Stronger Through Summer: My 2026 Strength Check-In
Long days in the warm sunshine have been my default lately, and cooling off with lake swims and river floats has been its own kind of meditation. Summer fun has called more loudly than the gym—and somehow, I’m stronger for it.
This summer, I picked up a few more movement classes, cared for my kids and home, and remembered how much moving in community makes my heart sing. I also dipped my toes into a less scheduled life. I encouraged the kids to play outside, gave them room to enjoy their freedom, and let our days take shape as they came.
We ate plenty of popsicles, lemonade, and ice cream. We traveled, played, rested, and spent long stretches outside. It truly felt like a season of sunshine and being.
It took my schedule-loving adult brain and perimenopausal body a little time to adjust to the change in rhythm. Eventually, though, I stopped trying to make summer behave like the rest of the year. Doing gave way to being—and being was enough.
Meanwhile, my goal of getting 26% stronger in 2026 didn’t disappear. In fact, I have already exceeded it! This feels like a good time to notice what has changed, what has challenged me, and how I want to carry this spirit of strength through the rest of the year.
What’s Been Working
During the first half of summer, I maintained just enough of my regular movement rhythm to stay connected to it. When our travels began, I loosened my grip on the plan and enjoyed the movement available to me: canoeing, paddleboarding, long walks, hiking, swimming, and small pockets of strength work.
When I was home, I usually completed at least one full-body strength workout each week. That modest anchor helped. I didn’t need to recreate my ideal routine during a season that wasn’t built for it.
It also felt good to forget about my goals for a while. Taking a break didn’t erase my progress. I came back to the gym without having to begin again.
When I’m home, I’m still enjoying yoga and weights at Kennedy Fitness Center SLO, hiking South Hills and Bishop Peak, and taking barre classes at Core Dance. These familiar forms of movement help me feel rooted, but they are no longer the only activities I count as meaningful.
Summer reminded me that strength built through consistent practice becomes available for the rest of life. It lets me paddle, climb, carry, teach, travel, and play—not just lift a heavier number inside the gym.
What’s Been Hard
The hardest part of this strength goal hasn’t been the lifting. It has been loosening my grip on a few persistent ideas:
Letting go of body weight and belly size as my main health indicators
Trying to control my schedule and priorities during a season that continually rearranges them
Navigating sleep deprivation while respecting what my body can realistically handle
Even when I can clearly see that I’m getting stronger—despite vacations, disrupted routines, and very little free time—the old thoughts still linger. Sometimes I want more visible proof that all my healthy choices are “working.” I’ve had to confront an assumption rooted in youthful arrogance: that staying active would keep me young, beautiful, and thin. Now I’m creating—and learning to accept—a new definition of beauty in midlife, one that isn’t bound to what my younger self valued. Or what social media tries to sell me.
Strength doesn’t always produce the visible body changes we’ve been taught to expect from it. That can be frustrating. But it doesn’t make the progress any less real.
What Strength Means Right Now
My leg press weight is 185 these days
I still like having numbers to anchor my goals. They give me useful information and make gradual progress easier to see.
But I feel most confident when my body simply feels capable—when regular movement leaves me strong, refreshed, and ready for my actual life.
Right now, strength means trusting that a few weeks away from the gym will not undo months of practice. It means knowing when to push and when to allow ease. It means returning without punishment, panic, or the need to compensate for enjoying myself.
I’m proud that I continue to show up. I’m equally proud that I am learning to let life be full when my usual routine cannot be.
Small Shifts Moving Forward
I’m looking forward to returning to a more predictable rhythm when the kids go back to school. Structure feels welcome again—not because summer went wrong, but because seasons change, and our routines can change with them.
I plan to return to two weekly full-body strength sessions and continue increasing my weights in small, steady increments when my form and energy support it.
I also want to keep some of summer’s spaciousness with me. I don’t need to turn every walk, hike, or paddle into a quantified workout. Some movement can simply be part of a good life.
I’m Already 50% Stronger in 2026
Getting stronger in 2026 has felt oh so good
I track four basic strength benchmarks to give my goal a measurable foundation: leg press, lat pulldown, incline chest press, and push-ups.
I reached my original goal of becoming 26% stronger in April. As of August, the average increase across my three weighted exercises is approximately 50% compared with my January baseline.
My push-ups have improved even more dramatically, but I track those separately. Because I began with a relatively small number, their percentage increase looks unusually large and can distort the overall average. The more meaningful result is simple: I can now do considerably more full push-ups than I could in January.
That progress survived a summer of family chaos, travel, ice cream, imperfect sleep, shortened workouts, and weeks away from the gym. I think that may be the most useful measurement of all.
The amount of weight I lift in each of four machines I use as a strength training baseline
Since I have already passed my original goal, I’m setting a playful stretch target of reaching an average 75% increase in my weighted benchmarks by the end of 2026. But I’m not moving the finish line because 50% suddenly isn’t enough. The original goal is complete, and I’m proud of it. Anything beyond it is room to experiment—not another demand to place on my body.
A Gentle Closing Reflection
Strength and ease can coexist
I feel stronger than I did at the beginning of this year. More importantly, I trust my strength more.
I am proud of the work I have done and of my growing acceptance of this body as it is, right here and right now. Those two things can coexist: I can appreciate my body today while continuing to support its strength, health, and capacity for the future.
I have one body for this lifetime. I don’t want to spend that lifetime constantly at war with it.
I want to keep discovering what health and confidence look like when they are built through care rather than criticism—and through repetition, not intensity.
Strength that disappears when life gets full isn’t the kind of strength I’m after.
This post is part of my 2026 goal to get 26% stronger—physically, mentally, and in the way I show up for my life.