08/02/2026
Going "radio silent" for about a week, but something has been on my mind for a few days, and based on what I just did as part of my workout, it's the perfect timing to share...
I feel like it's not said enough that when you realize you need to incorporate some kind of strength training into your life, that it can take different forms than the traditional style, based on where you are in your health and longevity journey.
And what I mean by that is:
- if you like lifting weights or doing free weight strength training, go for it. Weights come in varying degrees of heaviness, and when you're just starting out, or it's been a while, even a lighter weight is going to do something for you. Lighter weights get shamed so often because people talk about how you have to lift heavy and lift progressive, and at some point that 's true, but--
more weight than zero weight is still more weight. So at the beginning, lightweights can feel pretty darn heavy.
-If you're not that into free weight training or gym machine training (& I am not, though I sometimes make myself do it, and enjoy it occasionally)-
Remember that resistance based training is still a muscle challenge. And again, if you're starting from the beginning or starting from "it's been a while", it's still going to challenge your muscles. You still will do the thing in which muscle tissue tears and then heals, and that's what builds muscle.
That's why body weight training like yoga and pilates and similar things does actually help people initially, and possibly forever, depending on how they use it (adding challenges when things get too simple and are no longer a challenge, etc, or letting it evolve into the anti-inflammatory-only or flexibility part of their ongoing healthy training as opposed to the main bit of their strength training if no longer challenging. For myself, there was a point where my yoga practice either needed to change or I needed to add something on, because my practice alone was no longer cutting it-- for various reasons. I don't want to get into all of that here, but yes, things tend to need to evolve at some point. Feel free to private message me if you want to know more about that, just know that I may not be answering for a little while).
So today, after just doing ten minutes of easy cycling indoors as a warm up and a bit of cardio, I followed it up with only five minutes with a strength band doing a pvolve class.
5 minutes.
And I was exclaiming about how challenging it was, and how my arms were talking to me!!! Gah!
Some years ago, it might not have affected me as much.
Some years ago I was a full time fitness professional.
That's not my lifestyle right now, and I'm in a different season of life as a woman in which everything has changed...
And I am just trying to do what I can to maintain the strength that I have, grow it, and crease the longevity of my health-- so my exercise styles have changed as well. In some ways, I'm trying to recover certain aspects of my fitness, and in some ways I am trying to discover something even better.
But the point is, it's personal.
I'm only gonna do the workout that I feel like doing, and not something I hate.
And if I follow a one size fits all situation, it's probably gonna be something I hate, and also something that's not even appropriate for the season of life that I'm in or the level of fitness that I currently have based on lifestyle and career changes.
But I'm still strength training. It's just that some days it may not look like what you have thought of as strength training.
I'm not sharing this for anyone else's approval, but rather to hopefully encourage those who have felt stuck or like they would not be able to choose something they could actually do.
Choose what you can actually do.
Start there.
And honestly, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you.
He knows you inside and out, and He loves to get personal. ❤️
