Why The Strongest Women Age The Best | Jody Florman

What if aging well has less to do with trying to stay young—and more to do with becoming stronger?

In this episode, I sit down with Jody Florman, Certified Wellness Coach and living proof that vitality doesn’t have an expiration date, to explore strength, resilience, body confidence, and what it really means to thrive as we age.

At 68, Jody challenges many of the assumptions women are handed about getting older. Rather than accepting midlife as the beginning of inevitable decline, she sees it as an opportunity to consciously rebuild—to become stronger physically, clearer mentally, and more grounded in who you are.

And Jody knows something about rebuilding.

Her life has taken her through a creative career spanning design, mural work, entrepreneurship, London, Los Angeles, and now Sedona, alongside divorce, financial collapse, burnout, reinvention, and more than one experience of starting over.

Those experiences ultimately shaped the work she does today.

Together, we explore why physical strength becomes increasingly important as women age, but also why strength is about much more than muscle. It influences confidence, independence, energy, resilience, and our relationship with our changing bodies.

We talk about the stories women absorb around aging, body image, fitness, beauty, and what we're supposedly capable of after a certain age—and what happens when we decide those stories no longer belong to us.

Jody also shares her approach to creating sustainable wellness without punishment or perfectionism. Instead of chasing impossible standards or temporary transformations, she encourages women to build habits and lifestyles they can actually carry forward for the rest of their lives.

Because aging is inevitable.

Declining into a smaller version of yourself doesn't have to be.

Perhaps getting older isn't about desperately holding onto who you used to be.

Perhaps it's an invitation to discover how powerful you can still become.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why strength becomes increasingly important as women age
• Rethinking cultural narratives around women and aging
• Building and maintaining physical confidence in midlife and beyond
• Strength, energy, mobility, and independence
• The relationship between physical strength and emotional resilience
• Body image as our bodies change
• Moving beyond punishment-based approaches to fitness
• Why perfectionism can sabotage sustainable wellness
• Creating habits you can maintain for the rest of your life
• Starting over without believing you've started too late
• Mindset and the stories we tell ourselves about aging
• Reclaiming creativity, confidence, and possibility
• What Jody has learned about vitality at 69
• Why your strongest years may still be ahead of you

About Jody Florman

Jody Florman is a Certified Wellness Coach who works with women in midlife who are ready to feel strong, vibrant, and fully at home in their bodies again.

A lifelong creative, designer, muralist, entrepreneur, and problem-solver, Jody's unconventional career has taken her from London to Los Angeles and through multiple chapters of personal and professional reinvention.

Today, she brings that same spirit of rebuilding to women's wellness, helping clients improve physical confidence, energy, strength, body image, and the mindset patterns that can keep them stuck. Her approach combines health and wellness coaching, breakthrough tools, and intuitive energetic work with an emphasis on sustainable change.

Based in Sedona, Arizona, Jody coaches privately and continues to expand her work around fitness, mindset, aging, and women's empowerment.

Her philosophy is simple:

Aging is inevitable. Feeling old is optional.

And midlife isn't a crisis.

It's a reclamation.

Connect with Jody

Website: https://www.jodyflorman.com

Rooted & Wild provides general information for educational and informational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guest speakers are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Henry Hawk. The content shared on this podcast is not intended to replace individualized medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice, nor should it be used to diagnose or treat any health condition. Listeners are encouraged to consult with qualified healthcare professionals regarding any medical or mental health concerns.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Rooted and Wild. Today we're talking about something that affects every single one of us: aging. But today we're going to highlight aging for women. For so many women, the messages they've received after the age of 35 are filled with limitation. Slow down, expect less, accept that your best years are behind you. But what if that is not true? Joining me today is someone who embodies that philosophy every single day. Jody is a certified wellness coach who helps women in midlife reclaim their strength, energy, confidence, and sense of possibility. At 68 years old, she is living proof that vitality doesn't have an expiration date. After building a creative career that spanned design, entrepreneurship and art, and navigating all kinds of life pivots, Jody transformed those life experiences into a powerful mission, helping women rediscover the strongest versions of themselves. Her work blends practical wellness coaching, movement, mindset, and intuitive energetic practices to create lasting transformation from the inside out. Her philosophy is refreshingly simple. Aging is inevitable, but feeling old is optional. In today's conversation, we're diving into why the strongest women truly do age the best and what actually matters for longevity after 35. Jodi, welcome to Russian Wild.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Hi.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

Hi, Jodi. So good to have you on here. You are based in Sedona, Arizona.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

And we are both in love with that area. I live in Sedona part part of the time. That's my home base, actually. One of the things we will find commonly there is, of course, all the hiking trails and the outdoors. And Sedona seems to be a place for um like a mecca of health and wellness. But you have a lot of people you know who, in spite of all that, aren't feeling their best.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

What happens, you know, once you get past a certain age and you go into what people call retirement, sometimes I think that they think that retirement means less active rather than keeping a similar level of activity as when you were younger. There's a lot of hiking, there's a lot of mountain biking, but that also should include some load-bearing exercises as you get older because of bone mass and muscle mass, etc. Getting to the gym or doing strength training, some kind of strength training at home is important as you get older.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

So when you say that the strongest women age best, you're not saying that they have to be um like bulky fit. What does that mean for you?

SPEAKER_01 3:19

No, no, no, no. So it's it's you're not going to put on muscle mass in your upper body if you are only hiking. Your legs will do really well, but you're not going to gain any kind of muscle gain in your chest and your arms unless you're using poles and you're hiking up steep trails on a very regular basis. So using some kind of load-bearing exercise with low weights, even, is really important. And if you're not a person who is used to working out at a gym or using machines, you could use small dumbbells like four or five pounds and gain muscle. Although if you're progressing in your muscle development, you're going to want heavier weights over time. But some kind of load bearing is important. And it just builds structure underneath the skin. And that crepey, saggy skin that we get past the age of 60, 65, um, it helps to fill up you know your arms and it helps the look of all of that.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

Would you say though, that with a lot of people, not only women, but that age is a mindset?

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Totally.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

So explain that to me.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Okay. So you can feel old at 40, honestly, and if that's where your head is at, it it is a lot about how you think about things, a lot about continuing to move, even if you have health issues or arthritis issues. It has a lot to do with energy. It has a lot to do with thinking beyond your number, the age that you are in the number that you are. I mean, age ultimately for me is just a number. And there are some physiological things that happen as you get older, but it is they're minor compared to thinking that you're old. You really do have to just change your mind.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

How does someone do that?

SPEAKER_01 5:41

I know there's a lot of ways out there that media is saying as you get to be X age, you should be less than. You have to not care, honestly. And that takes focus. Sometimes it takes a daily meditation practice, sometimes it's just saying, no, that is not going to happen to me. Your brain is a very, very powerful tool. That placebo effect that they talk about in uh with drugs is very apparent with everything. So if you believe that you are able and that you are sharp and that you have capability, you will have all of those things. And then there's energy. If you keep your energy high, think positive thoughts, it's amazing how much better you will feel all the time. And age won't matter.

SPEAKER_02 6:47

You you mentioned the idea of basically it's mindset. But you know, I think for a lot of people, like, okay, I'll just use my own my own example. Okay, so before I got in better shape in my life to where I was looking good and people noticed, um, I I was really unhealthy and overweight, actually. And it it took a lot for me to go, I'm not gonna eat that, and I'm not going, I am gonna go for a walk. I am gonna go to the gym. And this was after a long time, many years of not doing any of those things. And you start doing it, and then unless, at least for me, unless I have someone I'm going to meet up with at the gym, I'm very in the past, I was very likely to go, I'm not going. You know, I'm too tired or I don't, I'm too busy, or whatever it is. And what can people do to to shift that? And what can women do specifically? Because I think about women, right? Not to say that men aren't busy, men are busy, but oftentimes men are afforded a lot more freedom in life to do the things that they need to do. Whereas many times, especially I want to talk specifically about mothers, they spend their years mostly taking care of kids, and then many of them work as well, and then they are empty nesters, and then by that point, it feels like their body's gone, right? And so how do you shift the pattern? Like, what do you do to shift that pattern?

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Well, you have to create new habits. So the first thing is I would say you schedule your workout. Um, just like you schedule a lunch date. You figure out, let's say you're starting with 10 minutes a day, right? Put it in your calendar that you're going to take a 10-minute walk at whatever time in the morning is the most appropriate for you, morning, afternoon, evening. And say you do that twice a week for the first month. So schedule it. And then you're gonna have to hold yourself accountable. I mean, there this does take work and focus. So you have to really want it, and you'll know whether you want it if you actually do it. So for me, it is a have to. The workouts are in my calendar. I am not a person who is very self-motivating. So I went out and found myself a trainer. You can do that if you're willing to spend the money. For me, it was the only way that I knew I was going to be successful. So that's what I did. If you don't want to get a trainer, then you can take a class, and that's a schedule, or get yourself an accountability partner, a friend, or somebody that maybe if you do go to the gym, you see is similar to you, and ask them if they want to work out with you. I've done that, and it's been really helpful because it becomes a little bit more fun. Right. So it depends on your personality, but there's a lot of ways that you can make yourself accountable and then you develop the habit.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

Yeah, that makes total sense. I mean, you know, there is no one size shoe fit all in terms of what gets people motivated. Right. But I definitely think that most people who are out of shape have lacked motivation, right? So having that person that you can you can go to. One of the things I love about what you do, um, which I'd like you to share more about, is is that you're not necessarily at the gym training with someone to coach them, but your coaching is more in the realm of accountability, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Yes. So, or you could go you could you could hire somebody like me and I can you I could make you accountable for a plan, you know, accountable to the plan that we would make together. So as a coach, we go about this in the way that you are able to handle moving forward, right? I don't push you to do anything that you're not comfortable with. What I do do though is I will hold you accountable to what you say you will do. And once you build a habit, then we can increase what you say you will do. And the thing that I do know for sure is that once you start and once you see the results, and once you start to feel how much better you feel by doing what you, you know, starting exercising, starting seeing how your clothes fit better, how you feel better about yourself, you will want to do more. And it will you will become inspiring to yourself. And I can help with that.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

Love that, love that. So as we go back towards this component of the strongest women age the best. So define to me, and again, I'm not trying to, we're not trying to put anybody down, but you're 68, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:16

69.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

69 now, okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

You're 69, and frankly, you look 15 years younger than that to me and to everybody who knows you. You you look great. You're toned, you've got beautiful skin, you take care of yourself, you dress beautifully nice, you you you have this energetic, you have more energy than I have half the time, you know. And and and yet, so for so many women at your age, that's not the case. And the reason I'm making that comparison is not to put any other woman down, but rather to to to look at we all need a role model, right? We all need someone who's done that who can get there. And and how many people do I know in my life? We have some mutual friends um who weren't the healthiest and now look great, you know? Yet, and I've been there too. And I mean, I'm telling you, like, I remember specifically the day it happened when, like you said, you expressly said, you start to feel better in your own body, you start to dress differently, your energy is different, your outlook on life is different, and you begin to attract people, your frequency shifts, right? Yes, and I I remember specifically walking into a department store and getting a lot of looks and being like, ah, what are they doing? I've never had that happen before. And and it made a big difference in my confidence, which then made me want to keep eating healthy and do the things. But what can you tell women who feel like it's too late? Like they gone too far, too late, they're too tired, they're too old, they're too, they let themselves go for too long. First off, what can you tell them and why should they consider the path you've taken?

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Well, you can only do what you really want to do. That's the first thing. The second thing is um it's never too late. I had a very serious back injury. God, I think it's been about five years now, and I was told that I may not walk, right? I mean, the doctors really scared me. Um, I have a body that is riddled with arthritis. Pretty much I ache in one way or another all the time. And the thing that has really saved me from turning to from atrophying and sitting on the couch all day is that I just have chosen not to be victimized. I know that's a very loaded word, but I'm gonna use it for me to be victimized by what the doctors told me and my particular situation. And I just started. I can't even tell you how many times I got up in the morning and said, Oh my god, I do not want to do this. I just didn't want to do it. However, the consequences for me of not going out to exercise for not finding anti-inflammatory, natural anti-inflammatories to help some of the um pain issues, it just wasn't a choice that for me, right? I'm just not a person that gives up. So I started very slowly. I went to physical therapy, they told me that I probably was never going to be able to do half the things that I'm doing now, and it literally has taken me about six years to come back, and it's a very step-by-step, slow process. And I am so grateful that I put my focus into that direction because I am now 30 pounds thinner. I am almost as strong as I was when I was in my 30s and 40s, though I'm not trying to be in my 30s and 40s. It just seems to be going that way. I have found a trainer who has put me into a direction which is a has been a step-by-step process. I went from uh physical therapy to water aerobics because that was very um lightweight on my back. And then I found a trainer and he put me into a very quiet program for the first couple of years. And as time has gone by, I went from two days a week to three days a week. Now I work out four days a week, and it just has quietly built over time, so it takes work, focus, desire. You have to choose it and you have to figure it out for yourself, but it is so worth it. I still get stalked on the street by people in their 20s and 30s who go, Oh my god, you look so good. And who thought that was ever gonna happen? You know, there's no reason to disappear. You disappear if you if you think that's your only option. That is not your only option.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

That's so true. So true. Well, as we wrap up this episode, um, I want to let you guys know that you can find more about Jody at jodieflorman.com. That is j-d-y, f l-o-r-m-an.com, jodieflorman. And we include the link in the description box. Uh, you can book an appointment with her online. And all of her coaching sessions are actually done virtually. And she covers a wide range of things from accountability and movement and mindset and skincare, and you name it, uh, to help you live and optimize, optimize your life in order to live the best, to live the healthiest. Uh, I like what you say, Jody, that it's not about going back and reliving the past and getting your 20-year-old body, but about making your current body the best it can be in this chapter.

unknown 18:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:34

Which is pretty good, actually, when you actually do the things.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Yeah. I mean, it's not about turning the clock back in that way. It's you want to be the uh most vibrant, fit, and healthy that you can be going forward. My goal for myself is to be as strong at 70 as I was at 60, as I will be at 80, and then at 90. So, do I know if I'm gonna get there? I don't, but that's my trajectory. So, unusually what I focus on comes about.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

Yeah, love that. Well, Jody, thank you for joining us here at Rooted and Wild, and look forward to having you on again in the future.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

It's been my pleasure, Henry.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

Yay.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Yay!

SPEAKER_02 19:29

And for all those who are with us, until next time.