I have been working with a great personal trainer who focuses on strength training at a small and friendly gym in my area. Joining a gym and learning how to use all those machines can be intimidating and embarrassing at first, but it is so worth the initial discomfort. After only a few weeks, I am feeling such a difference: muscles switched on, confidence lifted, body feeling much more integrated and alive, and even, in a short time, more toned.

Strength training ticks many boxes for benefits for women as we age, and research in this area is booming. A lot of fitness research has been done on men, but now women are learning we are not the same as men and need a different approach (and more research specific to women). After menopause, women’s bone density and muscle strength decline, and strength or resistance training helps to maintain and even reverse these for much longer.

Strength training is so empowering…

It helps strengthen our bones and increase bone density.

It improves our metabolism.

It is good for the heart and the whole cardiovascular system

It helps tone the whole body and improve posture

It helps with mental health and mood

It helps with weight management

It helps lower chronic stress

It helps balance hormones

It helps improve sleep

It helps slow down the degeneration of ageing

And it just feels good to feel strong and able to lift heavy things at a time in life when there is a tendency toward atrophy and weakness.

Along with strength training, which I do in half-hour blocks 3x a week at a local small gym- I am focusing on nutrition that is appropriate for building muscle and getting fitter. This is becoming a new area of specialty for me….nutrition around fitness, especially for women around menopause.

I see so many women with disordered eating patterns, a disconnect from their own body, who have tried extreme diets and suffered the consequences, and the collapse of self esteem it causes when it doesn’t work as they had hoped. Usually women blame themselves, but it’s much more about bad information than any personal failings or weakness of willpower.

I am into individualised health, not generic approaches. We all have unique constitutions and body types and what works for one person does not necessarily work for another.

Are you feeling inspired to take your health to another level?