What to think about when you think about lifting

Cardio is, annoyingly to me, still most people’s default exercise. But this isn’t our fault; most of us were raised in the cardio tradition, doing many cardio-centric sports in gym class, being asked to cheer for cardio-centric athletic feats. Because of this, even many people who hate working out have a semi-intuitive grasp of what makes someone a good and capable cardio-doer: The farther and/or faster you go, the better. The less out of breath you get doing so, also the better. Running feels accessible, in part, because we have a general sense of how to go out and do it, and then do it better every time.

We don’t have the same kind of handle on lifting, because we don’t have the same casual understanding. But we could.

Thinking about this made me want to write a kind of guide to the “values” of lifting: what skills it connotes, what abilities it builds up. Basically, “what it is you are supposed to be thinking about” when you go to a gym to lift weights. Like the New England Primer, but for pumping iron.

Because many are so cardio-literate, I’m going to do this by translating from the Latin (i.e. running). Hopefully if you are newish to lifting, this will help you understand what it is meant to be going on in your brain when you lift other than sweating and grunting and imagining being the size of a brick house in ten years (welcome and encouraged, though by no means required).