It's time to get strong.

It’s time to get strong.

It’s always a good time to shift a gear. Unless you are pregnant or injured, picking up something very heavy, with awareness, repeatedly … even when it’s really hard, is an excellent way to shift a gear in a very positive trajectory. Deadlifting is the king.

I’m on a personal mission. I need strength. I need to fuel my inner fire. I need to push myself a little more than I think I should have to. I need to strengthen my bones. I need to wear a bikini at Christmas while eating avocados and drinking margaritas.

Here are the nine reasons why you need to join me on my journey from yogi to dead-lifter in 5 weeks.

1. It’s efficient: your busy life will love it. The deadlift works more muscles than any other exercise, in fact all of the major muscle groups. If you need to do one exercise, this is the one to do. The deadlift works your lower and upper body, especially your back muscles. Just like yoga, only harder!

2. It’s practical. The deadlift develops the muscles you need to actually carry something, like a bucket of coal, your heavy shopping, your drunk friend.

3. It’s fuss-free. Us yogis are used to one simple thing, the mat. Our new friend, the deadlift, is just a bar with some weight. Pick it up. Simple.

4. It’s safe … just like yoga! The deadlift is one of the safest weightlifting exercises you can perform. If you get into trouble, you can simply drop it… making for a loud bang, no doubt, but no damage. You also don’t have to have a spotter to perform this exercise once you learn how it feels to do it safely.

5. You can eat more! It’s a proven scientific fat that lifting weights and building muscle burns more fat than just normal exercise and diet alone. Not just during the time of exercise but all the time - resting muscle burns calories. Nice.

6. Your inner spark will shine brighter. Deadlifting boosts testosterone. This hormone is essential to all of us, men just have it in greater quantities. For both, testosterone increases strength and decreases the level of body fat. Boosting testosterone as we age aids memory function, spacial awareness and libido.Testosterone increases muscle growth and improves muscle repair while stimulating growth hormones, produced by your pituitary gland, promoting tissue healing, bone strength, muscle growth and fat loss.

7. Your heart will love it. Just like your sun salutations, doing 10 repetitions of deadlifts will increase your cardiovascular ability. You might want to find space for a savasana when you’re finished.

8. Your ass will love it. Deadlifting gives your body a great shape.

9. Your posture will be stunning. Deadlifting increases your core strength and adds to core stability. Deadlifting targets all of the muscles responsible for your posture and enables you to keep your back straighter because of great strength in the postural muscles that run up and down the length of your spine. You will also have a gorgeous back.

I am on a five week journey from yogi to dead-lifter. After my initial assessment my Personal Trainer has me down as a beginner strength-wise. Hmmm. We’ll see. Join me.