I love lifting weights. No, actually, let me rephrase – I LOVE lifting weights. Strength training is so damn satisfying to me, for a number of different reasons. The process itself of picking up and/or manipulating something heavy requires me to focus on every move that I make. I don’t have the mental space for criticizing how my body looks when I am lifting something heavy above my head – my inner critic is completely silenced by how hard I am working. And oh my god, the silence is so fucking beautiful. I wish I’d known years ago that focusing on lifting heavy weights would drown that critic out.

I also love that the results of strength training are visible – I can actually see my body changing as I put on muscle. And this is incredibly gratifying especially because I don’t see changes quite as quickly when I run. I can lift heavier and heavier each week – I can’t run further or for longer quite as easily. So for me, having success in weight training is critical, because I don’t feel as successful in my other fitness activities.

Have you experienced fitness silencing your inner critic?