For a lot of women, exercise has always come with a test:

Is it working?

Usually, “working” meant something visible. A lower number on the scale. Jeans fitting differently. More definition. A flatter stomach.

We ran, spun, crunched, counted calories and chased the elusive promise of getting “toned.”

Movement was good for us, of course. But appearance became the scoreboard.

Lately, I’ve been more interested in a different measure:

What do I want my body to be able to do?

That question becomes more useful with age.

Think about your own answer for a minute.

Maybe you want to travel and carry your own suitcase.

Get up from the floor easily.

Spend a day walking through a new city.

Hike.

Garden.

Play with grandchildren.

Keep running.

Live independently.

Say yes to something physically demanding without immediately wondering whether your body can handle it.

There’s no universal version of a good life at 70. But most of us would probably like as much freedom as possible to choose our own version.

Physical strength affects that freedom.

Which makes today’s workout about more than today.

The strength you build now can affect what you're able to do years from now.

We hear plenty about what happens to women’s bodies as we age.

Muscle mass and bone density deserve attention. So does the fact that our bodies remain remarkably responsive to training.

A 2026 analysis brought together 126 resistance-training studies involving more than 4,000 women. Strength improved substantially with training in both pre- and postmenopausal women, and the researchers found no significant difference in how much the two groups improved.

A separate study of previously low-active postmenopausal women found increases in both muscle size and strength after 15 weeks of supervised resistance training.

That's useful information to have in your 40s and 50s.

Getting older does not close the window on getting stronger.

Bone health becomes more important through midlife, particularly for women after menopause.

Resistance training is one way to support it.

A 2025 review of 17 randomized trials involving 690 postmenopausal women found improvements in bone mineral density at the lumbar spine, femoral neck and total hip.

The results varied between studies, so strength training isn't a guarantee against osteoporosis or fracture. Bone health depends on many factors, including age, genetics, hormones, nutrition and medical history.

Still, there is good evidence that resistance training belongs in the conversation.

And it comes with another benefit: you get stronger.

Strength training can sound more complicated than it needs to be.

Programs. Sets. Reps. Protein targets. Progressive overload. Specialized equipment.

Those things can matter if you want to get deeply into training.

They aren't prerequisites for getting stronger.

The World Health Organization recommends muscle-strengthening activity involving the major muscle groups at least 2 days a week for adults.

For someone who hasn't trained consistently before, 2 sessions a week is a very different proposition from rebuilding your entire life around the gym.

Consistency matters.

So does gradually asking your muscles to do more over time.

You can learn the rest as you go.

One of the things I like about strength is that progress can become very concrete.

A weight that once felt heavy gets easier.

You use a heavier dumbbell.

You do your first full push-up.

You carry something without asking for help.

Stairs feel easier.

You notice that getting off the floor takes less effort.

None of these requires a dramatic before-and-after photo.

They are signs that your body can do more than it could before.

And that feels worth measuring.

I care how I look.

I don't think women need to pretend otherwise to have a healthier relationship with exercise.

You can want stronger legs and like how they look.

You can care about your clothes fitting.

You can have aesthetic goals.

Capability simply gives us another measure of whether the time we're putting into exercise is paying off.

And it may be a more durable one.

Bodies change. Weight fluctuates. Appearance can move slowly, unpredictably, or differently than we'd hoped.

Being able to lift something you couldn't lift 6 months ago is harder to argue with.

You got stronger.

Try this sometime this week.

Write down 5 things you'd like to be physically capable of doing at 70.

They don't need to sound impressive.

Maybe yours are:

Carry my own luggage.

Get up from the floor easily.

Walk all day on vacation.

Keep running.

Lift my grandchildren.

Live independently.

Try a sport I've never done before.

Then look at your list and ask what you could start doing now that would support those abilities later.

You don't have to train for someone else's idea of fitness.

You can train for the life you want.

What's one thing you want your body to still be able to do at 70?

Reply and tell me.

I'm curious what makes your list.

Brianna

The Forty Ahead is a publication from MOCARA, a Canadian company focused on strength and capability for women in midlife. MOCARA funds this publication, but The Forty Ahead is designed to be useful whether or not you ever become a customer.