40+ Fitness for Women: Strength Training, Fat Loss Tips & Healthy Aging for Women over 40 in perimenopause & menopause

#82: Client Interview: Brandon's Midlife Fitness Transformation

Lynn Sederlöf-Airisto Season 1 Episode 82

Struggling to see results from your usual workout routines? Feeling frustrated with your body as you navigate perimenopause or menopause? You’re not alone! 

In this episode of 40+ Fitness for Women, I sit down with my client Brandon, a 46-year-old mom of two, who shares her inspiring journey from cardio queen to confident weightlifter. 

Discover how she overcame her fears, embraced strength training, and transformed her fitness routine and her life.


In this episode, you'll hear:

  • How to start weight training safely—even if you've never lifted before
  • The importance of muscle mass and bone density for women over 40
  •  How to fit workouts into a busy schedule (because who has time for hours at the gym?)
  •  Real-life tips for overcoming gym intimidation and building confidence


Plus, Brandon reveals:

  • Her biggest struggles and how she overcame them
  • How focusing on strength instead of cardio changed her mindset and results
  • Practical advice for busy moms and working women who feel like there's no time to work out


Resources mentioned in this episode:


Ready to take control of your fitness journey and feel strong and empowered at any age? Listen in and get inspired!

Send me your thoughts 😃

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#82: Brandon's Midlife Fitness Transformation


Welcome to 40 plus fitness for women. I'm Lynn Sederlöf-Airisto your host and I'm a certified menopause fitness coach. Helping women in perimenopause and beyond. To build the bodies that they want to spend the rest of their lives in. 

And this week I have a really special treat. My client, Brandon, who worked with me from January through the beginning of the summer, this year. Is joining us. To share her journey into the world of weight training. 

And I have to apologize because the sound quality on my part of the interview. Isn't the best. My normal podcast recording mic was not picking up my sound. Instead, it was my computer's mic. So I sound a little bit distant, a little bit echoey, but I think you can understand me fairly well anyway, but I don't sound like I do right now. Anyway. Enjoy the show. 

Brandon, welcome to the show. 

I am honored that you wanted me to be here today. Thank you, Lynn. 

I'm so glad you came and I want to start by just letting you have a little chance to, you know, introduce yourself to the listeners. 

All right. Okay. Well, my name is Brandon Walker. I am 46 years old. I have 2 daughters, teenage daughters, 16 and 13. I'm a single mom. I've been divorced for 9 years.

That was a complete. Departure from what I thought my life would look like when I was 37 years old, a very kind of an unexpected sort of change that has changed my life. I think for in many ways for the good. I don't think I would be on this podcast today. Had I still been in that situation? Um, so many, many kind of, uh.

Lemon lemonade can be made from lemons, I think, in all of these types of situations. And so I start, I would tell you, my fitness journey is that I was always one that, you know, went on walks when I was in middle school. I was, I did athletics in high school. I, you know, was kind of, I would say someone that was always sort of average to petite, um, you know, always watched what I ate when I got to be like 15, 16, 17 years old. Um, you know, then of course you go to college and you have to navigate the journey of friendships and, you know, the stress of college, um, you know, classes, and if you're doing a sorority, I did that life. So all of that, I began to have to learn how to juggle fitness into my life, but it was always a part of my life, whether I was walking or running or something as Lynn loves it.

To say on one of her very first podcast, burning lots of calories all the time, sweating all the things. And, um, I think then I began to have children. I got married, had children and began to think, okay, I've still got to work this in. I still, you know, I, I give myself grace cards, but I can also be very hard on myself.

And so I've kind of had to learn how to give myself a lot of grace as I've gotten older and realized that fitness does not feel and look the same. I started running again when I was 40 and by 43 44, my joints were hurting a lot. Um, I was feeling like it was something I had to do, not something I wanted to do. Um, so then I would say I went through kind of a, it's not the greatest and our breakups ever.

Great. But sort of a breakup. That's sort of. Gave me a lot more free time to think about myself because the relationship was kind of an emotionally draining relationship. And so I found myself in this sort of transitional phase from moving into a new job. My children were moving into teenage hood. Um, they were needy with me, but in a different way.

So they're gone a lot, but then they're back a lot. I know Lynn knows what this is like. And so learning how to put me back into the equation. And feeling like I did not know where to begin. So that kind of leads me to Lynn and then I'll let Lynn stop and she can say, okay, the next question, but I just, that's kind of an introduction.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, so cause Brandon, you started working with me in January of this year. And what was like the. Because I remember you signed up already in December, so you clearly you had made a decision that

 I was ready. 

Yeah. So talk a little bit about like what like, you know, triggered you to finally get going.

Okay. Okay. So I'm here. I am at age 45 and I'm beginning to feel like. All of the things that I was doing were not working anymore. I usually could be like the kind of person that could, you know, maybe really cut my calories for a few days and drop five or five or six pounds and kind of get back to the way I felt no concept really of Maintaining any kind of muscle mass, because remember, that's what the cardio was for, right?

I wasn't equating the, um, the muscle factor into my fitness equation because I didn't understand it. I did not know how to do that. No one had ever, and actually that's not true. I have tried to meet with trainers before and I, and they, they were male and I never felt like the male trainer I've met with understood my plight as a woman.

They did not get the, um, just the way women feel and the, what may be what women's end goals are. And they just sort of give you a plan that they don't really explain. So I kind of had actually gone through that with a local guy. Probably a year before I met you, Lynn. And I just didn't feel like it was, it was going anywhere.

I wasn't getting any support. So I start looking for podcasts, you know, cause I listened to podcasts a lot, like when I'm getting ready for work or driving somewhere in the car and I began to research 40, 40 plus fitness or something like that tagline there. And. Somehow Lynn's podcast popped up and I thought, ah, that looks kind of good.

And, and so I thought, well, I'm going to listen to that a, because Lynn's of Lynn's podcast are too long, which is kind of nice. She kind of gets the nuts and bolts and the meat and potatoes in within 25 minutes, really. I mean, so I had time to listen to an entirety of the podcast, but what I loved about Lynn's Your show, your podcast and your advice is it was very practical.

Like it was very relatable to what I was feeling, which was, gosh, why do I feel like nothing is working? I don't know what the missing piece is. No one will explain this to me. I was beginning to wonder, was I in menopause paramenopause? I very well could be, you know, beginning and I know I am, I'm 45. I wanted to blame a lot on that.

And I wanted to kind of let that be the reason why I was tired and let that be the reason why I didn't want to exercise anymore. And I was just feeling sluggish and frustrated and confused and overwhelmed. Those would be some words. So Lynn's podcast began to give me a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

I was like. Oh, well, she's kind of like saying some stuff that I'm kind of reading about, like, you know, if I read menopause blogs, or if I read, you know, if I talk to people and they're talking about adding more protein into their diet, but how do you do that? And that's when I began to listen really every week I would go, Oh my gosh, has she put another show out?

Because I want to know what this person has to say and I'll take it back to the relatability of it. 

Wonderful. So, so where did you start thinking about your muscles more? Was it through the podcast then? 

Oh yeah. Yes. I had, um, I knew that I needed to do something different, but I was scared to, because I didn't know how to do it.

And I was, I'll be honest, I was deathly afraid. That if I completely cut out cardio, that I would just bulk up and gain weight and not look the way that I really desire to look. And so I would say, but I'll say another thing, I switched jobs from an elementary school setting. I'm a speech pathologist to a hospital setting. And one thing that was kind of a trigger for me was watching folks that are bed ridden, that are. 65 plus years old. And I just thought, I don't want to be those people. 

Yeah. And so I began to think I need to do something. I need to add something into my workout and fitness regimen and nutrition regimen that will help me feel good. When I'm 50, 55, 60, 65 have energy. 

Since we were working together, directly. I did create, a program that really was designed to fit into your life. So maybe you can describe a little bit about like what your time constraints were, like how we got that to fit into your life. 

Okay. So one thing that when I, when I had really kind of listened to all the podcasts Lynn had put out by the time she was, you know, advertising her, uh, classes and her, her program, Grams and things.

Um, I was desperately excited for her to give me some guidance. And so we finally got a chance to meet and I set up a program with her and I really honestly, I'll say this is a little plug. I put that as kind of a budgetary item because I thought, you know, that is money that I'm going to waste on something else.

So it was a priority for me to really dig in and understand this better. And so I really Literally, and I'm, I'm on a fixed income. Like I'm a girl who doesn't always have like tons of extra spending cash because of I have two teenage daughters. Right? So let's do the math. All of my money is going to their new tennis shoes.

So, um, but I knew I needed to prioritize myself. And so I talked to Lynn. And I told her about, I don't have a driver yet. I'm the only one taking them to soccer practice and golf practice and all the things that my daughters do. And I said, I'm really kind of intimidated to get into the gym. I have a planet fitness membership, but I did not know what to do with those weight machines. And I honestly was like, What do you get the most bang for your buck with anyway? And so I talked to Lynn about, I want my, you know, I want my upper body to get stronger. I want my legs, my thighs and, you know, legs to feel look toned and stronger, but I also don't want to hurt myself.

So I talked to you about my right knee bothers me. I have lower back issues. Oh my Lord. Like these random things that had never been an issue for me until I hit my mid forties. And I'm so angry and frustrated about it because it makes you feel like you're so old and you're not, but you feel that way.

And so, Lynn, really, she's so detail oriented. You are so detail oriented and you're like, okay, tell me this, this, this, and this. And I told her, and then I said, well, I actually have the benefit of working with five physical therapists every day. And she said, well, why don't you talk to them? I did. They kind of looked at my knee and they gave me some strategies to help strengthen my knee.

And in the beginning, because you had the time constraints, and you didn't have time to go to the gym, you know, around all the driving and everything. Then we had designed the program so that you could do your sessions at home. So that you can do them quickly.

I was going to say, Lynn, I think this is very important because this is something I want your listeners to hear. Um. It is very daunting to think that you're going to start something new that you don't that you don't understand. But this is how I decided to look at this. I decided to stop doing the same thing that wasn't working for me, which as we all know, on this podcast is the definition of insanity. So I decided that I was going to trust Lynn and just send her my form videos and go, you know what, Brandon, if all you do every day this week and next week and the week after is come home and put your tennis shoes on and do what she says, That's going to be okay for you right now. You're just going to have to start. Yes, you're limited with your time, but you're now home after school. Your children are at home. They're safe. Everybody's doing what they need to be doing after school. You're going to go back to your bedroom or in the den or wherever, put on your tennis shoes and just start.

Just do what she says, and I started to track it. I use I was telling Lynn one time. I think a few months ago. I used to kind of laugh at people like snicker at people like, this is how stupid I was. And, um, you know, I look at her. She's like, writing down what she's doing. I mean, that is so why is she taking a notepad into the gym with her and now I'm like, Oh, now I know why she looks so good because she's tracking her progress.

. I am not trying to be a 25 year old Instagram star. I am just trying to be healthy and strong and commit myself to something that I think is going to be longterm and long lasting.

And our culture is such a quick fix culture that it really gets in your head and you just begin to doubt yourself and that is why Lynn's program is such a good one is that she meets you where you are. 

Thank you. Yeah, because I really truly believe that. All of us can fit it in somehow. Sometimes it's a 15 minutes once a day, but that is going to be so much better for you, than if you didn't do it at all. 

Exactly. And I knew that Lynn, like, I loved that you were like, Brandon, if you can only do it two times this week.

That's two times that you did it, that you didn't do it last week. And I was like, that is so true. And I feel so much better and I have so much a better understanding of how this can work. I had no idea, Lynn, how to skip days, how to add in the protein. I had absolutely no idea what to do. 

And it's been great because I think one of the things that has worked really well is because you also communicate. To me . Well, I I will do that. Your doubts. So then we're able to discuss them and, and clarify for you. So it's been great. 

So, what has changed now? How do you feel now versus last December 

before you Okay. I definitely feel, um. I was telling Lynn like over the summer, I began to feel a little more confident to wear sort of like sleeveless tops.

And, you know, listen, Lynn, I was actually walking a patient back to my office Thursday afternoon, and he kind of gave me a hug and said, gosh, you've got, you're really solid. Wow. Nobody has ever said that to me. I'm usually like the Pillsbury dough boy when you hug me. So, and I laughed at that because I was, I don't feel necessarily like I'm solid, so to speak, as he said, but I do feel like, I think it's so much fun to watch your muscles begin to kind of, and your shoulder, I'll say this, I've always kind of poo pooed shoulder exercises because I knew nothing about them.

So let me add that as a disclaimer. But when you work your shoulders, you really begin to develop this shape, you know, in your in your shoulder and in your upper arm and it it's it's all kind of this fun progression where you go. Gosh, you know, I actually kind of look a little different now and I'm actually looking forward to wearing that dress or that bathing suit or that top because, uh, I kind of sort of see a little bit more definition now.

And so that would be an answer to your question. I think you just begin to feel a little bit more comfortable in your own skin. And, um, I think that you begin to go this is not wasting time. It is helping me.

Yes. And your confidence has also increased so that nowadays you do train at the gym, which is something that maybe. Yes. 

Oh, yes. Like I finally, I finally was able to, so my oldest daughter started driving and then I kind of began to dip my feet. the gym one toe at a time, as they say. And I was like, all right, you know what? I got this. Like Lynn tells me what to do. I trust her. Look at her. She looks pretty darn good. And I'm not, I'm not Lynn, like I will never be Lynn. Lynn is over there doing all kinds of stuff that I don't know if I'll ever be able to do, but I definitely feel like I am. A part of the culture in the gym.

And I don't feel like the person that everybody's looking at going, why is she here? And that's, but that's all in my head. I know that's all. 

I was about to say that, uh, you will one day be like Lynn you're now what you've been in the gym for three months. I've been in the gym for over two years. 

So that's what I'm saying.

Okay. Okay. Sounds good. 

 So I want to say, I think this is important to say, I think along your fitness journey, if you're having Discomfort. You do need to address it. And, but that doesn't mean you have to stop what you're doing. So about a month ago, when, when my girls went back to school, I thought, you know, I think it's time for me to add in some new things now that I've understood, now I understood upper and lower body and kind of how that routine should look in a week, you know, maybe two times upper body. Two times lower body, maybe, maybe three times a week where you do one full body or two, you know, two separate of the upper and the lower.

Lynn has taught me how to do all of that now. I could then digest something new. So Lynn knows this. I've asked her about how to work in cardio again. So I've started to kind of try to work in some hit works, a hit or sit or whatever they're called on that. Like on the bike, like on cardio on the bike. 

And it, but it's great that like you do it one thing at a time, because like you said, it's too overwhelming if you try to do everything at once. And that was a discussion that we had.

I remember that day very well 

 About whether you should start a calorie deficit and, and then we had the discussion about how much of a priority is it for you right now? If you think about like the amount of mental energy and planning and tracking and stress and it'll make you more tired and Your workouts will be harder and everything. Like, is this the moment that. You want to do that, or do you want to just continue to focus on strength for a little while and 

exactly. And that's what I want your listeners to know. I want your listeners to know that it is. Okay. If you don't do everything at 1 time, and I am exhibit a. Okay, exhibit a, like, in the dictionary picture of me is, let me see how much I can stress myself out.

So I was like, well, I mean, like, I can't eat 1200 calories a day and. Do perfect workouts? Like, why not? Why can't I do that? And, and, you know, Lynn kind of gave me permission. And then I ultimately gave myself permission to go, you know what, Brandon, let's just kind of get good at one thing. You have really kind of conquered a mountain with getting through a divorce, finding a new home for your children, making sure they're good human beings, which is my main priority in life every day. I don't care about anything else. And Then let's just let you, um, kind of learn how to do something right for once, not just in a hurry, but let's learn how to do something right. And so Lynn really, you know, I would say the last year has been kind of tricky for me because I've knew I knew something was missing in my life, but I didn't really know what it was.

And so your, your regimen gave me a purpose for a, you know, It has given me a new purpose because now I'm like, Oh, well, you know what? I'm not just going to sit here. I can go to the gym now. I know what to do at the gym. Um, this is going to be good for me. I'm going to feel better. 

And like Lynn says, it is not easy. To do all of that at one time. And so I've really focused this year more on the fitness and the understanding of the process. And now I feel more equipped to add the new layer in, even if it's going to go very slowly. I'm okay with that now. I feel better. I feel like my clothes feel better on my skin.

I feel like I'm, I'm going, I'm going, you know, I. Okay, I got that. Like, I know how to do that now and I feel sort of a little bit more empowered to Lynn's point to where now I began to feel like I might want to venture into dating again and I was really kind of hiding behind my insecurity over the last year because I didn't really feel good in my skin and that's really Not like me, and I just was feeling a little bit, um, like, okay, maybe those days for me are over, but deep down, they're not like, I know that I've got more fun in me. I've got more life in me. Um, so yeah, like, I had a day last night. Which is great. Which was fun, exactly. And now, now I kind of actually sort of look at guys the way Lynn kind of looks at them, which is, you know, Does he have healthy habits? Like, I don't want to take care of you when you're 80.

I'm like going, does he smoke? Does he ever exercise? Does he make good food choices? You know, that kind of thing. And so, um, it does kind of change your perspective, I think, in a real healthy way. She does not make you feel like, or you do not make you feel like you've got to just conquer the world. And, and it was really nice to watch Lynn's progression from feeling kind of frumpy, which she didn't look frumpy, but I know she felt like it too. She's like this new sort of inspirational person for these women in this age group that feel very lost. 

Oh, thank you. That's very kind. 

So, uh, if you were to summarize, What, what would you say has been like the impact of starting weight training or working with me? Like if you think from January, you know, the six months that we work together.

Good question. I would say I'm less sedentary. I would say I understand the importance of bone density and like how your muscles connect to your bones to feed those bones to make them stronger. So that we're not going to be as, as much at risk for osteoporosis, even with each passing year. 

I'd say I understand the, the impact of estrogen and how important it is that I take advantage of. The time that I have right now to start, like, it's never too late to start something

I mean, I put my tennis shoes on today. I just told my daughters and Lynn knows this. Actually, I was exercising with my daughter one time when, when she and I were talking or something, but, um, I mean, my children, I feel like prioritize fitness because they see their mother doing that and my daughters are like, mom, I feel like going for a run today.

Or I have a daughter that goes back to her bedroom almost every day and does a Pilates workout. And I think they see. Me wanting to feel and look good. So I think that's carried over into their lives, but not in a way that I want them to look like Twiggy, like I want them to be healthy. I want them to have a healthy self image.

I hope I never do anything to make them feel like they're not good enough or pretty enough or thin enough or any, I want them to just feel good. Yeah. And so I think that's a positive impact is they, they kind of see that this is just needs to be a way of life. 

I think too, I just want to say this so you'll know that this has been very impactful to me too. I, one reason I really avoided the gym in terms of those strength training exercises and equipment is I did not understand the end result.

I did not understand what those machines would do for me. I did not understand progressive overload at all. And now I'm like, Oh, okay. It's okay if I only do 5 reps on that 3rd set, because I did 4 last week and my, you know, arms are beginning to show that I can, I'm building. I mean, it's really fun to go back and look at your notes and go, oh, last week I did 8.

Okay. This week, I did 9 and I can actually kind of tell how I'm able to line. And so it was, I want the listeners to know that. And maybe nobody else on this podcast feels this way, but me is, but I really was like, I don't really like, I'm not going over to that there to that to that machine. That girl really knows what she's doing over there and and so I was very scared, but I don't feel that way anymore.

Was it easy to get started? Do you feel like 

okay. I love that question. Um, I would say yes and no, I would say yes. It was easy because of you. That's what made it easy because I felt like I had a partner to talk to. I felt like I could call you or send you the telegram or we actually listen, guys, whoever's listening to this.

Um, do those weekly chats with Lynn, because that will help you stay that will hold yourself. Hold yourself accountable. I mean, listen, we've met at 5 30 in the morning. Um, we have talked on Sunday mornings for what, six months now once every week or two. And that was something that I began to look forward to.

And I began to think, okay, good. I'm glad you, cause Lynn knows I will like talk her dang ear off. So, but I love, it made me, it gave me somebody to talk to and it gave me. Somebody that was meeting me where I was, my daughters can't understand this right now, and they shouldn't, you know, a mother who's 78 years old doesn't understand this and she shouldn't.

Um, I have family members that are very, you know, energetic and athletic and fitness oriented, but maybe they weren't even on this same journey that I was on because maybe some of them don't have children. Some of them are not navigating the stress of going how am I going to do this when I also have to make a grocery list and meal plan?

Like, how am I going to do all of this? 

Yeah. And, and, uh, when we were meeting every week or every other week, we also had a lot of adjustments in the beginning. Like, you know, you tried, Hey, let's do this kind of workout split.

Then you realize that, Oh, it's very hard for you to fit it into your schedule. So then we cut it up in a little bit different way and, and did modifications like that. And then, Yeah. When summer vacation came along, it was a little different than you were training in the gym once a week for a while.

So, so we were doing a lot of adjustments based on what worked for you at that point. 

 You started going to the gym the one day a week, because even though one can get started really well at home, I think at some point you begin to realize that some muscles are easier to train in the gym and, and in Brandon, Your case, , the physical therapists had, , recommended that you work on your inner thighs and your outer thighs to give your knees more stability. , and those are muscles that are super easy if you've got like the adductor and they, you know, and which 

I love those machines. Yeah. Those are great machines.

So I would say to your listeners. Start if you can start nowhere or anywhere, start just with listening to Lynn. Start at the very beginning and let it be like a story that unfolds to you.

And you just something is going to go. Oh. Well, gosh, she just said it's okay to, like, only do one thing at a time. That's a novel thought. Okay, well, uh, well, I, alright, I can actually get some dumbbells. And I can use that at home. And I can do leg lifts or whatever it is. And you can do that.

And maybe it's going to be slower because like she, I love when Lynn is always referring to these like Instagrammers who are like, okay, do this and you're going to look like me tomorrow. And no, you're not. No, you're not. Um, she's 25, maybe 20, and that's all she ever does. 

And the thing is to get it into our weekly habits. Because over time, it just starts to compound compound. It's, it's like saving for retirement. You know, you put a slide a hundred dollars a month into your investment account and, and it starts to grow there and it's there when you need it.

And it's the same thing. We're making sure that our bodies, that our bones, that our muscles are growing. We're growing them slowly, but surely because we need them to be there for the whole rest of our lives. So, 

well, and I think and Lynn knows this too, like, I started to be a little bit, like, frustrated when I would go to the grocery store and not really want to bring the water bottles inside or the dog food.

And I'm going, this is really lame. Like, why am I like children come out here and get the 12 pack for me? I'm going, I should be able to do. And, and I really, that is so frustrating because I'm very independent. Listen, I'm not trying to lift the back end of a car. That is not my goal here, but I do want to be able to live life pain free or relatively pain free.

And also kind of feel like, wow. That girl looks pretty good to be 47, you know, or that girl looks pretty awesome to be 53. I just don't want, I feel like everybody starts to feel like they just have to give up when they're in their mid forties. And really that's when you've got so much wisdom and you, you just, you just get, you just deserve so much more from that phase of your life.

But it's, it's a paradigm shift in your brain. You kind of have to go, okay, I'm actually. I'm not dead yet.

So I think it's very important to prioritize yourself in whatever way you can, because you, you deserve that. 

Yep, absolutely. All right. Well, thank you so much, Brandon, for sharing your story with the listeners. 

I hope that this has inspired one person. If it's inspired one person, just know I'm about the most.

Like normal human being. And if I can do it, you can do it. And I am very pragmatic and very realistic about fitness goals now, and just about how to approach this. And I just want you to utilize Lynn because she's done her research. She knows what she's talking about, but she's also not somebody that goes, I expect this out of you next week. She's just like, okay, let's get your form. Right. Let's get your form right, and then let's maybe do two sets next week. And then all of a sudden, it's nine months later, and I know how to do upper and lower body and it's, it's, it's like part of my life now. 

So I hope you enjoyed the episode and the interview. And like I said, with Brandon, we were working one-on-one and did a lot, a lot of tweaking of our programming to get it, to be something that fit into her life and had those weekly meetings. To catch up and answer questions and also the telegram channel so that we could message back and forth. During the week as Brandon had questions, wanted to submit form videos. All the things. So really a full, full support kind of offering. 

And if you feel like you don't need quite so much support, then the group program could be a good option for you. I have the next one kicking off in September, so be sure to get on the wait list. So you don't miss. When I opened the doors for that one. All right. And I will leave you with those thoughts until next week. Happy training. 

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