Stronger After 60

Strength Is About More Than Muscle

One of the ideas I keep coming back to from my conversation with personal trainer Jason Ogden is how differently we should think about strength as we get older. When we are younger, exercise can become tangled up with appearance, numbers on a scale, or how fast we can run. After 60, I think strength takes on a much more interesting meaning. Strength becomes freedom.

Can I carry my own groceries? Get my suitcase into the overhead bin? Get down on the floor and back up again? Can I take the trip I’ve been dreaming about and feel confident navigating an unfamiliar city? Those may not sound like fitness goals, but perhaps they are some of the most important ones we can have. The National Institute on Aging points to regular physical activity as one of the things we can do to maintain independence as we grow older, with benefits that include better balance, sleep, mood, and the possibility of more years lived with less disability.

What struck me most in talking with Jason was the idea that we do not have to accept decline as the inevitable price of another birthday. Aging changes our bodies, certainly. But the National Institute on Aging specifically cautions against the assumption that growing older automatically means losing our ability to learn, adapt, or remain physically capable. Many of the choices we make throughout life can help preserve health and mobility.

There is something empowering about that because it shifts the conversation away from trying to be younger. I have no interest in being 35 again. I am interested in being as strong, curious, independent, and fully engaged as I can be at the age I am now.

Maybe that is the better question for this chapter: What do I want my body to allow me to keep doing? Once we know the answer, getting stronger has a purpose much bigger than exercise.