Challenging Myself: Strength Training At 50

I’ve quietly decided to challenge myself by focusing on my upper body strength. It is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, so why not now?
Right now, one of my special interests is body recomp, or body recomposition. I don’t really want to change the shape of my body, but tweak it.

For instance, my arms. I want to work on my arms and my chest. Of course my core, too, but mainly my arms and my chest.
In my head, I have this whole plan. I haven’t successfully outlined it yet, but I know me. I know that whatever I focus on, I’m going to need to take my time with it and do it right so that I don’t become overwhelmed, do too much too soon, get erratic, then get tired of it, and walk away.

It won’t be the typical gym stuff, either. For one, I don’t like gyms because of sensory issues. So I’ve built my own fitness studio at home. I can’t take all the credit; my husband contributed a few essential items as well, and we worked together to build this amazing space.

Of course, my main love is yoga. I try to practice twice a day: once in the morning when I wake up to get moving, and again at night before I go to bed to release the day. I also like walking. I love walking outside, but on rainy days, or days that are just too hot or too cold, I love hopping on my walking pad with my iPad propped up, scrolling through TikTok. You can breeze through thirty minutes so fast, like it’s nothing.
Back to my fitness studio: I forgot to list what we have, but we’ve got a weight bench, dumbbells of various weights, resistance bands, kettlebells, an ab roller, yoga wheels, yoga mats, and yoga blocks. We could use a few more weights, but we have enough for right now. So we got what we need. I’ve got what I need to reach the goals I’m setting for myself.

My upper body is really where I want to focus. I’ve always had weak arms and a weak chest. I want that sculpted look with my shoulders, and I just want to be strong enough to do pull-ups. My next investment is going to be a pull-up bar, the kind that goes in a doorway. I think I’m going to put it over my walk-in closet door. We’ll see.
I’ve just really been in the mood to embrace fitness and lock in. It’s time. It is so important to move my body, especially at this age. Perimenopause wreaks havoc on your body. And I know that with just about anything you go through that isn’t disabling, where you can move your body and you have the energy, movement and exercise help. Whether it’s ADHD, autism, or perimenopause, it really does help. Especially when you’re taking ADHD medication. I know better, so I’ve gotta do better.
I have the equipment, I just need the discipline to stick to it. And I guess putting it all out here is my accountability.
Of course, this journey has to be tracked. It’s not going to be super detailed because I don’t like being rigid; I need flexibility. I’m just going to work out, eat healthy, and see what happens.
I hope you follow along with me. I will definitely be sharing it online on Instagram with the hashtag #JonesyFit, and anywhere else you follow me, but especially right here on this blog.
Stay tuned.