Magazine | From Fragile to Functional: Why Midlife Women Need a New Strength Paradigm

From Fragile to Functional: Why Midlife Women Need a New Strength Paradigm

Exercise Strength Training Running Bone Health
Written by 4 min read
From Fragile to Functional: Why Midlife Women Need a New Strength Paradigm

I never thought my next company would start with a bone scan.

But here we are.

At 41, I’m building again. ​​Not because I had a big tech idea or saw a market gap, but because I got scared. And then angry.

Scared when a DEXA scan revealed early signs of bone loss. Angry when I realized how little support exists for women in midlife—especially around invisible health risks like bone density and muscle decline.

Let me back up.

I’ve always been active: triathlons, yoga, snowboarding, you name it. But no one told me that after 30, women start quietly losing 1–2% of bone mass per year. Or that half of all women over 50 will suffer an osteoporosis-related fracture. And that we begin losing muscle, which can impact everything from energy to mobility to metabolic health.

I looked fit. I felt strong. But the scan made one thing clear: this wasn’t about vanity. It was about vitality.

So I went deep. (It helps that my husband is a longevity nerd.) I read the research, talked to experts, lifted heavier. But what surprised me most was something ancient:

Walking with weight.
Also known as rucking.

Rediscovering Movement with Meaning

Rucking (derived from the term rucksack) originated in military training as a way to build strength and stamina for combat. Today, it’s quietly becoming one of the most accessible tools in functional fitness and longevity circles.

Think of it as resistance training meets low-impact cardio. You walk with added weight, activating your entire body without the joint stress of running. While it won’t build muscle mass like strength training, rucking supports muscle maintenance, metabolic function, and reinforces one of the most important physical foundations as we age: bone density.

Here are a few science-backed benefits worth knowing:

1. Supports Bone Health

Bone Health: Weight-bearing + impact = stronger bones.

Studies show that walking with added weight can slow or even reverse age-related bone loss by 1–2% per year, especially in the spine and hips. That’s significant, considering most women lose that much annually after 30.

2. Burns Calories

Adding weight increases calorie burn compared to regular walking. That makes rucking a more efficient, lower-impact way to increase daily energy expenditure - especially for women managing hormonal changes that impact metabolism.

According to David Looney, an exercise physiologist who studied weighted vests for the U.S. Army:

  • Wearing one that’s 10% of your body weight can burn 8.5% more calories.
  • At 20%, it jumps to 19.7%.

3. Supports Muscle Strength

Rucking turns a simple walk into a full-body functional workout. It engages:

  • Glutes
  • Hamstrings
  • Calves
  • Core
  • Postural muscles in your upper back and shoulders

While it won’t replace lifting heavy, it targets slow-twitch muscle fibers, improving endurance, balance, and joint stability over time.

4. Improves Posture

Carrying a well-fitted vest activates the deep stabilizers in your back and core. You naturally adopt a tall, upright posture while rucking. This is especially important for counteracting the rounding and slouching that accelerates with age.

5. Boosts Energy + Mood

A 30-minute ruck can do more for your mood than a double espresso. Movement combined with load stimulates blood circulation, increases oxygen flow to the brain, and releases feel-good endorphins. Many women describe feeling clear-headed, focused, and energized - especially if you walk outside in nature.

Why This Matters More in Midlife

Rucking doesn’t require a gym, a subscription, or a schedule overhaul. It’s simple, powerful, and sustainable. For women navigating midlife (where strength, hormone shifts, bone protection, and nervous system regulation are all in play) rucking is uniquely supportive.

I know because it worked for me. And I’ve watched it work for dozens of other women who’ve joined me, week after week, for 3 mile rucks in Miami, virtually, or just around their neighborhoods.

It’s not about being hardcore. It’s about having a steady rhythm. One that builds strength, slowly and deeply. One that helps you feel your body in a new way.

For too long, strength in women has been framed as aesthetic or performative. But what about the quiet, sustaining kind? The strength to carry families, calm your nervous system, or simply feel good in your skin?

If You Feel the Shift Too

If you’re less focused on shrinking and more interested in building real, lasting strength—you’re not the only one.

There’s a growing community of us rethinking how we move, eat, recover, and show up in midlife. If rucking feels like a fit, I’ve put together a free Rucking 101 Guide to help you get started: www.yvotywarrior.com

And if you’ve found other rituals or tools that support your strength in this season, I’d love to hear what’s working for you. Let’s swap notes. We’re all experimenting—walking, lifting, breathing, evolving. It’s not about doing it perfectly; it’s about doing it together.

Published: July 18th, 2025

References

1. Bone Health and Osteoporosis
2. International Osteoporosis Foundation – Calcium and Bone Health
3. International Osteoporosis Foundation – Facts and Statistics
4. Harvard Health Publishing – Preserve Your Muscle Mass
5. Weighted vest exercise improves indices of fall risk in older women
6. American College of Sports Medicine Position Stand: physical activity and bone health
7. Metabolic Costs of Military Load Carriage over Complex Terrain
8. Estimating Energy Expenditure during Level, Uphill, and Downhill Walking
9. Effects of Load Carriage on Postural Control and Spatiotemporal Gait Parameters during Level and Uphill Walking
10. Exercise is an all-natural treatment to fight depression

Author:

Marie Berry is the founder of YVOTY, a premium fitness brand redefining strength for women in midlife. A serial entrepreneur and global marketing executive, she’s blending personal health with her passion for brand, creativity, and commerce—this time with a mission to make midlife powerfully visible.

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“All disease begins in the gut.” – Hippocrates (ca. 460–370 BC)[1]Centuries before microscopes existed, Hippocrates and later Paracelsus intuited that our digestive tract is inseparable from health. Today these ancient observations resonate with modern data. Books such as “Darm mit Charme” (in English Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ from Guilia Enders) popularized the idea of gut health in mainstream culture, and scientific interest exploded into what some now call the microbiome cosmos - the trillions of microbes that coexist within us. In this article we explore what the human gut microbiome is, why it matters, what a microbiome analysis can and cannot tell you, and how emerging tools like artificial intelligence (AI) and community‑based reference ranges are changing the landscape of personalized health.Meet your gut microbiomeThe human body contains far more microbial passengers than most people realize. Estimates suggest that the gut harbors more than a thousand microbial species and approximately one hundred trillion microbes[1]. These microorganisms - bacteria, archaea, viruses, fungi, phages and more - carry about 150 times more genes than the entire human genome[1]. Collectively, they weigh roughly 1 up to 2.5 kilograms and are sometimes described as a “vital organ” because they communicate with our nervous, endocrine and immune systems through neural, hormonal and metabolic pathways[1].Why does the microbiome matter?Your gut microbes assist with digestion, produce vitamins and bioactive compounds, train your immune system and even influence mood. A diverse, balanced community, called eubiosis, supports metabolism, barrier integrity, inflammation control and energy balance[1]. Disrupting this community, a state called dysbiosis, can contribute to wide‑ranging diseases. 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