Rack Pull Party at the Clinic
Today I encouraged my dear colleague EL to try maxing out on Rack Pulls at the physiotherapy clinic where we work. We had just taken our good employer JS through the process a week prior, to assist in convincing her of the safety and utility of our new strength training equipment.
EL has a good understanding of the basic pattern for deadlifts, but I got the impression from speaking with her that she has never gone through a serious period of training the movement.
On one hand, I was simply curious how much she could lift. On the other hand, I suspected she was probably stronger than she thought she was, and that it would be very satisfying to assist her in discovering that. (Plus, if I happen to awaken a sudden desire to embark on a strength training journey in a friend, all the better, I say!)
Admittedly, it didn’t take all that much coaxing to get her to try. I merely floated the suggestion (in the guise of an eventuality) a few times over the past couple weeks that we should see how much she could lift, and eventually circumstances aligned such that it happened.
And EL lifted an impressive 185lbs! Not bad, I say!
Then, a little miracle of strength training happened.
CC, one of my physiotherapy colleagues who was watching the spectacle (which had gathered a small crowd of staff by the time of its zenith), declared that she wanted to be the next to try. She managed a solid 135lbs before bowing out (though it was clear to me that she was still stronger than that). And then JM, who works on the front desk and had previously assessed the bar alone to be very heavy when it first arrived, joined the party and lifted 95lbs!
So, my initial desire to have JS try her hand on the barbell last week resulted in four women at our clinic who are not regularly engaged in barbell training all testing their max rack pull! Each one of them added inspiration to the next. It was catching.
And I thought about how empowering it can be to show people that they are actually much stronger than they give themselves credit for, and that engaging with the tools of strength training doesn’t need to be intimidating.
This whole event brought me great joy.