Third place 2: Martha

OMG I AM SO AWESOME!!1!!LEVEN!!

(A Stumptuous Fitness Model Contest Entry)

I’ve been heavy my whole life, but while I did struggle with the usual body image issues that tend to come with being a big girl in a culture that doesn’t care much for big girls, for most of my life I felt ok with my big, strong body (I’m a nerd, so I was more focused on important, intellectual things like debating Kirk v. Picard and reading back-issues of X-Men). That changed in 2001 when, after months of sudden and mysteriously fluctuating illness, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Suddenly, my legs that had always seemed as sturdy and strong as tree trunks were just fat and useless and I had trouble even sitting up on my own. In a word: suck. So, I did a standard treatment deal: a couple of weeks of IV steroids in the hospital followed by prednisone taper at home. After a few months, I managed to get back a lot of the use of my body, but I also managed to gain a ridiculous amount of weight - between the inability to even walk for much of 2001 and the ravenous appetite I got from the steroids, I put on well over 100 pounds in less than a year. Double suck. The extra weight put on in so short a time made my MS-induced fatigue exponentially worse.

My doctor suggested I try to exercise in order to get my strength and energy back, but I was far too self-conscious to be seen sweating on a treadmill or clomping my way clumsily through an aerobics class. I was miserable.

However, I was (and continue to be) also lucky enough to be married to a big brawny bear of a man who, in addition to being loving and patient and all the other fabulous qualities one generally adores in a spouse, likes to lift weights. Observing my unhappiness with the decline of my health, he suggested that I join him in the weight room, a section of the gym where much-larger-than-average people tend to pass through unnoticed. I agreed.

The sense of relief I felt when I began to lift was the best medicine I’d had since getting diagnosed - here was proof that, in spite of all my fears to the contrary, my body really did still work. It was still strong, could become even stronger if I wanted it to. I began to lift regularly, pushing through fatigue and muscle aches and all the rest, and I started feeling better. My balance got better - no longer did I stagger about as though I’d gone on a malt liquor bender during lunch hour. My fatigue grew less oppressive - I’d be lying if I said it isn’t still a royal pain in the ass, but it’s better than it was before. I lost weight and started feeling more like myself again.

My accomplishments? Well, in the past year I have: benched 150 lbs. (personal best!), done an unassisted dip, pushed a king-sized mattress up a ridiculously narrow flight of stairs, carried a 40lb. bag of cat food over my shoulder for a mile, preached a gospel of weightlifting to any woman who would hear it, started doing overhead squats, helped way too many people move, done curls with slices of tree trunk in my grandpa’s yard, beaten several men at arm wrestling, graduated from college (summa cum laude!) and gotten 2 out of 3 in an axe-throwing contest. My cane gathers dust in the umbrella stand.

Weightlifting has, honestly, become one of the most loved activities in my life. It allows me to control my disease better than any medication ever did. It gives me a sense of accomplishment and power I never felt from using a stair climber. It’s a form of exercise that doesn’t feel like punishment for being too big - my Teutonic sturdiness is a virtue, rather than an embarrassment that needs correction. It encourages me to love my body. It is the rare activity that appeals both to my feminism and to my love of hurling large objects while yelling “RRRRRAAAAHHHH!!!” (or equivalent yell of manic satisfaction). It helps me stretch out the sleeves of my t-shirts better. It helps me feel like a badass.

martha

(Forgive the goofiness of the attached pictures - our gym doesn’t allow photography, so I just attached a pic of me attempting to purchase tickets to the gun show and another of me getting my learn on)

Third place 1: Grace R

My achievements are modest but nevertheless significant for me. I didn’t start weights until my mid 50s and am still at it in my 60s, but otherwise my story is simply one of dogged determination. Others often comment that it was somehow easy for me – that I didn’t really have to work at it. Not so, but it has been ever so rewarding – probably about the best thing I’ve done for myself.

Somewhere along the path of middle age I morphed from a too thin person who couldn’t put on weight into someone who was overweight. The pounds came on very slowly at first, but the stress of dealing with terminally ill parents and two kids at university coping with living away from home for the first time, transformed me into the “before” photo attached.

Five years ago, at age 56, I started walking on my lunch hour and was thus able to maintain, but not lose, weight. I was feeling stale at work and felt that a new job would be the pick-me-up I needed. I didn’t get the job but came to the realization that first I needed to change myself. Our school board had just offered a discount on gym memberships. I marched into a Premier Fitness gym near work and signed up with a trainer. While I was active in my teens, horseback riding every day, I had never been in a gym in my life – almost fell off the treadmill the first time. I quickly discovered that this was a jock gym with members the age of my children, but I persevered.

By sheer good fortune I had a trainer who took me seriously and, in addition to nutrition counseling, taught me to train safely but intensely with free weights, squats, deadlifts, pushups and the like. I am forever grateful to him. At first I needed help racking weight plates but before long I had new members rushing to assist with plates I could easily heft myself and people were a bit awed by what I could accomplish. Sweet. And I discovered that I liked weightlifting – challenging myself. It is such an adrenaline rush for me.

Over several months I lost 25-30 pounds. I was thrilled with my new self and determined that I stay that way. Metabolism definitely slows as you age! Being active every day was now a given. At work, another staff member and I started the Biggest Loser Club, which was profiled on our school board’s wellness website. We ran this annually for three years, until we both left. Once I got myself back on track, getting that new job I wanted was easy.

I moved to another gym closer to home and experimented in yoga, Pilates, spinning classes and took sort of a perverse pride in the fact that I was the oldest in every group but could easily keep up. At this new gym I discovered an indoor rowing machine. What a fantastic full-body, low impact workout! I bought a Concept2 rower for home, for my cardio component. Concept2 has a terrific website where users can log their meters, get instruction and encouragement, compete in virtual challenges. I’ve rowed over two million meters so far.

My husband never complained about the many hours I spent at the gym but eventually suggested setting up a home gym in the (unfinished) basement. I was confident I would continue my regimen on my own so I left the gym and for the past three years have worked out at home. I find it easier to do something daily so it is an integral part of my routine. Not a morning person, I force myself to get up at 5:50 a.m. to exercise before work because it was too easy to skip a workout when I arrived home from work. In addition, I negotiated a shift in my work day to gain an extra half-hour in the morning. Being ten minutes from work helps too. I mix up weights, cardio, yoga/Pilates, stability ball exercises, jump rope, cycling in summer, etc. I’m happy with the level at which I’m working although I’m mindful that I can’t get complacent either.

We have a fitness facility at school that is well used by students but I encourage the office staff with whom I work to make use of it too. (I was one of the first to scale our rock climbing wall.) I took them to an orientation session with the phys ed department head so they would be familiar with the equipment. A couple of them are now going in at 7:00 a.m. to train with him and another spends half her lunch hour every day in the fitness facility. Alas, two of them have no interest whatsoever. My kids (late twenties) are both reasonably active. My daughter was encouraged by my experience to join a gym. Now living in England, she walks everywhere to keep fit, works out to DVDs on her laptop, and eats a healthy (vegetarian) diet. My son plays baseball in summer and curls in winter. I bought him a weight bench for his house but, unfortunately, it doesn’t get used regularly. You can push only so far!

I aim for a minimum of one hour of exercise each day and most days I meet that goal. I track what I do in rowing and weights as a guide and encouragement. Having had a rotator cuff injury in the past, I have to be careful about shoulder exercises – strengthening without overdoing. Your YouTube shoulder rehab video was timely. I set various goals for myself (e.g. rowing a half-marathon).

The gains are small but they are still there, nevertheless. I continue to watch what and how much I eat, but don’t feel deprived in any way. This often means I’m making two different dinners because my husband still believes dinner is “meat-potatoes-gravy”. My weight has remained constant for the past five years. My resting heart rate is lower than it has ever been. Body fat levels are as low as the doctor wants to see them for my age. So far, I don’t have to worry about cholesterol levels or high blood pressure. My hair is going grey (and I’m not colouring it) but I feel that I’m in the best shape ever. My daughter proudly refers to me as ’supermom’.

My doctor and I believe that my being so healthy and fit allowed me to sail through menopause symptom-free. Thanks in part to weight-bearing exercise, I have good bone density for my age. I have an abundance of energy which helps in everyday life. I can jog up the stairs of our 3-floor school without gasping for breath. I recently tried rock climbing in our new fitness facility.

Working out allows me to zone out and forget life’s stressors. It both calms and energizes me, and augments my self-confidence, which carries over to all areas. Although I have always had a good sense of self, I find myself more adventuresome now. With my can-do attitude I taught myself simple HTML programming/Dreamweaver, creating a website for our new school, populated with my own photographs .

I know I’m getting older but plan to keep doing as much as I can, as long as I can.