For years, we've been told to move more, walk more, stretch more and maybe add in some light weights.
there's one thing that becomes harder to ignore once you hit your 40s and 50s: getting stronger matters more.
Not "toned." Not just active. Stronger.
That doesn't mean becoming a powerlifter or suddenly lifting the heaviest dumbbells in the room. It just means giving your muscles and bones enough of a challenge that they actually have to respond.
Because if the weight always feels easy, your body has very little reason to get stronger.
Why this matters more as we age
Our bodies change as we age, and menopause adds another layer.
We naturally lose muscle mass and strength over time unless we work to maintain it. Changes in oestrogen can also affect bone density, muscle and connective tissue.
For me, this has changed the way I think about exercise.
I heard someone compare exercise to an investment portfolio the other day and it stuck with me. You wouldn't put all your money into one investment and expect it to do everything for you.
Movement is a bit like that.
Walking's great, Pilates is great, yoga and cardio and barre all bring something, but not the same thing.
If the goal is to build and maintain strength, we need resistance. And as we get stronger, that resistance has to increase with us.
Australian osteoporosis guidelines recommend progressive, moderate-to-vigorous resistance training at least twice a week, alongside weight-bearing and balance exercise.
The key word is "progressive" - that means the exercise has to get harder over time.
If you keep lifting the same weight, in the same way, your body gets used to it. Eventually the thing that used to challenge you stops being hard.
That's when you need to add a little more.
The LIFTMOR trial changed the conversation
There's an Australian study, the LIFTMOR trial, that really changed how people talk about women, ageing and heavy lifting.
Researchers studied 101 postmenopausal women with low bone mass. One group followed a low-intensity home exercise program. The other did supervised high-intensity resistance and impact training twice a week for eight months.
And they were not lifting light weights. The women were working at more than 85% of the heaviest weight they could lift for just one repetition. So yes, this was genuinely heavy strength training, and it was done under close supervision.
The women in the high-intensity group improved bone mineral density in areas including the spine and hip, along with measures of physical function, compared with the lower-intensity group.
What I find especially interesting is who these women were. They weren't 25-year-old athletes. Their average age was around 65, and they already had low bone mass.
For a long time the instinct with older women, especially anyone worried about bone density, was to be cautious. Keep things gentle. Don't load too much.
LIFTMOR helped challenge that thinking. It showed that, in these women, high loads could be used safely and effectively when the training was properly screened and supervised.
That doesn't mean everyone should copy the LIFTMOR protocol, but it's reason enough to stop assuming ageing means getting fragile.
Does that mean you need to lift really heavy tomorrow?
No.
This is where the whole "women need to lift heavy" conversation can go off track. Heavy is relative. There isn't one number that counts as heavy.
If you're new to strength training, bodyweight might be enough to challenge you. Then maybe it's a 4kg dumbbell. Later it might be 6kg, then 8kg.
Someone beside you might be lifting twice that. It doesn't matter.
The only useful question is: is this weight challenging for me?
Imagine doing 10 squats while holding a dumbbell.
If you get to number 10 and feel like you could easily do another 20, the weight's probably too light to be giving you much of a strength challenge.
If the last few reps take real effort, but you can still move well and stay in control, that's different. That's the level you're after.
As it gets easier, you progress.
Sometimes that means increasing the weight. Sometimes it means doing more reps, slowing the movement down, moving through a bigger range or progressing to a harder variation. It just needs to stop being comfortable all the time.
Menopause changed the way I think about this
Something shifted for me when I hit menopause. My body felt different.
I started getting aches and pains I'd never really had before, and for the first time in my life I seriously found myself thinking about the mechanics of getting older.
What do I want to be able to do in 10 years? In 20? What do I want my life to look like when I'm older? It can be confronting.
Well-known Medical Researcher, Dr Stacy Sims, talks about the difference between lifespan and healthspan. Lifespan is how long you live. Healthspan is how many of those years you spend healthy, mobile and independent enough to live the way you want to.
That idea stuck with me. I tell my kids I'm living to 120 years old, so I care about what those years look like.
I want to travel, get up off the floor without thinking about it. Not have to wonder what my body can handle.
We often start paying attention to bone health and strength once something has already gone wrong. Your 40s are a great time to start. Starting earlier gives you more time to build strength, but starting later still matters.
There is never a wrong time to get stronger.
This is why we created LOADED.
At Aleenta, Pilates will always be a big part of what we do. We love it. But it can't do everything.
There's real value in adding heavier resistance work into the mix, and that's exactly why we built LOADED.
LOADED. is our dedicated strength class.
It gives women a place to lift heavier weights, practise the basic strength movements and actually progress over time.
We work with squats, lunges, RDLs, rows, presses and push-ups - the simple movement patterns that carry across into everyday life.
And rather than changing everything every week to keep the class 'interesting', LOADED. runs in programming blocks.
There's a reason for that. You need time to learn a movement, time to get better at it, and only then do you add more load. That's how strength is built.
It's not flashy, but it works. Everyone lifts what's heavy for them, so 'heavy' looks different for every person in the room.
And if you're someone who loves Reformer, we also have Reformer LOADED., where strength blocks are combined with Reformer work.
It's not an either/or situation. You can love Pilates and still need strength training.
"I'm not strong enough for LOADED."
We hear this a lot. You don't need to already be strong to start. That's the whole point of coming.
You start with what works for you, learn the movement, and add more as you go. The only thing that matters is that you're gradually asking more of your own body.
Pilates or strength training?
Both.
This is probably the simplest way I can put it.
Pilates gives you one thing. Strength training gives you another. Walking and cardio bring something else again.
A good movement routine doesn't need to choose one winner. It needs to cover enough bases. And for a lot of women, heavier strength training is the base that has been missing.
Maybe the goal isn't to get smaller
For a very long time, exercise has been sold to women as a way to lose weight (particularly if you're a Gen-Xer)
Burn more calories. Get smaller. Tone up.
I think we can ask more from exercise than that.
What if the point was to become more capable? To be stronger than you were six months ago. To carry the heavy thing without asking for help. To feel confident loading your body instead of being afraid of it. To build muscle because muscle is useful.
To look at getting older and think about what you can keep building instead of what you're going to lose. That, for me, is the real point of lifting heavier.
And it's exactly why we created LOADED.
Come pick up some weights with us.
If you have osteoporosis, a history of fracture, significant pelvic-floor or musculoskeletal concerns, or another medical condition that may affect exercise, speak with an appropriate health professional about the type and level of training that's right for you.
talks about the difference between lifespan, how long we live, and healthspan - how many of those years we spend strong, capable, sharp and independent.
That idea really resonated with me. Because I don’t just want to live for a long time.
I want to be able to move well, travel, carry things, get up off the floor, stay independent and keep doing the things I enjoy.
And that’s where strength starts to feel less like 'exercise' and more like an investment in the future.
We often only start talking about strength and bone health once something has already gone wrong.
But your 40s, or earlier, are an incredibly valuable time to start thinking ahead. What do you want your body to be able to do in your 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond?
Strength is something we build, and something we practise maintaining.
And thankfully, you absolutely do not need to live in a gym to do it. Australia’s physical activity guidance recommends muscle-strengthening exercise on at least two days each week.
Yet many adults still don’t meet that recommendation, with women less likely than men to do enough muscle-strengthening activity.
So for many women, the biggest opportunity isn’t necessarily doing more exercise. It’s making strength a deliberate part of the exercise they’re already doing.
This is exactly why we created LOADED.
At Aleenta, we love Pilates. We love barre. We love movement that helps you feel good in your body.
But we also recognise that women need opportunities to pick up heavier weights and become genuinely stronger.
That’s where LOADED. comes in.
LOADED. is Aleenta’s dedicated strength-based class, designed around heavier weights and real progression.
Instead of turning up each week for a completely random workout, LOADED. runs in six-week programming cycles built around specific movement focuses.
That gives you the opportunity to practise movements, build confidence and progressively challenge yourself over time.
Think:
Squats. Lunges. RDLs. Rows. Presses. Push-ups.
The fundamental movement patterns that help build strength that carries into everyday life.
Programming includes tempo work and timed intervals, with weights scaled to the individual.
That means LOADED. can meet you where you are while still giving you somewhere to progress to.
And if you love your Reformer?
There’s Reformer LOADED., which pairs strength blocks with reformer-based Pilates work — bringing heavier loading together with the precision and control of Pilates.
But I’ve never lifted heavy before?
Perfect.
You don’t need to arrive strong. You come to get strong.
This is probably something we hear more than anything else:
“I’m not strong enough for that class.”
But we all start somewhere. Your weight is your weight. Your pace is your pace. There’s no competition.
The whole point is to meet your body where it is today and build from there.
Pilates or strength training? We choose both.
This doesn’t need to be Pilates versus strength training. We actually think they work beautifully together.
Pilates can help with control, coordination, mobility and movement quality. Strength training gives your muscles and bones a different kind of challenge.
Walking gives you something else. Cardio gives you something else again.
The best movement routine isn’t about finding one perfect thing and doing only that.
It’s about giving your body a mix of what it needs.
LOADED. isn’t a replacement for everything else you love doing. It’s the strength piece of the puzzle.
Maybe the goal isn’t smaller. Maybe it’s stronger.
For years, women have been sold exercise as a way to make ourselves smaller. Burn more. Shrink more.
We’d love to shift that conversation. What if the goal was to build?
Build muscle.
Build strength.
Build confidence.
Build capacity.
Build a body that can keep doing the things you love for a long time.
That’s what lifting heavier is really about. Not becoming a bodybuilder. Not proving anything. Just giving your body a reason to stay strong.
And every time you progressively challenge yourself with resistance, you’re investing in what your body can do - not just today, but in the years ahead.
That’s exactly what we created LOADED. for. Come pick up some weights with us.
Your future self has things she wants to do.
If you have osteoporosis, a history of fracture, significant pelvic-floor or musculoskeletal concerns, or another medical condition that may affect exercise, it’s a good idea to speak with an appropriate health professional about the right type and level of training for you.
