Steve Ross, SSC, Owner and head coach at Brussels Barbell writes for the EU Political report.
In Brussels, a large part of the workforce spends most of the day sitting. Inside the European institutions and the network around them, work is done at desks, in meetings, and on screens. Hours pass with very little physical movement. This isn’t unusual. It’s the norm.
Over time, that has consequences.
A sedentary lifestyle leads to a gradual loss of muscle mass and bone density. This affects everyone, but it affects women more severely. Women are at a higher risk of developing osteopenia and osteoporosis, particularly after menopause, when the drop in estrogen accelerates bone loss. Fracture risk increases. Strength declines. Independence becomes harder to maintain.
Muscle follows the same pattern. From around the fourth decade of life, adults begin to lose muscle mass—a process known as sarcopenia. If nothing is done to stop it, the loss continues year after year. Strength decreases. Balance gets worse. Every day tasks become more difficult.
This is not an inevitable problem. It is a preventable one.
But the way exercise has been presented to women for decades has not addressed it.
Women have largely been directed toward yoga, Pilates, Zumba, light weights, and high-repetition “toning” classes. These can be useful for general activity, but they do not provide enough mechanical load to drive meaningful increases in strength or bone density. They do not stop the problems they are supposed to solve.
At the same time, it is becoming more obvious that strength matters. Almost every gym now includes some version of a “strength class” in its weekly schedule, alongside the usual mix of group fitness offerings. The recognition is there. The application is still lacking.
Women are not a special population that require a different kind of physiology. They are half the population. They have hips, knees, backs, and shoulders, and these structures respond to load in the same way as anyone else. When you train them, they get stronger. When you don’t, they get weaker.
Strength training works because it applies progressively heavier loads to normal human movement: standing up, sitting down, picking something up, putting something overhead. The body adapts to these stresses in predictable ways. Muscle mass is maintained and increased. Bone density improves. Connective tissues become stronger.
Strength is not just one aspect of health. It is the primary physical quality that underpins how we function. It determines whether you can stand up from a chair, climb stairs, carry groceries, or catch yourself when you lose your balance. In very practical terms, it is one of the clearest indicators of both the quality and the length of our lives.
A 75-year-old woman who cannot get out of a chair does not have a flexibility problem. She does not have a yoga problem. She has a strength problem. The strength required to perform the task is no longer there.
The most effective way to build and maintain that strength is with a barbell.
A barbell allows the load to be increased in small, measurable increments over time. That progression is what drives long-term adaptation. It allows training to continue for years without interruption, steadily building strength and resilience. Just as importantly, it loads normal human movement patterns—standing up, sitting down, picking weight up, putting it overhead—and requires you to control that load against gravity in space.
Bands, circuits, and very light weights don’t do this. They don’t provide enough load, they don’t train these movements in a meaningful way, and they don’t allow for precise, sustained progression. The result is limited adaptation and, very quickly, no progress at all.
For women, especially those approaching or going through menopause, this matters. Strength training helps counteract the accelerated loss of bone density, preserves muscle mass, and supports metabolic health. It is one of the few interventions that directly addresses the underlying physical changes of aging.
Nutrition supports the process. Adequate protein intake is required to maintain muscle mass. Calcium and vitamin D are necessary for bone health. But without the training stimulus, nutrition alone is not enough.
In a city like Brussels, where so many people work in sedentary roles, daily activity is often too low to maintain these systems. Walking and cycling are useful, but they are not sufficient. Strength and bone density require deliberate loading.
That is the missing piece.
Strength is not a luxury or a niche interest. It is a basic component of health. For women, especially, the cost of ignoring it is high. The benefits of addressing it are substantial.
The solution is not complicated. It is simply not widely applied.
