Strength and Mobility for Midlife Women

Summary

Podcast Summary:
Love Your Life Show: Personal Growth, Mindset, + Habits for Busy Moms
Host: Susie Pettit
Episode: Strength and Mobility for Midlife Women
Guest: Megan Dahlman, Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist
Date: April 22, 2026

---

Episode Overview

This episode is a must-listen for midlife women (especially busy moms) seeking clarity, encouragement, and practical advice to build lifelong strength and mobility. Host Susie Pettit welcomes back expert trainer Megan Dahlman, who specializes in demystifying fitness for women 40 and over. Together, they dive into the essentials midlife women often miss, how to overcome overwhelm, and why pursuing functional well-being trumps outdated, “skinny at any cost” approaches. The conversation is packed with actionable tips—delivered with warmth, humor, and empathy for listeners at every fitness level.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Six Essential Components of Fitness for Midlife Women [03:30–06:45]

• Megan distills fitness into six crucial areas: cardiovascular health, muscular strength, flexibility, joint mobility, balance, coordination, and power.
  • “If all you're doing is working on flexibility or joint mobility, and we're never working on muscular strength or cardiovascular health, it'll always feel like something's missing.” – Megan [04:29]
  • Many women overemphasize cardio (running, aerobics) and overlook mobility, strength, and power.
  • Susie reflects on her “90% cardio” routine from the past, highlighting an “aha” moment: “Just having those six things there to look at, to see where…we don't need to be perfect in all of them, but to at least consider them.” [05:48]

2. Cultural Mindsets & Shifting Priorities [07:07–10:49]

• They debunk the diet- and body-centric focus of fitness from the 90s/2000s.
  • “For many of us, fitness was all about maintaining good body composition… We know better now that it's not the best method for fat loss.” – Megan [07:10]
  • Megan stresses that true fitness changes body composition as a byproduct, not the sole focus.
  • Memorable quote: “Strong, not skinny.” [09:08]
• Reframing health: prioritizing functional strength, independence, and preventing injury over aesthetics.

3. “Falling Apart”: What Does It Really Mean? [14:09–15:58]

• Megan explores why women say, “I feel like I'm falling apart”—often a combination of physical pain, lack of confidence, and mental health strains, not just weight gain:
  • “Usually it means so much more than that. It feels like as you go about the day, you’re not as confident in how you move…your mental health just feels depressed and discouraged all the time.” – Megan [14:13]
• Encouragement: most complaints (like osteopenia, knee pain, weakness) have proven, actionable solutions.

4. Where to Start: Simplifying Movement & Building Habits [17:40–26:39]

• If you’re largely sedentary, begin simply (daily walks for 10 minutes to establish the habit).
  • “If you're not moving at all right now…just start moving somehow in a way that feels familiar.” – Megan [17:46]
• Megan’s quick-start circuit (great for overwhelmed beginners):
  1. Lower body: Squats using a chair (brush and stand up, 10 reps) [20:24]
  2. Upper body: Push-ups on countertop [20:31]
  3. Core (and coordination): Bird dogs (on hands and knees—opposite arm and leg out) [21:01]
• Stretching:
  • Dynamic stretching (gentle, repeated movement): better than holding static poses, especially when “cold” [23:00–24:31]
• Piecemeal approach: Start with daily movement, then gradually add elements of strength, flexibility, and so on.

5. Understanding & Introducing Power [24:33–29:16]

• Power is the ability to contract muscles quickly—a key for fall and injury prevention in midlife.
  • “If you were to sit low into the chair and then jump…that's power!” – Megan [25:40]
• Don’t add jumping/power moves right away! Establish strength and technique first (3–4 months of basics).
• Example of power exercises for experienced listeners:
  • Squat jumps
  • Lateral “skater” hops (side-to-side movement)
  • Medicine ball slams (for those with access to equipment) [26:58–28:25]

6. Progression, Safety, and Avoiding Overwhelm [29:16–32:13]

• Importance of gradual progression to avoid injury—don't leap into “Instagram” level routines or heavy impact without foundational strength.
  • “Your tendons are not 20-year-old tendons anymore…progression like easing in, slowly building up, is important now more than ever.” – Megan [29:26]
• Build confidence and consistency before advancing.

7. Overcoming Psychological Barriers and Perfectionism [32:13–36:57]

• Perfectionism and overwhelm cause women to “get stuck on the first step,” never progressing.
  • “We get stuck in this infinite loop of starting…always stepping onto the first step and then never getting up to step two because we feel like I didn’t do step one good enough.” – Megan [33:02–33:13]
  • Megan urges: Inch forward even if it’s imperfect; progress over perfection.
  • Susie’s reminder: “It's better than no days.”
• Not every day will be perfect (missing days doesn’t mean failure!).

8. Language Shift: From “Trying” to “Training” [36:00–36:57]

• Replace “I’m trying to…” with “I’m training to…”
  • “Instead of saying ‘I'm trying,’ say ‘I'm training to do that’…that has such a different connotation.” – Megan [36:01]
  • Embraces growth mindset—learning and improvement, not pass-fail.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “If all you're ever doing is cardio and you're not working on your balance or your muscular strength, once again, it will feel like something's missing.” – Megan [04:44]
• “Doesn't it matter if…I'm sitting in those pants but everything's aching, or…my numbers are sky high?” – Susie [09:08]
• “When you say, ‘I feel like I'm falling apart,’ when we go inside and really break down what that means…usually it’s more than just, I've put on some weight.” – Megan [14:14]
• “Flexibility, if you've never stretched before, any kind of stretching is good!” – Megan [23:03]
• “Power is your ability to contract your muscles strong, but also fast.” – Megan [24:33]
• “Your muscle fibers might take 72 hours to heal. Things just take…a little bit longer…slow, steady progress.” – Megan [29:26]
• “Start small…You're not behind, you're not like, ‘I need these 1,400 exercises at the gym’…permission to build.” – Susie [31:03]
• “Don't do that. Keep going…thinking that way is always going to prevent us from progressing forward.” – Megan [34:20–34:44]
• “A body in motion stays in motion. A body at rest stays at rest. Keep the momentum going.” – Susie [35:22]
• “Say, ‘I'm training to do that.’ It almost assumes you won’t do it right at first.” – Megan [36:01]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:30] — Megan introduces six pillars of real fitness
• [07:07] — Discussing outdated mindsets: “cardio queen” era and the shift toward healthy strength
• [14:09] — What “falling apart” really means for women at midlife
• [17:40] — Where to start if you feel overwhelmed or sedentary
• [21:01] — Example core and coordination exercises for beginners
• [23:00] — Static vs. dynamic stretching: which is best?
• [24:33] — Understanding and safely introducing “power” movements
• [29:16] — Why progression and patience matter for injury prevention
• [32:13] — Perfectionism and “the loop of starting”
• [36:00] — Mindset hack: switching from “trying” to “training”
• [37:43] — Megan’s resources and where to find more support

---

Resources & Connect With Megan Dahlman

• Weekly Jump Start Newsletter: weeklyjumpstart.com – Free, actionable fitness and nutrition tips for midlife women; arrives Tuesdays and Fridays.
• Instagram: @megandahlman – Daily exercises, mindset coaching, and encouragement.

---

Closing Tone

The conversation is gentle, supportive, and uplifting—reminding women they aren't “behind,” that small steps and consistency yield real results, and that overwhelm is surmountable with the right mindset and guidance. Susie and Megan foster an atmosphere of permission to progress at your own pace and embrace true well-being over perfection.

---

In sum:
If you’re a midlife woman (or love one), this episode is a practical, motivating guide for building a foundation of lifelong strength, mobility, and confidence—one manageable step at a time.

Transcript

[A]

Oh, listeners, hello and welcome to the Love youe Life show. It is me, Susie Pettit, your certified life relationship and wellness coach. And yet I bring a really big expert on the show today, a repeat performance we've had her on before and you. She was so helpful. You guys have said you're still doing the things she talked about in that first episode. And so I wanted, I'm like, let's get more. We women can want more. Let's do it. And so we have Megan Dallman back on the show.

[B]

You.

[A]

She has become the sought after trainer for women over 40 who want to feel their physical best for years to come. She has a degree in exercise science and a certified strength and conditioning specialist. She's an uncanny ability of taking complicated aspects about our body and making them simple, doable and sustainable. She did that on this show today. So if you're feeling confused about, like, oh my gosh, what should I do? There's so much information out there. Or how do I live to be my strongest, best, awesome warrior self? Like, this is the episode for you. Megan is amazing at this. She has online training programs and courses where she gently leads every woman she interacts with and coaches through this process with. She has just such grace and patience. I, I love talking to her. This conversation felt like a warm hug. And her mission is, you know, and just one that speaks to my heart. It's to help every woman, no matter their age, feel strong, pain free and confident in all aspects of their body. Did you hear that? No matter their age. So that mindset that's like, oh, this is just because I'm getting older. Listen in. She's got some specific tips and support for us. Thank you for being here, listener. Let's go, Megan. Okay, listeners of the Love youe Life Show, I have a repeat treat. Look at me rhyming. And I have Megan on the show today. I, I, you know, welcome, Megan, to the Love youe Life Show. I continue to hear from listeners about how helpful the information you shared on our last conversation about like, mobility and feeling better in our bodies and our sore shoulders and sure hips and all that. And I will link that below if someone somehow missed that episode but how that really helps them a lot. And I just want you to know that, you know, it just shines on. So thank you for coming on here.

[B]

Well, thank you for having me back, Susie. It's always such a joy to talk to you and you just radiate joy. And we were talking about the weather right before we hopped on, before we Hit record. And I'm like, just in this miserable, like, down, like winter here. And you're in lovely Australia at the moment, so I'm, I'm absorbing your joy.

[A]

Bring you the sun from the southern hemisphere in summer to your winter. Yes, it is. It is nice. Which is the love your life show. That's what we're trying to do. I'm trying to figure out how to love our everyday lives. Not just the lives on vacation, but that, like, sitting at the desk feeling all creaky and cranky. And so I wanted you back on to pick your brain a little for all of us who want to continue living or maybe live a little more. So feeling strong and mobile in our body yet I hear from lots of people that they feel overwhelmed, stressed, not sure where to begin. And so maybe they'll start one thing and stop and start and stop. And I'd love it if you could just help us, you know, talk to that listener who wants to stay strong and mobile, you know, midlife and beyond, but feels confused and overwhelmed. What do you think she needs?

[B]

Yeah, you know, I actually had a conversation with someone just yesterday, and she was telling me all the things that she had tried. You know, she's like, I'm doing barre, and every so often I'll do like a Pilates class and I'll try some yoga and then I have my physical therapy exercises. And really that was her frustration too, is she was like, I feel like I have all this information coming at me from all these different directions and I don't know how to put it all together. And I don't know what's the most important thing for my body right now. So. So I think sometimes it's helpful to, to step back and think, well, what does your body need the most right now in this phase of life? And there's several aspects of your fitness that are the most important. And then we can ask, well, are all of those types of exercises going to fit the bill for the things that your body needs right now? So the things your body needs most for your. Your overall fitness is. Is we do need cardiovascular health. We need muscular strength, we need flexibility, joint mobility, we need balance, we need coordination, and we need power. So those are six different pieces of health. And if all you're doing is working on flexibility, you know, a really important component of your fitness, if all we're doing is working on flexibility or joint mobility, and we're never working on muscular strength or cardiovascular health, it'll always feel like something's missing. It'll always be like, I just don't feel like I'm as fit as I could be. Or if all you're ever doing is cardio and you're not working on your balance or your muscular strength, once again, it will feel like something's missing. So we just want to make sure that the, the routine that you decide to commit to or the first step forward is pointing you in the direction of. Let's make sure that each of these components of your fitness are being met so that you can be as strong and fit and confident as. As you can be for decades to come. And so those are kind of the. The different components that matter the most. And some of some popular workouts out there will fit that bill, and some. Some don't. So it's of understand, well, what should I even be training? And then that helps to remove some of the overwhelm.

[A]

Oh my gosh, that's so helpful. Like, I was writing those down real fast. I was like, oh, my gosh. Yes. Because I know, like, that just gives us sort of a lighthouse to, like, aim towards those six things. And when I think of myself in my past, it, like, there were some. I was definitely like, cardio was basically all I did. Like, really, Like, I mean, sure. Like, because I ran and did my Jane Fonda step aerobics on videotape. Aging myself here like every other day. And so sure, like, I'm getting some balance and whatever in. In that. But mostly it's cardio. And it's so interesting. Like, I'm thinking of a pie chart. If I had a pie chart, it'd be like 90% cardio and, and just having those six things there to look at and to see where, you know, no, we don't need to be perfect in all of them, but to at least consider them. I. I love that. I'm like, okay, conversation over. Let's go.

[B]

It helps to simplify it. And you're right. It's like you're a North Star. And I, I was the cardio queen too. And I think so much of us were like, coming out of the 90s and the early 2000s, it was like, for. For many of us, fitness was all about maintaining good body composition. Like, that was kind of a lot of us women, that's kind of all we really did fitness for.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Was to not be.

[A]

To look a certain way. Yes.

[B]

So look a certain way. And so we all gravitated towards the thing that said it burned the most calories. We were kind of calorie driven when we were choosing our fitness. And so that's why so many of us women flocked towards cardio, because it still seemed to. We know better now that it's not the best method for fat loss, but it seemed to be the right thing to do to just not be overweight. But we didn't realize that in that process, we weren't doing enough for our muscular strength. We were barely working on our joint mobility. Coordination was not getting. Unless you're doing Jane Fonda, I gotta tell you, like those. Some of those aerobics classes, I know you will really work your coordination. I did a Zumba class one time, and I felt like such a fool in the back of the class, and I'm like, oh, boy, coordination. Here. This. This is really. You know what?

[A]

That's so good, because I was. When I was writing that down, I was like, oh, coordination I do not have. But you're right. When I was doing that step thing, I. Yes, so there you go.

[B]

Can be trained. Yes. And it's a really important piece of our fitness and then power, too. So, like, especially as we get older, when you don't have some of these, if all you have is a strong heart, cool. Your. Your heart muscle is really strong, you've got a really strong cardiovascular system. You go get your blood work done, your cholesterol numbers are great, triglycerides are great, but you have no muscular strength, or your joints don't have flexibility, or your balance is poor, or you lack coordination and you're really clumsy. You are at such greater risk of injury, catastrophic injury, losing your bone density. I mean, all of these issues that now, as women in midlife, we're suddenly aware of, we're like, oh, my goodness. I really do need to be doing more than just one thing.

[A]

Well, and to speak a little. This body composition and, you know, what we look like, we are a culture that puts a lot of emphasis on women and how they look. And so I. I know all of us out there, most of us are still like, yeah, well, that is a consideration when we're thinking of our fitness. Like, what gets us. It's all. To me, it's all sort of, like, mixed in, and I have to, like, separate it out and just, you know, be like, yeah, no, you're exercising for your mental health, and you're exercising so your kids, like, don't have to get you up off the toilet every. You know, like that. That sort of stuff. But I think it's helpful to just, as we reach midlife, to rethink some of the ways that we were thinking that skinny or looking a certain way is the most important versus, you know, I've heard Dr. Vonda Wright say strong, not skinny. And I think the next generation coming up is doing a little more of that. But for us to. What you were just speaking of is, you know, maybe our heart looks good. I think some of us are like, yeah, well, we want, we still want to look good in our clothes, but if we're, if we have one little tumble or we catch the stare a little bit wrong and we go down on our wrist and our wrist isn't strong and we break our wrist or we go down and break our hip, or we, you know, that's where the trouble comes in. So it doesn't really matter if we look good in our little white capris. It's

[B]

100. And I will say too, that in the pursuit of true fitness, like, if you really are pursuing all of those six aspects that we were talking about of like being as fit as you possibly can be across the board, guess what? Your body composition is going to follow suit. It. It's for sure.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The other. It doesn't work the other direction if all you're caring about is just how you look in your clothes. It doesn't also check the boxes of being as healthy and fit as you can be. You know, you. We now live in a world that you can just take medication to lose weight. And we're, we're seeing that just by doing that, it doesn't automatically make you a really healthy person. But if you go the other direction and say, I am going to pursue all of these, like, my fitness routine is going to cover the bases and I am going to pursue and be as healthy of a person as I can be. Nine times out of ten, your body composition is going to improve as well. Another question I really love asking women, especially at the beginning of their fitness journey, especially when they're. One of their goals is to lose weight is to improve their body composition. One thing I ask them, especially if they're struggling, you know, and they're not seeing the scale move, they're getting frustrated about it because is one of their goals. I say, let's fast forward six months from now. Okay, so let's say you're doing all of these things, you, you're following your program, you're being consistent. Let's say that you improve your strength like crazy. Let's say we get rid of a ton of the pain that you're dealing with on a daily basis. Let's say that your mobility improves a lot. You have way more confidence as you go throughout the day. Let's say that all of those blood markers improve. You go to the doctor, and your doctor's like, wow, your blood results came back fantastic. Let's say your bone density improves. You're no longer osteopenia or osteoporosis. Like, you're. You. You see those numbers improve. So across the board, everything improves. And yet your scale number is the exact same. Would it still be worth it? And when you put it in that perspective, for a lot of women, it's like, oh, you're right. My health, my fitness is about so much more than just how much body fat I have. And so it's helpful to be, okay, that can be one of your goals. But let's also make sure that you have some other really valuable health goals for yourself along the way.

[A]

Well, and this is how it all goes together. Like, you're saying all these six pieces go together, but it's also, our physical health goes with our mental health. Because I do feel that as we're growing up and maybe getting out of our 20s, when we're like, it's only cardio and I need to look good in that. Those pants, we also are growing up in our mindset and being like, wait a minute, is it all just about the pants? Doesn't it matter if. Exactly. As you're saying, like, if I'm sitting in those pants but everything's aching, or I'm sitting in those pants and my numbers are sky high, or I'm sitting, like, to just be widening our lens of what health is and then also mental health. Like, are we really defining ourselves barely just on a number, on a scale? Like, could we just stop doing that and just say that? That's. That's one, you know, factor. That's one metric that we can look at. But maybe we can get more into our, you know, mature and more supportive thinking where it's like, I'm so much more than a number on the scale. And what, you know, I've been trained to believe from the beginning. I really, I know, appreciate that.

[B]

Yeah. And I. I've heard the phrase from a lot of women, and I'm sure you've heard it, too, where they say, I feel like I'm just falling apart. You know, I feel like I'm falling apart. And when you dig underneath the surface of, like, well, what does that mean? It probably, sure, they might have felt like they've put on, you know, 5, 10, 15 pounds in the last few years and not really sure why, I haven't done anything different. But usually it means so much more than that. It feels like as you go about the day, you're. You're not as confident in how you move. You feel like you're more fragile. If you move a certain way, you might throw your back out, or like your knees are now hurting and you're hesitating to go ride your bike with your kids or your grandkids. You know, your mental health might be your. Your mood. Like you're saying, just your. Your mental health just feels depressed and discouraged all the time. And that's closely connected to the way you feel about your body. You don't have confidence in your body. And so I think when we. Sometimes when we say something like, I feel like I'm falling apart, when we go inside and really break down what that means to you personally, usually it's. It's more than just, I've put on some weight. There's other things in there that make us feel like I'm falling apart. And what's cool is that those. Many of those things have. Once you nail it down of, what do you mean when you say that? Many of those things have very clear solutions. And that's what I love helping women with. It's like, oh, your back hurts. Okay, cool. That's one of the ways you feel like you're falling apart. Great. Let's go pursue some solutions for that. Your knees hurt. Okay, let's fix that. Your. Your mental health. Okay, let's work on that. So we tend to get in this, like, fuzzy area where all we know how to do is just say, I feel like I'm falling apart, and we don't know what to do about it.

[A]

Which is why I love listeners of the show. Like, people clicking on the show are looking for that, like, because they're really. It's like a pivot in the road. I see where you can have your knees hurt. You can have, you know, you can gain like, an extra five pounds overnight, and you're like, oh, did I get that from breathing? Yeah, all these. And you can think one way, like, oh, this is just aging. This is what it is. Okay? And you can find people that are going to support you in that thinking, and we'll all just get together and complain about it. Or you can go another way and be like, no, this isn't how I'm going to age. There are different ways of it. Okay, my knees are hurting. Let me figure out. Let me listen to that show with Megan and see, like, how do I get my knees to start, Stop hurting? Or another thing you said that I know many people. People are not aware of is that once you get that first diagnosis of osteopenia or osteoporosis, you can reverse it. People have, like, it is something. It's not just like, oh, you have this, and now you're destined for life to have frail bones. Like, there are things we can do. Knee pain. There are things we can do. I really appreciate, you know, you bringing this. This openness and like, yeah, we can do things with this. So. So can you with your. I'm just trying to see if we're frozen. Oh, you can still.

[B]

Okay, there we go. Yep.

[A]

With your expertise, can you, like, can you speak to the listener who specifically. Like, we have these six things, maybe. Like, I'm thinking, where should she start? First of all, look at her pie chart. Like, where is she overly heavy? And try to look at some of those other things. But. But what if. Could you do a little. Yeah, where should she start for like, something like flexibility? The ones that I'm thinking people are not doing so much, I guess flexibility, they might be doing in yoga, but power. Power balance.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. I think one thing that's helpful to look at is like, all of those are. Are pieces of movement. Those are all different ways to move. And so if you're not moving at all right now, like, if you're like 90 to 95% of your day, if you're. If you're very sedentary, don't worry about the char. Like, we can get there. Just start moving somehow in a way that feels familiar. So if you start moving in familiar ways, trying to learn something new, that's a barrier. That's. It takes a lot of energy to learn something new. So it's okay to pull out something that you've maybe done before or usually the easiest way to get yourself going is just start going on walks. It's one of the simplest things to do. Start going on walks. Like, just start moving. So if you're doing nothing, that should be your number one goal right now. Don't worry about anything else. Just see if you can start doing something active each day for like 10 minutes. That's it. Don't. Don't give yourself this lofty goal of, okay, I'm going from nothing to like, 60 minute workouts every week, and I'm

[A]

gonna do all these things that I'm doing. Right?

[B]

Yeah, yeah. That we instantly will get overwhelmed by that. And Instantly feel like a failure because that's just too much. So we just need to get you moving somehow every day a little bit. Then once you have that in place and that ball is rolling and you're like, okay, now I'm, I'm someone who just moves every day. Let's get a little bit more specific and strategic about what it is that I am doing. So we look at something like walking. Walking is great movement. You can walk briskly and you're going to increase your heart rate. It's great for cardiovascular health. It gets some of those lower carb cardio zones. So like zone one, two, three, like we're, we're gonna hit those. That's great. A couple things that walking doesn't do though is, is work on your muscular strength. When you first start walking, you'll be working those muscles more than you just than you had been. So you'll probably feel stronger already. But there's comes a point where it's not gonna check that box very much. Mobility, it's not going to work your joint mobility as much as you need. Balance, coordination, power. So we want to start moving in the of. Let's do a simple fitness routine that does like lower body strengthening, upper body strengthening, core strengthening. And that's a great place to start with. The strength piece is like, let me pick one lower body exercise, one upper body exercise, and one core exercise. And a good lower body one is just working on squats. You know, just find a chair and try to sit into the chair. But like, don't like lean into it. Like just brush your bum on the bottom of the chair and stand back up and do that 10 times. There's a lower body. Go into your kitchen, put your hands on the edge of the countertop and do push ups against the countertop. There's an upper body exercise for your core. A really great core exercise. One of my favorite ones that checks off a lot of boxes, it's actually going to check off the coordination box too. Are bird dogs. Have you done bird dogs, Susie? You know what I'm talking about?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay. Yeah, They're a silly name, but no,

[A]

I don't quite get why they're called bird dogs, but I think so.

[B]

I had a bird dog. Like a dog that was actually Bradley. He was a vizsla. And so he was like actually a pointer. He was a pointer. And that's like when they stand like they're pointing at a bird. Okay. They like point forward and backward. I think that's where it gets its name from. So essentially the bird dog, you're on your hands and knees and you have the opposites lifted and you're holding steady. And it's a really good core exercise. You can do it standing if you need to with your hands on a chair. But there you go. Yeah. Lower body, upper body, core. So we got b. We got coordination and balance on one of those. That bird dog that hit that. And I love doing some stretches for, you know, upper body, lower body stretch. Like a good upper body stretch. You can go into a doorway and have your arms on the edges of the doorway, like the door jam and step your chest through. That's a great mobility stretch. Lower body, a great lower body stretch is to just do a hamstring stretch. So you could sit on the edge of your chair, extend one leg out straight and get your hamstring. And so now we've, we've done a little bit of flexibility work. Coordination power. Yeah.

[A]

I have a question. I'm like a student here. I have a question. Yeah. Flexibility. Like, if I am sitting on the couch reading and I'm just feeling a little tight, and then I'm like, oh, I'm gonna stretch. So I'm, I'm totally cold. And then I sit down and stretch. And it like, first of all, is that just bad? Second, I'm tight, but I then tried to like hold it. So for some reason I feel really good, like when I do that hamstring stretch or when I straddle out like I used to in like gymnastics and try to lean forward. Um, and there's a point when I do that and I feel like so rickety. And then I sort of just hold and try to breathe and loosen my muscles and lean in. But I, I honestly don't know if I'm doing damage or.

[B]

Yeah, no, that's actually a really good question. So there are two different styles of stretching. Stretching, period. If, if you've never stretched before, you rarely do any kind of stretching is good. Like, okay, do anything. Okay. But it is helpful to know that there's two different kinds of stretching. There's static stretching and dynamic stretching. So static stretching is like a sit style stretch. Dynamic stretching is where you're kind of moving through the stretch. Think like yoga moves. Like you're. You're doing something where you're kind of like pressing into the stretch and then easing back off of it, pressing in and easing back off. Dynamic style stretching is actually the more effective one for improving the length of your muscles. So actually becoming more flexible, improving your mobility around a Joint dynamic stretching is better. It's also better when you're stiff because it's going to create a little bit of a pump in your muscles and in your joints where it kind of pumps the fluid and helps kind of lubricate a little bit better. So if you are sitting, you haven't done anything. Doing a dynamic style stretch is really great. So if we take. I use the doorway stretch as an example for the upper body. If you just stand in the doorway and like, press your chest through and then back it off, and then press your chest through and then back it off, it's almost like you're creating this, like, pump that's going to turn what might be a familiar static stretch into a dynamic stretch. It won't feel quite so stiff.

[A]

Yeah. Thank you.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. And so the other components are coordination and power. Now, power is one of those things. It is really important as we get older and what power is, basically. I know it sounds confusing. We all like picture, like, power lifting, like Olympic lifting. We're like, oh, my gosh, do I have to take this giant bar and like, fling it over my head to do power training? So, Right. So what power essentially is, is your ability to contract your muscles strong, but also fast. So if we were to take like a squat, you sit slow into the chair and then you stand up slow and controlled. There's not a lot of power there. But if you were to sit low into the chair and then jump. Hmm, that would be power. That's where your muscles are contracting quickly. And when your muscles are able to do that, they're less likely to get injured in a lot of everyday movements, um, there's a lot of times where, like, maybe you're walking on slippery sidewalk and your foot, like, slides out to the side. Your muscles need power in that moment to contract really fast. And when you don't have it, that's where we get like, I tore my muscle. You know, I pulled him up, I pulled my hammy.

[A]

Yes, exactly.

[B]

That's what's going on, is that those muscles didn't have power. So the best times to train power are when you already have a good strengthening base. So if you've already been exercising and doing the other components of your fitness, like the five other ones, for, like, three or four months, and you've got a pretty good base going, then we can introduce power. So power is one of those things we kind of wait till the end to start to introduce it. We have it in mind. It's something that we do eventually need to work on, but we might not work on it right out of the gate, and that's okay. So those are kind of the big. The big picture components, and we can do, you know, train the big picture components within 10 minutes a day. So.

[A]

Great. Yeah, you're making this really simple. And I'm hoping the listener is feeling encouraged and, like, taking notes and just be like, yeah, I can start with these, like, three things right now. Yes. Can you just give us, like, one or two examples of how for that listener that has been working for three or four months and has that base, like, what are one or two things she might do to add power in?

[B]

A great thing to do is what I mentioned is like, kind of like squat jumps. Like, take a squat and just doing it faster. I love doing lateral skater hops. Those are really good power and balance. They kind of. My favorite exercises are ones that, like, hit multiple things at once. So the skater hops are power and balance of motion.

[A]

My body isn't usually taking, like, side to side versus front to back. Yeah, exactly.

[B]

I'm glad you mentioned that, because you're right. It's emotion. Moving laterally is a movement that we don't train enough. And that's usually the directions we get hurt when we're suddenly having to, like, quickly step sideways or catch ourself. Like I mentioned, like, yeah, to the side. That's where something can get pulled. So hopping side to side, maybe where you, like, try to leap really big. Like, once you feel like you've got good balance now you try to make that leap a little bit bigger, and you try to stick the landing really well. That's a great example of power training. Another one that's really fun is if you do have access to a gym and they have medicine balls. Those are really. So those are the big weighted balls. Those are really fun to slam around.

[A]

Oh, okay.

[B]

And bring it over your head and, like, slam it down on the floor really, really hard. Oh, fast. That is good power training for your entire body. So your whole body is having to, like, power up or power down.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Your core, your legs, everything is like pulling fast, contracting at a fast pace. So power training gets to be, like, really fun. It's fun type of training, but it's the kind of exercises, like, I wouldn't do that with you until I knew that your technique was really great, you had a good base, and I can confidently. I know you can do it without hurting yourself.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Well.

[A]

And I guess that's one thing I really want listeners to hear and that you're really good at is because sometimes they might hear, you know, the, the Instagram post or the, the you know, clip somewhere that's like go to the, you know, strength training. Women that are older need strength training. So let's go to the gym and it's like, let's throw a medicine ball around. And then they're like, wait a minute, I just injured myself and I can't move for three months. So that's, that is start small.

[B]

You start small and you gotta ease into it because you know, we can take bone building for example, like improving bone density. We know that.

[A]

Yes, please.

[B]

Strength training is really important. Impact is really important. So both the resistance load and the mechanical load of impact, those are really important for building stronger bones. But when you're working on like building stronger bones, you need to remember like, oh wait, you also have muscles and tendons and ligaments that are undergoing the same amount of impact. If you go straight into really hard pounding impact stuff. So you really cannot go straight into like the, the heavy jumping or heavy lifting that is ultimately very, very good and healthy for your bones and your muscles. You have to ease into that properly. Your tendons are not 20 year old tendons anymore. And you know, your, your technique matters more now than ever. Also your muscle fibers, they just take a little bit longer to heal. You know, when muscle fibers definitely notice in your 20s they might have taken like 24 to 48 hours to heal. Your muscle fibers now might take 72 hours to heal. And so things just take, it's just a little bit of a slower, steadier forward progress. So progression like easing in, slowly building up is important now more than ever.

[A]

And yeah, and I, I really appreciate you speaking to that and I think a lot of listeners are just in that overwhelm and that confused place of like wait a minute, I know I should be doing this, I know I shouldn't. So then they're either not doing anything or they're getting in and doing too much. And I just want to direct listeners to your Instagram and your videos because they are really helpful and your programs to get started in that slow way is really helpful. And that when we're feeling this confusion to he like confusion is such a wasted energy. And it was a thought coach I'm always like we're, we just need to decide something. And if today just listening, you know. And for my, my listener that's the little planner and got their sheet, it's like get out your calendar and just say like for this month I'm Doing these three things that Megan just told me about. You know, the, the lower, the upper, and the core. And I'm going to start walking. You know, that's the first week. And then I'll start walking and then. And just the building. So permission to build. Take the confusion out of it that you don't. You're not doing too little, you're not behind, you're not like, oh my gosh, I need these 1400 exercises at the gym. It's just the starting of the slow and moving in. Can you speak a little as to. When you hear people getting started? What you see any of, like, the big psychological barriers being.

[B]

I guess there's a hundreds of them.

[A]

There really are. It's so. I know, like, get in those heads.

[B]

I know the psychological barriers are. Are huge. And I think the biggest ones, especially as women in midlife get into, is we want to do things really, really well. We. If we commit to something, it can sometimes take us a while to fully commit to something. We like to do our research, we like to make sure it's the right thing. And. And ideally, you're not jumping straight into something. Maybe you've planned ahead and you've thought it through and, and so you're very intentional about what you are going to do. But then you come into it with this perfectionist mindset of, like, I have to do each piece of this perfectly before I allow myself to progress onward. And so one of the biggest struggles that we have is getting stuck in this infinite loop of starting.

[A]

Yeah, always starting. Like letting. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Like always stepping onto the first step and then never getting up to step two because we feel like I didn't do step one good enough. And so I'm just gonna stay here at step one until it feels perfect. And I will say right now, it's never going to be perfect. And the. The goal is to start with step one being easy enough, that. Being that stepping up to step two, you're not in danger because you move to the next step. You know, we can keep you progressing onward. And that's what I say to everyone in my program. Like, don't get stuck on a day. Like, if you missed a day, just water under the bridge. Just move forward because we will just get stuck in this loop of feeling like I have to check off every box before I move on. Or you maybe you got to the end of a program, you're like, okay, I'm looking at the next program, the next step in the progress. But I look back over the last 30 days. And I, gosh, there's so many things I feel like I could have done better. I always think that I could have done that so much better. And so you're like, so I'm gonna go back and do it again.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Like, no, don't do that.

[A]

Yes, keep going.

[B]

Don't do that. And, and this is where the nature of this is. Just looking at our insufficiencies and our failures essentially of all the ways that we didn't cut it, you know, all the ways that we didn't do it good enough. And thinking that way is always going to prevent us from progressing forward.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so if you get to, let's say a 30 day program. Most of my programs that I have are 30 days. Most of the women that get to the end and would say, like, I didn't do it good enough usually might have missed like three, four, maybe five days along the way. I'm like, okay, you missed five days. That means you did 25 days.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

The last time you did 25 days. That is still considered consistency.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, that's still like, chalk that up. Even two days.

[A]

It's like, it's better than no days. That's the. Yeah.

[B]

100% Newton's Law.

[A]

Like a body in motion stays in motion. A body at rest stays at rest. Like, we need to keep going. I really appreciate.

[B]

Keep the momentum going. And one like mental mindset shift, I think is really big breakthrough for a lot of women is when it comes to our health and fitness, we always feel like, well, I'm trying. I'm trying to eat better, I'm trying to exercise more, I'm trying to move every day. I'm trying. We use the word trying a lot. That. And with try, it kind of gives you a pass fail grade. Like, I tried to drink all my water today. Did you do it? No. Did you do it? No. Like, right. Yes or no? You know, it's like, yes or no?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But instead of saying I'm trying, say I'm training to do that. You know, I'm training to eat better, I'm training to exercise more, I'm training to be more active every day. That has such a different connotation. It almost like assumes that you won't do it right at first. Right.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It assumes that you're an apprentice and you're learning.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And.

[A]

And so I think training feels like empowering. I'm trying. I was like, yeah, well, watch out because you're not gonna. We know you, you know, you didn't do it.

[B]

Yeah, you messed up again.

[A]

I love that.

[B]

And so just coming into your journey with that different mindset shift of like, no, it's not a trying or not trying thing. It's a I' training to do this better. And then you can start to see those little victories as proof that you are improving. And that's the momentum that will keep you motivated and keep you moving forward.

[A]

I love it. Thank you. This seems like a good place to wrap up with. I think you've given lots of listeners things to do. You're. You have so many resources. Where would someone go? I will put it in the show notes, but I'd also like them to hear it through their ears. If they're like, megan, Megan, help me. Yes, I want help you because you are so encouraging and supportive and helpful. And it is. It's just like we just have to get started wherever we are. And that's what I love about your work and why I love having you on the show is that you really can meet people if they haven't walked at all. There's no shame if they've been doing their stuff. You know, they're Jane Fonda. They're still doing it from the. You're right there. And you're like, yes, let's add in some dynamic stretching. Yeah. So where can they find you?

[B]

And one of the best places to just keep getting some free resources is my weekly newsletter. So it's just called Weekly Jump Start. It's just to help jump start your health. Each week we send out an issue on Tuesdays and Fridays. The Friday issue is called Just One Thing. So it's like, gives you one exercise to try. And really, that's the whole idea? Yeah. Just go to weekly jumpstart.com sign up for that. And. And I just give you simple tips like this, teach you about midlife health, specifically, it's for women in midlife life. And it's just some fitness, nutrition, mindset tips. And then on Friday, it's just one mind or one fitness tip, one Friday nugget. So that's the easiest thing to just be like, I am so overwhelmed with all the information out there. We make it really simple. You can read it in three minutes. So that's the best place to go. And then if you're not already following me on Instagram, definitely do that. Just find me Megan Dahlman. My name is my handle. And. And every day I'm posting just some easy little exercises that you can try. Just little tips and even mindset coaching that. That I think would really, really help inspire you each day.

[A]

It's really yeah it's a really up like when we're looking at social media like Megan isn't uplifting. I always feel better when I look at and see your post so thank you. Yes thank you so much for coming on and helping us all and I am I'm really quite sure that whoever is listening and maybe started feeling a little overwhelmed, overwhelmed and frustrated is now like they have something in a direction they can go and feeling more encouraged and that they're not alone out here. We're all, we're all doing this. So thank you so much Megan.

[B]

Thank you so much for having me. Suzy. Really

[C]

thank you for listening to the Love youe Life show. If you want to hear more from Susie and support the show, be sure to subscribe to this podcast on itunes. Also leave a review and share this podcast with friends and family. Go get em warriors.