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Strong Women
Sobbing in spin, screaming while strength training: how we’re finally starting to use fitness for grief
4 years ago
2 min read
Grieving is the process of learning to cope with the unimaginable, but simply talking about it used to be taboo. Now fitness is finally being recognised as a remedy for grief, and trainers are helping to break the stigma by opening up about their personal pain.
Here’s a true story that feels like it could only happen in 2021. It’s a Wednesday morning spin class at a central London studio. In the middle of the session, the instructor mentions she’s grieving her friend, a fellow coach who died earlier that month. Dedicating a song to him, she’s overcome by emotion. She starts sobbing as strobe lights flash overhead and sweaty bodies pedal furiously around her.
My friend who attended said spin class found it all a bit disarming, but as someone who’s been far too intimate with grief for most of my adult life (I lost my mother to suicide when I was 23), I think it’s a sign of our changing attitudes when it comes to discussing death. I only wish I could be as brave as that instructor, opening up to a room full of strangers.
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