Ashley Briana Eve

08/13/2026

Why You Can’t Build a Bigger Life on a Depleted Body I Fitness & Nervous System Reset After 40

We’ve been conditioned to build our lives from the outside in.

Find the purpose. Chase the accomplishment. Fix the mindset. Set bigger goals. Reinvent yourself.

But what happens when the body and nervous system underneath all of that are completely depleted?

In this episode of Stronger After 40, I’m making the case for an inside-out rebuild.

Watch now: https://youtu.be/YDe5VbtbPBk?si=V4dg7e-S5p24RjL3

We’ve been conditioned to build our lives from the outside in.Fin...

08/13/2026

A pretty big menopause training narrative needs an update.

A 2026 systematic review + meta-analysis pooled 126 studies and more than 4,000 women — comparing how pre- and postmenopausal women responded to resistance training.

The finding?

Postmenopausal women did not show significantly worse strength or lean-mass adaptations to resistance training.

That matters.

Because women over 40 are increasingly being told that menopause creates such profound “anabolic resistance” that the old rules no longer apply — that you suddenly need a very specific style of training, usually extremely heavy lifting, to maintain or build muscle.

But the evidence is more nuanced than the marketing.

Does estrogen affect muscle physiology? Yes.

Can aging influence anabolic sensitivity, recovery, bone health and muscle mass? Absolutely.

Does that mean menopause suddenly destroys your ability to respond to resistance training?

This data says no.

And importantly:

Heavy lifting is fantastic.

But “heavy lifting works” is not the same scientific statement as “heavy lifting is the only thing that works after menopause.”

Strength, hypertrophy, power, bone health and athletic performance are different outcomes — and smart programming uses different tools depending on the goal.

Women over 40 don’t need another reason to believe their bodies are failing them.

We need better information.

Train progressively. Fuel appropriately. Recover intelligently. Build strength. Build muscle. And stop treating perimenopause like an expiration date on adaptation.

Study: Isenmann et al., 2026 — Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport

FitOver40 WomensHealth MenopauseHealth StrengthTraining

08/13/2026

ADHD’ers don’t need to be hammered on the benefits of exercise for our mental health.

We don’t need more mindset hacks.

KNOWING & action are two different things.

In this video I break down 2 tips I use for myself & for my clients who fell off the fitness wagon yet want to get back on (for good!)

08/12/2026

The wellness industry doesn’t keep selling quick fixes because they work long-term.

It keeps selling them because they sell.

“Build a strong body. Improve your mental health. Create more energy. Expand your capacity. Flourish.”

That’s harder to package into a flashy promise.

“Lose 50 lbs in 30 days”?
“A 3 day cortisol detox to lose 10 lbs of inflammation”

That gets clicks.

Fear sells.
Shame sells.
Urgency sells.
The idea that there is something wrong with you — and that one product can finally fix it — sells extremely well.

And when that marketing turns companies into billion- and trillion-dollar machines, there is very little incentive to suddenly start telling people:

Your health is complicated.
Real change takes time.
Your body is not a problem to solve.
And the goal of your life probably shouldn’t be becoming smaller.

I’m far more interested in what happens when we stop asking:

“How do I fix myself?”

…and start asking:

“How do I build a life that allows me to participate more fully because I am flourishing from the inside out?”

That might not be as sexy as a 30-day transformation.

But it’s a hell of a lot more powerful.

Coach ABE

08/12/2026

It took me hitting 40 to realize it’s all lies.

You don’t have to choose a version of you.

You don’t have to settle.

You can be a walking contradiction.

You can pick up & pivot for no reason other than the old version of you feels like a old snake skin choking you alive.

You do not have to apologize for who you are.

You can be whatever the f**k you want to be.

Just back yourself in it.

That’s .

08/12/2026

There are literally no rules so stop allowing others to project their limitations on you.

And stop apologizing for who you are.

The only people who will judge you for the things you enjoy are those that judge themselves. It’s all a projection.

Anddd,

If you too like paranormal mysteries & true crime make sure to check out the new podcast… Shadows and Static Podcast …

We (as in I … and maybe the voices in my head 🤪) have a crazyyy ongoing paranormal story to tell you.

And if Radical Happiness is more your vibe join me over on Substack!

I will be sharing excerpts from my upcoming book & journal starting next week for subscribers!

I’m so excited to go on that journey with you 🙌

ABE

08/11/2026

We’ve spent decades selling exercise to women as a way to change their bodies.

Lose weight.
Burn calories.
Get smaller.
Fix the thing you’ve been told is wrong with you.

Meanwhile, we’ve massively under-sold one of the most powerful reasons to move:

Your mental health.

Exercise is associated with improvements in depression, anxiety, stress, sleep, cognition and quality of life.

But I think the conversation gets even bigger than that.

There’s a reason health belongs in the conversation about human flourishing.

Because we can chase purpose.
Accomplishment.
Meaning.
Flow.
Success.

But if we’re exhausted, under-fuelled, chronically stressed and physically depleted, how much capacity do we actually have to experience the life we’re building?

This is why I don’t see fitness as another item on the wellness to-do list.

Fitness is one of the ways we build capacity.

Physical capacity.
Psychological capacity.
Self-efficacy.
Energy.
The ability to meet challenge and recover from it.

It’s what gives you greater capacity to live the life that brings meaning & purpose.

Build the foundation.
Expand capacity.
Pursue what matters.

That’s the conversation I want us having about exercise.

If you missed my latest substack on this topic make sure to subscribe to The Radical Happiness Movement to read more 💛.

ABE

I Functional Fitness I Hyrox I Hybrid Training for Women

08/10/2026

I’m concerned about our cultural obsession with extreme thinness again.

Not because thin = unhealthy.
Not because GLP-1s don’t have legitimate medical uses in a small portion of the population (although risks are very real even for those individuals).

But because once again, women are being sold the idea that smaller is better — while serious concerns and lawsuits involving potentially life-altering complications continue to mount.

I want something different for women.

Train because getting stronger changes how you move through the world.

Move because it supports your mental health.

Lift because doing hard things builds self-efficacy.

Eat to fuel a life you actually want to participate in.

Build a body that gives you energy, strength, vitality and capacity…

Not a hospital visit for vision loss or malnutrition.

Fitness should not be punishment for failing to meet whatever body standard the wellness industry is selling this decade.

It should also not be a punishment for getting hungry in extreme deficits.

The question doesn’t have to be:

“How small can I get and how long can I sustain it until my body breaks?”

It can be:

How strong can I become?
How alive can I feel?
What can this body allow me to DO?

Your body isn’t a problem to manage.

It’s the foundation from which you experience your entire life.

Coach ABE

08/10/2026

Health isn’t the point of your life.
It’s what gives you greater capacity to live it.

Somewhere along the way, health became another thing to accomplish.

Hit your macros.
Get your steps.
Lose the weight.
Optimize your sleep.
Get the workout done.

And, of course in perimenopause it’s all wrapped in the conversation of optimization & how you are STILL doing it wrong no matter what you do.

But I think we’ve missed the bigger conversation.

Your health is the foundation underneath your ability to participate fully in your own life.

Your ability to think clearly.

Handle stress.

Recover from hard things.

Experience joy.

Connect deeply.

Pursue meaningful goals.

Play.

Create.

Travel.

Learn.

Take risks.

Do hard s**t.

Be present for the people you love.

And yes — chase the big f**king goals that make you feel alive.

This is one of the reasons I believe so deeply in health & fitness.

Not because I think everyone needs to look a certain way.

And not because your worth can be measured by your VO₂ max, squat or body fat percentage.

Fitness builds capacity.

It asks your body to meet challenge and adapt.

It gives you somewhere to practice discomfort, recovery, mastery, self-trust and doing things you once weren’t sure you could do.

And then you take that stronger, more capable human out of the gym and back into her life.

That’s the part I think we’ve been missing when we talk about “health and wellness.”

Health isn’t another goal to accomplish.

It’s the capacity underneath so much of what you want to experience, pursue and become.

It doesn’t guarantee a flourishing life.

You still need relationships. Meaning. Purpose. Joy. Engagement. Truth. Something worth getting out of bed for.

But health gives you a stronger foundation from which to build those things.

So no, I don’t want you spending your entire life obsessing over your health.

I want you to build your health because you have a life to live.

Build the foundation.
Expand capacity.
Pursue what matters.

That is what getting stronger is for.

Coach ABE