In this episode of The EmBraced Life, Robert Brace sits down with Dr. Elizabeth Poynor to explore how strength, muscle, body composition and the right health metrics can change the way women approach aging. Together, they look beyond the number on the scale and ask a bigger question: how can we stay strong, healthy and fully engaged in our lives for as long as possible?

Dr. Poynor opens up about growing up in a generation of women who were taught to be thin and small, and how her own approach to weight, fitness and health has changed through strength training. Robert brings his experience training women to the conversation, sharing why changes in muscle and body composition can completely transform the body even when the scale barely moves, and why women should not be afraid to appropriately challenge themselves in training.

They also discuss:

• Why women can begin losing muscle mass as early as their late 30s
• Why strength training and protein become increasingly important with age
• How body composition can reveal more about health than weight or BMI alone
• Why gaining muscle can mean gaining weight while becoming leaner and stronger
• Robert’s experience with women who appeared to lose 15 pounds when the scale had only changed by one or two
• Why women have spent so much of their lives being encouraged to “be small”
• The importance of bone density and why women should think about bone health earlier in life
• How estrogen changes can affect bone, muscle and metabolism
• Why being active is different from training with enough intensity to challenge the body
• How cardiovascular fitness, interval training and recovery support long-term health and performance
• Why a training program should be built around the individual rather than the latest fitness trend
• The role of perimenopause, hormones and metabolic changes in women’s health
• Why small, consistent improvements can compound into meaningful changes over time
• How the goal of fitness can shift from simply looking a certain way to building a strong, capable and functioning body

Watch the full conversation for a practical and empowering discussion about moving beyond the scale, building strength through midlife and redefining what healthy aging can look like for women.

Chapters:

• 00:00 Episode Preview
• 01:09 Meet Dr. Elizabeth Poynor
• 02:02 Fitness as Medicine: Longevity & Peak Span
• 06:18 Why Tracking Health Metrics Matters
• 15:03 VO₂ Max: What It Is & Why It Matters
• 20:00 How to Improve VO₂ Max: Cardio Zones & Intensity
• 23:54 HIIT, Tabata & Cardiovascular Fitness
• 28:00 Exercise Intensity, Recovery & Programming
• 32:13 BMI & Better Ways to Measure Body Composition
• 35:25 DEXA Scans, Bone Density & T-Scores
• 41:24 Why Weight Alone Is a Misleading Metric
• 45:00 Gaining Muscle While Losing Visceral Fat
• 48:49 Wearables: Apple Watch, Oura Ring & WHOOP
• 52:22 Gaining Weight, Building Muscle & the Pressure to “Be Small”
• 58:04 Essential Lab Tests & Precision Medicine for Women
• 1:00:07 Fasting Insulin, Glucose & Hemoglobin A1c
• 1:02:36 ApoB, Lp(a) & Cardiovascular Risk
• 1:05:06 Hormones, Perimenopause & DUTCH Testing
• 1:07:19 Inflammation & C-Reactive Protein
• 1:09:10 Gut Health & the Microbiome
• 1:09:55 Protein, Creatine & Calcium for Women

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