St. Albert woman surprised by her growing strength
Saturday, September 15, 2012
By Chris Zdeb, Edmonton Journal
Deb Morrison does a barbell squat while working out with fitness specialist Andy Lewis, spotting her from behind. The St. Albert woman’s fitness mantra is “lift like a man, look like a goddess.”
Photographed by:
Greg Southam, Edmonton Journal
EDMONTON - Lift like a man, look like a goddess.
It’s the title of a weightlifting book for women from a few years back, and Deb Morrison’s mantra. She’s 57, weighs 120 pounds and she can squat 260 pounds and trap bar deadlift 160 pounds. She can also hold a plank for 12 minutes and 46 seconds.
“I always knew I was a strong girl,” says the St. Albert resident, “but this goes way beyond what I thought I could achieve. I surprised myself.”
She credits fitness specialist Andy Lewis for pushing her to realize her potential.
Eighteen months ago, Morrison had an extremely lean physique but not a lot of muscle mass. This concerned her because the loss of muscle mass is a major factor in the debilitating effects of chronic degenerative diseases such as osteoporosis, and aging. It hinders metabolism and can make many day-to-day physical activities like getting up from a chair, carrying groceries or picking up a grandchild, difficult, reducing quality of life.
Research shows that from about the age of 45, the average person loses muscle mass at the rate of approximately one per cent per year, rising to one per cent to two per cent from the age of 50. By 70, a healthy person has 20 per cent less muscle mass than they had at 36, according to Science News.
Lifting weights a few times a week helps maintain muscle mass and slows the rate of decline, so Morrison began training with Lewis, twice a week, an hour per session, at his studio TCB Fitness in the west end.
It was tough in the beginning because she had come to associate working out as way too much like hard work, unlike women’s softball, which is fun, she says.
(She’d once bought a two-year gym membership that she faithfully used every second day — for two weeks. A home gym, in mint condition, sits unused in her basement.)
Morrison also admits to being a little apprehensive that weight training would make her look unfemininely muscle-bound, “but the more I learned about what I was actually doing, the more I knew that wasn’t an issue.”
Women don’t have the natural levels of testosterone that men do to build big muscles.
What Morrison has been able to achieve is amazing, and not typical for women, or men of her age, Lewis says. He jokingly calls her a “genetic freak,” one of only a few people he has met to obtain such results, but everyone has the potential to accomplish a lot more than they realize, he adds.
Morrison knows she’s blessed with a good set of genes that give her a high metabolic rate (the rate at which the body burns calories), and the ability to excel at every physical activity she tries, and she doesn’t want to waste them.
“I compete against one of the most determined competitors I know, and that’s myself. I want to see how much further I can push myself because I don’t think I’ve peaked.”
She’s even learned to love her workouts.
“I’m completely sold because I can come from one of the most stressful days ever at work and, actually, not want to go to the gym because I’m exhausted — mentally and physically done —but I know Andy is waiting for me.
“I always walk out of the gym feeling way better than I walked in, it’s like getting a second wind,” she explains.
Three years shy of her 60th birthday, Morrison is “actively aging,” and feeling more physically fit and stronger than ever.
“Fifty-seven might be the new 37,” she says laughing. “That’s how I feel and it’s wonderful.”
czdeb@edmontonjournal.com
Have you or someone you know improved your/their life through fitness? Tell us about it in an email to livingwell@edmontonjournal,com with “fitness changed my life” in the subject line and we could share your inspiring story.
