Not all Strength Training is Equal.

Most people (especially us ladies) don’t realize how many of the things we want are on the other side of a door labeled:

Lift Heavy.

Before we go further, let’s be clear: 

Not all strength training is heavy. 

There’s a difference between lifting weights and lifting heavy. Heavy means the load limits you to roughly 12 controlled reps or fewer. It requires bracing and full-body effort.

It’s not the burn of 20 light reps, it’s not the fatigue of a circuit. It’s not “I could probably do 10 more.”

When you unrack the weight you should know: this is going to take all of me!

Many people train with weights. Fewer train in ranges that truly challenge force production. Some adaptations only show up when the load is high enough that your body must adapt.

On the other side of the “Lift Heavy” door you’ll find:

• Fewer wrinkles (read on, I promise you!)
• A “toned,” more athletic -looking body
• The ability to eat more without gaining fat (yay!)
• Stronger bones that don’t become fragile
• Better survival and recovery if diagnosed with cancer (hard to believe, but true!)
• The physical capacity to learn the coolest sports (like XC skiing or pickleball) later in life
• Better balance
• Higher muscle mass is associated with a 15–20% lower risk of death from any cause
• Fellas: more testosterone

After 30, muscle declines steadily – even faster for women. If you don’t challenge it, you lose it.

A word about looking “toned.” 

I often hear from people they want to look “toned.” What they’re usually missing isn’t more cardio. It’s more muscle in the right places, and lifting heavy is the shortest path there. 

You cannot reveal muscle that isn’t there.

Now Ladies, This Part is for you

For a long time, strength training for women lived in a narrow lane. Light weights. High reps. Careful not to get bulky.

Here’s the truth.

Getting bulky is hard. Losing muscle is easy.

And for women, muscle loss accelerates earlier and faster, especially through perimenopause and menopause, when bone density drops and metabolic rate slows. This is why so many women feel weaker, softer, and more tired despite “doing all the right things.”

Lifting heavy is one of the most effective ways to push back.

What If You Don’t Have Weights?

Lifting heavy isn’t about owning a barbell, it’s about producing enough force that you can only manage a few strong reps.

You can live this mandate at home. 

If bodyweight squats feel easy, move to single-leg squats or pistols. If push-ups feel easy, elevate your feet. Slow the tempo. Add pauses. Try plyometric variations.

If you can perform 25–30 reps comfortably, it probably isn’t hard enough to trigger the adaptation we’re talking about. Find ways to:

Increase leverage. Increase range of motion. Slow it down. Make it unilateral.

Training in low rep ranges changes more than your body.

When you regularly face a weight that only allows a few reps, you practice facing your limits.

There’s a kind of aliveness that shows up when you summon everything you have to move something substantial. 

It’s a truly satisfying feeling, a core human experience. And it’s a skill … use it or lose it.

So lift heavy.

Not recklessly. Not daily. But consistently, progressively, and on purpose.

This week, choose one lift and work in a range that truly challenges you. Try four sets of 5–8 strong reps. You should feel like you could do no more than one or two more. Wasn’t that fun?? Don’t forget to smile.

It’s not something you need to be afraid of, but lifting heavy has risk. If you want a coach in your corner, you can reach out to work with me ​here​.

PS: About Those Wrinkles…

A 2023 study in Scientific Reports followed middle-aged women who trained twice per week for 16 weeks.

Both cardio and resistance training improved skin elasticity. But only resistance training increased dermal thickness – the layer responsible for firmness and structure.

Thicker dermis is associated with less sagging and fewer wrinkles. It’s not instant. But it’s another example of something many people want that only shows up when the load is heavy enough.