Why Strength Training After 60 Matters for Women

In this Video...
Coach Sheree opens up about why strength training after 60 matters for her - and why it’s become non-negotiable for her long-term health. In this candid video, she shares what made her shift from cardio to strength and why every woman over 60 should strength train.

Strength Story |  62 Years Young  |  Why It Matters

Why Strength Training after 60 Matters for Women: Readable Version

Finding My Niche: The Zumba Chapter

So I get asked all the time as a fitness instructor for about 20 years now. And for a while there, I thought I was gonna be a Zumba instructor forever. I found my niche, I found my thing.

It was doing dance fitness. Yes, that was going to be it till the day I die. And having large classes of Zumba ladies, I'd have 80 or 90 coming along to my Zumba classes each time.

The Limitations of Zumba for Lasting Transformation

So I was a fun Zumba instructor, I liked to make it fun and really get the most out of people when they're doing my class. And I loved it too, it was really good fun. But the thing is, quite a few people were falling by the way, and when I saw them around, I'd ask them, you loved it so much, why you stopped doing Zumba? And they go, oh, my knees, my hips, this part of my body doesn't work for me, that part of my body doesn't work for me.

And I started to actually see that these people lacked strength in so many areas of their body. And as much as Zumba is fun, gets you moving, albeit by the time you've learnt the move, you're probably onto a new move and you slow down again. I think the instructor at the front is the one doing most of the work.

Then really, Zumba is fun, gets you moving, but it does not transform your body into the body you need into older age.

Diving into Strength Training

So I started to look more into strength training. I'd already done my courses before in strength training, but I went further.

I dived right into it doing functional training courses through the Czech Academy and different courses, just really learning about parts of the body that are weak and how to even things up, how to try and make most muscles in the body work well for us so that we're not getting aches and pains. And then we can participate in things like Zumba or kayaking or hiking or whatever it is that your heart desires. When you get those muscles strong and your body balanced, we have a body then that will function incredibly well in whatever way that we want it to.

Why I Won't Return to Zumba

So I delved into it then, and I still get asked all the time, Sheree, will you come back to Zumba? Will you become a Zumba instructor again? The short answer is no, because I know what I'm doing now changes lives. And with Zumba, it was fun. We had a ball, we had a good laugh, got ourselves moving, got our heart rate up, we did, but it wasn't life transforming.

So if anyone asks me, or you ever hear that part of my story is being a Zumba instructor, you'll know why I haven't proceeded to go back to it, because strength training is incredible, life-changing, transformational, and something that we all need into old age so that we can do those things that we find fun.