Embracing "Lifting Heavy Sh*t" Can Make All the Difference in Your 50s

When my FABULOUS client Sarah told me she wanted to “lift heavy sh*t” it was music to my ears. We’ve worked together for years and over time we’ve shifted focus of her program to strategically align with evolving priorities including improving body composition and health markers through an integrated approach to exercise, nutrition and recovery; easing the transition into perimenopause; enabling her active lifestyle and love of tennis and scuba; and ensuring her vitality, mobility and agility as she inches toward early retirement. Her love of metrics, data and science have given us the insights necessary to build her ideal program for her unique body which is yielding incredible results. Her continual efforts to learn and try new approaches is inspiring and I’m so grateful she took the time to discuss her journey here.

I love it when my clients come to me and tell me “JJ, I want to lift heavy things.” Historically I’ve encountered some pushback from clients of all genders, but especially among my female clients, that they don’t want to get too bulky and are hesitant to go for big lifts. Why are you so invested in pushing yourself to go heavy?

I’ve known for years that strength training was important and that cardio on its own is not enough (thanks in part to the education you gave me!) but was probably still in that group that was hesitant about going for big lifts, especially when working out on my own.  Then someone recommended the Stacy Sims book “Next Level”, and it was a total eye opener for me.  It’s written for women approaching/going through menopause and focuses on the need to adopt a different attitude to strength training.  I hadn’t realized that everyone (both men and women) naturally lose muscle and strength with age and if you do nothing to stem that loss, you can expect to lose up to 8% of your strength each decade after your 30th birthday, something that only accelerates with the advent of menopause – a pretty scary revelation for someone in her early 50s….  To combat that, you need to build muscle and the most effective way to do that is, in her words, “to lift heavy sh*t”!  She tells us that lifting heavy will increase your metabolic rate, improve your posture and stability, strengthen your bones, improve your cardiovascular health, maintain lean muscle and reduce fat gain and improve your immune system – all things really important to my plan to enjoy a long, healthy, active retirement in a few years!

I’ve known you for years as both a client and as a student from my class years ago at Equinox Pine Street. In a lot of ways we’ve grown up together! You have historically been a big group fitness enthusiast both at Equinox and later at Orange Theory. Talk to me about why you’ve transitioned to a different approach for strength and cardio and how it’s impacted your fitness.

I enjoyed group fitness classes enormously – spin classes and boot camps at Equinox had me hooked, and once a change of job location meant that Equinox was no longer convenient for me, I signed up with Orange Theory Fitness and was a big fan of the OTF experience for over 6 years - I had great success with losing weight and getting fitter in the first few years there.  However, as I hit perimenopause, everything that used to work wonders was starting to fail me – no matter how many classes I went to, despite eating healthily my weight was creeping up and the dreaded belly fat along with it.   After reading Next Level, I realized I was not alone and that millions of women experienced exactly the same thing – thanks stupid hormones!!  I realized that the high intensity cardio at OTF actually wasn’t doing me any favors and that, although I was choosing heavier dumbbells for the weight floor section, it wasn’t a long enough portion of the class and certainly didn’t tick enough “lift heavy sh*t” boxes.  I was definitely getting that in my weekly training session with you, but it wasn’t enough…..  After discussing it with my husband, Jim, and getting your input, we decided to quit OTF and start working out at home instead.  We don’t have room for a dedicated gym so figured that we needed to come up with workouts that we could easily do outside (or in the garage when winter makes that impossible) with minimal amounts of equipment.  You were absolutely instrumental in making this happen, recommending what pieces we needed to invest in and designing individual workouts for each of us based on our own personal needs and goals.   We bought one set of adjustable dumbbells that range from 5-80lb, a slam ball, a set of battle ropes and an adjustable hurdle, and off we went!  Initially I was a bit worried that without the accountability of signing up for a group class we might lose motivation, but we are now 3 months in and still getting up at the crack of dawn to lift heavy sh*t before work several times a week!  These workouts not only incorporate lifting heavy, but also include sprint cardio sessions using the battle ropes/slam ball to get our heart rates up, BFR exercises (more on that later) and a plyo finish which I know is also super important as we get older.  We alternate the strength days with yoga and we play tennis 2-3 times a week so I feel like we are covering all bases!  I feel fitter than ever and one of our regular tennis opponents actually commented last week that I was now moving across the court much faster and making shots that previously I would never have got to, so something is definitely working!

What other tools have you benefited from to move the needle?

I’ve really enjoyed the new addition to our workouts of BFR sessions.  You introduced me to the concept of Blood Flow Restriction exercises and I feel like those are definitely helping in the battle to build more muscle too.  It’s also super helpful to have as a back up on the days where for some reason I can’t get to the super heavy lifts or don’t have time for a full hour workout, as BFR requires only light weights because the blood flow restriction bands get your muscles to fatigue WAY faster than if you were just lifting regular weights without them and you can get great results by only working out for 20 minutes instead of a full hour.  

The other tool that is new for me is learning about how important the timing of nutrition is, for both muscle growth and weight loss.  According to Stacy Sims, when you eat after a workout is just as important as what you eat.  Women need to eat within 30 minutes of a hard workout in order to avoid eating into our own muscle stores, whereas lucky men can go up to three hours without eating.  I had no idea how important it was to eat so soon after a workout but that was an easy shift to make – I now make sure I eat immediately after our morning strength sessions to make sure I’m not losing any of the muscle I’m working so hard to gain.

On the flip side, I’ve also been experimenting with intermittent fasting and time restricted eating over the last couple of months and have been delighted to watch the pounds start to tick downwards!  Twice a week I now fast for 24 hours on days where I don’t have a heavy workout – so I’ll have dinner on Monday night but then not eat again until dinner the following night.  This has actually been easier to do than anticipated, I thought I’d be chewing my own arm off by lunchtime, but it’s been surprisingly manageable and seeing the weight come down is always motivating!  Intermittent fasting is supposed to be very effective at reducing visceral fat, so I’m fascinated to see the results of my next DEXA scan in a couple of months.   In addition, on regular eating days Jim and I are both trying to adhere to time restricted eating, where you limit yourself to eating within a certain time frame (usually 8, 10 or 12 hours – I’m currently sticking with 12 as it works with my commuting schedule) which is supposed to be very beneficial for your gut microbiome.  It tends to go out of the window at weekends thanks to “just one more glass of wine…” but I think even a few days a week has a positive impact.

Now let’s talk about nutrition. Like a lot of folks you’ve tried different approaches over the past few years to optimize your health and manage your body composition goals. What has worked best and what has proven frustrating.

Yes indeed!  Over the past few years I have dabbled with food journaling/tracking macros/counting calories through MyFitnessPal, I signed up for Noom for about 6 months during the pandemic, then I worked with a nutrition coach for a year and lastly Jim and I both signed up for Zoe. I had some pretty good success working with the nutrition coach, but the real game changer for us both has been Zoe which has absolutely transformed the way we eat.  I first came across Zoe when reading “Food for Life” by Tim Spector (brilliant book!).  Tim is one of the co-founders of Zoe although he only mentions it in passing in his book, but I was so taken with what the book was teaching me about nutrition that I went online to investigate what Zoe was and discovered that it’s an amazing tool created by scientists to help you make smarter food choices for yourself.  Zoe uses food logging and a variety of simple at-home tests to show you how your body handles fat and sugar, as well as showing you your overall microbiome health.   A few weeks after testing, you get the test results and personalized food scoring based on what is good for your individual biology, which is amazing! No foods are off limits, but the things that won’t do you any favors are low scoring and you are encouraged to only eat those once in a while whilst the high scoring foods can be eaten as often as you like. The focus is on prioritizing whole foods and minimizing ultra processed foods and the helpful app will give you recipe ideas and teaches you how to balance your meals to avoid big blood sugar spikes or too much low quality fat.  There are also lessons in what to eat to improve your gut microbiome which includes eating a much greater variety of plants and incorporating fermented foods on a daily basis.  Within weeks of eating “the Zoe way”, both Jim and I had more energy, were sleeping better and had lost weight despite the fact we felt like we were actually eating more food… but what was truly astonishing was that by eating the healthy foods and greatly reducing the ultra processed crap, we actually completely lost our cravings for the bad stuff, win win!  It’s also given Jim a new hobby as he got well and truly on board the fermentation train and he now regularly makes water kefir, sauerkraut and kimchi which is all tastier (and cheaper) than the store bought versions.

What’s next for you and your partner Jim (aka Captain Kimchi)? 

More travel, lol!  We are avid scuba divers and love to plan our trips waaaaay in advance – in some cases you have to as places are so limited when you are doing a liveaboard in a far flung destination, but we also love having things lined up to look forward to ☺  Our next big dive trip is in November (off to Palau in Micronesia) and I’m extra excited because I know the recent improvements in my fitness are going to translate to even more time under water (the fitter you are, the better your air consumption when scuba diving), woohoo!