Rebuilding Strength After 80? Change How You See Aging
Fuel Your Strength
Steph Gaudreau
4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 6 January 2026
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Is it really never too late to start strength training – even if you're in your 80s and you've never touched a barbell? You'll hear from journalist Clare Johnston of the "Rebuilding Mum and Dad" project, about what happens when older adults begin true progressive strength training from scratch – and why the results can feel straight-up miraculous (without being magic).
Clare shares how her parents started lifting in their 80s after years of mobility decline, osteoporosis concerns, and "we've tried everything" frustration. Together, they built a simple garage setup, worked with a coach remotely, and documented the entire journey. If you've ever wondered whether muscle, bone density, balance, and independence can improve later in life, this conversation is for you.
What you'll learn in this episode:
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What actually happens when someone starts strength training for the first time in their 80s
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Why muscle keeps showing up in every serious conversation about aging well
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What surprised Clare the most once her parents started lifting regularly
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How slow progression and coaching changed what seemed "impossible" at first
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What this journey reveals about fear, confidence, and who strength training is really for
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | With strength training, we often hear you're never too old. It's never too late to get started. |
| 0:05.8 | And I have said that many, many times throughout my career as a strength coach. |
| 0:12.2 | But what does it really take to get started with strength training in your older years? |
| 0:20.0 | What if you were, say, in your 80s and you were an absolute |
| 0:24.2 | beginner to strength training? You're going to walk away with the answer to the question, |
| 0:29.0 | is it truly ever too late to start strength training? And I guarantee you're going to feel inspired. |
| 0:39.0 | If you're an athletic 40-something woman who loves lifting weights, challenging yourself |
| 0:44.7 | and doing hard shit, the fuel your strength podcast is for you. |
| 0:49.5 | You'll learn how to eat, train, and recover smarter so you build strength and muscle, have more energy, |
| 0:56.4 | and perform better in and out of the gym. I'm Strength Nutrition Strategist and Weightlifting |
| 1:02.5 | Coach, Steph Goddrow. The Fuel Your Strength Podcast dives into evidence-based strategies for |
| 1:08.9 | nutrition, training, and recovery, and why, once you're |
| 1:12.7 | approaching your 40s and beyond, you need to do things a little differently than you did in |
| 1:17.7 | your 20s. We're here to challenge the limiting industry narratives about what women can and should |
| 1:23.8 | do in training and beyond. If that sounds good, hit subscribe on your favorite podcast app and let's go. |
| 1:34.0 | Thank you so much for joining me this week on the podcast. I am very excited to welcome a special guest, |
| 1:41.1 | Claire Johnston. She's a journalist, and she's also somebody who's taken on a very special |
| 1:46.3 | project this year called Rebuilding Mum and Dad. If you've never heard of Claire or her parents |
| 1:53.6 | or their strength training journey, you're going to have your mind utterly blown and dare I say, |
| 1:59.9 | you're going to be very inspired by this |
| 2:02.3 | episode. I'm welcoming Claire to the podcast this week to talk all about how her parents got |
| 2:07.9 | started strength training and her herself. And what has it taken to get them to the point that |
... |
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