An intellectual disability should be no barrier to lifting weights at a gym.
When I say that people with a mental challenge should lift weights, I’m obviously referring to those who have no medical issues that would contraindicate strength training — and those medical issues would have to be pretty severe, since many “typical” people train with weights despite having an assortment of medical conditions.
Secondly, people with an intellectual disability would have to have an educable level of cognitive skills to truly benefit from a weightlifting program.
With scores of intellectually challenged adults in the workforce, able to hold down a job, why don’t more of them lift weights?
This is because they are rarely encouraged to do so. After all, most of the general population doesn’t even lift weights.
Weightlifting is a Special Olympics event, but those athletes represent an extremely, extremely tiny percentage of people with an ID who pump iron.
Another obstacle is that many people, including their family members, believe these men and women are not capable of learning a weightlifting program. To put this another way, the parents presume incompetence. This is bad news all around.
It’s also really odd, because Special Olympians learn far more difficult activities than lifting weights such as skiing, figure skating and gymnastics.
Weightlifting IS a Special Olympics sport!
What a fantastic self-esteem booster training with weights would be to someone who’s down on himself or herself for not being “smart.”
When I had a part-time job in Chicago working with mentally handicapped adults, I took one individual, a morbidly obese 24-year-old, to the gym to get her interested in lifting weights.
She had mild ID and had absolutely no trouble duplicating strength training exercises that I first demonstrated.
Unfortunately, she didn’t become hooked. But the point is, she was able to replicate my correct techniques.
At one of the chain gyms I go to, there is a young man with Down syndrome who independently uses both machines and free weights, while his father works out elsewhere in the gym.
Parents of adults with mental challenges need to see the light and realize how invaluable a strength training program would be for their grown kids, or even teenagers.
When I had the part-time jobs in Chicago, I was floored at how miserably out of shape most of the adults with ID were, even though many had good functional literacy and math skills and did not have mobility impairments.
There is no intellectual barrier as to why a “high functioning” person with an intellectual challenge cannot engage in a full-fledged strength training program for fitness.
In fact, even when they do have behavioral concerns, they can still be excellent candidates for strength training.
One woman comes to mind, “Belinda.” My other part-time job had been at a group home where she lived.
At her job at a health club, Belinda conducted herself appropriately as an employee in its daycare center. But at her group home she acted very childish. I know this is a blunt way to put it, but it’s also a good way to drive the point across.
Early every morning before her shift started, she used the health club’s equipment for an hour, unsupervised, and she was not flabby like so many intellectually challenged adults are. Her legs were firm and looked fit.
This goes to show you that even those with “behaviors” can still benefit loads from lifting weights.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained clients of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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