Another coming success story for Big Medicine

[Brodie Butland]

To follow up on Sully's inspiring story about training a 64 year old...

Earlier today I taught a 63 year old to press, bench press, and deadlift. The squat is going to take a couple weeks--took a while, but I got her to do a proper bodyweight squat; bar's out of the question for now for a whole host of physiological reasons. I'm having her do bodyweight squats followed by leg presses for a couple weeks to strengthen the full ROM...there's no question the bar will be added by month's end.

All the weights are low right now...but the point is, she now knows she can do the movements, where before she told me it would not be possible, that she's afraid of getting injured, etc. She actually got emotional at the end of the session, because she feels like new doors have opened.

Another success story for Big Medicine coming up. It just goes to further show the incredible power to change lives we all have--especially for those who have been told that they're too old to lift anything that requires too much effort.

[Jonathon Sullivan]

All the weights are low right now...but the point is, she now knows she can do the movements, where before she told me it would not be possible, that she's afraid of getting injured, etc. She actually got emotional at the end of the session, because she feels like new doors have opened.

This is the crux of it. My limited experience so far suggests to me that once you show people that they can do the movements with a barbell and NOT FUCKING DIE, they are, quite often, In Like Flynn. Hooked. And then they're on their way.

[Kyle Aaron]

Well done. Don't worry about impressing anyone with the speed of her progress. We're not talking about moving up categories on the strength standards chart and boasting about it on online forums, we're talking about quality of life. As you know and as you'll see while training her, even quite humble levels of strength make a big difference to quality of life. After all, health is more than the absence of sickness.

[D.W.]

Sounds great!

My question is: How do you make the transition from a person who is scared, full of the bullshit others have told them and associates sports with all kind of negative experiences to a person who is finally seeing what works, what everybody is capable of etc. ?