If you want to work on your marathon PB time, then you will want to train with long distance training. If you are a rower, you best get a good rowing coach. If you're a cross country skier, then summer dry land training would be beneficial, with a qualified coach.

For me, I quickly determined what I wanted and steered towards it: I was 21, had been running for years, but wasn't really seeing the changes I wanted to see...my body shape was the same, narrow shoulders, low, wide butt, and skinny legs and arms. I had been looking through Muscle and Fitness (in its infancy at that time, and was mainly for men, but my boyfriend had it laying around). Then I went to the gym at the local high school, the only gym in Banff at the time, and there it all shifted for me: I saw the female downhill ski team training with weights. I LOVED their look, their strength, their poise. They had amazing shape and tone, and they performed with such focus and intensity. I was hooked.

For the next 30 years, I was to continue this love affair with weight training, long before women were really involved in it. Today, I continue in my 50's, long after most of my earlier lifting comrades have quit. Four decades in the sport, and I continue on.

For me, I found my place, my fitness recipe. I love it. I don't always like to train, and I falter like the rest of you, but I always return, because I know what's good for my body and my soul. And I know that I would be sorely disappointed in myself if I quit. Time marches on, and so does aging, and so I march on, with my program, and my life's work, right alongside my 100+ Warrior Women. We work, eat, play and enjoy getting older. Because we found the magic formula, the elixir, the secret.

And as I always say, 50 is NOT the new 30, 50 is the new 50! Believe it!

 - karen

Warrior Women, grab your January E-Workout card! 

Our 10-Week Best Shape of your Life Challenge closes registration tomorrow! Come learn how to really train and eat, the Warrior Woman Way.