Being Strong for Life: A Different Way to Think About Midlife Strength.
What do you want to be able to do with your life after 40 and for the decades to come?
Because I think there is another way to think about strength in midlife.
We hear a lot about why women should strength train as we get older.
We want to maintain muscle.
Support bone health.
Maintain strength and physical function.
Support our health as our physiology changes.
These are all important reasons to train.
For some women, they are reason enough.
For me, though, they are part of a much bigger picture.
“My why is Making Memories”.
I don't train simply because I'm getting older
I strength train because of the life I want to live.
I want to hike mountains.
I want to trail run.
I want to ride my bike.
I want to carry a pack.
I want to get into a kayak and climb back out again.
I want to scramble over rocks.
I want to spend a whole day exploring a new city on foot.
I want to wake up somewhere beautiful and know my body is capable of getting out there and experiencing it.
And I want to do those things with the people I love.
Because when I think about the decades ahead, what I really want is a life full of experiences.
I want to make memories.
That is my bigger why for being strong.
And that changes the way I think about training.
Start with the life you want to live
Instead of only asking, “What should I be doing for my health in midlife?”
Perhaps we can reframe it to: “What do I want my body to be able to do?”
What do you want the next decade to look like?
What adventures are you dreaming about?
What activities do you want to keep doing?
What experiences do you want to have?
What do you want to be physically capable of?
Maybe you want to ski with your grandchildren.
Maybe you want to to a multi-week hike.
Maybe you want to surf.
Maybe you want to travel and walk for hours without worrying about whether your body will cope.
Maybe you want to run your first trail race or ultra.
Maybe you want to garden, play with your grandchildren, dance, climb, paddle or simply move through your everyday life with confidence.
There is no right answer.
Your life determines the demand. And that demand can help determine what you need to build.
“Your active life asks something of your body”
This is something I have become increasingly aware of as I've moved through my own 40s.
The things I love doing aren't passive.
Hiking mountains asks something of my legs.
Carrying a pack asks something of my strength.
Descending steep trails asks something of my ability to control my body.
Riding asks something of my legs, trunk and upper body.
Trail running asks something different again.
And simply spending a day exploring somewhere new can mean hours on my feet.
I don't train so that I can say I trained.
I train because my active life asks something of my body and I want my body to be ready for it.
That doesn't make the health benefits less important.
It gives them context.
Strong for life is bigger than strength
Being strong for life isn't simply about how much weight you can lift.
Physical strength matters. A lot.
But the bigger goal is physical capacity.
The ability to move through your life with confidence.
To have the physical capability to participate.
To adapt to challenges.
To recover.
To keep saying yes to an active life.
And this is where I think we can broaden the way we think about health and fitness in midlife.
Health is important.
Strength is important.
Movement is important.
But they can also be viewed as foundations for something bigger.
They support our ability to participate in the life we want to live.
Health gives us a foundation. Capacity gives us possibility.
Midlife is an opportunity to become more intentional
There is so much advice available to women in midlife.
Lift heavy. Do cardio. Eat more protein. Walk. Run. Recover. Sleep. Do intervals. It can become another list of things we are supposed to get right.
But I think there is another way to approach it.
Start with the life you want to live.
Then ask yourself:
What does that life ask of me physically?
What capacity will I need?
What do I need to build?
What do I need to maintain?
And what support will allow me to keep doing it?
That is a much more intentional way of approaching midlife.
And it is very much at the heart of how I think about THRVWMN.
See differently. Live intentionally. Build capacity.
The way we see midlife determines the way we respond to it.
When we see midlife only through the lens of what we might lose, it is easy for our choices to become centred around prevention.
But when we also look at what we want to experience, our questions change.
And when our questions change, our decisions can change too.
Train for the life you want, not simply the age you are
Understanding how our bodies are changing allows us to make better decisions about how we support them.
Different physiology requires different support.
But that support can serve something bigger than a list of health outcomes.
It can serve your life.
Your adventures.
Your independence.
Your experiences.
Your relationships.
Your memories.
For me, I don't want to look back and simply think about all the things I did to protect my health.
I want to look back and remember what that health allowed me to experience.
The mountains.
The trails.
The rides.
The places.
The mornings outside.
The hard days that became good stories.
The people I shared them with.
The memories.
That is what being strong for life means to me. Not simply being strong enough to live longer.
Being strong enough to participate fully in the life I have and the life I still want to create.
So, what are you getting strong for? That is the question I believe is worth asking yourself.
Reframe: “What should I be doing because I'm over 40?”
to: “What do I want to be strong enough to keep doing now and in the decades to come?”
Let that answer help guide you.
Because the goal isn't simply to build strength.
It is to build the capacity to use it.
To keep moving.
Keep exploring.
Keep participating.
Keep making memories.
Strength in service of your life.
And for me, that is what being strong for life is really about.
Health gives us a foundation. Capacity gives us possibility. And possibility gives us more life to live.
The Capacity Compass™ Assessment is your starting point. Discover how well your current lifestyle is supporting the future you want to create. It is a reflection tool that helps you understand where your life is aligned, where your current choices may be influencing your capacity, and where small, intentional shifts can create greater freedom, possibility and fulfilment over time.
Because the goal isn't simply to move through midlife.
It's to intentionally build the capacity, freedom and possibility to fully embrace the decades ahead.