The Key to Finish Strong with Di Robertson
What’s the biggest tip for women who want to Finish Strong? After more than 20 years of coaching women, Di Robertson discovers that the answer isn’t motivation. It starts with how you choose to train.
People often ask me what I mean by ‘Finish Strong’. For me, it’s much more than a fitness slogan. It’s a choice about how we want to live our lives, at whatever age or stage we’re in.
I don’t accept that getting older automatically means becoming weaker, or that we should simply shrug our shoulders and say, ‘Well, that’s just how it goes.’ I don’t believe we should expect something to happen simply because of our age. And ‘it is what it is’ has never sat well with me.
Yes, our bodies change as we age. But we have far more influence over our strength, health and the way we experience life than we sometimes realise. We can’t stop the clock, but we can choose what we do with the years in front of us. That’s where strength changes the conversation. To finish strong means continuing to invest in yourself so you are physically and mentally strong enough to keep doing the things you love, take on new challenges and live your life well.
We don’t just want to live a long life, we want quality in every step. And that’s why I coach. I think women today are asking more of themselves than ever before. We’re building careers and businesses. Raising children. Supporting ageing parents. Playing sport. Travelling. Chasing new adventures.
Life is full. It’s exciting. But it also raises an important question: can our bodies keep up? I coach women who still have so much life they want to live. Women who are juggling careers, businesses, families and commitments, yet often find themselves running on empty. They know something has to change, not because they’re slowing down, but because they want the strength and energy to keep doing what they love for years to come.
One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that women are incredibly good at looking after everyone else. But when life gets busy, the first thing to disappear is often the time they set aside for themselves. Looking after yourself isn’t taking away from everyone else. It’s what gives you the strength to keep showing up for the people and the life you care about.
So, how do women finish strong? In my experience, three things make the biggest difference:
1. It Starts with the Right Plan
One of the questions women ask me is, “What should I actually be doing?”
It’s a great question because working hard isn’t the same as training well. A structured strength plan needs to answer both what to train and how to train it. It isn’t simply a list of exercises downloaded online or a collection of random sessions. It should match your goals, your current ability, your training history and where you want to be in six months or a year.
One of the first things I explain to women is that our bodies are incredibly designed. They were created to adapt. Give your muscles the right challenge, allow them to recover, then progressively ask a little more of them and they respond by becoming stronger. This is where coaching makes the difference. Good coaching removes the guesswork. A coach can see how you move, teach you the right technique, know when to progress you and adjust the plan as you become stronger.
A trainer can give you today’s workout. A coach understands where today’s workout fits into the bigger picture. That’s your path to progress. Not doing more for the sake of it. Doing the right things in the right way, consistently enough to create change.
2. Consistency Beats Motivation
People often think motivation is what gets results. I don’t. Motivation comes and goes. Consistency is a decision. If you imagine an athlete preparing for a race or a goal, they don’t train only when they feel motivated. They follow a plan and keep turning up because they know that one session won’t create the result they’re working towards.
Strength is the same. It’s not enough to train hard once in a while and then start again a few months later. Your body needs a consistent training stimulus over time. That’s how muscle is built, movement improves and confidence grows. The strongest women I coach aren’t motivated every day. They simply make training part of their week and keep showing up. Consistency before motivation. Every time.
3. The Women Beside You
One of my favourite things about coaching women has very little to do with the weights. It’s what happens between the sets. Woman encouraging each other. Celebrating a personal best that isn’t your own; ‘you’ve got this’ at the right moment.
There are times when training alone works, but there is something powerful about training alongside women who are working towards their own goals too. You learn from each other. You encourage each other. And on the days when one of you doesn’t feel like showing up, the others often help get you through the door.
Add a coach who knows where you’re heading and suddenly you’re not just exercising. You’re part of a structured training environment where progress is expected, supported and celebrated.
I’ve seen women arrive looking for fitness and find friendship, confidence and a community they genuinely look forward to being part of. Don’t underestimate the women beside you.
So, how can you finish strong? Start with the right plan, be consistent enough to let your body adapt, and don’t do it alone. Because we don’t just want to live a long life, we want quality in every step.
SPRING MOVE: THE SQUAT
Spring Up – Sit to Stand / Squat
This is one of the Di-Fit Five functional movement patterns: the squat.
The squat is a foundational strength movement, recruiting some of the larger muscle groups and the movement results in conditioning for the whole body. Think of getting low for a tennis or pickleball shot and driving back up, hiking steep terrain, getting up from the ground, moving powerfully in sport.
The sit-to-stand is a simple way to see the movement pattern clearly: hips back, control the descent, drive through the feet and stand tall. From there, the movement can be progressed with load, tempo, range and more challenging squat variations.
Visit www.difit.com.au to watch the Spring Up squat demonstration and the coaching points I use with women at Di-Fit.
