Summer break has commenced and while kids get a break from school, parents are grinding away at work, family responsibilities, and all the other requirements of adulthood, which can drain the last bit of joy from our weary souls. Even though I’m in higher education, I still teach through the Summer so having my kids at home for a couple months tends to feel (way) more chaotic than other times of the year.

Share

I feel like this Summer I’ve recognized it more acutely. A month ago, I sat down to create a spreadsheet in the hopes of developing a routine that would obviously calm the chaos, provide substantial entertainment, and give my kids a Summer filled with enriching activities. Then, once Summer started, I wondered: What am I thinking?!?

My kids are perfectly fine digging in the yard for worms, building forts with sheets, and playing dress-up. Where is this feeling of personal obligation to step in for my kids coming from?

For me, it nearly always comes from a locus of control. The second things feel like they’re going off the rails (although they never are) and I panic at the realization of my increasing responsibilities coupled with a house buzzing with energy (read: mess + noise), I want to micromanage everything. Because taking on MORE responsibility in an effort to combat my anxiety…. about… responsibility… makes total sense.

Pre-kids, my husband and I were minimalists. We lived in a small, 1920s cottage with only what we needed. We also lived really frugally. It allowed us to become debt-free and fund our infertility journey. Most importantly, it left us with this feeling of lightness that was indescribable. Our closets contained only clothes we loved and wore routinely. We ditched our TVs for books and meaningful conversation, and as we decluttered we made more room in our lives for worthwhile pursuits.

After finding out we were pregnant with twins, we had the best possible intentions as we prepared for their arrival. We thought we were still holding tightly to those values, but the fear and worry about TWO tiny babies got the best of us as first time parents. The stuff crept in and as they grew, the lifestyle creep did, too. When we moved from the house we brought them home in to the house we live in now, we could. not. believe how much stuff we had taken on. Even after passing on so many items to friends who were expecting, we were inundated with stuff that we had rarely used.

So, last week, as I sat there looking at my spreadsheet, in all its color coded glory, I realized I needed to do some soul-searching and get clear on what I’m after in this new phase of life with active little kids. I just finished Joshua Becker’s book Uncluttered Faith and was deeply convicted on how much the management of my current situation was detracting from the opportunities right in front of me:

• spending intentional time with my kids, regardless of what activity they’re doing

• planning nourishing meals served with the opportunity for intentional connection

• supporting others outside of the work I do in the fitness space

• connecting with friends in-person: grabbing a coffee, park play dates, walks, etc.

In his book, Becker mentions a quote from the theologian William Carey that essentially says: instead of fearing failure, we should fear a life spent pursuing things that don’t matter. When I heard that, I had to literally pause the audio book and take it in.

Whether or not you have kids or you’re a person of faith, you know this to be true: We’re all chasing something. The best part is that you get to decide what’s meaningful to you. But, with that comes the necessary and often uncomfortable process of periodically reevaluating our life and how closely we are (or aren’t) aligned with that goal.

Within that evaluative process, if we don’t own what we’re currently chasing, we won’t be able to calibrate our values. Often, we subsequently find ourselves on a completely different course wondering how we ended up so far in the other direction.

A few things I’ve found myself chasing over the years:

• vanity by purchasing clothes or other items that I was convinced would make me feel like a more put-together human

• distraction from challenging circumstances by more mindless purchases

• identity through so many self-help, goal, and achievement oriented lenses. Turns out, therapy is a much better route to help you process this.

• validation - which resulted in so much fawning/masking and then questioning everything when I didn’t receive a response that I felt was favorable enough

• professional achievements by taking on so much extra work in the hopes of proving my worth. (This was especially bad when I was teaching but didn’t yet have my doctorate. The hustle was real.)

• the approval of others by wasting way too much time caring what other people think. 95% of the time, no one is even paying attention.

• fitness-related achievements (times, paces, body composition, etc.) by doing activities I hated and maintaining strict exercise schedules that made me view fitness as transactional or punitive for things I ate or “rest” I took. (I was really unkind to younger me in many ways, but this avenue was probably the roughest. It’s why I am so deeply intentional about the way I teach and train now.)

I’m not saying any of these are bad. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to look a certain way, climb a corporate ladder, or train for an event. I’m saying that for me, specifically, over the years I allowed these pursuits - ones that had become artificially ingrained in my values system- to consume far too much of my energy and well-being.

As a parent, my kids are constantly shaping the person I am becoming. I find it to be one of the greatest parts of motherhood. This refinement, in itself, requires me to be incredibly mindful about what I am teaching them both directly and indirectly. The line between my personal identity as a woman, but also my identity as a mom is becoming increasingly blurred in the best way as my kids shape me into someone I didn’t even realize I was capable of becoming - someone who is far more empathetic, intuitive, and deeply emotional. (Never saw that one coming.)

Share

I’m addressing this current detour both physically and psychologically. I’ve been working the past week to ruthlessly declutter my house. Admittedly, I had a head start on this, since our youngest is 3 and we’ve passed along all of the baby items. Still, as I’ve gone through all the rooms, I’m finding things to donate or toss. Less things to manage = less time spent cleaning and organizing = more meaningful time to do what matters.

In addition to the physical removal of stuff, I’m doing a bit of soul work to see what I’m still chasing. This looks like journaling, unsubscribing from emails that convince me I need a new product, and creating additional hoops to jump through so I don’t take the easy route of avoidance.

It’s important to add: this isn’t just about stuff. It goes without saying that you can use anything - seemingly healthy or not - to waste time, create artificial joy, or fix a problem in your life. (Exercise addiction is real.)

There are still areas in my personal life that I may be trying to fix or heal with schedules or achievements or stuff. It’s not an easy, nor quick process, but it’s a necessary one to learn more about ourselves and pursue what authentic living looks like to us in the process.

Simply Fit is a free newsletter that focuses on simple living and practical fitness in pursuit of a less complicated life. Subscribe below to add some intention to your inbox.

Subscribe now

Lately, I’ve been experimenting with what I listen to while I’m exercising. It varies considerably - and also depends on what I’m doing - but as someone who has spent way too much some time curating the perfect playlist for a group fitness class, I know the power of a hype playlist. Don’t get me wrong: a recovery run or a treadmill walk are both prime opportunities to catch up on an audiobook- and all of those have a good and necessary place in a routine, too. However, research tells us that when it comes to a dedicated sweat session, the tunes you choose may help you get the last drop out of your mileage.

Regardless of how you feel about David Goggins’s philosophy, you’ve likely heard that in bouts of endurance or difficult exercise, we all tend to let the perception of fatigue guide our efforts. Once the performance tends to wane and the discomfort sets in, our brain tends to do a pretty stellar job of convincing us we’ve done enough.

Obviously, there’s a ton of neurophysiology happening behind the scenes, but as our brain takes in data through sensory input, calculates our mental investment in the activity, and estimates our perceived effort of the work we’re putting in, it ultimately attempts to protect us when the discomfort alarms begin to sound. Research has shown that even when participants think they’ve reached maximum effort, they actually still have a physiologic reserve available.

Testing exercise tolerance with interventions like music help determine whether it’s possible to override the brain’s perception of threat via physical exhaustion. There are a few mechanisms by which this takes place: 1) distraction, 2) the rhythmic component relative to movement, and 3) the increase of arousal (e.g. the hype) to power through the physical “cost”.

However, the music we choose for ourselves can potentially affect us differently than an instructor-chosen playlist (in a group fitness class, for example). Anecdotally, this is 100% true. It’s also one of the reasons I never use a themed playlist that chooses a specific genre, artist, or beat. (The other being that if one person in class hated it, they’d either have to sit through an entire class being miserable or forego their workout and leave.)

When I’m teaching class and a new song comes on, I can literally see the change in effort - for better or for worse. And, although I listen to a wide variety of music, I rarely play songs I personally love because there’s so many that simply wouldn’t work for an exercise scenario. Ultimately, music has the power to distract our minds from the hard things we’re doing, and help us develop exercise tolerance that may not exist if say…. we get to the gym and realized our earbuds are out of battery. (THE. WORST.)

A small study in Finland tested the effects of tunes on exercise performance. Participants were first required to complete a maximal graded exercise tests on a cycle erg. (For my cycling friends interested in the protocol: this meant starting at 70W and increasing by 25W every 2 minutes until they could no longer hold 60rpm).

After a week of recovery from the maximal tests, the cyclists were then instructed to create their own playlists with any songs they wanted, as long as the tempo was between 120-140bpm, which was verified by researchers. They then completed two separate Time to Exhaustion (TTE) cycling trials: one with music and one without music with a minimum of 48 hours in between.

Participants in the music trial cycled, on average, approximately 6 minutes longer than they did without music. Music trials also resulted in greater cardiovascular volume, and an increase in time above one’s anaerobic threshold (without a corresponding increase in their perceived exertion). In the end, heart rate and blood lactate, which is a metabolic byproduct of exercise, remained about the same for both groups. This may indicate that the music supported the sustained effort rather than the body shifting metabolic resources to make it happen.

The authors of the study pose a few theories toward the improved performance of the musically motivated groups. One is simply that music may offer more meaning to the experience, thus increasing the value of the exercise session. Getting lost in the music also helps us shift our attention from the bodily discomforts, which can be a welcome distraction as we learn to tolerate the physical strain of high-intensity effort.

Metrics aside, music is a powerful motivator. For high intensity bouts of cardio or for those of longer duration, it can be a useful tool for increasing exercise tolerance. However, on resistance training days, sometimes I opt for lyric-free music so I can have something to drown out gym noise without distracting me from the work I’m doing.

There’s no right or wrong way to add music to your routine. But, the next time that you have a tough sweat session on deck, pull out some of your tried and true favorites. You know, the ones that you put on all your burned CDs in the early 2000s? See how far those tunes take you.

Simply Fit is a free newsletter that aims to help you simplify your fitness routine so you can make movement a regular part of your daily life. Subscribe below to have more fitness content like this delivered straight to your inbox. Thanks for reading!

Subscribe now

Most of this can be attributed to a lack of knowledge coupled with gym/fitness intimidation. People simply don’t know where to begin, so they’ll start with what’s familiar or requires little skill: walking, elliptical, stationary bike, etc. Although any of these options are a solid first step in starting to exercise, most people fail to deviate from their go-to activity. They move their body, check the box, and think they’re benefiting from the movement despite a lack of progression. These hurdles of know-how and fear are also the reason why far fewer Americans do any type of strength training. It requires a bit of upfront programming + technique knowledge and skill or the confidence admit what you don’t know and hire a trainer.

Share

When we frame the recommended amounts of PA as 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week, it can feel daunting. The mental math of “How am I going to get this accomplished” starts to happen along with the perpetual bargaining with our inner voices. “Okay, if I just make it to 20 minutes, then I’ll take a break.”

This cognitive conflict reinforces the (false) ideas that exercise is a chore, a bout of suffering, or a punishment for a dietary compromise. For those who are new to exercise, the thoughts of a 60 minute class - which would feel like high intensity for a beginner, regardless of it’s intended dose - can be a deterrent to exercise.

Those minutes-per-week doses, however, can be broken up into smaller bouts. These 5-10 minute pockets of exercise can feel insignificant in a culture that prioritizes high-intensity, all out feats of fitness. However, a 2023 study from the UK showed just how powerful even a few minutes of high-intensity exercise can be - especially as it pertains to reducing cancer risk.

Exercise is highly effective at preventing certain types of cancer - namely breast, colon, endometrial, kidney, liver, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Furthermore, research has continually shown that higher intensity exercise is more effective than lower intensity exercise at preventing cancer via a dose-response relationship.

Researchers in this study examined accelerometer data from roughly 22,000 participants with an average age of 62 (thankyouverymuch!) and what they found was incredible. The majority (~90%) of vigorous physical activity was completed in one minute increments. The daily average of physical activity was 4.5 minutes.

Whether you’re new to exercise or you’ve been a bit comfortable in your routine, adding tiny bouts of intensity still offers significant payoffs. If you’re someone who exercises regularly, this is NOT an invitation for you to dial it back - but rather, an opportunity to revisit your routine. What can you change in order to challenge your body in new ways?

For beginners (to high intensity movement) what might this look like?

• Next time you’re on a walk, try jogging for 1 consecutive minute. Take 2-3 minutes to recover, and work the recovery down toward a 1:1 work/rest ratio.

• After you’ve lifted weights at the gym, hop on the rower and row for a minute. Repeat 2-5x.

• Jumping jacks with your kids in the living room

• Air squats (for speed)

• And because you’re expecting me to say it: There are always burpees.

Exercise is not impossible. In fact, the cost of entry is unbelievably low. I’m not saying the work is easy, but on-boarding higher intensity exercise doesn’t have to feel like a herculean task. A minute may be the catalyst to change your life.

Simply Fit is a free newsletter that aims to help you simplify your fitness routine so you can make movement a regular part of your daily life. Subscribe below to have more fitness content like this delivered straight to your inbox. Thanks for reading!

Subscribe now

Share

My husband and I eloped on Tybee Island, a quaint little beach outside of Savannah, Georgia, in 2014. A couple days before we left, we told a few family members in case they wanted to come, but were mostly glad to have a low-key ceremony that was meaningful - without all the frills. Plus, we were young, had relatively new careers, and were pinching every penny possible to pay off our debt (if only we knew what financial “fun” awaited….)

The Diagnosis

We both knew that we wanted a family, but continued to focus on work in the hopes of paying off student loans before a baby entered the mix. A couple years later, we felt like we were in a better spot, and decided to start trying. After a year with no success, we decided to consult a reproductive endocrinologist. I used to be a really optimistic person, but if I’m honest, that year of no progress started to foster a deeper belief that something was wrong. Intuition rarely lies, and mine was about to be proven right.

Armed with recent lab work and the fleeting hope the doctor would tell me it would be an easy case, we went to the consultation. She took one look at the labs I brought with me and in less than a minute looked up and said, “We’d need an ultrasound for absolute confirmation, but based on these labs, you have PCOS”.

The follow up ultrasound confirmed the PCOS, and we were presented with treatment options to pursue: medications to force ovulation or pursue IVF. We’d also considered adoption but knew there were ethical dilemmas with agencies, fees, and so many unknowns. However, we still made a profile that many of our friends shared in the hopes we could match independently. I was also simultaneously reading blogs, watching YouTube videos, and reading Reddit threads on infertility to see if there was any route to parenthood we hadn’t considered, when I got a call from a friend.

Embryo Donation

What she was referring to, but neither of us knew, was embryo donation. When couples go through in-vitro fertilization, they often have additional embryos they are unable to use. Not every embryo results in a successful pregnancy or a live birth, so having more than you need is helpful as couples work to complete their family. Even still, once families are done growing their family, they often have leftover embryos. These embryos can be frozen (for as long as you pay storage fees), donated to science, destroyed, or donated to others.

For us, it was essentially adoption in the earliest form, and we didn’t hesitate to pursue this avenue. IVF is quite expensive because most insurance plans won’t cover infertility treatments. Plus, it can also be taxing on the body. With embryo donation, I could avoid the egg retrieval process because the embryos were already made. I just needed to go through the embryo transfer. Less expensive than IVF and easy enough to complete.

Embryos can be donated anonymously or directly. Most fertility clinics have embryos available for anonymous donation (with an extensive waitlist). They typically tell you ethnicity, hair color, eye color, and any family history of known disease. Direct donation or known donation is facilitated directly by the donating couple or individual. They then get to choose exactly who to give the embryos to, and can decide the openness of the relationship.

We knew embryo donation was right for us. Next, we got on our clinic’s waitlist (although we weren’t thrilled about the anonymous part) and were told it would be a year to a year and a half wait. We just didn’t know how else to go about finding embryos. Yet, I was still on my internet deep dive on all things infertility. We still had an adoption profile “out there” and were now also on my clinic’s wait-list for embryos.

I subsequently discovered Facebook groups for embryo donation and joined as many as I could find. Within these groups, couples wishing to receive embryos as well as couples wanting to donate embryos can make profiles and connect independently. I posted our profile there and added that to our mix of hopeful outcomes.

All the things. All at once.

Around 4 months after getting on the waitlist, I was contacted on Facebook by a woman who was pregnant and claimed that she wanted to place her baby for adoption. I cautiously began talking to her via Messenger and allowed her to talk and share when she felt like it. She was not too much younger than I was at the time, and already had two kids. A third was too much, she told me.

As time went on, she mentioned wanting to chat on the phone, so I give her my number. She called me often. Each week she called me, shared what was going on in her life, told me about her doctor’s appointments, and how she was feeling. The time came for her 20 week scan and she asked if I wanted to come to the appointment with her and learn the gender of the baby.

Since she didn’t live too far from me, it wasn’t a long trip and I was happy to go. Together we learned it was a girl, and that everything appeared to be right on track. After the appointment, Austin and I took her to lunch, then headed back home. Once we got back home, we contacted an attorney to talk about what the legal process would consist of.

Meanwhile, as her pregnancy progressed, I’m contacted by our clinic to come by and review the list of embryos they have available. Nearly a year later, we finally made it to the top of the list. Again, despite the adoption continuing to feel like a very real possibility, we were still cautious. So, I began appointments for ultrasounds, lab work and all the medications - which felt like a part time job to maintain the schedule and medication administration. (Giving yourself daily injections with a gigantic needle for 6+ weeks definitely makes you feel tough.)

A few months later, the embryo transfer was a success! I’m not a very patient person and I don’t love surprises, so after my home pregnancy test was positive, the lab confirmation was a formality. However, when I went in for my 6 week ultrasound, we learned there was no heartbeat. The shock and devastation were palpable. I was heartbroken, but held a sliver of hope since adoption was still on the table.

Unrelated to my health, but to help grant context to the sadness of this time: a few weeks later we had to euthanize our dog, Jasper. He was my sidekick before I met Austin and had been with me through a tough season - well, a different kind of tough - prior to this one.

Late one night, as Austin and I are watching TV, I’m scrolling Facebook and see a message come through from the potential adoptive mom. It’s a picture of a baby. THE baby, with a message saying, “I think I’m going to keep her. Sorry.” I slammed the computer shut and sobbed. We were past the point of a little boo-hoo; it was full body catharsis via tears. Weeping with every fiber of my being, I wanted to give up.

P.S. all of this happened in year 2 of my doctorate.

Our profile in the embryo donation Facebook group was still active. A few months later, after the dust had settled, we were contacted by a family who had 2 embryos they were wanting to donate. We clicked with them, graciously accepted their offer, and had the embryos shipped to our clinic so we could begin another embryo transfer.

Between the failed adoption and the first failed embryo transfer, we had already lost so much money - money that we didn’t have to start with. Remember how I said as newlyweds we were paying off all our debt? Well, now we were back in the debt accrual game. Looking back on it now, I have no clue what possessed me to keep trying. The desperation to become a mom (for women who feel that calling) can carrying you past your breaking point, apparently.

On the morning of the embryo transfer, they begin to thaw your frozen embryos. The two that were donated to us were frozen in the same "straw”, so the plan was to thaw, use one, and refreeze the other for later. Before the procedure, our doctor came out to tell us that one of the embryos wasn’t looking good and it would not survive another freeze cycle. Because I was healthy and because the chances were slim (<10%) that it would implant, she said she would transfer them both.

Same as before: home test was positive, blood work looked great, and we went in for the ultrasound trying not to hold our breath. She begins the ultrasound and says, “Hmmm…” which is exactly what she said the last time, so I braced for impact.

She then says, “Well, guys, it looks like they both worked!”

Austin then asks: “Can they still split?!” She assured him they could not, and we left the appointment, sat in our car and laughed hysterically, and then went out for breakfast.

The really unfortunate thing about infertility, is you can never truly be excited, because you’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop. The entire pregnancy I was scared to death something would go wrong. For the most part, it was smooth sailing. I fully believe God has a sense of humor because I was due at the time I was set to complete my dissertation and defense.

Around 28 weeks, my high risk doctor (the absolute best) noticed that Baby B’s growth was discordant. By week 31, I had to go check myself into the high risk perinatal unit of the hospital for around the clock monitoring. I made good use of my forced bedrest and finished my dissertation in between NSTs and daily ultrasounds.

Ten days later, my blood pressure spiked, pre-eclampsia was confirmed, and they waited until the last. possible. second at 32+3 to take the babies as HELLP was setting in. If you’ve ever had a magnesium drip, you know how absolutely miserable you feel, but thank God in my delusion, I still remember them showing me those tiny, precious babies before they took them to the NICU.

The twins grew and grew, as the neonatologists and pediatricians assured us they would. And we grew too, as parents. What we once thought was impossible (caring for twin babies), felt possible - so possible, that we felt like we wanted to have another. Our twins are biracial, and we wanted a subsequent child to have the same racial identity as our twins. But, that felt like finding a needle in a haystack.

Still, we persisted, posted our profile again, and a few months later were contacted by another family who had embryos to donate that matched the racial background of our twins. I talked with the donating mom a few times, again, we clicked and after a bit of paperwork, the embryos were on their way to our clinic.

After the pre-eclampsia and near death experience with the twins, needless to say I was a tad nervous, but the pregnancy with our third was a dream. We scheduled her c-section, it was calm, uneventful (in the best way) with no NICU time. It was wild to take a baby home from the hospital the next day. She was perfectly healthy, precious, and the best ending to the longest 8 years of my life.

All our kids know their story. None of this would have been possible if we had an anonymous donation. I can’t fully grasp the magnitude of the gift we have been given through embryo donation, but the depths of it will never be lost on me.

It’s also one of the reasons I periodically share my story. It’s a reminder to me of the goodness that still exists in the world: that someone would so graciously give a gift they fought so hard for, so that others can experience the joy of parenthood. I guess that’s where the strength lies. The shared, collective experience (that no one would wish on another) is the thing that somehow holds us all together.

I still often wonder what our biological child would have been like. I also still think about the baby that I lost, every year on it’s would be due date. That’s the thing about infertility. It’s indescribable joy for what I have and deep loss for what could have been. Both can exist without one taking away from the other.

If someone had told me at the beginning of my journey that my story would turn out this way, I’d never had believed them. I guess that’s a good thing. I needed to experience it for myself to see that it was better than I could have imagined.

Simply Fit is a free newsletter that aims to help you simplify your fitness routine so you can make movement a regular part of your daily life. Subscribe below to receive science-backed fitness content. Thanks for reading!

Subscribe now

Welcome to Workout Wednesday, a series where I share exercise programming that I’ve designed for my weekly group fitness classes. The goal of this series is to help take the guess work out of exercise programming by offering simple, functional routines that you can do with minimal equipment.

Workout

Focus: Sprint Interval Training (click for a previous article that’s all about SIT/HIIT)

I love the bike for top end, sprint interval training (which is different than sub-maximal interval training). You don’t have to worry about running form - plus, you’re not pounding pavement. The mechanics of cranking a bike are easy, so you can really focus on the all out, red line push that this training calls for. What’s difficult is really finding that true, Zone 5, maximal effort on the bike.

Dr. Kelly Starrett calls this the “pain cave” and it is 100% true. If you’re truly giving a max effort, you can likely only sustain this for 15-20 seconds. Each interval is followed by a long (and necessary) rest. If you feel like you don’t need the entire recovery interval, then you may have had more ceiling left to push in the sprint.

Since the goal of this is intensity, you’re going to push heavy resistance as hard as possible to maximize your heart rate. Starting with a hip mobility session is an ideal pre-workout primer.

Mobility:

• Hip CARS

• Leg swings (Sagittal plane- front to back)

• Leg swings (Frontal plane - side to side)

• Low Body Spin-up (Click here for video - credit to Dr. Kelly Starrett)

Workout:

Warm-up 10-15 minutes (Z2 - Z3, RPE 5-6)

Sprint Interval: 20 seconds (Z5, RPE 10 - max effort)

Recovery: 3 minutes

Repeat the sprint + recovery combo 6x

Cool-down:

10 minutes (Z2, RPE 4-5)

STRETCH!

Remember: if you’re new to this intensity of training or toeing the line of your max effort, it can be scary. You can use each interval to increase the intensity as you become more confident exercising at that level. High intensity / SIT training should be done 2x a week at most to give your body enough time to recover for all the other awesome things you’re doing.

Workout Wednesday is a series from Simply Fit - a free newsletter with practical, science-informed, fitness advice for everyday life. If you’d like more free workouts delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe below. If you gave this one a try, comment below to let me know your thoughts. Happy Exercising!

Subscribe now

Maximal strength can’t be improved with the loads used in group fitness classes because dumbbells simply can’t offer the maximal loads most people need. Improvements to maximal strength are achieved with ~85%+ of one’s 1RM, using roughly 2-5 sets of 5 or fewer reps. If it makes you nervous, start small. Machines offer a safer alternative to move really heavy loads in a controlled pattern.

“Is it really that important? I don’t really care how much weight I can lift…”

It’s not just about how strong you are. The benefits of strength training at a therapeutic (i.e. effective) load are vast. I’ve always used the analogy that resistance training is like your savings account - you add to it on a weekly basis and it pays dividends in the long run.

Muscle is metabolically active, so having more muscle increases your resting metabolic rate (RMR). These are the calories you burn at rest, just to stay alive. As we age, our maximal strength decreases consistently (in the absence of strength training), but declines precipitously around age sixty. Secondary to this, the ability to quickly produce force declines even faster than strength losses.

To mitigate strength and force production losses into older adulthood, focusing on neural drive may help. The more weight you lift, the harder your nervous system works to ensure enough muscle fibers are recruited for the task. Neuromuscular adaptations happen at various intensities because we all eventually adapt to our training loads. Thus, progressive overload improves muscular strength via neuromuscular function. This is also why recreational sports, bodyweight exercises, and low weight / high rep movements don’t offer the same neurological benefit: the stimulus is too low.

Lastly, aging increases the risk of chronic disease, including osteoporosis, sarcopenia, heart disease, and cancer. However, increases in strength are associated with decreases in all-cause mortality, meaning the stronger you are, the less likely you are to die from one of these conditions.

Adding it to your routine

Here are some simple guidelines to incorporate a day or two of maximal strength training to your routine.

1. Pick a day that isn’t preceded or followed by another high intensity training day of any kind. Low-intensity or steady state work the next day is ideal. Having a rest day before your strength day is even better.

2. On the day that you’re lifting heavy, pick one upper body lift and/or one lower body lift to complete at this intensity. Heavy lifts are your primary, multi-joint lifts: bench press, deadlift, leg press/back squat, etc. Once you’ve completed your heavy lift, you can pick a few additional exercises to do at a lighter intensity (2-4 sets of 8-10 reps).

3. For each big lift, start with a warm-up set of 8-10 reps with moderate weight. I personally complete 2 of these and then move to 2 heavy sets of 4-5 reps. Take 3-4 minutes to rest in between the two heavy sets. Once you start to adapt, you can always add another set of as little as 1-2 reps and work your way up to 5.

   Don’t get lost in the numbers (e.g. %RM), just dial in a weight that only allows you to complete 4-5 reps.

4. If you’re completing one heavy session a week, you can either: alternate upper body and lower body groups each week or do both as indicated in point 2.

5. You can still complete all your regular programming as long as you allow enough recovery to meet the demands of each individual training session. Here’s an example:

   

   Remember to start small. One day per week for a very heavy training day is a good place to begin. It’s also recommended you modify the loads and volume throughout the week so you’re not only training muscular strength, but you’re training muscular endurance as well.

   ---

   Simply Fit is a free newsletter that aims to help you simplify your fitness routine so you can make movement a regular part of your daily life. Subscribe below to receive fitness content like this. Thanks for reading!

   Subscribe now

Welcome to Workout Wednesday, a series where I share exercise programming that I’ve designed for my weekly group fitness classes. The goal of this series is to help take the guess work out of exercise programming by offering simple, functional routines that you can do with minimal equipment.

Workout

Focus: Hybrid

This routine is all about continuous work with little down time. Using moderate weight and higher reps will keep your heart rate elevated - more so than a standard resistance training session. The last block has some plyometric movements included for a burner at the end. I have used (mostly) common exercises so you can search by name if you need reference images or technique videos. For those that may not be searchable, I’ve added a brief explanation.

Complete each block in order. Allocate 30 seconds for each exercise followed by a 10 second transition to the next movement. Take a 30 second recovery at the end of the block. Each block can be completed 2-4 times.

Block 1: Lower Body

1. Goblet Squat

2. Single Arm Overhead Lunge - 1 set R, 1 set L

3. Romanian Deadlift (RDL)

4. Side Lunge - 1 set R, 1 set L

Block 2: Upper Body

1. Gorilla Row

2. Narrow to Wide Overhead Press - Complete 1 overhead press with a narrow, neutral grip. Upon return, switch to a wide grip. Continue to alternate throughout the set.

3. Half to Full Curls - Curl to 90 degrees, release, then complete a full range curl

4. Plank Walk-ups (on step) - In high plank (on hands), walk the hands up onto the step, and then back down to the floor.

5. Tricep Push-ups

Block 3: Core + Plyometrics

1. One-legged Skier Hops - 1 set R, 1 set L

2. Plank Rotations

3. Plank Jack - In plank position, “jack” the feet out and in, hopping in each direction. Remember to keep the hips down throughout the movement.

4. Wide Squat Jumps

5. Lunge Hops (on step) - Place front foot on step, then rapidly pull the back knee through to jump off of the front foot

Workout Wednesday is a series from Simply Fit - a free newsletter with practical, science-informed, fitness advice for everyday life. If you’d like more free workouts delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe below. If you gave this one a try, comment below to let me know your thoughts. Happy Lifting!

Subscribe now

It’s been a while (a year) since writing a “Workout Wednesday” article. But, I teach a functional resistance training class every Friday and really have no excuse for not sharing my Friday workouts on Substack. So, if you’d like a series that shares free workouts that you can tailor for your own goals and routine, welcome!

Share

Training Framework

I utilize a block format in group fitness classes. You can complete one, some, or all blocks of the programming below. We typically work through each block twice, but each block can be completed up to four times (sets). In class, we used timed sets (30 seconds) instead of reps, but you could use either.

• Sets (Rounds): 2, 3, or 4

• Reps:

  • 8-10 for building muscle OR

  • 12+ for developing muscular endurance

  • You’ll need to choose a weight that matches the number of reps you’re attempting to complete. You can also utilize a timed set (30, 40, or 60s) for each round if you wanted to create more of a circuit style/hybrid routine.

Workout

Focus: Power

The goal of this session is to increase speed throughout the concentric part of the lift, and then control the weight as it returns to its starting position. These are standard movements, but adding speed to the lift trains the muscles’ ability to generate power.

Note: I have used (mostly) common exercises so you can search by name if you need reference images or technique videos. As part of this series, I’ll also highlight moves and demo technique breakdowns that will help you understand the muscular function behind the lifts.

Block 1:

1. Unilateral Dumbbell Snatch

2. Reverse Fly

3. Goblet Squat

4. Overhead Weighted March

5. Combo: Front Raise x High Row

Block 2:

1. Kettlebell Swing

2. Overhead Squat

3. Lunge

4. Push up

5. Bicep Curls

Block 3:

1. Side Plank + Thread the Needle

2. Side Lying Leg Lifts

3. DNS Star

4. Reverse Plank Knee Pulls

Block 4:

1. Prone Flutter Kicks

2. Plank

3. Superman

4. Superman Row

Workout Wednesday is a series from Simply Fit - a free newsletter with practical, science-informed, fitness advice for everyday life. If you’d like more free workouts delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe below. If you gave this one a try, comment below to let me know your thoughts. Happy Lifting!

Subscribe now

You can read the position stand for yourself if you want to dive into all the science-filled details. Spoiler alert: Resistance training improves literally everything about your musculoskeletal health.

It’s important to note that the ACSM primarily focuses on general and clinical populations (e.g. those with existing disease, older adults, pregnancy, etc.) so these guidelines are written with those groups in mind. If you’re been strength training for some time, or have a structured exercise routine, this information may not apply to you. But, if you’ve been doing the same thing for a while or lack balance in your routine, re-thinking your gym time through the lens of simplification may give you a fresh start.

Share

1. Incorporate at least 2 days per week of weight training

   The simplest way to begin is with two non-consecutive days of weight training. You need a day in between for your muscles to recover. Ideally, your lifting days should include a resistance training exercise for each major muscle group, but if that feels too complicated, incorporate both upper body movements and lower body movements.

2. Any type of resistance training you do (machines, bands, free weights) can contribute to positive changes in muscle function.

   If you’re new to the weight lifting game, start with a mode (type) of training that makes you feel safe, supported, and confident in the movement. For many people, machines are a great place to start because they help your body maintain an ideal position. After getting a feel for basic technique and proper breathing, you can integrate free weights in your routine.

3. There are some basic guidelines you can follow for specific training goals, but tailoring your resistance training programming to your lifestyle is what matters most.
   Those that love numbers may want some specifics to guide their routine. Note: 1RM = one repetition maximum = the weight that you can successfully move one time with the correct technique. If you don’t know this, or don’t want to test this, choose weight that challenges your intended # of reps. For example: If I’m doing a set of 10 repetitions, reps 8 + 9 should feel sticky; rep 10 should feel really tough.

   1. Weight selections

      For strength: 80%+ of 1RM

      For muscle growth: 70-80% of 1RM with a focus on a higher number of sets

      For power: 30-70% of 1RM with an emphasis on moving the weight quickly

4. When what you’re doing starts to feel easy, move the needle.

   Progression doesn’t solely mean you should lift more weight. You can add to the number of sets, reps, or even days per week of training. However, there is a point of diminishing return. One example: research showed a decrease in benefit after 3 sets per exercise for strength-focused routines. The authors recommend 2 sets per exercise for the heaviest lifts. After you’ve increased your volume via an additional set and/or a few reps, then it’s time to increase your weight selection.

5. Consistency is most important. Whatever resistance training program you’ll stick with is the one that is the best for you.

   Maybe you don’t have access to a gym. Perhaps you only have bands at home. What if you only have a 30 minute break in your day at the office? Use what you have and just do something. It doesn’t mean you have to pick one type/style and lock in- mix it up! Exercise works best under the philosophy that anything is better than nothing. Sure, you’ll eventually get to the point where you need to increase the intensity. When that occurs, re-evaluate your current lifestyle and see what you can do to make it work.

TLDR: Consistent resistance training should absolutely be a part of your exercise routine. Whether it’s done in a group exercise class, at home, or in a fitness center, two days a week of weight training is integral for functionality across the lifespan. Lastly, muscle function can improve at any age. Resist the idea of having a “perfect routine” and focus on doing what works for your lifestyle.

Simply Fit is a free newsletter that discusses practical, evidence-based fitness. If you enjoyed this article, please give it a like or share it with someone who may find it helpful. My goal for 2026 is to reach 100 Substack subscribers with meaningful fitness content. If you’d like to help me reach my goal, subscribe below. Thanks for reading!

Subscribe now

In recent talks with folks about fitness routines, simplification, the need to do less (but to do less, well), and the consideration for how all of that affects our mental health, I realized my own fitness philosophy has changed significantly over the course of my career - with good reason.

I began personal training and working in wellness-related careers fresh out of undergrad. The limited, though well-intentioned knowledge, I had in my 20s, coupled with a hefty dose of delusional confidence has transformed into (way) more knowledge, 15 years of practical experience, and a healthy appreciation for all the things I have yet to discover.

While I can only speak for myself, young/novice fitness professionals often feel like they have something to prove. I mean, why wouldn’t they? They’re being launched into a sea of hard-bodied, know-it-alls, who are all vying for the same clientele and trying to make a living while doing it. Fitness is a wild world because it’s one of the few careers where you don’t have to have a degree to be successful. A large number of followers on social media is plenty, as the algorithm will launch you into prominence without proof of real knowledge.

Regardless of how book smart you are (or aren’t), there’s a real need for practical understanding to become successful in this field. You can prescribe all the training, make every recommendation and share every resource imaginable, but if you lack the ability to empathize and meet people where they are, nothing will ever stick. (Ask 20yo me how I know.)

Here are seven core tenets of my (current) exercise philosophy.

Share

1. Exercise is not an effort in suffering. Yes, it’s important to do hard things, exercise at a therapeutic level to improve fitness, and break a sweat. However, if your goal is to go into the gym, use “calorie burn” as your only metric, and crawl back out, you’re missing a key opportunity to make it stick: enjoyment. If you’re new to exercise, find the mode of exercise you actually like doing. Build the habit with enjoyable movement. As your body adapts, then you can begin to push the intensity with newfound confidence and curiosity.

2. Evaluate your body on what it can do, instead of what it looks like. Bodies come in all shapes, sizes, and abilities. In 2026, can we collectively decide to stop making judgments about others’ abilities based on what they look like? The next time a race, triathlon, or other recreational sporting event is in your neighborhood, go spectate and cheer others on. Be amazed at the efforts of others.

   

3. Set goals that are 100% for you - not societal expectations of you. And certainly not because someone on social media said you should be doing ______. Nearly 80% of Americans fail to meet the physical activity guidelines. If you’re moving your body - even a little each day - you’re in the marginal percentage of Americans who do. So why are you setting goals to “run a 10k” when you hate running?

   

4. Your routine doesn’t have to be perfect. Focus on consistency, instead. The people that you think have perfect routines, don’t. None of us do because we are living life and doing the best we can. What us fitness folks do have on our side is consistency. We’ve cultivated a lifestyle of movement, so that on days we can’t get the workout done, we’ve moved in other ways instead. Make movement work for you, then repeat, forever.

5. You become what you believe. Belief fosters self-efficacy, which is the confidence you have within yourself to do what you set out to do. Without those two things, doubt creeps in and derails your plans. Cultivate a healthy identity with self-kindness as your guide. Believe it or not, it can improve your fitness outcomes.

6. You get to choose what you prioritize. Friend, listen to me (as I listen to myself): You can’t do it all. And, honestly? That should be glorious news. Permission to let. it. go. Pick what you want to prioritize for your health. Once you establish that priority as a routine habit in your life, then add something else to the mix. You can change your priorities as life throws you curve balls. There should be zero guilt and zero shame for adapting your fitness to work within the parameters of your life.

7. Don’t compromise your mental health for the sake of your physical health. See points 3, 5 and 6. If you set unrealistic goals and attempt to do all the things, all the time, you’ll likely accomplish nothing. Optimal physical health becomes null and void if your mental health tanks as a result. Sometimes, the goal is equilibrium rather than optimization. Check in with yourself, or have a trusted friend speak truth if they notice a shift in your mental well-being.

   

My 20 year old self was focused on thinness, the opinions of others, and looking the part. My (almost) 40 year old self is focused on a functional body that is up for spontaneous adventure, nourishing movement, and sustaining itself through the next 40 years.

Simply Fit is a free newsletter that focuses on simple living and practical fitness in pursuit of a less complicated + more meaningful life. Subscribe below to add some intention to your inbox.

Subscribe now

ADHD, in short, can consist of a number of symptoms aside from the inability to concentrate. Impulsivity, difficulty completing tasks, or the inability to simply sit still can impact one’s ability to work, learn, or thrive at home. Compensatory behaviors to counteract these challenges can result in people wanting to sit and do nothing (or scroll, for stimulation) or self-medicate with substances.

Individuals with ADHD are 8x more likely to be sedentary, and 3x more likely to have poorer diets than those without the disorder. Adults with ADHD experience higher rates of obesity, due in part to sedentary behavior and lack of adherence to exercise. Links to these behaviors and late diagnoses in adulthood place individuals with ADHD at risk for premature death.

Exercise Avoidance

A concept known as “effort discounting” is one way researchers evaluate goal-driven behavior. By attempting to quantify how our brains decide whether the reward for engaging in a task is worth the effort required, they can predict our likelihood of completing it.

It has been used in many adolescent studies, but rarely used in analyses of adults with ADHD. However, in a recent study of 181 young adults with ADHD, their symptoms were correlated with sedentary behavior and effort discounting. The connection of an increase in symptoms with higher effort (physical activity) in this study may also be driven by issues with executive function and motor skills that are common in many individuals with ADHD.

Ultimately, this study reveals the way that some adults with ADHD may view physical activity, and the trade offs they may be willing to make to avoid the discomfort of exercise (e.g. knowing that they should be moving, but would rather be comfortable on the couch instead).

If you’re a person living with ADHD, this may help you make more sense of your thought processes. For fitness professionals working with individuals with ADHD, this provides insight into lifestyle factors that we may be helping to address. It can also compel us to make movement more approachable by incorporating it into one’s regular routine.

Coping with Exercise

While some people are sedentary, others with ADHD can be drawn to exercise as an outlet for expending extra energy or the for quick change of pace that sports can offer. A recent push in supporting athletes’ mental health has resulted in more opportunities for screening and assessment. While screening tools are one step in the diagnostic process, it can give athletes insight into their current symptoms and help them pursue next steps in a comprehensive evaluation.

It’s important to note that while some individuals with ADHD may self-medicate with substances, others may self-medicate with exercise. One project, aimed at evaluating mental health and health behaviors in athletes, examined the rates of ADHD in endurance runners. 9.7% of runners (n=601) screened positively for ADHD characteristics, with half-marathoners having higher rates than the other distances (marathon, ultra).

ADHD often presents with other mental health conditions (e.g. anxiety, depression, etc.). Collaborating with a team of mental health professionals to help athletes manage their symptoms is another consideration for fitness professionals and coaches who work with this population.

In extreme cases, individuals (even those without ADHD) can develop exercise addiction (EA). EA is defined by behavioral characteristics of “salience, tolerance, mood modification, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse”. Additionally, those addicted to exercise will do so even while injured and lose control of themselves within their training. Oftentimes, it can coexist with body image or eating disorders. Depression appears to have a stronger link to EA than ADHD, but both are predictive of this extreme behavior.

Walking Points

• Conditions such as ADHD have the ability to not only impact your executive functioning, but can also alter the way you approach health behaviors. It’s not necessarily a lack of willpower on your part.

• Your body’s primary goal is to keep you safe and comfortable. It’s an expert at talking you out of anything that seems remotely uncomfortable or scary. If you are diagnosed with ADHD or any other coexisting mental health condition, especially those rooted in trauma, your body can be hyper vigilant in avoiding threats to the system, like exercise.

• Knowing how your brain works can help you develop systems and rewards that work with your ADHD tendencies. If you’re new to exercise, start out with activities you enjoy. Walk while listening to your favorite audiobook or podcast. Try a circuit style group fitness class with multiple stations and fellow exercisers to keep your brain engaged.

• Pick a worthwhile reward to help you build the habit. Based on what you just learned about effort discounting, your brain will convince you that you can start next week, skip a session, eat fewer calories instead of working out, or (insert ridiculous tactic here). So, name your price. If feeling better and a healthier body aren’t good enough, find another tangible reward that cues your brain and body into action. Once the external reward is “won”, the intrinsic benefits can take over from there.

• Regular exercise is a great outlet for ADHD. Routinely taking an objective look at your relationship with exercise is important, as too much of a good thing can quickly become a not so good thing.

Simply Fit is a free newsletter that focuses on simple living and practical fitness in pursuit of a less complicated life. Subscribe below to add some intention to your inbox.

Subscribe now

At the start of the year, instead of setting resolutions, I prefer to set intentions. Honestly, I don’t feel the need to “resolve” anything. The reframe of an intention helps me to kindly set my sights on what I hope to change, not what I need to change. Don’t get me wrong. Proper goal setting can be quite helpful for measurable change. However, I don’t feel that all change should be measured, even if it can be.

When people think of contentment, their brain likely defaults to “being happy with what you have”. I’m good there. In fact, I’d be equally as content with far fewer things. What I’m referring to is deep soul contentment that is the foundation for personal and professional identity.

Am I content with who I am and what I am doing in this world?

Getting to the Source

Ready for some real talk? Cool.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve felt discontentment within my professional endeavors. I love what I do, yet find myself constantly feeling like I’m not doing enough. The “never enough” tends to zap the joy that comes with fulfilling work.

Much of this is a result of working in a field (fitness) where everyone is seemingly an expert, and has an opinion, whether it is fact-based or not. In a sea of voices, I’ve often felt like I needed to prove more, know more, or show more to validate my place in a social media and appearance dominated industry. I’m fit, but I’m not super strong or super fast; I’m a nerdy, ultra-pale, mom of 3.

Recognizing the discontentment has allowed me to see these patterns before they take root and take appropriate action to curtail them. Social media breaks, reducing the consumption of self-help content (even the evidence-based stuff), and appreciating my body for the fitness it possesses, instead of how it looks, are a few ways I’ve combatted this.

Academia can foster similar concerns. It’s a realm where everyone is an expert, so it’s easy to feel small when you’re not a researcher, published author, or someone with a handful of teaching awards. I intentionally took a teaching position to pursue the aspect of higher education that I loved most, and yet I still occasionally struggle with feeling inadequate. If it makes you feel any better, I spent nearly a combined twelve years in higher education pursuing my degrees and still feel this way. Which makes the fact that there are people on TikTok with zero credentials believing they’re the patron saints of fitness even more ridiculous.

Relinquishing Control

Much, if not all of this, stems from a desire for order and to control what can feel chaotic in my life. People pleasing and performance-based validation still surface from time to time. If that’s you too, we both need to understand:

1. You’ll never make 100% of the people happy 100% of the time.

2. People are going to do, think, and say what they want to, regardless of how it makes you feel.

3. You’re not responsible for others’ feelings or actions. Full stop.

We’d all most likely affirm these statements, yet believing and applying them can feel impossible.

Pursuing an Authentic Identity

I do know myself well enough to understand that if I’m feeling inadequate, it’s likely because I’ve placed too much stock in a certain area of my life (i.e. taken on too much of that identity).

What feels like a personal failure is usually me internalizing some non-existent crisis that I’ve perceived to be true, but isn’t actually so. My brain is always going the extra mile in the least helpful way, telling me all kinds of things that may or may not be so. (Thanks, inner voice.) That feeling of inadequacy, though is right on par with unrealistic academic expectations that were placed on me as a kid, but this isn’t therapy, so I digress…

Having our worth as a human in this wild world determined by what we do is not ideal, but there’s a reason it’s one of the first questions we ask when meeting someone new. Society has cultivated this absurd hierarchy of worthiness based on how much you know and how much you make and nowhere along the way have enough people pushed back against the status quo. I feel like we’re starting to round the corner on this, but have done so at the expense of burnout and mental health. It’s certainly not sustainable.

Oddly, I felt this deeply after becoming a parent. I kept wondering how I had been reduced to a part time chef, nurse, and maid while working my full time job under full time exhaustion, as if being a working mom of twins wasn’t good enough.

When I’m mentioning what we’ve done or accomplished, please know I’m not solely referring to corporate production. Raising children, caregiving, volunteering - anything where we have taken of our time and resources to allocate elsewhere, all fits here.

Doesn’t it seem ironic that our desire to do more keeps us from being content with what we have already done? Sure, hustle culture is partly to blame, but if we took a step back and evaluated our accomplishments through the lens of a supportive friend, would we find contentment there?

Who are we trying to appease? And for what reason? A brilliant friend and I were chatting about this and she said, “We must pursue [whatever it is we’re doing] from a sense of security - not for security.” It’s so true. If we measure our worthiness on outcomes, we’ll crumble at even the most inconsequential failure. It’s the reason why certain critiques sting more than others.

Using the character of who we are instead of what we have done is a far healthier way to begin disassociating ourselves from the identities which may have taken over too many corners of our lives. Separating the outcomes from the process allows us to experience contentment along the journey because contentment certainly isn’t synonymous with comfort. Without the discomfort, I know I wouldn’t adequately appreciate the lessons learned along the way.

Contentment, for type A, reformed perfectionists like myself, can be challenging. And, I think it’s important to share that things are never as they seem from the outside looking in. Being okay with being good enough, resisting the urge to do more, and actually taking time to truly rest, takes practice. So, regardless of what your intentions are for 2026, here’s to pursuing the good kind of discomfort and finding deep, soul contentment and joy along the way.

Thanks for reading along this year!

Recommended Reads

If you’re interested in some personal growth in this area, check out these books:

Soundtracks by Jon Acuff

Chatter by Ethan Kross

Do Nothing by Celeste Headlee

Simply Fit is a free newsletter that focuses on simple living and practical fitness in pursuit of a less complicated life. Subscribe below to add some intention to your inbox.

Subscribe now

Throughout 2025, I made a number of substantial changes to improve my well-being: numerous social media sabbaticals (which I’m still currently on - and may be forever), consolidating my news consumption to a day per week, and screen-free sabbaths.

This year, I also committed to reading more. As a predominantly non-fiction reader, I gravitate toward books discussing productivity, habit building, simple living, and health science.

My “rationale” is to read evidence-based content that I can utilize personally and professionally. Research is part of that content, but most of the fitness questions people ask me are about things they’ve seen in mainstream media. Scientific journalism helps to fill that gap and does so in a way that isn’t a total snooze fest. I’ve yet to read a riveting research article.

Inevitably, the consumption of this type of content fuels an indirect compulsion for self-optimization. It’s virtually impossible to read about habit formation and not want to implement the author’s strategies so I can finally start drinking an adequate amount of water each day. (Still working on that one, by the way.)

Share

With each book we read, each podcast we listen to, or each YouTube video we watch, we start to buy into the hype that if we could only get this part of our life together, things would be so much easier. However, I’ve yet to meet someone who is living their best life simply because they kicked their sugar habit or were exceptionally hydrated.

The reality is that most of us (myself included) feel like we’re constantly failing to do the basics to keep us “healthy” such as: getting enough physical activity, consuming enough protein, drinking enough water, lifting enough weights - you know the ones. If you’re a parent, you probably feel this pressure tenfold.

Sharing what I learn from my personal research is not going to make that much of a difference in the day to day lives of what people do. If mainstream media has taught us anything, it’s that people are even more skeptical of science these days.

People are typically going to do what the loudest voices or the skinniest influencers are doing. Do as they say and you’ll look/feel/be just like them, right? Scrolling fuels the self-optimization trap in the worst way. Non-stop reels and algorithms fill your feed with fit bodies, new supplements, and must-have products guaranteed to change your life.

Furthermore, this isn’t limited to fitness. How many times have you swiped through your news feed and read a post that made you question your parenting skills, or watched a reel of a perfectly clean house while you side-eyed the mountain of dishes in your kitchen sink?

Look, I love learning, teaching, and helping others improve their well-being. Even as a professional in this field, I, too, feel this pressure to continually do more and be better. But, if we constantly try to improve ourselves without taking a moment to assess where we currently stand - physically, spiritually, emotionally, etc. - we end up aiming for a moving target.

I want my focus in the coming year to be on cultivating simplicity in my own life and, by sharing my experiences, I hope to encourage others to do the same. I don’t want to fan the flame of continual self-improvement, but rather, want to create space for self-reflection

While I still plan on writing about fitness, you’ll likely see my newsletters incorporate personal reflection and simple living. By peeling back the layers of life that aren’t serving us, we can find room for authentic growth. I honestly believe that’s all the self-optimization we need.

Next came the full. Honestly, I was dreading it after a rocky finish to my training program, but my brother swore he’d never let me live it down if I bailed on him since I was the one who asked him to do it in the first place. And, after seeing that the half was full and I couldn’t change my registration, I stuck it out.

For a mid-November race, the weather was perfection: slightly cloudy and mid-60s with a sweet breeze throughout. My (survival) plan was to run as far as my legs would carry me and then run-walk when I had to.

Despite the awesome energy during the first few miles, I knew better than to get sucked in and made sure I started out at a modest pace. Conservation was the only thing that would keep me in it for the long haul. I also knew that my brother was going to be faster than me, and I didn’t want him to have to slow down to stick with me.

The first half felt much like the half I ran the weekend before. It went smoothly, despite some unexpected calf tightness early on which I knew would come back to haunt me. I just wasn’t sure when.

When I saw that 13.1 mile marker, not going to lie, the thoughts of having to do it ALL. OVER. AGAIN. almost sent me into a panic. Instead of spiraling, I started some Marathon Math and started reframing the miles in my head: “4 miles x 3”, “just 7 + then 6”, and finally, just chipping them off one mile at a time.

Truthfully, I thought I’d fall off around the 16 to 20 mile mark, except delusion (the good kind?) set in. I powered through the middle section with the hope of someone who just took a swig of pickle juice from a couple dressed up like aliens (true story). I felt oddly unstoppable.

Around mile 21, my legs informed me they no longer were capable of moving at their previous pace, or really any running pace for that matter. I had plenty of fuel and electrolytes on board. I wasn’t cramping, but my body had produced enough metabolites to make me question all of my life choices. This is where the run-walking began and it felt much better to walk as fast as possible than to trot.

In the home stretch, the crowds were electric, but the ability to sustain a run was quickly fading. And, while seeing the finish line is usually the best part, the finish line was at the BOTTOM of a gigantic hill. I feared losing my kneecaps in the process, but didn’t want to walk over the finish line, so I hopped, skipped, and trotted my way to victory.

Am I glad I did it? Sure. I’ve written extensively about my desire to intentionally choose things that feel slightly out of reach and cause me to sit in discomfort. Movement is a gift. Full stop. I never want to take that gift for granted, and getting uncomfortable with training is a way to ensure that I don’t.

Will I do it again? Probably not. There are plenty of other great challenges and plenty of other things I’m not good at that I’d like to incorporate into my training. I’m not a naturally gifted runner, and the distance of a marathon (for me) does more harm than good to my body. My Garmin told me I had 65 hours of recovery the morning after, if that’s any indicator.

Additionally, the stress of fitting that level of training into my life was starting to steal my joy. I’m looking forward to just running for fun - completing whatever distances I want, when I want, and truly allowing my body to breathe for a bit.

It was awesome and hard and wild and just miserable enough to motivate me to continue pushing my own limits in new ways. I’m convinced the best way to live this life is to do the things that feel just out of reach. Proving to yourself you can do something that feels slightly impossible is good for the soul - maybe not for the legs - but certainly for the soul.

Simply Fit is a free newsletter that aims to simplify exercise science and deliver practical recommendations to help you achieve your fitness goals. Subscribe for free training tips, technique overviews, and evidence-based fitness content. Thanks for reading!

My marathon is less than a month away and thanks to life doing her thing, I’m on the heels of two weeks without more than a couple of short runs and one week of essentially no exercise altogether. If this were any other time in my life, I’d roll with it and not worry about a break in my schedule. However, my training schedule is closing in on peak training volume and I’d be lying if I wasn’t slightly nervous about how this will affect me on race day.

As someone who has been in this position before (although not while training for a distance I haven’t run), I’ve tried a few strategies that have been helpful. So, I thought I’d share them with you.

Have the existential crisis & feel the feels. Whatever the self-help, therapists, and life coach gurus have ever said about naming it, claiming it, and then moving on from it: do that. While I’m not one of these kinds of professionals, there is validity in acknowledging the emotional weight of losing your momentum, feeling like you’ve let yourself down (which you haven’t), and, frankly, just being frustrated by the whole thing.

Show yourself kindness. The second part to naming your cavalcade of emotions is then responding with kindness, gratitude, and sincerity. The diatribe from your inner voice is going to want to rage against you and your alleged shortcomings. Start to silence your inner critic in a way that works for you: being in nature, journaling, mindfulness, boxing (?) - you get the idea.

While you may not be into flowery self-talk (me either), you can respond practically with thoughtful truths:

• “If I had a friend in the same position, I’d tell them they were doing the best they could.”

• “In the scheme of life, this is a bump in the road.”

• “You’ve put in so much work prior to this point that your body will still respond to the training you’ve logged.”

Do the next right thing… which doesn’t mean going on a long run or attempting some other monumental feat of movement. If you set out to make up for lost time, end up getting fatigued and call it quits early, you’ll be back in the same boat. This is also a valid way to sustain an injury and end up out of the race altogether.

In my current scenario, it looks like a few short runs a few days in a row to get some easy wins. I’ve been back to teaching my group fitness classes this week and have felt good about returning to that training volume (cardio + lifting + mobility). And, while we’re honest, it’s not the aerobic part of the marathon I’m worried about. It’s the potential of my toenails falling off at mile 15, cramps at mile 17, patellar tendonitis at mile 20, and

Simply Fit is a free, weekly newsletter that aims to simplify exercise science and deliver practical recommendations to help you achieve your fitness goals. Subscribe for free training tips, technique overviews, and evidence-based fitness content. Thanks for reading!

The National Strength and Conditioning Association has advocated for the introduction of weightlifting in youth, provided programs are methodologically sound and supervised by a trained professional. At-home training, self-guided training in a fitness center, or group sessions with inadequate supervision are likely culprits for the injuries listed in the study above.

Start with Simple Technique

Just like adults, teaching kids how to lift weights starts with no weight at all. There are essential movement patterns that should be mastered before any weight is added to the mix. Starting with a dowel / broomstick / pvc pipe is an excellent way to move the body with the feel of a bar, but without the risk of injury. (If you’re wondering why machines aren’t an option, it’s because they’re not made to fit pediatric sizes. Even on the smallest setting, they’re often too large for young lifters.)

• Squat - Focus on pushing the hips back, and sitting back on the heels while keeping the knees aligned with the toes to avoid knee cave (valgus). As the body lowers into the squat, the spine should not round or fold forward. Having a small stool or chair behind them to feel adequate depth is ideal.

• Lunge - A proper lunge should begin with the feet on railroad tracks, rather than a balance beam. There should be appropriate width both side to side and front to back in the feet. The torso should remain upright while the back knee drops straight down. Both feet should stay pointing straight ahead. If the back foot tries to turn out, it’s because the hip is lacking extension (the ability to move behind the pelvis).

• Hinge - Being able to move about the hips, or to hold a hinge position is a critical step for bent over rows, RDLs and a variety of other upper and lower body movements. A proper hinge starts with pushing the hips back, while maintaining a neutral spine. It’s easier said than done with wiggly bodies and goes hand in hand with proper core bracing.

• Overhead Push - Moving weight overhead requires sufficient core stability. My favorite way to coach this movement is by setting up a split stance to eliminate excessive rounding in the low back. The pelvis should be tucked with the core braced. Instruct the lifter to exhale during the press and inhale on the return.

• Press - Whether an incline press or a bench press, teaching proper pressing mechanics begins in the starting position. The elbows should be tucked slightly to elicit effective shoulder engagement. A strong belly and powerful breath, coupled with a 5 point stance (feet flat on floor, hips on the seat, upper back and head back and hands on the bar) set up the lifter for success.

• Pull - As the arms pull weights toward the body, the shoulders can often compensate by “shrugging” up toward the ears. Keeping the shoulders back and down allows the back to facilitate the movement. Bracing the core and pulling from the back (but not with the back) is a key facet of movements like rows or deadlifts.

Safe Programming

Every training session should start with a dynamic warm up:

• 10-15 minutes of cardio to prime the system

• Dynamic movements that align with the training session. Examples: leg swings, glute bridges, plank walkouts, etc.

As your young lifter begins to work on the technique mentioned above, they should be able to complete 1-3 sets of 6-15 bodyweight reps with successful technique before progressing to weighted lifts. Once it’s safe to introduce weights, I’m still a fan of at least one bodyweight set to reinforce technique, expand the warm-up, and prime the brain for how the lift should feel.

In addition to effective technique, proper core bracing and breath should be utilized. The idea is to exhale during the challenging part of the lift and inhale on the return. If control is lacking on the return, work on cueing the athlete to “slow down on the way back home”.

Lifting on two non-consecutive days per week with an emphasis on leisure physical activity (and play!) helps keep movement fun and keeps post-exercise soreness at bay. Youth may benefit more from variety within their routine, so logging programs and weights used can be helpful for both engagement and proper progression. This can also be a great tool for exercise education in adolescent lifters, while giving them a voice in their exercise routine.

Ultimately, the best way to teach your child how to lift is to lead by example. If you’re uncomfortable with your own technique, one option may be to hire a trainer for both you and your child. Learning together can offer a bonding experience through shared success (and frustrations).

For experienced lifters who may have more confidence in technique and coaching, starting with the key movements above - even in preschoolers - can also help them grow their own confidence as they learn to move their bodies in new ways.

Simply Fit is a free, weekly newsletter that aims to simplify exercise science and deliver practical recommendations to help you achieve your fitness goals. Subscribe for free training tips, technique overviews, and evidence-based fitness content. Thanks for reading!

Subscribe now

When I signed up for this race last Summer, I was teaching three classes a week at my gym. Since signing up for the race, I now lead six regularly scheduled classes, and routinely sub for others as needed. Each week, I instruct two cycling classes, two yoga/Pilates/mobility classes, and two resistance training classes.

While my schedule is about as well balanced as it could be for both my instructor role and my running regimen, managing them in addition to my full time job as a professor, and my full time job as a mom has been really hard. (No surprise there.)

The running program I was originally following was a 16 week long, 5 runs per week routine with long runs on Sunday. After only making 2-3 runs per week happen for the first 6 weeks of training, I had to make some changes. So, I dropped a day of running, and opted for a M/W/F weekly run, moved the long runs to Saturday mornings, and dedicated Sundays to recovery. All of my regular group fitness classes are scheduled during the week, so that at least ensured the long runs would happen on the weekends.

Even with the schedule tweak, the training has been spotty at best (and that’s probably generous). But here’s the thing: my only goals are to 1) finish the race and 2) avoid injury. The majority of the time, when we set fitness goals for ourselves, we set these obscenely lofty goals that are unrealistic. In the beginning, when I set out to determine my race pace, finish time, etc., I kept worrying about the numbers and lost sight of the simplest goal I originally had: to finish well.

Finishing well means:

• I can walk if I need to

• I’ll take time to enjoy the moment

• I’ll celebrate every mile that my feet carry me

• I’ll savor the feeling that never gets old: being part of a collective body of movement. (No lie, I get emotional in races because it makes me so unbelievably happy to see people enjoying movement.)

If you don’t take the time to make the miles (or insert whatever metric that applies to you) count, then you’re not only missing out on the countless other benefits that fitness can offer you, but you’re likely fostering negative self-dialogue every time your training gets derailed.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with challenging yourself, setting the goals, and doing the things. However, once you’ve lost the joy as a result of the excessive parameters you’ve placed on yourself, you’re also more likely to lose your momentum.

Exercise is not solely meant to be an effort in suffering. Find the reasons why you love to do the things you do and honor the movement for all of the ways that it helps you grow.

The funny thing is, I don’t really love running as a form of exercise. I love running for all of the other things that it offers me: time in nature, a quiet mind, grit, and feeling those deep, cleansing breaths. Those are the things that keep me going, even when the training isn’t perfect.

The miles you’ve run are miles that you wouldn’t have run otherwise. Every step is an achievement. Let’s celebrate any win that we can, regardless of who carries the trophy.

Simply Fit is a free, weekly newsletter written by Dr. Amanda Durall, a Kinesiology professor, fitness professional, and busy mom who aims to simplify exercise science and deliver practical recommendations to help you achieve your fitness goals. Want more free content like this delivered straight to your inbox? Subscribe for training tips, technique overviews, and evidence-based fitness content.

Subscribe now

1. You don’t have to get in shape before you come and see me. That’s like cleaning up your diet before you go in for your yearly physical. I want to see the real you. Sure, if you want to begin exercising or want to incorporate new things into your routine before using a trainer, you’re welcome to do so. But, please don’t think that I’m judging your fitness based on the skills, abilities, and body composition you show up with. I’ve seen it all and welcome you as you are. It’s the whole point of individualized training.

2. I don’t want you to be dependent on me (i.e. my services) forever. If you're new to fitness, one of the best investments you can make is with a qualified fitness professional. My goal is to teach you the basics of proper technique and program design. I want to foster your confidence in your exercise technique and your fitness knowledge. By growing self-efficacy, your belief in your skills and abilities will compel you to continue on your own. Learning how to progress safely and effectively will keep you functional throughout your lifespan. (But you can always come back for a technique refresh or for some new programming.)

3. I am going to help you reach your goals within the broader scope of functional fitness. Occasionally, clients will come to a consultation saying, “I just want to work on my core and my glutes.” And I love when folks show up with a vision. However, it would be a gross misuse of time and money if that’s all I did. While a trainer should help you conquer your goals, they can work on those areas you mention…and more. I always want training to be balanced and comprehensive. From a biomechanical perspective, there are likely plenty of other postural imbalances going on that are contributing to a weak core and glutes. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to change your body composition. Just know that it happens with a balanced approach (and usually a lot slower than you think).

4. I can’t want it for you more than you want it for you. Understand that when trainers take on clients, they want the best outcome possible for you. (If you don’t feel that’s the case, find a new trainer.) Naturally, there will be days where you just aren’t feeling motivated, you lack energy, or you had a stressful day at work and you’re off your game. However, if the majority of your sessions are that way, you’re cancelling more than you’re showing up, or you aren’t giving your best effort on your good days, then it may be a good idea to take a break. Regroup by starting smaller to build your gym habit - focus on simply showing up consistently for smaller bouts of work. Once you’ve built the habit, you can incorporate personal training sessions with the commitment is there. Your investment into training should be worthwhile and efficacious.

5. We aren’t magicians. We can give you all the tools, support, and recommendations. However, if you don’t apply those resources to your life outside of your two or three training sessions per week, you likely won’t see change. Cutting down sedentary time by walking or by simply standing more often, cutting out your daily Starbucks bev, and exercising on days your aren’t training are just a few of the changes that may be recommended to you. These changes don’t have to happen all at once. Approach those recommendations in a way that works for you. Yes, if you’re new to this, it’s overwhelming. Take the baby steps. Be honest with your trainer. They can help you strategize and direct you to other professionals outside their scope of practice for support.

   Most importantly: be honest with yourself. Own the effort you’ve invested and fairly assess the work that you’ve done in and outside of the gym. You owe it to yourself to show up meaningfully and wholeheartedly as you craft the best version of you.

   Simply Fit is a free, weekly newsletter written by Dr. Amanda Durall, a Kinesiology professor, fitness professional, and busy mom who aims to simplify exercise science and deliver practical recommendations to help you achieve your fitness goals. Want more free content like this delivered straight to your inbox? Subscribe for weekly training tips, technique overviews, and more evidence-based fitness content!

   Subscribe now

My husband is an accountant by trade, so over the last ten years, I’ve had loads of practical life lessons as we’ve paid off debt, been meticulous about our saving, and been frugal when necessary. We’re minimalists and while we’ve still accumulated more “stuff” in our house than I’d like (thanks to kids), we are constantly pushing back against overconsumption.

That’s not to say we don’t ever buy anything. We spend money on things that we find value in, things that we and our kids need, and yes, we sometimes buy things just because. I love to thrift and have amassed a massive book collection through my secondhand shopping. (Books are the one area that I’m NOT minimal.) However, the reality is that we need very little to function and even purchasing secondhand can get out of hand.

I recently read Cait Flanders’ book, The Year of Less, and enjoyed following along as she documented her no-buy year. While a full year seems daunting, starting with a no-buy month (or even a week) could be a great place to start. No-buy doesn’t mean that you don’t spend a dime. It just means you put parameters on how you’re going to spend your money during that time period to avoid unnecessary purchases and overconsumption.

Make your no-buy list

We all have certain things that we know are problematic areas of spending (mine = books + food). Below are some other areas to consider.

• Individual drinks / snacks on the go (tea, coffee, smoothies, etc.)

• Cosmetics, fragrances, and/or skin care

• Electronics

• Clothes / Shoes / Accessories

• Books

• Kids toys

• Home Decor

• Eating Out

• Movies

• Alcohol (if you imbibe)

Decide how you’ll buy what you need

You’re still spending money during your no-buy experiment. You’re just spending it solely on what you need to function. Buying groceries, gas, and paying bills are unavoidable for most people. Decide how you will buy what’s necessary.

If you know that purchasing groceries in-person at Target may be a trigger to buy unnecessary extras, then place a grocery pickup at Walmart. One key to breaking bad habits is to make them more difficult to access. Make yourself jump through more hoops by shopping at a store you hate, so you’re less likely to spend money on something you don’t need.

Identify your triggers

Some people shop solely because they’re getting a good deal. They absolutely do not need the item they’re purchasing, but the dopamine takes over and they buy it anyway. Then, usually shortly thereafter, they feel the regret of bringing yet another thing they don’t need into their house.

Others shop as a coping mechanism for (insert stressful event here). They’re numbing something they don’t want to face. Maybe they’re having “me time”. Perhaps they’re just taking a break from their kids and going on a Target run. The thrill of buying something new gives that same mental override to their stressful day, and the cycle repeats the following day.

Find your minimum

There’s a reason why you feel so light when you go on vacation with only your essentials. Decision fatigue is quickly eliminated when you only have access to your favorites. The lightness reaches past personal belongings, too.

You’re not staring into the abyss of your overstuffed pantry wondering what in the world you’re going to make for dinner. You don’t have a mile-long list of places to choose from when you want to go out to eat. The rental isn’t filled with toys, either, so you have to go adventuring for new experiences to occupy your kids’ time.

No-buys and minimalism go hand in hand for this very reason. By not purchasing, you’re forced to face all of what you currently own and consume it mindfully. (Well, that’s the goal at least.) As you use up the excess in your home, you become more minimal in the process.

As you’re using up the excess you’ve accumulated, you can be critical in the best way about what has and hasn’t worked for you. Pay attention to what you keep reaching for. Finding what works best for you also helps you eliminate everything that doesn’t. Some products may serve multiple purposes. An example from my skincare arsenal: I use jojoba oil in place of shaving cream, to remove my makeup, and to moisturize my kids’ skin.

A behavioral experiment

At face value, a no-buy period seems like a financial experiment, but it’s really a behavioral experiment. Being exceptionally intentional about how you spend your money helps you identify triggers that elicit bad spending habits. The goal is to break the bad habits and to develop new ones.

Most underlying bad habits are driven by stress. You have a rough day at work, so you come home and let your brain seek out the dopamine in the quickest and easiest way possible. You grab a handful of M&Ms, plop down on the couch, and turn on the TV. Before you know it, you’ve squandered your opportunity for exercise and only feel like going to bed.

The ways in which we cope with stress are on autopilot. These are your bad habits in action. You automatically engage in the same behaviors when stressful triggers arise because that’s what your body knows to do. Changing those takes serious work, but money is a great place to start.

As I was writing this my husband said I’m the worst candidate for a no-buy experiment because I rarely spend money. However, I think self-discipline can be developed in a number of ways. Research also tells us if we turn our habits into a game or a challenge, we’re more likely to stick with them.

So, where are you going to start? If not a no-buy experiment, what other habits do you need to evaluate? It’s time to take a closer look at how our habits are running our lives.

Simply Fit is a free, weekly newsletter written by Dr. Amanda Durall, a Kinesiology professor, fitness professional, and busy mom who aims to simplify exercise science and deliver practical recommendations to help you achieve your fitness goals. Want more free content like this delivered straight to your inbox? Subscribe for weekly training tips, technique overviews, and more evidence-based fitness content!

Subscribe now

The reality is that women lose up to 10% of their bone density in menopause. With bone loss also comes muscle loss (sarcopenia), which is likely why your social media feed is filled with women talking about hitting their protein goals. Physical inactivity, coupled with declining levels of estrogen, can result in significant changes to bone and muscle health. A recent study revealed more severe menopausal symptoms to be correlated with lower muscle mass. While we’ve certainly made women aware of the need to strength train, there seems to be an underlying urgency that we still aren’t doing enough.

What constitutes enough?

Social media has women believing if they walk with a weighted vest a few times a week they’re strength training. Taking a group fitness class and lifting a set of 2 pound dumbbells isn’t going to move the needle either. While all movement is good movement, all modes of exercise still have a threshold for therapeutic outcomes - especially when it comes to resistance training.

I feel like we as a collective society have moved past the myth that if women lift heavy weights, they’re going to “bulk” up. But if you’re reading this and still believe that lie, I’m saying it again. If you want to become stronger, improve your bone density, and change your body composition, you have to lift heavy weight.

Untrained beginners obviously aren’t going to jump straight into heavy loads. In the initial days of training, those smaller loads are effective for novices. As the body adapts, progressive overload is critical for maintaining an adequate stimulus to the body to initiate bone remodeling.

The loads used in exercise should exceed the loads you move throughout your day to day life. So, if you’re carrying around a 30 lb toddler throughout the day, hauling in 6 bags of groceries at a time, and lifting your 50lb bag of dog food to feed Fido, it’s easy to see how the 5 pounders that you’re lifting in class aren’t cutting it.

Lifting for Strength vs. Endurance

There are four primary resistance training goals: strength, power, hypertrophy (increase in size), and endurance. Strength and endurance are on opposite ends of the training spectrum but most pertinent to this discussion, so I’m focusing on those.

Strength is defined as the maximum amount of weight you can move one time, while endurance is the maximum amount of times you can move the same weight. Both are necessary for the general population. You need to be strong and to have muscular endurance for stamina.

Endurance is commonly used in group fitness classes. High repetitions, minimal rest time, and a modest weight selection are all characteristics of endurance-based lifting. The National Strength and Conditioning Association’s guidelines for endurance are 2-3 sets of 12+ reps with 30 second rest periods.

The NSCA’s parameters for strength are 2-6 sets of 6 or fewer reps at or above 85% of 1RM. This means 85% of the weight that you can lift 1 time. Even if you don’t know what that number is, you can still dial in your weight selection by simply choosing a weight that’s heavy enough to only lift 5 or so times. Because each set is so taxing, a 2-5 minute rest between sets is recommended.

Only compound (multi-joint) lifts, such as squats/leg press, bench press, and deadlifts need to be done at this load. Smaller, accessory lifts that only use one joint, like bicep curls and leg extensions, should follow a less intense protocol. The more joints that are involved in the lift, the more weight that can be moved safely.

Even for individuals with osteoporosis, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends using a load that is challenging enough to make the last two repetitions in a set difficult to complete. ACSM also indicates that high intensity resistance training should be performed, if tolerable.

In addition to resistance training, multiple studies have incorporated jumping as a way to improve bone density in perimenopausal women. Jumping rope, or hops without a rope, done on a stable surface are an excellent way to evoke the necessary forces to initiate bone remodeling. If you’ve avoided jump training because you thought it was all box jumps and crazy plyometrics, you’ll be happy know that small hops are sufficient.

While the push to build as much muscle as possible is important to mitigate the losses that are prevalent during perimenopause, the recommendations for postmenopausal women aren’t much different. High intensity exercise consistently performed 3 or more times per week showed promising improvements in bone density.

It should be noted that oftentimes, in these studies evaluating bone density, there may be conflicting outcomes in studies due to where the bone density is measured (e.g. lumbar spine vs. femur). Some of this discrepancy can depend on the exercises used in the study. If the body isn’t loaded in an upright position, which may be common when older adults are being assessed, the spine isn’t sustaining the same load that the limbs are. Functional limitations in older adults impact study design, and therefore study outcomes. Lastly, outcomes can also be affected by the study’s power. It’s not always easy to recruit enough subjects for studies - especially using older adults. Small samples preclude us from assessing the true effect of the intervention.

Training Recommendations

So, what would this look like for a perimenopausal woman who has been training for a while and needs to up the ante? I’ve included an example with some rationale.

When I list cardio below, these are dedicated gym sessions 30-60m of some mode of cardio. This doesn’t include the regular 7k-8k steps you should be aiming for, daily.

Novice exercisers: I still would recommend the same structure below. While you may not be able to incorporate heavy lifts, training 3d/w is still recommended. Cardio and mobility are also still necessary for heart health. On Saturday, instead of the HIIT session, add in another cardio day to help build stamina. The key to progress from a novice to an experienced exerciser (aside from training time) is to increase the weights every 8-12 weeks as you feel yourself becoming stronger.

Monday: strength training

I’d make this a heavy lifting day following the strength protocol above for volume and intensity. Pick or two major lifts to go heavy on (e.g. deadlift, squat or bench), and incorporate other lifts at a lower intensity to address the whole body.

Tuesday: cardio + mobility

Recommend mobility sessions directly after cardio while the body is still warm for optimal movement. If time is an issue, mobility can be done at any time of the day. Pick 1-2 movements to work on for 10 minutes. Done.

Wednesday: strength training

Again, I’d pick 1 or 2 heavy lifts, and the others can be in the 8-10 rep range. While they won’t be as heavy as the primary lifts, choosing a weight that is heavy enough for the 8-10 reps will still elicit muscle growth (hypertrophy).

Thursday: cardio + mobility

These cardio sessions in between lifting days incorporate movement to workout muscle soreness. Dedicated cardio sessions in addition to daily walking are necessary to elicit a training stimulus to enhance your aerobic fitness.

Friday: strength training

For this training day, I’d focus on lifting for endurance. This helps offset the heavy days, but fortifies the training session with another day of total body lifts. Again, one exercise for each major muscle group is sufficient.

Saturday: HIIT

Since there is a rest day built in on Sunday, this would be a great place to incorporate a HIIT session. Because Friday was a lift day, I would avoid weights again and use this for sprint interval training: maximal high end cardio (10/10 effort) in short intervals (20-30s) with ample time to reset (such as a 1:5 work/rest ratio). The bike, treadmill, or rower are great options for this. Either after the warm up or immediately after the training sessions, I’d also incorporate a few rounds of jump rope or double leg hops (3x20).

Sunday: rest

After a busy week, rest needs to be built into the routine for the body to repair. I like coupling this with other forms of rest on Sunday - rest from screens, work, etc. While I still may move intentionally throughout the day, I do not engage in structured exercise.

Ultimately, the order throughout the week is important. Avoid lifting weights on back to back days. It’s also ideal to schedule high intensity cardio sessions after lighter lifting days. Following those parameters, you can still structure a similar training regimen like the sample above that works for you.

Now go pick up something heavy!

Simply Fit is a free, weekly newsletter written by Dr. Amanda Durall, a Kinesiology professor, fitness professional, and busy mom who aims to simplify exercise science and deliver practical recommendations to help you achieve your fitness goals. Want more free content like this delivered straight to your inbox? Subscribe for weekly training tips, technique overviews, and more evidence-based fitness content!

Subscribe now