my coworker Josh to tie my shoes is really much harder. (Although next time I’ll ask him not to tie a double knot as it took me 15 minutes untie my shoes...)

I've watched the Brene Brown talks on vulnerability. I've got a pretty solid intellectual understanding of what it means to be vulnerable. But living in that space?

That's a whole different animal altogether.

When I was in college I had a wonderful mentor I worked with for two years before he developed cancer. One of the biggest lessons he taught me in the months before his death was how to let other people care for you. Not just that it's okay to need people. But that letting others help you and feel needed is a gift to those people.

What I couldn’t appreciate was how difficult it is to do. And yet he did so with such grace.

My mentor was keenly aware that students like myself wanted nothing more than to do something for him. We needed to feel useful. We just wanted to help. And he gave us the gift of allowing us to help him. 

I’m sure you’ve been in a position before where you’ve seen a friend or family member go through a difficult time. And all you want to do is help. But if the situation is reversed you might find yourself shrugging everyone off.

Nah, I'm good. I got this.

Or find yourself frustrated.

I'm fine! Stop asking! I'm good!

I’m not saying that I got this down pat. I think the next 3 to 5 weeks in the sling is going to be a challenge. But I also think the universe is trying to teach me some lessons here and I'm going to do my best to see what those lessons are and to listen.

And figure out how to deadlift with one arm.