A uniquely feminist approach to how women can break free from what society thinks and get active in their forties, fifties, and beyond.

What if you could be fitter now than you were in your twenties? And what if you could achieve it while feeling more comfortable and confident in your body than ever before?

In this empowering, accessible book, bloggers and professors Samantha Brennan and Tracy Isaacs offer a new approach to fitness—one that champions strength, health, and personal accomplishment over weight loss and aesthetics. They share their own experiences of getting active later in life and explore the many challenges, questions, and issues women face when seeking fitness in their forties, fifties, and beyond. Drawing from the latest research and their popular blog Fit Is a Feminist Issue, they deliver a wealth of concrete advice on everything from how to keep bones strong to what types of fitness activities give the biggest returns.

Taking a feminist perspective, the authors also challenge society’s default whats, whys, and hows of every aspect of getting fit to show how women can best take charge of their health—no matter what their shape, size, age, or ability.

Samantha Brennan is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario. Her main research interest is contemporary normative ethics and she is also interested in feminist moral and political philosophy. She has written numerous papers on moral rights and, with Robert Noggle, some on children’s rights.

Robert Noggle is a professor of philosophy in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of Central Michigan. His research interests include the relationship between moral theory and the nature of persons, personal autonomy, and the moral and political status of children. His most recent publications include “Special Agents: Children’s Autonomy and Parental Authority” (in The Moral and Political Status of Children, edited by David Archard and Colin McLeod, 2003).

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Tracy Isaacs, PhD, is Associate Dean (Academic) in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and a Professor in the Departments of Philosophy and of Women’s Studies and Feminist Research at Western University. Fit at Mid-Life is her second non-fiction book.  She is also co-founder, with Samantha Brennan, of Fit is a Feminist Issue, a popular blog offering feminist reflections on fitness, sport, and health.  She lives in London, Ontario.

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