Prioritizing Strength Training In Midlife.

My BFF Margery and I were walking to our SolidCore class this week, and she said to me “I just don’t care about being skinny, I want to be strong.” 

I couldn’t agree more. My hope is that we can prioritize strength at every age but especially as we hit midlife. Starting around age 30, women begin losing about 3-8% of our muscle mass per decade, with this loss accelerating after menopause. By age 80, we can lose up to 30-50% of our total muscle mass compared to our younger years.

We might not be able to maintain the muscles of our 25 year old selves, but we can most certainly reduce our overall loss. With some simple strength training exercises, we can build and maintain muscle to protect our bones, reduce the risk of injury and maintain a healthy metabolism and immune system. 

Also, let me be clear: I’m not saying don’t aim for a healthy weight. I’m actually a fan of semaglutide and GLP-1 hormone treatment, so no shade or judgment. What I’m hoping is you’ll prioritize your physical wellness and strength over the number on the scale. Plus, fun fact, having muscle actually supports your metabolism. 

Strong is the new skinny.

Muscles Regulate & Repair

As a personal trainer and wellness coach supporting women in midlife, I’ve been diving deep into the science behind this with Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, a proponent of “muscle-centric medicine”, says to stop worrying about losing fat and start focusing on gaining muscle.  

The irony is, by focusing on muscle gain over fat loss, you’ll boost your metabolism and achieve your goal because muscles enhance metabolic health. Muscles use glucose for energy, so increasing muscle helps your body manages blood sugar, which helps prevent insulin resistance and reduces your risk of type 2 diabetes.

Also, muscles play a key role in recovery and a healthy immune system, because muscles contain a reservoir of amino acids. I’m kind of obsessed with amino acids and take them as a supplement daily, because they are the essential building blocks for all proteins in the body. When you’re sick or injured, your body needs these building blocks to repair tissues, fight infections, and recover.

So, how do you get started building more muscle? 

Strength 101: Work The Major Muscle Groups

The beauty of strength training is you don’t need complicated choreography or fancy equipment to see real results. You can order some of your own weights or go to a gym and simply focus on hitting major muscle groups and working until you are fatigued. Consider 30 minutes of strength training 3 times a week, and to build new muscle, you must work beyond our current strength ability, even if it’s just a bit! Think one or two extra reps, and/or one more set. 

As you plan out your workouts, think about hitting the major muscle groups with a combination of exercises where you pull and press and try to hit your muscles from multiple directions. Here are the major muscle groups with suggested exercises.  

• Chest: push ups and chest press  
• Back: rows and flies 
• Legs & Glutes: squats, lunges, deadlifts, glute bridge, calf raises
• Shoulders: overhead press, pike push ups,, side planks, mountain climbers
• Biceps + Triceps: Push ups, biceps curls, triceps kickbacks and dips 
• Abdominals: planks, crunches, hollow hold 

Additional resources: 

Luckily, I’ve built an entire strength workout series in our guides on the Clean Plate Club that you can access for free. I’m also a big fan of Caroline Girvan who has a ton of free workouts on YouTube.  

Happy strength building, my friend!

xoxo 

Tracey