Girls can lift weights too

My mom always said to not be the enemy of your spouses dreams.  Meaning, if you marry someone who you know loves cats and has always dreamed of having a pet cat, don't be surprised or act like a jerk if someday your spouse wants to get a cat.  Now she maybe should have qualified her statement because I ended up marrying someone who has LOTS of dreams.  We have a kitchen full of gadgets, bookshelves packed with books and a garage full of other "dreams".  It's hard to keep up with all these dreams and to be honest, one of needs to stay grounded in reality.  But being married to a dreamer is also pretty great.  Because of my hubby's many interests and hobbies I now know what a chocolate genoise cake is.  I know the basics of smoking meat, making a cutting board, and drip line irrigation.  I've gone camping, done P90x, listened to John MacArthur, and have my own boxing gloves.  I'm so thankful my husband has tons of interests!  He can be hard to keep up with but I'd be living a narrow little life if it weren't for him.

His more recent interests have been about health and fitness and  I'm so thankful that he's taking care of his body  Part of his reason for this phase is that he wants to be around for his children and I.  He's putting us first and I love that! My husband had read several books by Lou Schuler and told me about all the wonders of weight lifting.


He went to great lengths to peak my interest and even bought the book Lou wrote for women, read it himself and then just told me different parts of it.  I finally gave in and started joining my husband for these weight lifting workouts.  We've exercised together before and I loved it, I just wasn't interested in lifting weights.  But now, after doing it for six months and using the work out plans in this book I love it.  I've read the book and would recommend it!
It's called "The New Rules of Lifting for Women" by Lou Schuler. It's funny, well written, and very informative.  Pardon the very long quote, but here is an intro to the book:

     The First thing you'll notice about this book is that it's a diet and workout guide for women, written by someone who isn't a woman.  In my career as a nonwoman, I've written at least four books for men.  I've been fitness editor at Men's Fitness magazine and fitness director at Men's Health, and when I wasn't writing for either of those magazines I did some articles for Men's Journal. I used to write a weblog called Male Pattern Fitness, on which I wrote primarily about the health and fitness issues affecting men. 
     And yet every time I explain the premise of this book to a woman, the reaction is something like this "Oh, hell yeah!" or "How long do I have to wait?"  Those responses have nothing to do with my charm or good looks - I can produce sworn statements attesting to my deficiencies in both areas - and everything to do with the quality of information about strength training specifically targeted to women.
     At a certain point, just about every woman who's ever picked up a dumbbell or walked into gym reaches the same conclusion; "I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, and it isn't working."  The reason: What you've been told to do isn't what you're supposed to do.  In the quarter century since the idea that women could benefit from strength training kicked in, a powerfully counterproductive notion rose in tandem.  That's the idea that women should use exercises and techniques different from those used by men.

I can't say enough good things about this book.  It goes on to talk about all the different myths of weight-lifting and the truths we need to embrace if we actually want to see change in our bodies.

Here is a link to a list of some of the benefits of weight lifting.  http://weighttraining.about.com/od/benefitsofweighttraining/a/benefits.htm  I think the very best one is that it increases bone density and strength.  Can you believe it - it increases your bone density!!  It's also good for weight management, improving strength and balance, boosts immunity, improves sleep and increases self confidence.  Women obsess about weight loss and here's another article that addresses that part of weight lifting:  http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ask-the-fitness-jewel-why-havent-i-lost-weight.html

I couldn't find her exact quote but once author Lysa TerKeurst said that it was a blessing that she wasn't born thin and perfect looking.  If she had been, she wouldn't be motivated to exercise, drink lots of water, and work at being healthy.  This was a nice way to look at things on a morning when I really felt like eating cookies for breakfast.  These verses are also good reminders.  This passage is talking about sexual immorality but I think could be applied to also taking care of ourselves with a healthy lifestyle.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

And here's another good one.  What is your goal for working out?  If it is purely for earlthy selfish reasons of having a hot bod, then maybe you should rethink some things...

Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,