Move With Intention: Why Movement Needs to Change in Midlife

Why moving more matters, but moving with purpose matters even more in midlife and beyond.

I say this to my clients all the time: you don’t necessarily need to find more time for movement. You need to build more movement into your day. That distinction is important. Because when life is busy, “finding time to exercise” can feel like one more thing on an already impossible to-do list. So instead of thinking about movement as something that only happens during a workout, we can look for opportunities to move throughout the day.

Take the stairs. Walk while you’re on the phone. Get up from your desk. Carry the groceries. Garden. Walk the dog. All of those things count.

But as I’ve thought more about movement in post-menopause, I’ve realized I want to take this idea one step further. It’s not enough to simply move more. We also need to move with intention.

Not all movement sends the same message to your body

Our bodies respond to the demands we place on them. If you regularly ask your cardiovascular system to work harder, it adapts. If you regularly ask your muscles to produce force, they adapt. If you challenge your balance and coordination, your nervous system adapts. And if you expose your bones to appropriate loading, they receive a stimulus that can help maintain bone strength.

This becomes particularly important as we move through midlife and beyond. Ageing is accompanied by gradual changes in muscle mass, strength, bone density, cardiovascular capacity, balance and cognitive function. Menopause and the decline in estrogen that accompanies it can accelerate some of these changes, particularly the loss of bone density and muscle mass.

That doesn’t mean our bodies are destined to become weaker, frailer or less capable. It means the stimulus we provide becomes increasingly important. And this is where intentional movement comes in.

What do I mean by “intentional movement”?

I’m not talking about turning every movement you make into a workout. I’m talking about deliberately including different types of movement because they provide different benefits. Think about your day as an opportunity to give your body a variety of challenges.

Challenge your cardiovascular system.

Walk briskly enough that your breathing and heart rate increase. Take the hilly route instead of the flat one. Cycle. Swim. Dance. Take a fitness class. Your cardiovascular system benefits from being asked to do more than simply move you from the couch to the kitchen.

Challenge your muscles.

Carry something heavy. Squat down and stand back up. Push, pull, lift and carry. And, yes, lift weights. Muscle doesn’t stay strong simply because we use it occasionally. It needs progressive challenge.

Challenge your bones.

Resistance training, impact and weight-bearing activities can provide mechanical loading that supports bone health. This is particularly relevant after menopause, when declining estrogen can contribute to accelerated bone loss.

Challenge your brain and nervous system.

Balance on one leg. Learn a new movement. Try a new sport. Walk somewhere you’ve never walked before. Change direction. Practise coordination. Your brain is part of your movement system too.

Here’s what this might actually look like

Let’s say you have a typical workday.

You could spend eight hours sitting at your desk, drive to work, drive home, spend the evening on the couch and then try to compensate with a 30-minute workout.

That workout is valuable. But it doesn’t completely erase the effects of spending most of your day sedentary. Instead, imagine intentionally sprinkling movement throughout your day.

You park farther away from work and walk briskly for 10 minutes. You take the stairs rather than the elevator. Every hour or two, you get up and walk around for a few minutes.

At lunch, you take a 15-minute brisk walk instead of scrolling on your phone.

You carry the groceries into the house rather than making several light trips.

A couple of times during the week, you spend 20 minutes doing some intentional strength work: squats, hinges, pushes, pulls and carries. And perhaps once or twice a week, you do something that challenges your balance or coordination, such as a dance class, pickleball, yoga, hiking on uneven terrain or practising single-leg balance.

None of these things individually look particularly dramatic. That’s the point. You don’t need to transform your entire life into a fitness programme. You need to start seeing your day as a series of opportunities to give your body useful information.

One simple challenge: upgrade your walk

Here’s one of my favourite examples because it requires almost no additional time. If you already walk your dog, walk to work, walk to the coffee shop or take an evening stroll, don’t automatically think of that walk as “just walking.”

Make part of it intentional.

For example: First 5 minutes: walk at an easy pace.

Next 10 minutes: increase your pace so you’re breathing harder and your heart rate is elevated.

Next 5 minutes: find a hill, stairs or uneven surface and deliberately challenge your legs and balance.

Final 5 minutes: return to an easy pace.

You’ve just turned an ordinary walk into an opportunity to challenge your cardiovascular system, your muscles and your nervous system. And you didn’t necessarily have to “find time to exercise.” You just changed how you moved during time you were already going to spend moving.

The goal isn’t to move perfectly

This is important because I don’t want “intentional movement” to become another thing women feel they are failing at.

You don’t need to optimize every step. You don’t need to turn housework into HIIT. You don’t need to track every minute of movement. And you certainly don’t need to feel guilty when you spend an afternoon reading a book or watching a movie. Rest is part of a healthy life too.

The goal is simply to stop thinking of movement as something that only counts when you’re wearing workout clothes. And, at the same time, to recognize that some movement needs to be challenging enough to create an adaptation. A leisurely stroll is wonderful. But a leisurely stroll, resistance training, a brisk hill walk and a balance exercise aren’t interchangeable. They all provide different stimuli.

Your body needs a reason to adapt

This is perhaps the biggest shift I want women to make as they move through midlife.

Don’t ask only: “How can I move more?”

Also ask: “What does my body need to be challenged by?”

Does your cardiovascular system need a little more intensity?

Do your muscles need to produce more force?

Do your bones need more loading?

Does your balance need work?

Could your brain benefit from learning something new?

These questions lead to a much more useful approach to movement than simply chasing a step count. Because the goal isn’t just to accumulate movement. The goal is to build a body that is capable of handling real life. And that becomes increasingly important as we get older.

We want to be able to carry the groceries. Get up from the floor. Climb the stairs without thinking about it. Hike with our friends. Catch ourselves if we trip. Lift our grandchildren. Play sports. Travel. Carry our own luggage. And keep doing the things we love for as long as possible.

That’s why I’m less interested in simply helping women “exercise more” and much more interested in helping them move with purpose.

Because movement isn’t just something we do to burn calories. It is one of the ways we communicate with our bodies. And in midlife and beyond, the message is worth making intentional.