Lifting Heavy Things

Vol. 73

In This Issue: ESSAY | NOW READ THIS | RESOURCES | FINAL FRAME

One of my favorite arguments against the use of generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude is this: You don’t go to a gym and use a forklift. The point isn’t just to move heavy things from point A to B. You go to the gym to lift weights because of the impact it has on your body.

But I’m not here to talk about genAI today (phew, I can hear you sighing)! I’m here to talk about actual weight lifting (oh no).

I’ve been lifting weights for exercise for going on 10 years now, though with a several year break in the middle for covid and other things. I’ve been at the same gym for the past 2.5 years working on a specific program for Olympic lifts–think squats, deadlifts, bench press, etc.--interspersed with mobility training. Weight lifting began as a way to cross-train for roller derby, an essential part of both improving at the sport and lowering the rate and severity of injury from it. But weightlifting has since become something I enjoy in and of itself, too.

I’m lucky that I like doing it, and luckier still to have found a gym with a community of people that I enjoy. The head coach and owner is also trans, which is a massive rarity in general and even here in Madison. She also happens to be extremely knowledgeable and great about meeting people wherever they’re at, building smart programs, and adjusting for injuries or differences in mobility. The emphasis is never on banging out reps (coughCrossFitcough) or hitting the heaviest weights, but rather on good form and progress specific to the person.

My gym is a very bare bones affair, too. It’s a converted garage, often a bit dirty, with no mirrors and no juice bar and no TVs. The people who go are folks from the neighborhood and the demographics vary pretty widely. All of that is a big part of why I love it there. 

That and what it does to/for me.

Yes, it’s true that weight lifting has been shown to significantly improve health outcomes for people as they age–particularly for those assigned female at birth. But there’s also something deeply satisfying about the work and the slow-but-steady progress I feel in my body as I’m able to lift heavier and heavier weights over time. Do I like seeing more muscle definition, too? Of course. But, after a long personal journey with my body image, I’m not doing it just for how it makes me look, or even as the main goal. I’m doing it for how it makes my body feel. 

This week was test week, when we push to find the maximum amount of weight we can hit for each of the big three lifts (squats, deadlifts, bench presses) after several months of training to increase the max from the last time we tested. I went in feeling pretty confident and blew through my previous record, to the supportive shouts and cheers of my fellow gym rats. It felt good. And then I got to cheer on others as they also set new personal bests. That’s my other favorite part of the gym community.

There are days when it’s easy to get myself to the gym, and days when it’s extremely difficult. There are days when all the lifts feel like a slog, and others when my body feels super on-point and ready to rock. The real growth comes from learning how to get myself to the gym and through the workout even when I don’t particularly want to be there or feel my best. It also comes from recognizing when something in my body is actually giving me a “no” and it is time to rest instead–and learning that proper rest is just as important to a good workout routine as the lifting part. In other words, tossing the “no pain, no gain” mentality in the trash.

We also learn not to compare ourselves to anyone else, that “comparison is the death of joy/fun.” The only thing that matters is how I’m growing and changing and improving, and even that doesn’t happen on a linear path. There are injuries and illnesses to contend with, times when you have to drop down to a lighter weight and start again. Someday, I imagine I’ll have to change how I do weight training entirely, because my body will inevitably change. 

It can be hard on the ol’ ego, but it’s all great learning.

There’s no replacing the kind of full-body/mind learning and growth that comes from showing up, day after day, and doing the work yourself. The problem solving, the actual physical act of movement, the camaraderie of working with or even just near other people; all of it makes its mark on you in a way that all the various shortcuts in the world can’t do for you instead. I can’t recommend it enough, in whatever form works best for you.

Yes, this is also a metaphor for why genAI sucks.

But it’s mostly my love letter to lifting heavy shit.

Now Read This.

“A genocide, manufactured in Wisconsin” [Julian Cooper for Tone]

It took a broad-based, grassroots protest movement to disentangle UW-Madison’s campus from the manufacture of Agent Orange and the horrific war crimes associated with the compound. It would take a similar movement to disentangle Oshkosh, Wisconsin from Oshkosh Corp., the genocide profiteer.

“On Palestine” [Sarah Kendzior]

Palestinian journalists record who knew what and when. They document internal conditions that outsiders deny exist. They give comfort to victims being portrayed as oppressors. They provide context to a conflict written off as “too complex” (even though, again, there is nothing “complex” about murdering children.) They show their faces and their pain and their tears.

They are witnesses. That is why Israel kills them.

“Big Tech’s A.I. Data Centers Are Driving Up Electricity Bills for Everyone” [Ivan Penn and Karen Weise]. 

The utilities pay for grid projects over decades, typically by raising prices for everyone connected to the grid. But suddenly, technology companies want to build so many data centers that utilities are being asked to spend a lot more money a lot faster.

“A too-early breakdown of the 2026 race for governor in Wisconsin” [Dan Shafer at The Recombobulation Area]

There’s likely to be a “Big 4” among potential Democratic candidates, at least at the outset. On the Republican side, a Trump endorsement will be the key to victory.

“We Know Who Our Enemies Are” [Margaret Killjoy]

…it’s worth understanding that our enemies are our enemies only so long as they wield power over us. My goal is “no more billionaires,” not “kill all billionaires." A billionaire without his billions is just a man. An ex-cop is not a cop. An ex-fascist is not a fascist. Certainly, violence is justified in the fight against fascism (we must never forget the rivers of blood it took to end chattel slavery in the US or the Nazi empire in Europe), but we must never institutionalize violence. We must never see “enemy” as some intrinsic quality inherent in a person.

“Friends Don’t Let Friends Prompt” [Emily M. Bender]

I've found myself frequently using the analogy of plastic: To try to live without using plastic now (at least in the US) is an extremely expensive endeavor, both in terms of money and and in terms of time. Plastic is so deeply integrated into so many of our systems that it is very difficult to avoid. But we are at a moment with "AI" where things aren't so deeply integrated, though corporate interests are pushing for them to be. So I believe that every act of refusal is especially powerful and meaningful now, and we would do well to avail ourselves of that power as we can.

“Actually, Slavery Was Very Bad” [Clint Smith for The Atlantic]

Trump’s Truth Social comment on slavery was unsettling for me not only because I am the descendant of enslaved people, and not only because I was born and raised in New Orleans, which was once the center of the domestic slave trade, but also because I am an American who believes that the only way to understand this country—the only way to love this country—is to tell the truth about it. Part of that truth is that chattel slavery, which lasted in the British American colonies and then the American nation for nearly 250 years, was indeed quite bad.

“Venezualen Migrants, a Black Church, and an Experiment in Solidarity” [Benji Hart for Hammer & Hope]

Becoming a Concord member means I have had to reflect on the ways my own organizing efforts have been siloed; my own ability to effect political shifts was limited by my refusal to work with people who didn’t already share my commitments. The members at Concord may not call themselves organizers, but they exemplify how community care is direct action and one of the most powerful tools we have to broaden the capacity of our movements. For it is precisely through the act of learning together, praying together, and fighting for one another that our worldviews are shifted, our empathy grows, and our values come into deeper alignment. Nothing threatens the white nationalist project more than that.

Resources.

It’s more important than ever for allies to become accomplices to keep our friends and neighbors safe from ICE kidnappings. One way to help is to film them. Here’s a guide on how to do it as safely and legally as possible.

Final Frame.

Continuing with my new theme of "photos of other people's dogs," here's Ted, who I met at a backyard concert last week.

‘Til Next Time.

I’m still on social media break until after Labor Day. It’s been interesting/revealing, to be sure! Wishing everyone a safe and restful holiday, and then let’s get back to it.

Free Palestine.