But that’s not the part I love most.
When we first started, she wasn’t into sport. She didn’t think of herself as “strong.” Her line was always: “I’m just not strong enough.”
What I saw was different.
It was years of habit — posture, little patterns, just not knowing how to use her body.
So we began with awareness.
Relax your shoulders. Breathe.
Seven months later, she’s doubled, sometimes tripled, her weights.
But the best part isn’t watching the machine pin slide lower.
It’s seeing her realise she’s stronger than she thought. That moment when her “I can’t” turns into “I just did.”
Yes, she still needs reminders from me. But the real shift? It came from inside her.
Watching her, I couldn’t help thinking… Isn’t midlife reinvention the same?
It isn’t about finding the perfect method.
It’s about unlearning the old stories we’ve heard:
“You’re too old.”
“You should already have this figured out.”
“It’s too late.”
(My mum still says these to me — like when I signed up for ballet and she laughed, “Too old, too fat.” Thanks mum for your advice!)
Because sometimes, like my mum, the strength is already there.
It’s just waiting for us to believe in it.
For me, the heaviest weight to lift isn’t the barbell. It’s the old story I’ve been carrying.
