Of course, I have learned important concepts, so much so that I’ve been able to apply them quite consciously to my physical activities outside of the gym. Now when I’m hiking with my dogs up a slope, for example, I surge up with heretofore unknown power because I’ve learned to drive myself up through my heels, a concept I extrapolated from Mikki’s words in teaching me how to do leg exercises. Here’s another: now, when I bend down to pick up a stack of books or documents from the floor, I push out with my abdominal muscles to stabilize my back. This is how Mikki taught me to do stiff-leg dead lifts while not hurting myself. Perhaps it should have been obvious to me that engaging my abs under load required me to push them out, but, in the past, whenever I thought of my abs at all it was to suck them in. Who wants to see a belly sticking out? Well, sucking them in may look great in profile, but it is not the best way to engage these strong core stabilizers. Still another example: I've learned how to use my hands as a hook when I want to pick up a heavy object from the floor or get it off of a high shelf. This requires engaging my back muscles, which are considerably stronger than my arms. At first, I remember looking at Mikki askance when she was teaching me one-arm rows. What the heck does that mean, use my hands as a hook? But, once I got it, it was a good description of the required motion, one I coach myself in regularly.

Some of these concepts may come more naturally to those who’ve grown up in tune with their bodies, but, as much as I've enjoyed regular exercise throughout my adult life, I’ve far more concentrated on what my mind can do. And, until Mikki took me under her wing, I was pretty much a klutz. The weight lifting I did was through use of isolation exercises on circuit machines. That wasn't too bad for my strength, I guess, but it didn’t begin to provide me with the overall sense of accomplishment and well-being that has come from compound weight-lifting exercises in which I act as my own stabilizing machine. Should that machine of mine breakdown? Well, I know who’s there as backup. Thanks, Mikki.