My New Fitness Hack

Hello friends! Welcome to Notes from the Road, where we crack the code on your 50s and beyond. In this issue:

• My new fitness hack: the Strong app.

• Ideas for a lucrative midlife career change.

• 6 ways to build a successful retirement.

• Survey on how people want to retire.

• Slow travel in Saratoga Springs, NY.

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One of the really hard things about my fitness journey is keeping track of what the heck I’m doing.

In the old days, when you joined the gym you’d get a blank cardboard chart. You’d walk around to all the machines with your chart and a little pencil and record the weight and number of reps for each machine. Then you’d file it in the little hanging file section of the weights area until your next visit.

Once I got over the fear of looking like a dork, my commitment to this process usually lasted about five workouts. At some point, I couldn’t find a pencil, or I couldn’t find the chart, or I looked back at all my “data” and wondered whether I had any idea what I was doing. Was I just wasting my time?

I think that’s why strength training never stuck with me.

This was the thing I was dreading most as I started my new weight training habit last year. I hate wasting time. I hate spending my precious life energy on things that have no impact on anything. Argh!

And then I found the Strong app. (Disclosure: I receive no compensation for this recommendation. I’m just a fan.)

Am I the only one who didn’t know about this?

The Strong app allows you to build strength training workout routines by assembling them from the Strong library of exercises. The library includes barbell, dumbbell, body weight, machine, and band exercises. If you don’t see yours, you can create your own.

There are directions for each exercise, so if there’s a machine in the gym that looks intimidating, you can pop it up on Strong and read how to use it. And you can take notes for each workout, so you can remember to skip a certain machine because of an injury, or note how you felt that day.

The app has been so helpful to me because now I can easily:

• Access clear, visual instructions about how to do each type of strength training exercise, whether machine, dumbbell, barbell, body weight, or bands.

• Create custom exercises and workouts for myself by assembling exercises from Strong’s library or creating my own.

• Record the weight I lift each session so I don’t lose track of where I am.

• See a record of all the workouts I’ve done in the past, and see the progress I’ve made.

• See when I’ve achieved a new personal record for an exercise in weight and reps.

At the end of each workout Strong summarizes the total weight you lifted, whether you achieved any personal records for weights or sets, and the length of your workout. Your profile screen also tells you how many workouts you've done since you started. Using this app has been a real game changer. Thought you might be interested to know about it.

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