I’d just like to show some appreciation to Mark and the authors of the books, and for making it available to the general population. The detail in the book has helped my mental and physical health leaps and bounds. I’ve had a notable increase in recovery from a few years of depression/anxiety, that had me in a dark place for a long time. I feel like I can now make positive decisions for myself. It’s just shown me how much of a role strength plays to a mans state of wellbeing and his ability to act and make good choices for him and his family.
When I was very young I witnessed my Grandfather deteriorate from Parkinson’s disease and it completely derived him of his physical independence. His quality of life was so bad for a number of years and no one from our NHS in the UK could improve his quality of life. All they could do was get rid of some of the pain using morpheme. It was soul destroying.
I think now, if only we had a Starting Strength coach nearby how different things could have been. I might have actually been able to share some memorable times with him when I was growing up.
Now I’ve completed the novice program I’ll keep a promise myself to make Strength a life long commitment. I can’t bare thinking about living my last few years out like my Grandfather did.
05-16-2019, 08:18 AM
Matt James
Hi Sean, I am quite new here but I can relate to this as well. After spending half my life with a mixed bag of mental health and addiction issues, compounded by a traumatic brain injury about three years ago that left me with memory problems, I can say that strength training (not just exercise, but actual training) has been by far the most effective therapy I've done. Dr. Puder's finding here and elsewhere that strength training promotes real, permanent changes in brain function seems to coincide with my own experience too. It's far more effective in both the short and long term than just "exercise."
