When Dr. Shernan Holtan started lifting weights in 2013, she was mainly looking for a bit of me-time.
Her career in bone marrow transplants — plus raising two kids — had left her with little room to take care of herself.
After hiring a personal trainer, and was shocked at how much her energy and mood improved.
“All the energy you put in, you get back manyfold more through the metabolic and mental benefits of exercise,” Holtan told Business Insider.
“As soon as I really realized what this was doing for me physically and mentally, I wanted to implement this for patients too.”
Her patients at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York receive stem cell treatments for conditions like leukemia — a grueling procedure that can require months of recovery time in a hospital.
Once they started following Holtan’s personalized exercise plans, they recovered and returned home weeks earlier than expected, according to Roswell Park data.
As for Holtan, chief of blood and marrow transplant at the center, she is now a record-setting powerlifter, building her way up to an all-time best squat of 308.6 pounds, earning her the top national rank for her age group in 2019.
Now at 49 years old, she can easily squat 225 pounds for reps, deadlift 250, bench 125, and run for miles without getting tired.
She said her favorite muscle-building exercises pay dividends for long-term health and offer an immediate boost to energy, confidence, and mood.
“I’m super happy to say at age almost 50, I can do all those things, and that means that I fear very little during any given week,” she said. “I know I can tackle these hard things and recover from them. So whatever challenge you have, send it my way.”
Squats and deadlifts ‘are king’ to build full-body muscle
On a typical day, Holtan hits the gym at about 5:30 a.m. to pump iron before work. Her routine varies, including a mix of strength training, CrossFit, and running for well-balanced fitness.
When it comes to muscle and strength gains, “squats and deadlifts are king,” Holtan said.
Squats involve lowering your hips to drop your butt toward the ground, then returning to standing.
Hold a weight (balanced on your back, in front of your chest, or centered between your hands in a goblet squat) and bend your knees toward 90 degrees, keeping your torso upright. Push back up using your leg strength.
Deadlifts involve lifting a weight from the floor to hip height by hinging at the hips and straightening the knees.
Use your glutes, hamstrings, and lats to stay stable. Lift up and lower back down slowly, with control.
Both movements are compound exercises, tapping into multiple muscle groups at once, including the core, back, and legs, to secure and stabilize your body and the weight as you move.
To get the most out of weightlifting and avoid injury, Holtan recommends starting small, with a weight you can handle and a number of reps that doesn’t leave you exhausted. Then, build up a little at a time. That can make it easier to stick to a routine, rather than pushing too hard and feeling sore for a week (or more).
For patients recovering from treatment, Holtan gets them to begin with scaled exercises — doing squats without any added weights, or sitting back into a chair and standing up again until they have strength to do it without supportive equipment.
“Let’s start with where you’re at today. That’s how you build without hurting yourself,” she said. “Major gains can be made over time with consistency.”
For longevity, mix weightlifting with cardio
Strength training isn’t just about building muscle; it can also help stave off early death, according to a growing body of research.
However, it’s only part of the equation — exercise that gets your heart pumping is crucial to prevent heart disease and lower the risk of heart attack and stroke, studies show.
That’s why Holtan added running, hiking, and other cardio, like jump roping, to her routine.
As a result, she’s lifting a bit less weight than when she trained for powerlifting alone, but can now easily run for five, six, or even seven miles (a feat she previously thought was unimaginable for her).
Changing it up with new types of training also keeps exercise fun, and boosts her mood and energy, Holtan said, and the better longevity is a bonus.
“The main motivator, honestly, is I feel better today,” Holtan said.”Perhaps my rate of aging is slowing. Perhaps my risk of cancer is decreasing, perhaps my risk of other chronic diseases, including dementia, maybe that’s decreasing too, and that’s a nice benefit.”
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