What Are You Training For? Why Strength in Midlife Is About So Much More Than Exercise
Picture yourself twenty years from now.
Not just your age. Your life. Where are you? What are you doing? Who is there with you?
Maybe you're hiking through a national park you've always wanted to visit. Maybe you're exploring a new city, walking for hours and carrying your own luggage without thinking twice about it. Maybe you're dancing at your granddaughter's wedding. Maybe you're on the floor playing with your grandchildren—and you get right back up again. Maybe you're volunteering, traveling, learning something completely new, or still saying yes to adventures you haven't even imagined yet.
You're not simply alive. You're living.
Now picture another version of that future. Your world has slowly gotten smaller. Not because of one catastrophic event, but because everyday activities have gradually become harder. You travel less because it's exhausting. You stop doing certain things because you aren't sure your body can handle them. You begin saying: I probably shouldn't. I'm too tired. Maybe next time.
And little by little, the window of what's possible begins to narrow.
I've watched that happen. And I don't want it for myself. I don't want my world to get smaller as I get older. I want it to keep getting bigger.
And that's one of the reasons I've started asking a very different question about health: What am I training for?
Health Isn't the Destination
For years we've been taught to think about health as the goal. Lose the weight. Improve the lab numbers. Exercise more. Eat better. Get more sleep.
But what if health isn't actually the destination? What if health is what makes the destination possible?
Health allows you to travel. Hike. Dance. Volunteer. Serve. Work at something you care about. Pick up your grandchildren. Walk the beach. Try something new. Keep saying yes.
That's why I think the conversation around healthy aging needs to become much bigger than preventing disease or changing how we look.
The question isn't simply: How can I be healthier? It's: What do I want my health to allow me to do?
Your Future Isn't Determined by Genetics Alone
We don't have complete control over our health. That's important to say.
Genetics matter. Medical conditions matter. Injuries matter. Access to care, environment, life circumstances, and plain old luck can matter too. Healthy choices don't guarantee a perfect outcome.
But that doesn't mean we're powerless.
Your body is extraordinarily adaptive. Your muscles respond to how you use them. Your bones respond to appropriate physical stress. Your brain responds to movement, learning, and challenge. Your body responds to nourishment and recovery. Your health is influenced by sleep, stress, relationships, environment, purpose, and many other factors.
Give your body movement, and it adapts. Give it appropriate challenge, and it can become stronger. Give it recovery, and it has an opportunity to repair. Give it nourishment, and you provide building blocks it can use.
We aren't simply passive recipients of our genetics. We're active participants in our health. And I find that incredibly hopeful.
My Reason for Exercising Has Changed
I've been in health and fitness for more than 30 years.
I grew up playing sports. I trained to perform. I wanted to be faster, stronger, and more competitive. I even competed in the Reebok National Aerobic Championship series in the early '90s—which is both something I'm proud of and absolutely hilarious to watch now.
At one point, I was teaching 15 group fitness classes a week. Movement has always been part of my life. And it still is.
But something has changed. My why.
I don't train to win competitions anymore. And while I'd be lying if I said I don't still appreciate toned arms—and arms that don't keep waving after I've stopped—I want strength now for a much bigger reason.
I'm training for my future. I want to ballroom dance until I'm 100. I want to hike. I want to travel and carry my own luggage. I want to get off the floor without thinking twice about it. I want to keep saying yes to adventures. I want to be able to serve other people. I don't want my world to get smaller.
And when that's your reason for becoming stronger, exercise starts to look very different.
Maybe We've Been Asking the Wrong Questions
For decades, many of us learned to evaluate our health with a pretty limited set of questions. Did I lose weight? How many calories did I burn? What does the scale say? Did I hit my macros? Did I get 10,000 steps? Did I work out hard enough?
Those aren't necessarily bad questions. But they're incomplete. Because they don't ask: Am I becoming stronger? Am I more capable than I was six months ago? Am I building the physical capacity for the life I want to live?
That's the shift. Instead of exercising only because you're trying to lose something, start thinking about what you're trying to build. Strength. Energy. Mobility. Confidence. Independence. Capacity. A bigger future.
And then ask: What am I training for?
Why Muscle Matters So Much as We Age
There are many components of physical fitness. Cardiovascular fitness matters. Balance matters. Mobility matters. Flexibility matters. And yes, mental fitness matters too.
But let's talk specifically about muscle. Not because you need to become a bodybuilder. Because you need to remain capable. Capable of carrying groceries and luggage. Getting off the floor. Climbing stairs. Lifting grandchildren. Hiking. Traveling. Living independently. Doing the things you want to do.
Beginning in adulthood, we can gradually lose muscle mass as we age, and hormonal changes around menopause can make preserving muscle and bone particularly important for women. Age-related loss of muscle mass and function—often discussed under the umbrella of sarcopenia—can eventually affect much more than appearance. It can affect strength, balance, mobility, metabolic health, and independence.
Resistance training gives the body a reason to maintain—and, depending on the individual and circumstances, build—muscle and strength. It also plays an important role in bone health, something that becomes increasingly important for women through and beyond menopause.
And resistance exercise isn't only about your muscles. Research continues to explore and support its benefits for areas such as mood, cognition, metabolic health, physical function, and overall quality of life.
So when I encourage women to get stronger, I'm not primarily talking about aesthetics. I'm talking about capacity. We don't build muscle because muscle is the goal. We build muscle because of what muscle makes possible.
Physical Strength Can Change the Way You See Yourself
There's another benefit to becoming stronger that doesn't get talked about nearly enough. Strength can change your identity.
Kelly McGonigal explores this connection beautifully in The Joy of Movement.
Think about what happens when you attempt something physically challenging. You lift something you weren't sure you could lift. You finish the workout you weren't sure you could finish. You show up on a day when you didn't feel like showing up. And suddenly you have evidence. Maybe I can do hard things. Maybe my body is capable of more than I thought. Maybe I'm capable of more than I thought.
I've watched this happen with women again and again. They begin strength training tentatively. Then something shifts. Not just in their muscles. In the way they stand. The way they carry themselves. What they're willing to attempt. What they believe they're capable of.
That's earned confidence. Not confidence that came from someone telling you that you're strong. Confidence that came from proving it to yourself.
One Healthy Choice Rarely Stays in One Lane
This is also why I don't believe we can separate physical health from the rest of our lives.
Think about the ripple effect. You sleep better. You have more energy. With more energy, you're more likely to move. You move consistently. You become stronger. You feel more capable. Your confidence grows.
And maybe that confidence leads you to sign up for the dance class you've been thinking about. Book the hiking trip. Apply for the job. Volunteer. Try something new.
Movement can help us manage stress. When we're less stressed, we may become more patient and present. Our relationships benefit. When our lives have meaning and purpose, we're often more motivated to take care of ourselves. And when we take better care of ourselves, we have more energy to live out that purpose.
Everything affects everything else. Movement influences mood. Sleep affects physical and emotional health. Nutrition affects energy and mental clarity. Relationships affect stress. Purpose affects resilience. Strength affects confidence. Confidence affects courage.
This is why I believe so strongly in an integrative approach to health. You aren't a collection of separate problems to fix. You're a whole person. And when you support the whole person, one positive change can create ripples throughout your entire life.
For Me, Strength Is Also an Act of Faith
Philippians 4:13 says: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
I've always loved that verse. But I think about it somewhat differently today. It doesn't promise that everything will be easy. And it doesn't mean we have to manufacture all the strength we need entirely on our own.
For me, taking care of my body has become part of stewardship. This body wasn't given to me to criticize endlessly. It wasn't given to me to punish. And it certainly wasn't designed to be pushed relentlessly without nourishment or recovery. It's something I've been entrusted to care for. To honor. To strengthen. To support.
Because this body is what carries me into the work, relationships, service, experiences, and purpose I believe God has called me toward. Taking care of it isn't simply about looking better. It's about being physically able to show up for the life I'm called to live.
What Will Your Future Self Thank You For?
Now go back to the woman you pictured at the beginning. Twenty years from now.
What is she doing? Where has she traveled? What adventures has she had? What is she still curious about? What is she physically capable of? What has she continued saying yes to?
And then ask: What choices could I make today that she would thank me for?
Because future-you isn't sitting somewhere waiting for you to arrive. You're creating her. Every choice you make today helps shape the woman you'll become.
Maybe one of those choices is getting stronger. Not for the scale. Not for a clothing size. For the hiking trail. The dance floor. The grandchildren. The suitcase. The stairs. The work you still want to do. The people you still want to serve. The adventures you haven't even dreamed up yet.
Every time you choose to get a little stronger, your future gets a little bigger.
So... What Are You Training For?
This week, forget about the scale for a minute. Forget about calories. Forget about whether everything was perfect.
Instead, every time you move your body, ask: What am I training for?
And don't answer simply: To be healthy. Get specific.
Maybe you're training to hike national parks with your husband. To climb stairs without getting winded. To keep dancing. To play on the floor with grandchildren. To travel. To volunteer. To garden. To keep living independently. To be strong enough to help other people. To still be saying yes at 75.
Your answer is bigger than exercise. It's your reason for exercising. And a reason rooted in something you deeply value has a lot more staying power than chasing a number on a scale.
So finish this sentence: I'm training for ____________________.
Because we're not just trying to add years to our lives. We're building the strength to add life to our years.
Podcast
This article is based on Episode 9 of Made for More: Holistic Health and Purpose for Women in Midlife — What Are You Training For?
Listen to Made for More:
