Strong for Life

Many women in the Vail Valley are aligning with a fitness renaissance: an explosive and compelling era where cardio is out and lifting weights is in.

This revolution is centered around safe and purposeful strength training — intentionally lifting or moving a load greater than yourself. For women especially, this practice is crucial for protecting bone density, supporting hormonal balance and maintaining strength through every stage of life.

From free weights to Pilates, from picking up your puppy to hauling ski gear, strength training is an endless creative endeavor. At the end of the day, you are causing stress on the body, eliciting micro-tears in the muscles, forcing your body to adapt and strengthen from the inside out.

How do we translate this awareness into action? By focusing on the pillars of strength training that lay the foundation to move with life, not just through it.

BONE DENSITY

When muscles are engaged, they do more than just sculpt your body; they place healthy stress on bones, stimulating calcium deposition and supporting long-term bone strength. This is particularly important for women because women’s natural bone density declines at a faster rate than men over time, says Chris Lindley, chief population officer at Vail Health and co-owner of Endorphin in Eagle. However, strength training can help support strong bones at any stage of life.

Lindley is a certified trainer and strength coach. He believes longevity comes from action and highlights four essential movements: lifting something from the ground, such as a deadlift; squatting; pushing, such as a shoulder press; and pulling, such as a row. The key is incorporating weight that challenges you, whether that be kettlebells, soup cans or even logs, to fully engage your muscles.

A Pilates reformer is another powerful tool for building bone density at any age. The springs either add resistance or support, with instructors tailoring the challenge to help you grow stronger and more stable.

“Working against the springs is what causes stress on the muscles,” says Jennifer Lucas, Pilates instructor and owner of Synergy Center for Wellness. She teaches group classes in both Avon and Eagle.

To get the best bone density results in either scenario, the key is purposeful core engagement to protect your back and turn every move into a core-strengthening exercise.

HORMONE HEALTH

Regardless of childbearing, the female body is biologically programmed to support the potential for pregnancy. Throughout her life, hormones invisibly ebb and flow, shaping her days and rhythm. This process inevitably affects muscle mass, metabolism and energy — making strength training not just a fitness choice, but a biological ally that helps keep her body recover, adapt and thrive.

A woman’s intuition is a gift, and Nicco Long, family nurse practitioner at Vibrant Health of Colorado, says women should use it to their advantage from puberty to menopause.

“Women have a different biological structure,” Long says. “We go through the whole process of menstruation to carry a life. Once that goes away, and these hormones go away, it is important to honor the female’s well-being.”

The family nurse practitioner says that strength training is part of the puzzle for a woman’s physical and mental wellness. Lindley emphasizes another piece of this puzzle: testosterone levels.

Though often associated with men, testosterone is an essential hormone for women too — especially after menopause, when levels naturally decline. It is important for women to naturally boost testosterone production to benefit their body.

“The bigger the lift, the bigger the response you get, hormonally,” Lindley says. “That stressor on the skeletal system and muscles causes your body to produce more testosterone, which helps your body repair, heal and get stronger.”

VITALITY

Strength training produces the foundation that supports longevity: muscle.

Strength training is most effective when practiced consistently over a lifetime, with a focus on progressively challenging resistance. “The human body is the most resilient organism probably on the planet,” Lindley says. “You have to constantly challenge it, the weight and the modalities.”

Pilates as a method of strength training allows the practitioner to add mobility and flexibility work into their strength training.

“Pilates helps to preserve your body’s design,” Lucas illustrates. “It keeps tension off of your spine. It takes tension off of our hips. It helps you perform better because your muscles are more equally balanced and helps avoid injury.”

Here in the mountains, resilience is woven into every climb, turn and trail. For women, that resilience deepens when strength training becomes a lifelong companion.