Muscle Density....the #1 reason to never stop training

For the past 2 + years my bodyweight has gone up and down, and up, and down....not by "alot" according to most peoples standards, but to me any weight gain is a sign of failure, defeat, and embarrassment....kind of. I say "kind of" because I never defined myself by the number on the scale, especially when I weighed over 250lbs. So why now? Well, I've been in the public view specifically because of my successful weightloss....yep, that's why!

I suspect I had started to develop what Mark indentified as "Body Dysmorphia" Body Dysmorphia is usually related to anorexics that see a fat person when they look in the mirror but in actuality they are, sometimes, skin and bones. It can also be common in the bodybuilding community when these athletes can never seem to be satisfied with the size of their musculature, instead always seeing themselves as small and flat. Personally, my own "body dysmorphia" was created because I no longer weighed 128-132lbs, when I look in the mirror I could only see what I wasn't.

I wasn't 10 pounds lighter. I wasn't what I used to be. I couldn't claim 120lb weightloss, and that had become part of what defined me the previous few years. Not only did I feel like I looked to have failed, but I also felt as if everything I said in terms of diet or training advice was no longer valid.....but still I kept on training.

I never missed my kettlebell workouts. KB's was, and is, my #1 training priority. I never missed my yoga practice, as painful as it was, from the heat and extra bodyweight, to the self torture of having to look at myself in the mirror for over an hour, so dissatisfied with how I "looked".....and my practice suffered, not because I was 10lbs heavier but because of the judgements I put on myself. I still found myself outside walking, or on the treadmill (free membership to Equinox, lol). And I learned how to "Spin" in a desperate attempt to burn some extra calories and lose some weight.....but I kept on showing up to train.

Somehow I knew if I kept moving that bell, my body would follow....and it hasn't disappointed....

Having some muscle density, and being so skinny and lean that you can see the little tiny muscle looking things under your skin are worlds apart.

Here is how my husband, Master RKC Instructor, Mark Reifkind defines "Muscle Density"

"So what's the difference from a newbie trainee and a person that's been suiting up and showing up on a regular training schedule for not weeks or months but years? It's called muscle density and you can tell it immediately when you see it.

It's what happens to human tissue when it's exposed to repeated overload with resistance and what most of us think of when we think of "muscle definition".

Muscle you can see when someone's at rest. When they are not 'flexing'. Tone, definition and separation from all the adjacent muscles.

It's muscle that doesn't disappear if you miss a workout or two.

It's one thing to get 'lean'. If one strips all the fat off the body by extreme dieting you will see all kinds of things. The proper name of muscle is "striated muscle" meaning you will see lines and 'definition' when not obscured by fat. BUT, that is not the same as hypertrophied muscle. Or what most recognized as "muscle".

The longer muscle is exposed to the stress of training, the pressure of the weight, the focus of the mind and intense contraction after intense contraction, the more dense it becomes
.Like a diamond that forms under millions of years of pressure. You cannot buy this kind of muscle sophistication, you have to earn it.

Muscle density is what separates the beginner from the veteran. It's what real muscle looks like."

In my opinion the shape of our bodies is more, or at least, as important as the size of our bodies. Sure, functional movement and cardio fitness is important, but don't we all want to look good? When we feel like we look good, we feel good. And when we feel good, we feel good!

Keep showing up. Keep building that muscle, and keep building that strength. If you don't see it or feel it today trust that it's there...it has to be. If you're doing the work, your body will follow.

PS One of my favorite "movie memories" is when Arnold Schwarnegger played Conan and he was a slave chained to a human powered mill (the "wheel of pain"), did he get some muscle or what? Do you think he was trying? (I know it was just a movie, lol, but chain your ass up to one of those things, day after day, after day.) Do you think you might put on a bit of muscle? Of course you have to have food to build the muscle, but you get my point.....

PPS First two pictures were taken from my Flip video at Fawn's KB class in St Paul a few weeks ago, while she leads us all during the joint moblity warm up...I totally dig her! And she's so gracious to let me co-lead her class....Thanks Fawn!