The MiDOViA Menopause Podcast: Real Talk on Hormones, Work, and Wellness for Midlife
Welcome to The MiDOViA Menopause Podcast — your go-to source for science-backed, expert-led insights on menopause, perimenopause, and midlife wellness.
We cover everything from hormone therapy to hot flashes, brain fog to bone health, workplace policies to personal empowerment. Whether you're navigating menopause yourself or supporting others, this podcast offers practical tools, real talk, and trusted guidance.
Brought to you by MiDOViA, the first and only U.S. organization offering menopause-friendly workplace accreditation, we’re on a mission to change the narrative—at home, at work, and in society.
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The MiDOViA Menopause Podcast: Real Talk on Hormones, Work, and Wellness for Midlife
Episode 043: Strong Women Live Better: Why Strength Training Matters in Midlife
Strength training isn't just about looking good—it's about living well for longer. Linda Goos discovered this truth decades ago when she began her first strength program at age 17, experiencing mental benefits that far outweighed the physical ones. After 20 years in marketing at Microsoft, she returned to her passion with a crucial mission: helping women in midlife build and maintain strength to preserve their independence and vitality.
Linda founded Studio Bloom with a clear understanding of the challenges women face during perimenopause and beyond. Many workout facilities left her either completely exhausted or feeling like she hadn't accomplished anything meaningful. The fitness industry simply wasn't addressing the unique needs of women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s who wanted to stay strong without burning out.
The science behind her approach is compelling. Beginning around age 30, both muscle mass and bone density naturally decline, with this process accelerating dramatically during perimenopause and menopause due to decreasing estrogen levels. Muscle functions as an endocrine organ contributing to cardiovascular health, metabolism, and bone density. Without intervention through proper strength training, this decline can significantly impact quality of life and independence.
One persistent myth Linda works to dispel is that women should stick to light weights to avoid getting "bulky." This misconception has led countless women to under-train with those infamous pink dumbbells, achieving minimal results. Women actually need to lift heavier weights—around 80-85% of their maximum capacity—to effectively stimulate bone density improvement and muscle growth.
For those new to strength training, Linda recommends starting with fundamental movements like sitting to standing, wall pushes, and other bodyweight exercises that translate to daily activities. Her approach emphasizes functional movement patterns: squatting, lunging, hinging, pushing, pulling, rotating, and carrying—all essential for maintaining independence and preventing injury as we age.
Studio Bloom offers specialized programs including Osteo Strong for women with osteopenia or osteoporosis, along with workshops on hormone replacement therapy, pelvic floor health, and nervous system regulation. It's a community where women support each other through midlife transitions while building physical strength and confidence. As Linda reminds us, "It's never too late to start," and the energy you put into your health is the energy you'll get back throughout your life.
Linda is an ACSM certified personal trainer, ISSA functional aging specialist and certified Onero bone density practitioner. Linda’s elite gymnastics experience led her to Oregon State University where she earned Pac 10 All-decade honors for gymnastics and studied Psychology and Exercise & Sport Science. With a desire to combine her interests in sport, exercise and psychology she went on to receive her master’s degree in exercise & sport science from the University of Utah with a focus in Sport Psychology. In 2007 she was inducted into the Washington State Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
Studio Bloom website: https://www.studiobloomfitness.com
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Hello everybody and welcome back. We are excited today to have our friend, linda Goose. Linda spent 20 years working in marketing at Microsoft and then she decided to return to her lifetime passion for fitness and wellness with a goal of helping women live well longer. She believes that getting older doesn't have to mean settling for less and loves to inspire women in her 40s, 50s, sixties and beyond with to continue building strength to do the things that they love. She's definitely inspired us. Her fitness studio, studio Bloom, which opened this past April that we had the opportunity to go to the opening of and is beautiful it's in Kirkland is focused on meeting women where they are in their fitness journey, understanding their individual goals, surface their limiting beliefs that may hold them back and help them build a program that best serves their individual needs. Linda, welcome, we're so happy to have you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I'm so happy to be here yeah.
Speaker 1:We met through a friend of a friend a couple of months ago. I feel like we've been lifetime friends already. So, it's really fun to be able to finally have you on our podcast. Yeah, can you share your journey with us? What inspired you to focus on strength and movement for women, especially at midlife and their postpartum stages?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely Well. First of all, I have had strength training as part of my life for almost my entire life. I was a very early entry into strength training. I had my first program when I was 17 years old. I was lucky enough to have just met a trainer. However, the summer I was working out in a gym over in Seattle and, at the time, was taking his aerobics class which, of course, everybody goes really into aerobics at that time and he was amazing and, um, he was also a personal trainer and he asked if you know, I'd be interested in working with him and, of course, I didn't have any money. I was a student and, um, I took him up on the offer and he set me up on this incredible strength training program and I fell in love with it right from the start. So it has been part of my life for a very long time. I have reaped the benefits mentally far more than physically by doing strength training and I think that's what keeps me coming back and, you know, always wanting to include that as part of my health regimen.
Speaker 2:As far as why I decided to start this for women, I was actually at a point in my life where I was in perimenopause, through menopause now postmenopausal and my experiences that I was having out there with various types of workout workout facilities.
Speaker 2:It wasn't meeting my needs. I was either feeling extremely fatigued after the workouts, to the point where I wasn't functioning well in my life, or I felt like I really wasn't doing much at all and wasn't feeling like I was getting the benefits from it. I knew through my background in having developed strength programs before my own strength training, that there was a better way to do it, and I felt like there were special needs that women had during this time period, having maybe lost a lot of muscle, a lot of strength, and that there was a gentler and more effective approach to strength training. And so that's why I decided to head out on this journey and build my studio and really focus on those women who are looking to do all those things that they love in their life by maintaining their strength, maintaining their balance, their agility, their confidence and the way that they move their body.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love midlife because there are so many women that just see the need and so, okay, I'm going to do it. Fill the need Exactly. I absolutely love that you took the bull by the horn, so to speak, and started your own studio to fill the need, and I've personally been there and you've taken me through a workout that kicked my butt in a good way. But I'm curious, because you mentioned that for yourself. You found that you were either extremely fatigued or you weren't getting enough, and you have worked with thousands of women and I'm wondering what patterns you notice when it comes to exercise in midlife, or what are we doing in midlife? What's the typical approach that you see for midlife women at this age and their approach to exercise?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, there's a few different things. One thing that I definitely see is a lot of cardio exercise and not a lot of strength training. I think because we grew up in that time era of aerobics and healthy heart and running and walking and cycling, swimming, maybe even those things being the healthy approach. And while those things are certainly healthy, it's far more important to maintain your strength in life so that you can avoid risk of injury, so that you can maintain healthy bones, so that you can manage your weight. I mean, there's so many benefits to maintaining muscle mass and strength as you age. So that's definitely one thing is too much focus on aerobic and cardio workout and not enough on the strength training.
Speaker 2:For those who are doing strength training, a lot of women are focusing on light weights because that's kind of what's marketed, right, it's the dumbbells. Women are meant to do light weights. They don't want to get bulky and big and it's just. It's a real myth out there. Women do need to lift heavier weights. That's the only way that you're going to challenge the muscle in order for it to grow, to build strength and to also build bones.
Speaker 2:So heavier resistance training is something that is definitely necessary and you know some women are educated now that that is an important aspect to include in your workout regimen, but there's also many that aren't aware. There's also, I think, a misunderstanding or lack of knowledge around the importance of progression. So if you're doing any kind of program and you're expecting growth right a program and you're expecting growth, right, so you're expecting to increase your muscle mass, you're expecting to improve your runtime, whatever it is, it has to be progressive, so it means that your body's going to adapt to whatever sort of exercise you're doing. You need to provide additional challenge in one form or another in order to grow, and most people are not doing that. They are going into the gym, they're doing the same exercises day in and day out, and maybe even with the same weights or body weight exercises, and that's probably not going to be enough to create the gains that they're looking for.
Speaker 3:You have to keep pushing yourself, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you talked a little bit about why this is so important at this stage of life, but can you talk about the connection between bone health, lean muscle mass metabolism, like why, at this point in your forties and fifties, is it so critical to do this? Um, and you know, not just cause you're working out to, you know, get really strong muscles, which you know women are not able to do. That because you say women are concerned about doing that and that's not what happens. But why is it so critical right now that women focus on heavy strength training?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so first of all, muscle is really considered an endocrine organ. It contributes to the entire functioning of your body, so it's not just the structural support of your body, but it helps with cardiovascular health, it helps with metabolism, it helps with our endocrine system. So there's a lot of functions that muscle contribute to, and it also contributes to bone health. And so if we don't have strong muscles and if we're not challenging our body with lifting heavy weights, then we're not going to stimulate the bone development that's necessary in order to maintain your bone density. So as we age, we naturally are losing muscle or naturally losing bone, and that really starts at about age 30. And the decline can be pretty swift, especially as you hit perimenopause and into menopause, because of the declining estrogen levels that we experience. So if you're not participating in strength training program, you will be losing bone. There's genetic factors as well that contribute and other lifestyle factors that contribute to bone loss, but certainly not doing strength training or heavy resistance training is going to impact the health of your bones.
Speaker 3:I mean it's fascinating the bone health piece. We just came off of Bone Health Month. Several months ago we had you on a webinar, so thank you for sharing your knowledge there too. But you know we're in this space and some of that data is even shocking for us and I'm wondering. There's so many mixed messages out there that I think it gets really confusing for me, but also for just the general public. When we talk about lifting heavy strength training, don't do cardio, you know, stay in that zone to hit training, sit training. Can you kind of talk to us a little bit about that and what some of the biggest misconceptions are that you see in that space? I mean, what should we know? What should we be doing? Talk to us a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I think the biggest mistake that people make probably is all in on one type of exercise right, like they're only doing aerobic, and then they're only doing strength or they're only doing, you know, some other form of workout. And certainly your body needs a lot of different things. It needs to be able to move in many ways and there's different benefits to different types of training. Strength training is so critical because it has such a huge impact on our longevity right. So the trajectory that you see if you lose strength as you age is that you know perhaps you take a fall right and if you have already low bone density, the chance of fracture is pretty high. And once you fracture something, then you know you kind of end up on this cycle where maybe you're not strong enough to fully rehab and if you're not strong enough to fully rehab, you're functioning at a lesser level than you know basic life skills, and then, once that happens, it just starts the deterioration.
Speaker 2:So strength training is critical in that aspect, but it's also important to maintain our cardiovascular health. So having a base level of cardiovascular health where you're able to do the things that you want to do in life and have the fitness cardiovascular fitness to do that. It's also critical to maintain your agility and balance. We don't just move in one direction. We need to be able to move in many directions, and oftentimes life requires that we move our feet really quickly. Right, we're going to lose balance here and there, and how well equipped are we to regain our balance and find our footing to prevent that fall? So all of those things are important. I think that strength training is getting a lot of focus right now because of the impact it can have on people's longevity.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, but what I hear you saying is is it's not just strength training, right, you have to absolutely not. Yeah, all of those other factors, yeah, functional balance, yeah, and, and you know, we haven't even talked about pelvic floor and floor either, can you? Can you talk to us a little bit about that, linda, and how strength training supports those areas as well, does it?
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, the pelvic floor is made up of I don't think it's like 26 muscles or something. It's an enormous amount. In fact, we just had a speaker last night at my studio on this particular topic. It impacts an enormous number of women, and what I found out last night actually is that it happens in young athletes as well. So pelvic floor issues can often be related to too much tension as well as not enough tension. So there needs to be a balance, and it oftentimes is preventing women, especially our age, from doing strength training or any kind of dynamic movement that could benefit them overall, because of the leakage that they experience. It's embarrassing, it doesn't feel comfortable, and so they are just avoiding it altogether. But there are plenty of pelvic floor specialists out there that can help women, you know, transition through that time and regain their control and confidence and being able to do the things that they love.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was one of the surprises for me as I started to get into this. Work was like taking care of your pelvic floor is really important for so many reasons.
Speaker 1:I was just like hey, I had a couple of babies and some C-sections good, and I'm like I'm having to pee all the time and I'm, you know, like, you know there's pain and you know you don't have to do that. Those are. Those are things that are preventable as you're taking care of yourself. You know, I was raised with the go, go hard or go home aspect of exercise as a kid and my you know, my parents were runners and you know we all were always pushed to go outside and work really hard. And then I got to this phase in life they're like, yeah, actually don't do that anymore, and I'm like, what? So what? What do I do?
Speaker 3:What am I supposed to do?
Speaker 1:Right yeah, can you talk about at what level of endurance or fitness or quickness or hard should we do to stay healthy and in shape?
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I think a lot of that comes back to what you're trying to accomplish right. There's a difference between fitness for life versus fitness to train for a race or a particular climb that you're doing or something like that. There's elements of competitive nature that needs to come out if you're training for something on a specific timeline. If you're training for life, that's a lot less necessary, but you do need to know how to push yourself as well. We need to be in tune with our bodies, and every day is not like the last.
Speaker 2:You may not have a lot of strength one day, just feeling maybe low on energy, maybe didn't sleep very well. I mean, especially in our age category, there's a lot of women who aren't sleeping well and that can really impact how you're feeling. So you need to listen to those things, especially if you are doing strength training. You don't want to injure yourself, and so if you're just not able to focus, you're just too fatigued, then maybe you need to choose a different workout for that day. But in saying that, if your goals are to increase strength, increase bone density, you definitely have to be challenging yourself. It doesn't mean that you need to leave so exhausted that you can't complete your day, but there's certainly um. You need to be working like at an 80, 85% max in order to develop a bone density, so that's a particular metric that you would like to hit most of the time. Um, and similar with strength training if you want to um, increase muscle mass.
Speaker 3:It's interesting. I like the way that you put that, though exercise for life or strength for life. Remind me what did you say? Was it exercise for life or strength for life? But I like the way that you positioned that right Training for life.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, because it is that longevity piece and health span. And how healthy do we want to be? And do we want to play with our grandkids and we want to hike those mountains right here, want to play with our grandkids and we want to hike those mountains right here, especially in the Pacific Northwest, when we're 80, 85 years old, right, what's the ultimate goal? And I do think about functional movement, because you talked a little bit about that just a few minutes ago as well. We don't just move in this forward plane and I know I chuckle, but I don't chuckle at it. You know there's so many people at the gym that are getting hurt playing pickleball and we love pickleball, but I wonder if part of it is that we are restarting something that our body's not used to doing right.
Speaker 3:We're not used to moving in those other planes and so we haven't trained it to do that and we need to right. We still have to carry our groceries, we still have to carry our grandkids right. So do you incorporate functional movement into your programs, and is it an important aspect?
Speaker 2:It's incredibly important and all of my programs are built on functional movement, so you can think about moving in seven basic patterns we squat, we lunge, we hinge, we push, we pull, we rotate, we carry. Those are all things that we need to be able to do in life, and so those are the movement patterns that we use in all of our programs. And so there's some form or fashion of those movement patterns in all of the workouts that I develop. We do full body workouts that incorporate all of those movement patterns and it crosses over to how people function in life, and I hear it every day from the people who take my classes, the clients that I personal train, how they were able to lift the large cooler that's super awkward put it into the back of their car. Or one client was mentioning how she was able to put the turkey into the oven, which can be very awkward in knowing how to squat down appropriately right and engage your core in order to reach your arms out forward with something heavy in your hands.
Speaker 2:So it absolutely crosses over to daily life and that's really the whole point. Why else are we doing this? Right? If it doesn't benefit us in our life, then it's just for visual effect, and I think at our age it's no longer for visual effect. We want to live healthy because we want to be able to do the things that we love in our life and be able to enjoy many more years. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's the nursing home resistance plan. Right, live longer on your own. But what if you know I haven't done it for a while or I've never done strength training? What's a safe and effective sort of starting point? Look like for somebody brand new to this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's okay. I think you know people get really hung up on the fact that they're in bad shape and they hate where they're at, and you have to get out of that mindset and recognize that you're starting where you're starting and that's okay. There's a baseline and then we just move forward from there, because everybody can improve their strength. It doesn't matter what your limitations are. I have clients with so many different limitations and they can still build strength. Some of the basic places to start would be sitting to standing. Can you sit in a chair and stand up effectively, right, and if you can't do that, well, then you help with your arms a little bit. So that's a basic function that everybody should be able to do.
Speaker 2:When you're leaning up against a wall, are you able to push your body away from the wall in order to get into an upright position? Right, that's a beginning of like a push-up, that's upper body strength, and can you keep your body in a straight position. So that's like a basic place to start. There's other ways that we move our body that also contribute to those basic movement patterns, and that's the best place to start, I would say, working with somebody who is educated in the biomechanics of movement, who understands how to take somebody from a very beginning level and progress them through, would be a great place to start as well. So if you can check into a trainer at a gym or find somebody who is very educated online that walks through the process of starting out in a program and building progressively to more strength, those are great places to look.
Speaker 3:That's look, body weight is great. I try to get pushups on the stairs. Every time I go up the stairs I'm like, hey, can I get 10? Yeah, great, use the body weight, yeah.
Speaker 1:And it's surprising how hard that becomes. I try to do a few before I take a shower at night, just to you know, prove that I can still do it. I can still do it Exactly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's great body weight, and I think you're right working with someone that knows what they're doing too. I mean we can't go to the gym and start living hefty, heavy crap, right? I mean it's not a good idea to go to the gym audience and pick up those 50 pound weights and try to. You know bicep curls it's. It's probably not a good idea, but yeah.
Speaker 2:I would say nine times out of 10, people aren't moving in optimal ways, especially if you haven't been doing it for a while. We start compensating by using other muscle groups, and most people are relying a lot on their quads. A lot on the front of their body and the back of their body isn't contributing much to their movement, and so having somebody who is educated in that and can see what's happening and make those corrections is really critical so that they don't get injured.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, even when you think you're strong I mean, I'll speak for myself, because I felt strong, right, and then I went to see you in just the single leg squats, right, yeah, and you realize, oh my goodness, I'm using the quad strength and not my hamstring and my glutes, yeah, and so you can still feel strong and you're still compensating, right, yep.
Speaker 2:Exactly, exactly. Not even notice, yeah exactly.
Speaker 3:Where does breath work come into all of this? Does it core awareness, breath work? We're both yoga instructors. We believe in breath work for many reasons and optimizing our core strength to protect lower back. But what's your?
Speaker 2:opinion on that. It is critical, I will say. Sometimes it's overwhelming for people if they're just learning the movement patterns, and so sometimes holding off if they're doing fairly lightweight, is okay, until it comes to the point where, okay, they're going to start progressing here and the weight's going to get heavier and the breath work is going to be even more important. I don't want anybody not breathing, but sometimes just the thought of when do I breathe in, when do I breathe out, it's just overwhelming. And so I mean, in teaching the patterns too, it's something to really pay attention to is how much feedback are you giving to somebody and making sure that it's appropriate? But, of course, breath work is important. It helps to engage the core, it helps to protect your back, it helps with strength during the movement, and so when we're in that activation phase of the movement, we breathe out um, that helps to um, improve, uh, our outcome.
Speaker 1:You know, when I'm at the gym, sometimes I look at my face of what it looks like while I'm lifting something heavy and I'm like, oh my God, I don't want to. And then I look around and everybody's like so it doesn't feel pretty, but it also feels great when I'm done. So. A topic that lots of people are challenged with in this time of life is visceral fat. All of a sudden it appears out of nowhere in our 40s. What actually is happening and what can we do to reduce it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, what's happening oftentimes is people are, you know, no longer working out to the same extent that maybe they were before, maybe their diet's slipping a little bit, and then on top of it, we have the lower estrogen, which impacts all of that as well.
Speaker 2:But I do think people need to take a close look at their lifestyle and maybe how their lifestyle has changed. Along with the fact that they're in perimenopause or menopause and those hormones are changing, there is the reality that the fat does start depositing around the mid section, and that is because of the low estrogen. And as far as like what somebody can do about that, the best thing that they can do is begin a strength training program so that they can build more muscle, and then, once they have more muscle, their base metabolic rate is higher, they're going to be burning more calories at rest and they're going to be burning calories longer after the workout, and so that's going to help there. And then also focusing on nutrition. Nutrition is nourishing your body and that you're not in, you know, ingesting a lot of excessive calories that are non-contributors.
Speaker 3:We're hearing a lot about protein right now for women in midlife. What's your opinion on that?
Speaker 2:as far as exercise and recovery, yeah, so protein is critical and I know it feels like you know you can never get enough. But as far as building muscle protein is critical, as we age, we need more protein and most people are eating less protein. Right, we start moving towards eating more carbohydrates Most people as they age, and the reality is we really need more protein. It's the building blocks of our muscles. We need to have that in our diet as a component. With that said, again, you need a balanced diet, right, so there should be carbohydrates in your diet. A lot of people are steering away from carbohydrates. We need that. That's our energy source and you absolutely need that in your diet as well. So it's just a matter of getting the right nutrition levels in in all of those categories.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Do you have a recommended amount of protein per day? Or would you say that varies per? You know, person and circumstance? And I imagine a little bit how much are you working out? What's your fitness level Exactly? I imagine a little bit. How much are you working out, what's your fitness level Exactly, Et cetera. Is there a baseline, though? I always feel like I'm not getting enough protein. I feel like I'm eating a lot of protein, but at the end of the day I look at it and you did not get enough protein. It's hard.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is hard and all those things matter that you just mentioned, as well as your weight and everything else, but I would target around 30 grams per meal is a good place to be. I think those are close to the recommendations that come from FDA and that's the guidelines that I provide to my clients.
Speaker 1:I can only do that when I'm carefully tracking it, yeah. Otherwise, when I add it up in my head at the end of the day I'm like, no, you didn't even get. That's where I am.
Speaker 3:Like, yeah, I'm not a track it during the day, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the critical thing is putting it out right you don't want to be hitting your body with a ton of protein in one meal. So for me getting it in the morning is the biggest challenge that I can focus on. Getting in the morning and then lunch and dinner is a lot easier for me. You know, ultimately it'll accumulate to where I want to be, but if I start off bad in the morning, then that's it's harder.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, makes sense.
Speaker 1:So switching gears a little bit, but talking about snacks still, what's it? You know, what are your thoughts on movement snacks versus structured workouts? Like, how should do both count? Should you know? Should we do one over the other? I've heard you know various different things on that. So do I schedule a gym time three days a week for an hour, or can I do movement snacks throughout the week?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a great question, I mean. I think one is how are you going to get it done? Is the most important? Doing it versus not doing it? So if all you have is that snack time, then you know, yes, absolutely do that. If you're able to schedule workouts in, then that's probably a preferred method. But the snack workouts work great as long as they're focused right. So if you're not, again, not challenging yourself, not making it progressive, then there's not going to be a lot of strength gains. You might maintain your strength and doing some of that, but it really takes a prescribed and progressive method to gain strength. Like I said, if you're doing the same exercises, you're not making it more challenging. And if you're doing it in your office or something and you don't have the equipment and you're just trying to get some pushups in and some squats in, great for overall health, probably not going to be huge for strength gains if that's what you're doing every workout.
Speaker 3:It is good. And you know, I think we get into a mindset of all or nothing. Right, like okay, even week by week, I mean I find myself getting into that trap, like well, I didn't do good this week, it's Tuesday, so I'm done. Oh right, I travel.
Speaker 1:I didn't get to do it Right.
Speaker 3:Oh, I may as well give up, and it is that all or nothing. But I think it goes back to what you just said, Linda, and something's better than nothing.
Speaker 2:And right, yeah, absolutely. I mean and that's a conversation I have with my clients frequently is don't beat yourself up over last week. We're talking about a lifetime here, so you know, getting back on track the next week and recognizing your gains that you're making in that week and what's ahead for you overall in a month, how are you doing overall in the half year? How did you do overall in the year? How did you do? That's way more important than hitting it hard one week and then missing three weeks right and then coming back hard one week. That's not a lifestyle. That's not something that's sustainable, clearly, if you're not able to fit it in more regularly than that yeah.
Speaker 1:What suggestions do you give to the women that you work out with on staying consistent and do you give them any monikers, any tips, any tools? Like come back again, make sure you are consistent about it. Like it's easy to have it fall off and not be important? Yeah, but are there any tricks to staying motivated with it?
Speaker 2:I think you know checking in with yourself and being reasonable about what's reasonable at your life during this time. Right, and what are the reasons why you're participating in this program? Is it something that's brand new to you and you have some critical health crisis and it has to be a priority and you need to get this done? Or is it just? You know, I understand I need to do strength training, I'm in good health, I think I can fit it in once a week and that's what I can commit to right now. So it kind of depends it's you know.
Speaker 2:First, about understanding somebody's scenario there have been many clients that I have had that I know would benefit more if they did strength training twice a week but didn't push that Cause. I could tell that getting them in once a week for the next year was going to benefit them far more than forcing them to come in twice a week and then they'd be gone in two months. So I have several clients in that scenario where they started with me one week, one time a week for the 55 minutes and it took a long time to really start seeing progress right, because it's a slow turn that way, but the reality of it is is that they recognized the gains. It didn't push them out the door because the progress was reasonable for them. It fit into their schedule and now, because they're seeing the progress that they're made, they're so motivated to go do it on their own. So they're scheduling workouts in on their own, you know, outside of working with me as well, which is terrific.
Speaker 2:So I think one thing is just recognizing where you are and what's going to be reasonable in your life. I think the other thing is to treat it like any other schedule that you have in your life. Put it in your calendar. That's how it works for me. Anything that I need to get done, if it's not in my calendar, it's unlikely to happen Exactly. So schedule it and treat it like an appointment. Don't let other people interfere with your time to maintain your health, and it's really hard to do because there's so many distractions that we have. I think the other thing is finding something that's fun for you. So if you're not having fun in what you're doing, most people are not going to stick with it. It doesn't matter what it is, and there are ways to make it fun, whether it's the person that you're working with, whether it's the type of workout that you're doing, whether it's the conversations that you have or the women that you meet. There's ways to find fun in the workouts that you do.
Speaker 1:So it's never too late to start. Nope, Do something that you like, do it as consistently as you can and maybe put it in your calendar. If that's the way you manage things, then you should be able to sort of get a routine going. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, it's way easier said than done, but it's absolutely true and I know that. I've spent a lot more time in the last year at the gym working out with weights, and now I can't live without it.
Speaker 1:It's just makes me feel better. It's a self-care that I didn't ever imagine that would be important to me.
Speaker 2:I'm going to the gym right after this. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Ready to go, and that's what's happening.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I can tell that, kim, you feel great, you do. You feel great. You say that all the time and we haven't talked about it. It might be a whole other podcast, but the confidence and connection, the community that it can bring as well, is so important for women in midlife as well, because we're very lonely. And again, that's a whole other podcast, a whole other podcast. It can bring people together and I know that you're doing that at your studio, which is an extra bonus. Linda, tell us a little bit about your studio before we leave our audience. What makes your studio different than others?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I'm focused on women. For one, it's primarily women who participate in my programs, and I'm focused on aging and aging well, and I understand the challenges that women are facing at this point in their life, and so the elements that I incorporate into my programs include mobility, agility, balance, strength. They're based on where you're at when you come in, so there's programs for people who are at the very entry level and then there's programs for people who are more advanced to continue building strength. So, meeting people where they are and encouraging them and getting them to recognize that it's not too late, that there's plenty of opportunity to continue doing the things you want to do, to build the strength that you need and move the way you want, is really what I want people to get out of it. Also, the community is huge that you mentioned. So you know the vision that I had, and what was missing in my life also was a community of women who were in a similar place that I was in, that I could communicate with, and that's what I see in my classes. You know we have fun music playing. That's what I see in my classes. You know we have fun music playing. It's not blaring. You're able to talk with other people. There's breaks in between sets so that you can recover and then, you know, hit the next set, and so women are able to chat with each other. It's lively, it's fun, and they hang around after class to talk to each other too.
Speaker 2:So I'm also offering workshops in various areas. We just had a talk last night. I have 30 people in attendance there for the talk on menopause and hormone replacement therapy, and then also pelvic floor, so that was terrific. I have a walking group that people can participate in. We have a class around nervous system regulation. So I think that element of managing our nervous system, reducing anxiety and stress and being able to live our lives in more peace is critical at this age at any age, but in particular, women who are in the stage of perimenopause and menopause are often dealing with a lot of anxiety. So that's a great contributor. And then we're doing sound baths as well. So our favorite yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1:I'm just wondering if I should start looking for real estate free to open up your second studio.
Speaker 3:In Edmonds Exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, and I didn't mention the bone density program, Onero, but that's another element of my studio that is really taking off. There's so many women with osteopenia or osteoporosis that are looking for a solution, and this Onero program is a really great opportunity for them to learn how to lift with a heavy load and do it safely and and build healthy bone. So important.
Speaker 3:We're big fans. Where can people find you, Linda?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so they can find me online studiobloomfitnesscom that's my website or studiobloomfitness on Instagram or Facebook. Okay, excellent. And the studios located in the area.
Speaker 3:We highly recommend recommend.
Speaker 1:Linda, yeah, I'm telling everybody.
Speaker 3:Yeah it's. It's a great place. You've got a great thing going over there. But before we let you go, we ask every guest what the best piece of advice or you've received or given has ever been.
Speaker 2:You know, I think the one that sticks with me the most is probably the energy that you put out into the world, is the energy that you are going to get back, and that's something that I think I've lived by for a long time and it serves me well, and I think it serves the people around me well, that you know you're trying to bring your best self to whatever it is that you're doing. Not every day is going to be perfect and you deal with the ups and downs, but all you can do is the only thing you have control over is what you bring to the table every day, no matter what you're doing, and if you continue doing that, then good things um happen around you and they happen to other people as well.
Speaker 1:So so inspiring to end the day with that. Thank you so much. What a what a great one to remember. Always Right, and you're we, just we love the work that you're doing and thank you so much for spending your time now and before and in the future. We're just such a great, beautiful soul that we get to connect with.
Speaker 2:on a regular basis. Oh, thank you. Well, I love the work that you're doing as well. I wish you would have been around about 10 years ago, I know.
Speaker 3:Me too. I wish I knew what I know now years ago, For sure. No, we really really appreciate you coming on and I'm sure that we're going to continue to work together. We're just getting started, so thank you so much and audience, friends, until we meet again. Go find joy in the journey.
Speaker 1:Thanks, Linda, Bye folks.
