110 Midlife Doesn’t Get Easier, But You Can Get STRONGER

We’ve all heard the saying, “life doesn’t get easier, you get stronger.”

 But what does that really mean in midlife, when your body, hormones, and energy are shifting?

In this episode, Carly explores the real meaning of strength, beyond muscle, beyond mindset.

 She shares how resistance training builds confidence, resilience, and presence (and why the science backs it up), while also unpacking what it means to be strong without bracing or burning out.

You’ll learn:

• Why consistency matters more than intensity in strength and life
• How resistance training supports women’s mental health and self-worth
• The difference between pushing through and standing rooted
• How to cultivate emotional and physical strength with compassion

Because midlife doesn’t have to get easier; you just get wiser, steadier, and stronger in all the right ways.

Resources: 

Doing the Heavy Lifting: Why Strength Sports Could Be Key for Women’s Mental Health. Link >>https://www.springernature.com/gp/researchers/the-researchers-source/publish-with-impact-blogpost/sdg3-women-mental-health-strength-sports/27695318

Thanks for listening to Rooted In Presence

If you’d like to get in touch with a question about today’s episode or find out how I can support you with coaching, here’s how to reach me:
📧 Email: carlykillenpt@gmail.com
📱 Instagram: @thestrongbonescoach

Do you crave unshakable confidence in your strength from midlife and beyond? Would you love to achieve your goals without sacrificing family time or self-care?

Ready to take your strength to the next level? Start building a stronger body and healthier bones with my Strong Bones Starter Kit; your step-by-step guide to safe and effective strength training at home.
👉 Click here to learn more and access today

🌟 Stay connected and inspired with daily wellness tips on Instagram @thestrongbonescoach.
🌟 For tailored advice or personal queries, email me at carlykillenpt@gmail.com

Thank you for being here, and I look forward to supporting you on your journey to strength, health, and confidence! 💪🦴✨

Transcript

Carly: 0:46

Hello and welcome back to Rooted in Presence. I'm Carla, your host. Today we're talking about a phrase that has followed me for years. Life doesn't get easier. You just get stronger. I was having one of those little doom scrolls the other day. You know, the ones on a Sunday afternoon, and that quotes appeared on my feed again. It felt like a, a blast from the past, but it stopped me. Because it's a quote that I used to carry with me. It was my inspiration years ago. I think it's really what got me started with weight training, and it's something I've leaned on through some of life's most challenging seasons from strength training to burnout, recovery, and yet it means something very different to me now. Much more different than it used to. I used to think it was all about pushing harder, but now I think it means something more like standing softer. So today I want to explore with you what real strength looks like in midlife and how the science supports what many of us already know intuitively, that when we strengthen our bodies, we strengthen so much more than muscle. So let's get started. So before I go into my personal story, I want to touch on something that really caught my attention recently. It was a review published for World's Mental Health Day, exploring how resistance training, especially for women, supports not just physical but mental wellbeing. It turns out that lifting weights does far more than shape your muscles. It helps to regulate mood, reduce anxiety, boost self-esteem, and even improve executive function. That mental clarity, that bit of memory that we often lose under stress. And one of the studies mentioned that women who strength train report higher confidence and higher self-efficacy, meaning. If they feel more capable and grounded in life after all. And another study found that it helps women reconnect with their bodies, shifting focus away from appearance and towards what the body can do. And that really struck a chord with me because it's very much been my experience too. I talk about it a lot. And of course, I am rooted in science as always. It is nice to see the parallels in theory as well as practice. I've been a dietician and coach for over 15 years now, and I've seen the same transformation in my clients again and again. Strength training becomes an act of reclamation. A way of saying, this body is mine. It's about presence, connection, finding your personal power, not perfection. I. When I started lifting weights, I wanted to be that woman with strong sculpted muscles and a confident stance strength that could be seen on the outside. I wanted it to mirror the strength that I felt I was developing on the inside, and I did get stronger. It gave me something I didn't know I'd be missing. That was a sense of capability, but over time. That pursuit of strength started to morph into another way of proving myself. I thought being strong meant being unshakeable, holding it all together no matter what. But the trouble is when life brings grief, change, exhaustion, that kind of brace strength starts to crack. And during my own burnouts, I was lifting everything. The business, family, life, expectations, past, present, and future. But I wasn't lifting myself. I was pushing through, convincing myself I'd rest once life got easier and it never did. that's when I realized strength training doesn't get easier because you change, you adapt, you build capacity. That's exactly what happens in life too. So now when I talk about strength, I think about capacity, not just effort. The capacity to show up and to rest the capacity to feel the big feelings, but not get lost in them, and the capacity to soften without collapsing. And just like in the gym, both intensity. And consistency matter, but it's not about those grand gestures or perfect plans. It's those incremental changes. The tiny reps repeated over time because the truth is you don't grow stronger. By avoiding resistance, you grow stronger when you meet it with presence, with breath, with compassion. And here's what I find truly beautiful. It's not just a metaphor. It really is packed up with science. When women train for strength, studies show it enhances confidence, resilience, and even body satisfaction. I'm sure it does for men too. It's just this study was on women, which is great'cause they never study women enough before. Yay. But when we do this. When we experience this increase in body satisfaction, we can stop seeing our bodies as objects to fix and start experiencing them as allies we live with and shift from control to connection. It really does change everything. So what does strength look like now? Well, these days my strength looks softer, but it's certainly deeper. It's in the way I meet challenge without avoiding it. It's in how I recover, not how hard I push. I don't need to brace myself for every possibility. I trust that if and when challenge comes, I have what I need to meet it. That's what I want for the women I work with too. Not the kind of strength that leaves you tense and tired, but the kind that allows you to exhale, that lets you live from your center. Grounded, aware, truly resilient, and that kind of strength is contagious. It ripples through how you parent, how you lead, how you love. It's those small reps that build the big changes, as I said. If this idea resonates with you, here's a few grounded practices you might want to try this week. Firstly, start where you are. Just like you wouldn't lift your heaviest weight on day one. Don't expect yourself to handle every challenge perfectly. Start small, build confidence through experience. Number two, notice where you're bracing. How are your shoulders? Is your jaw tight? Is it clenched? We often wear our strength as armor, and when you notice this, take a breath, see what happens. If you can soften, maybe just 1%. And lastly, rest as integration. Strength doesn't build when we lift. It's built in recovery. And the same goes for emotional growth too. Best is where resilience takes root. So next time you find yourself thinking, I wish life would get easier, perhaps pause and remember. It probably won't, but you will get stronger. Not because you push harder, but because you are learning to meet life as it is with presence and not pressure. And that's a strength you can carry anywhere, no matter what's going on in life, no matter what kind of body you are in. And if you'd like to explore this kind of strength, the kind that honors your body, your boundaries, and your breath. You are welcome to book a free clarity call with me@carlykillen.com. Together we'll uncover what strength really means for you in the season of life. So until next time, may you meet yourself with Compassion, walk with Presence. And remember, you already carry everything you need.