Rebuilding Strength, Transforming Wellness: How Scotland Could Lead a Healthy Ageing Revolution – Clare Johnston

For too long, we’ve accepted ageing as a story of inevitable decline — a slow unravelling of strength, independence, and vitality.  

We prepare ourselves for frailty as though it were a natural law, not a preventable condition.  

But I know now that it is indeed preventable – and even reversible. I know because I’ve seen it with my own parents. 

Over the past year, my 82-year-old mum, Rhoda, and my dad, Michael, 81, have rebuilt their muscle strength in a way that’s transformed both their health, lifestyle and, in my mum’s case, has restored her failing mobility. 

Our discovery of this “fountain of youth” began with my own transformation — from journalist working in mainstream media for over 25 years to independent content creator focused on how to age well. 

Seven years ago, I started The Honest Channel on YouTube, initially reviewing products. As I entered my late forties, what started as an interest in skincare developed into a fascination around the science of ageing — what truly helps us stay strong, vital, and independent for longer. Eventually it led me to muscle’s door. 

One conversation changed everything. I interviewed Dr Chris Reis, a strength coach and doctor of physical therapy based in Cincinnati, who had left clinical practice to teach older adults barbell-based strength training.

His clients’ transformations — including 98-year-old Merce Hershey, who reversed bone loss through lifting — were both inspiring and eye-opening. 

I couldn’t stop thinking about my mum, who had osteoporosis and could no longer walk upright unaided. A scan had shown she’d lost around 80% of the muscle in her back. “It feels like the elastic’s gone,” she’d tell me. My dad, recovering from hernia surgery, was also beginning to lose confidence. 

So, early in 2024, I bought a barbell rack and weights for my garage and asked my parents if they’d train with me. They didn’t hesitate. For the first time in years, we felt hopeful. 

Under Chris’s online coaching, we started a simple, progressive strength programme built around the four core barbell lifts — the squat, bench press, overhead press and deadlift — which together strengthen every major muscle group. 

They started by lifting very light, adding small increments of around 1kg (sometimes less) weekly. Each session takes around 90 minutes and they do this twice a week. 

Twelve months on, the results are extraordinary. My dad now deadlifts over 90 kilograms — more than double his starting weight. My mum, who once struggled to walk unaided for 30 seconds, now squats with 20 kg on her back, deadlifts over 40kg, and walks unaided for six minutes at a time — a milestone we once feared impossible. 

Building strength has taken away their fear of the future – the concern that they were losing their mobility and it would lead to a loss of safety and independence. 

My dad sums it up simply: “When I turned 80, it felt like a downward path. But now I have no fear of the future, because I’m getting more, rather than less, capable in everyday life.” 

Now 52, I am the strongest I have ever been because of weight training.

We are sharing our strength journey on my YouTube channel through the series Rebuilding Mum and Dad. The series itself has been watched more than a million times, and clips have reached many more millions worldwide — one reel alone attracting over 8 million views on Instagram. 

The response has been overwhelming, with countless people inspired to start lifting.

But a common question always echoes in my mind: How can I do what your parents have? Where can I access the coaching and the equipment?

The Science of Strength

Dozens of studies now confirm that muscle is one of the strongest predictors of healthspan and longevity. 

Research published in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences found that people with low muscle strength are 50% more likely to die prematurely from all causes. Other studies show strong links between higher muscle mass and lower risk of frailty, falls, metabolic disease, cognitive decline, and even depression. 

Sarcopenia — the age-related loss of muscle — begins in our 30s and accelerates in our 60s. But it is not inevitable. Strength training can reverse it. Crucially, this is not about bodybuilding or gyms full of machines: it’s about functional strength — the ability to lift a shopping bag, get up from a chair, or climb the stairs without fear. 

Under the right programme of progressive load, strength training is safe and transformative. The greater risk lies in doing nothing. 

Why It Matters for Scotland

Scotland, like much of the developed world, faces a crisis in ageing and social care. One in five Scots is now over 65, and that number will rise sharply in the next decade.  

That’s only a problem if our ageing population is an unhealthy one – and it doesn’t have to be that way. 

Falls remain a leading cause of hospital admissions and mortality among over-75s, costing the NHS millions as well as being profoundly traumatic for patients and their families. 

Meanwhile, muscle loss and frailty quietly erode independence and quality of life — long before any hospital admission. 

My parents’ experience shows what can happen when older adults are given the right tools, guidance, and encouragement. In a single year, they reversed years of decline, improved their confidence and mobility, and regained independence — without medication. 

Imagine if this were scaled nationally. Accessible, evidence-based strength training for older adults could dramatically reduce falls, fractures, and dependence on long-term care. 

 It could save millions in healthcare costs while extending healthy, active years of life. 

A National Healthy Ageing Strategy

We need to rethink what “healthy ageing” looks like in practice and Scotland has the opportunity to lead the way. What might that look like? 

• Subsidised access to qualified strength coaches for older adults. 
• Investment in community gyms and accessible training spaces equipped for progressive resistance training. 
• Public-health campaigns reframing muscle as a key pillar of longevity, and sowing the seed of understanding that, in most cases, we have control over how we age. 
• Inclusion of muscle-strength metrics in NHS health checks and ageing research. 

A stronger population is a healthier population. 

For my parents, this experiment has been about far more than physical strength. It has restored joy, confidence, and purpose. It has shown them — and me — that it is never too late to rebuild and that we are not destined to age into frailty.  

Clare Johnston is an Edinburgh-based journalist and content creator dedicated to sharing evidence-based approaches to ageing well.  Through her Rebuilding Mum and Dad series, she documents the power of strength training to restore health, mobility and independence in later life. A former editorial director of the Press Association in Scotland & Ireland and media executive, she now creates content viewed by millions worldwide.