What Is Strength, After All?

 What Is Strength, After All?

I've been thinking a lot about this lately.

Strength isn't just about muscles.

There is strength of heart.
Emotional strength.
Spiritual strength.
And yes... physical strength.

Have you ever met someone who, the moment you're around them, you immediately feel at ease? I would call that strength.

Or perhaps you know someone who has been through unimaginable challenges and yet still smiles, approaches life with wisdom and curiosity, and keeps lightness in their heart. That, too, is strength.

When it comes to physical strength, there are two things that matter most.

The first is learning how to appropriately load the body.

And guess what? That doesn't have to mean spending hours in the gym lifting heavy weights.

Strength can be built through bodyweight exercises (my personal favorite), mobility work, resistance bands, carrying groceries, lifting bags, hiking hills, getting up and down off the floor, and so many other forms of meaningful movement.

The second—and often overlooked—piece is your ability to recover from the load you've placed on your body.

Recovery is how we build strength. And sometimes that recovery requires longer than our fast-paced culture—and our own inner urgency—wants it to.

This has become especially meaningful to me over the past few years as I've navigated my own health challenges. Between histamine issues, hormonal shifts, and now moving through perimenopause, I've had to learn a very different definition of strength.

For a long time, I thought strength meant pushing harder.

Now I know that true strength is also knowing when to pause, when to recover, and when to give your nervous system what it actually needs instead of asking it to do more.

I see this with many women in perimenopause and menopause. We hear that we need to lift heavier, eat more protein, and push ourselves—and while strength training and protein are important, they're just one piece of a much bigger puzzle. Our bodies also need wholesome, nourishing food, quality sleep, recovery, time in nature, meaningful connection, and movement that leaves us feeling more resilient, not more depleted.

If your nervous system is already overwhelmed, your sleep is disrupted, your hormones are shifting, or your body is asking for recovery, simply doing more often just creates more stress. The goal isn't to avoid challenge—it's to find the right amount of challenge for your body so that you can recover, adapt, and become stronger.

One of the amazing things about the human body is that it benefits from a variety of movement experiences. Different terrain, changing loads, balance challenges, time outdoors, and exploring new ways of moving all help create a body that is adaptable and resilient.

With muscles, protein, and heavy lifting being more popular than ever, I think it's worth talking about an often-overlooked piece of the equation: recovery.

As many of you know, I've been in the wellness field for over 20 years, and I've watched many trends come and go. The best programs are never the ones that ask everyone to do the same thing. They're the ones that teach you how to understand your body, work with your nervous system, and know when to challenge yourself and when to recover.

I've also worked with many people who became injured because they increased the load on their bodies faster than they were prepared for. Heavy lifting isn't the problem—the problem is often skipping the foundation.

Real strength isn't about doing more.

It's about doing the right amount, at the right time, for your body.

It's about teaching your body and your nervous system how to accept load gradually, recover well, and adapt over time.

To me, sustainable strength means building a body that is resilient, adaptable, and capable of serving you for decades to come—not just looking strong today, but feeling strong for life.

One of the greatest acts of strength is trusting the process. Healing, adaptation, and resilience can't be rushed. They grow when we create the space for them.

That's exactly what we'll be exploring together in September Strong.

My hope is that this workshop changes the way you think about strength—not as something you force, but as something you cultivate. Together we'll build a body that is resilient, adaptable, and capable of supporting you for years to come.

Because in the end, strength isn't just about how much you can lift or how hard you can push.

Maybe strength isn't something we prove. Maybe it's something we practice.

We practice it in the way we move.

In the way we nourish ourselves.

In the way we recover.

In the way we show up for the people we love.

And perhaps most importantly, in the wisdom to know when to challenge ourselves, when to recover, and when to rest.

I'd love to have you join me in September Strong.

With love and movement,

Lila