If I had a dollar for every article that’s proposed the benefit of weight training, one of which being what you mentioned, espeacially for women, I would be rich.
It took all of my patience not to be disrespectful.
I did zero in on that one on purpose. She gave the copy and paste answer to the wrong subject.
Sounds like you handled it pretty good though.
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I find doctors / nurses are great at helping sick people. Crap at helping healthy people.
This is of course a massive generalisation. But its one that seems to fit with my experiences.
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This is why I prefer talking to surgeons, where we can both mutually acknowledge my history of poor decision making.
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Fixed it for you.
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Long distance running, that’ll be better for your knees than weight training. 
I usually go with “thanks for your concern” or “I’ll think about what you’ve said.” When I don’t feel like arguing the merits of my hobby or diet with someone who doesn’t really care about me anyway.
Had a wellness check at one of my jobs that made the healthcare half the cost. Involved blood draws, weighing and measuring and actually meeting with a PA to discuss your results. She said
“they must have got your weight wrong”.
“Nope, that’s what I weigh, I lift a bit.”
“You mean weights?”
“Yep.”
“That’s bad for your joints.”
“Thanks for your concern. So I get the health insurance discount now right?”
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Had a nurse tell me I was at risk for stunting my growth if I lift too much weight at my age haha. I think that was proven wrong a long while ago…
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The only poor decision making to be done with a butcher is picking sirloin.
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True dat.
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My wife has run 23-ish half marathons and 2 fulls, but I’m the one in the family with a reconstructed knee…
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Huh. That’s interesting. My sister and I have the same parents and all 4 of our grandparents had arthritis.
She runs recreationally (5 full marathons I think) and does a couple miles every morning. I try to train a bunch but usually average 3-4 weight workouts a week.
Shes never had a competitive time and I’ve never pulled over 495. So neither of us is competitive, we’re just weekend warriors. She’s been in an ankle boot twice in the past 5 years and had her knee scoped (don’t remember the procedure name).
Probably just luck of the draw, my real issue was the nurse in the story above warning about the dangers of weight training for connective tissue and then suggesting a high impact form of exercise to do instead.
In fairness, it was “run-” before being cut off. Coulda been moderate distance running, haha.
Running can definitely be damaging if you let it be. Same with lifting. I’m thinking that impact was less the word the nurse was looking for, and more loading, especially as it related to the hips.
In my and the wife’s case, we both acknowledge that we’re doing these things because we’re athletes: not because it’s good for us. I do think it’s the missing piece when talking to the medical field. No doc is gonna sign off on competing in strongman, but they’ll sign off on some basic resistance training. Same thing with marathon running vs getting out and getting some exercise. But at least some docs are willing to work with you if you’re upfront about your intentions. My surgeon advised me to stop competing but then went on to say that, if I WAS still going to compete, to give it 9 months to heal. That was a good doc.
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T-Nation: False. Being fat is bad for your joints (knees in the original quote).
I work with a guy who is approaching 50 years of age. He used to be a pretty avid distance runner. He stopped and doubled his weight instead. He topped out at 360 lbs. Last year he got a partial knee replacement.
I don’t know which was worse for him - the running or the weight gain. Either way, I’m avoiding both.
By the way, I’m meeting with my shoulder/knee surgeon tomorrow. 
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I was already getting irritated, so I really didn’t wanna year whatever else she was trying to convince me of lol. I realize being difficult with nurses and doctors doesn’t get anyone far, but somewhere in the back of mind, I just can fully wrap my head around how medical field professionals can’t extent a bit of understanding to those of us who compete or are althetic because we choose to be.
The doctor that this nurse works for us far more understanding than the nurse. He mostly just suggests rest if needed, and even just switching back and forth between moderate exercise and my regular training. The nurse on the other hand, was looking at it in kind of a black and white situation. But I agree.
I really hate to sound like an asshat, but when someone either in the medical field, or pursuing a medical field job, says dumb stuff like that, I can’t help but think they mostly just studied for the tests, memorized everything according to the tests, and never actually applied out of the box thinking to their career path. That’s just my opinion though. As mentioned I realize not all medical folks even remotely think that way, or do those things.
Medical doesn’t really mean anything. They test problems. They don’t prevent them.
My favorite is cardiac specialist who are obese and smoke. You’d think they would be smart enough to not be that way since they see first hand what that lifestyle does to the body.
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On the topic of the T-ransformation Challenge, I posted my weight gain and loss journey in my log today. I’m done cutting but I’ll wait to submit my AFTER photo. I took one this morning but I could still look better on June 1st so I’ll wait to officially submit it.
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At the same time, you gotta figure these medical professionals go to their forums and go “I just can’t get why these meatheads don’t realize I am trying to help them live longer and be healthy. I mean, it’s my job!”
BMI is a terrible way to tell if someone is overfat, but it still has a strong correlation with early death, irrespective of the source of mass. Obese from muscle still puts strain on organs and skeletal structures.
I don’t think the way I eat and train is healthy.
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Touché. Can’t argue there.
If we all could meet in the middle, that would be nice though.
I’m not well versed on how having too much muscle mass effects the body, but I can agree too much of anything isn’t good either.
I think the nurse was trying, in a subtle way, to explain to me, how she thinks I’m completely going off the deep end. I mentioned strength training, and I feel like she immediately pictured like most brutal exercises ever. I know she probably has access to past medical files too, so I can now see how she got there. Most of the time, my training is built around slow progress. I feel like I could’ve gone in depth with her on that… I just didn’t want to. Lol
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As a side note to that conversation, there seems to be a pretty dramatic “obesity” scale. I went for my medical DOT card, and was expecting to get flak for my weight, but they basically stopped everything and got stuck on my weight, almost prevented me from getting it. They said at 6’3" and 230lbs I was “dangerously overweight” and it would significantly inhibit the results of my tests. Which… I dont think that’s a significant weight in the first place. I wanted to be like… dudes I can do 20 strict pull ups, my weight is not a limiting factor in my life… but it was more humorous to play along. They’re in for a ride when I renew this year at 250lbs.
The lifting community is so misunderstood.