The healing power of strength training
Everyone knows that weight lifting increases physical strength. But, for some, it can give psychological power, too.
WHEN Cheng Xu was serving in the Canadian Armed Forces as a paratrooper and infantry officer, he experienced a series of traumatic events in rapid succession — his best friend and fellow officer took his own life, a soldier under his command was injured during a live fire exercise, and a close friend’s father was kidnapped.
He felt like the world was collapsing around him everywhere except at the gym, where he trained in competitive Olympic weight lifting.
“The only thing I had that anchored me was weight lifting, because that was the only place where I felt safe,” said Xu, 32, now a doctoral student in Toronto. Surrounded by the clinking and clanking of barbells, he slowly discovered what he described as “the healing properties of strength training”.
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