Women should lift heavy weights. The benefits of effective strength training are incredibly profound, be it from the confidence boost that comes from doing something that showcases your body’s capability to the long term positive effects on a person’s muscle mass and bone density, both factors important for longevity. Lifting heavy is something that we’re incredibly passionate about at Uplift Boulder and we aim to offer as much education and guidance as possible, especially because ‘heavy’ means something different for each individual.
To help promote this message, we recently held a seminar hosted by coaches Alissa Goldstein and Julia Moschella titled “Heavy Lifting for Women”. The goal of the seminar was to offer insight into what it means to lift heavy, whether someone is brand new to the gym or if they are a seasoned lifter. In addition to this, Alissa and Julia prepared to address specifics around the biological differences important to address for the female population. Just a few days before the event, we happened to be contacted directly by Dr. Stacy Sims who offered to support our message by attending and facilitating a Q&A at the end of the event. If you’re not familiar with Dr. Sims, she is an exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist known for championing the message that “women are not small men”. Our messages around the importance of lifting heavy and the nuances vital to understand for women aligned and a collaboration was born.
When someone contacts the gym and decides to start a membership, we always ask them how they found us. For the last year and a half, every other woman over the age of 50 has told us some variation of “I am here because Stacy Sims told me that I need to lift weights”. To have her in the building attending and contributing to the “Heavy Lifting for Women” seminar was a dream come true and it ballooned our attendance to a record breaking 55 people. Our staff brought in chairs from home, we took out the couch from the office, and even rolled out atlas stones to give everyone a place to sit. Alissa and Julia were clearly in their element presenting the room with excellent and actionable information on what it takes to get stronger, especially during and post menopause.
Thank you, Dr. Stacy Sims for sharing your platform to elevate ours. We are fortunate enough to have Stacy come back and present at Uplift Boulder in the very near future, stay tuned for details about these upcoming events!
