coffeetime: (irony)
coffeetime ([personal profile] coffeetime) wrote in [community profile] lifting_heavy_things2012-04-07 07:14 am

explaining this to my mother

Note: I'm 46 and my mother is 69 years old. She used to be unbelievably cool, but since retirement a few years ago she's settled into the retirement mode of doing everything slowly and infrequently, and she never really loved exercise--she did it to avoid getting fat. Now she does it, as minimal as she can get away with, to avoid being chairbound from minor arthritis and lethargy.

I call my mom on the phone Friday evening after a trip to the gym.

Me: Mom. I still didn't make it to 10 pull-ups, but now I can do FOUR, and after I got done with my four I went back a few minutes later and did two more. Then another single one, then another...so I did all 10, just not consecutively.

Mom: Well, that's really great, honey. Although I just don't understand why you'd want to do that.

Me: Because I can.

Mom: Okay...

Me: You know how some people like to run marathons? And they run like 20 marathons in their life, even though at the end they're puking and they have diarrhea and whatever? Well, I don't like to run; I think it's boring, and it hurts my knees. But this is something that's also really hard to do, that I CAN do if I work at it, and it's over in like 30 seconds! BAM, 10 pull-ups! Totally bad-ass!

Mom: Okay. Well, whatever you say, honey.

Anyone else's mother just not get it?
rydra_wong: Tight shot of a woman's back (Krista of stumptuous) as she does a pull-up. (strength -- pull-up)

ROCK ON WITH YOUR PULL-UP SKILLZ

[personal profile] rydra_wong 2012-04-07 01:43 pm (UTC)(link)
I have the opposite problem when it comes to strength-training: my mum can squat considerably more weight than I can. *g*

But I think it's a thing you can run into with anyone, and in all the end all you can say is, "Because it's FUN and I'm proud of it." Maybe you can add that it makes you feel bad-ass or improves your health or whatever, but in the end: FUN. Which is always going to be different for different people.

One of my climber friends loooooves running marathons and cycling for ridiculous distances, which makes me shudder with horror at the very thought. Then I tell him about my latest Turkish get-up progress, and he shudders with horror. It's hilarious.

The most you can hope for may be that your mum will understand that it's important to you, and share your pride in that, even if it's not something she can get personally.

Of course, there's a separate question, which is whether there are any forms of exercise which might appeal to her and allow her to enjoy pleasure in movement. But getting evangelical is usually the best way to put people off, however tempting it is ...
lyorn: (Default)

[personal profile] lyorn 2012-04-07 07:07 pm (UTC)(link)
My mother thinks it strange and has always badgered me that I should not do stuff where I might hurt myself. I have repeated ad infinitum that strength training was the first thing ever that made a difference to my back.

However, since I lost all that weight, she thinks there must be something to it...
weirdquark: woman with barbell across shoulders (weights)

[personal profile] weirdquark 2012-04-07 08:06 pm (UTC)(link)
My mother has actually been getting into good shape over the past couple of years with walking and yoga and has lost a bunch of weight. I keep telling her she should work up to squatting heavy and doing serious strength training. She says that she's afraid of lifting too heavy and hurting herself and I tell her this is why you start with the 5lb dumbbells and work your way up from there. She is using heavier weights for her cardio+weights class though and she says I inspire her. So maybe I'll get her into a squat rack one of these days. :)

Both of my parents are a little worried that I'll hurt myself and ask if I should be using spotters or belts, but they're supportive and think it's cool that I've found something that I like doing and even bought me a squat rack so I could keep lifting at home.
spaceoperadiva: little jellical cat in a sink (Default)

[personal profile] spaceoperadiva 2012-04-07 09:19 pm (UTC)(link)
My mom passed away many years ago, but if she were here, she would say:
"Stop doing that boy thing! No one likes women who do man things!"

. . .and five minutes after that she'd make me shift the refrigerator so she could mop under it. :P
vass: Small turtle with green leaf in its mouth (Default)

[personal profile] vass 2012-04-08 12:46 am (UTC)(link)
That's awesome about the pull-ups!
0jack: Closeup of Boba Fett's helmet, angular orange stripe surrounding a narrow window on a greenish metallic field. (*laughter*)

[personal profile] 0jack 2012-04-08 01:36 am (UTC)(link)
Yay for pull-ups. You did great! I don't speak to my own mother, unfortunately, but my MiL doesn't get *anything* about me. However, she does understand setting goals and reaching them, so she grasps just about anything on that level short of writing fanfic and porn, so I'll take it. *g* I'm a parent myself and I don't get my kid's interests (she is a girly-girl, a party animal, and a clotheshorse) but I always feel thrilled that she shares her accomplishments with me. I have no trouble "getting" that something mattered to her and she did it, and I can always get excited about that.