Dr Ula: Muscle - your metabolic insurance policy
- Dr Ula Heywood
- Sep 2
- 3 min read
No pill, supplement, or shortcut can replace this.
We all understand insurance. You pay into a policy you hope you’ll never need—yet when life blindsides you, it’s there to protect your future and give you options.
Your body has its own insurance system. Not measured in premiums or paperwork, but in lean muscle mass. Strength training isn’t just about lifting weights or changing how you look. It’s about taking out a policy on your future self—a policy that pays out in resilience, energy, and protection against the slow creep of disease.
Muscle: More than appearance
Muscle isn’t decoration. It’s a metabolic organ. It stores glucose, burns energy at rest, regulates hormones, and steadies blood sugar. When you have enough of it—and you train it—your body handles stress, calories, and inflammation more efficiently. When you don’t, you’re exposed.
Think of every strength session not as “going to the gym,” but as another premium paid into your health policy. Each rep builds reserves that protect you when the unexpected comes.
The cost of muscle loss
From your 30s onward, without resistance training, you lose 3–8% of your muscle each decade. By your 60s, the policy is dangerously thin. Blood sugar spikes harder, bones weaken, balance falters, and every illness takes more from you.
And like compound interest, the earlier the loss begins, the harder it is to recover. Delay too long and the premiums balloon. Build and maintain now, and the policy compounds for decades.
How Muscle Pays Out
1. Blood sugar & diabetes
Muscle is the largest sink for glucose in the body. Well-trained muscle clears sugar efficiently, keeping insulin low and diabetes at bay.
2. Heart health
Strength training reduces visceral fat, improves cholesterol, and lightens the load on your cardiovascular system.
3. Brain protection
Better circulation, steadier glucose, and lower inflammation all protect long-term brain health.
4. Independence
Frailty, falls, fractures—these are the real “claims.” Muscle cushions the blow, speeds recovery, and helps you maintain autonomy.
5. Everyday energy
More muscle means a faster metabolism, steadier energy, and better hormone balance. You don’t just insure your future—you improve today.
Menopause: When the premiums spike
For women, menopause is a stress test of the policy. Falling oestrogen accelerates muscle loss, bone loss, and insulin resistance—all at once. Symptoms like weight gain, hot flushes, and fatigue are not just “hormonal shifts.” They’re signals that your metabolic insurance is being called in.
Strength training during menopause not only reduces symptoms, it protects against the rise in cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and diabetes that so often follows. Lifting weights in this season isn’t optional—it’s one of the most powerful investments you can make.
Paying the premiums
Unlike financial insurance, this policy pays out immediately. Train today and you’ll move better, sleep better, and feel sharper tomorrow.
Two or three sessions a week. Focus on big, compound lifts.
Progressive overload. Gradually increase resistance so your muscles keep adapting.
Recovery and nutrition. Protein, rest, and balance ensure your premiums compound.
You don’t need hours in the gym. Modest, consistent training delivers exponential cover.
The fine print
No pill, supplement, or shortcut can replace this. No one else can buy the policy for you. You can start late, yes—but the earlier and more consistently you invest, the stronger your cover.
And unlike traditional insurance, this isn’t only about avoiding disaster. It actively upgrades your life now.
Closing thought
The choice is simple: build muscle now, or borrow against your future. One path leaves you fragile, scrambling when illness or frailty arrives. The other leaves you strong, resilient, and free to live life on your own terms.
Strength training isn’t vanity. It’s the most undervalued insurance policy you can hold. And unlike financial insurance, the benefits don’t wait for disaster—they show up daily.
Take your first step
Every rep you skip is a premium unpaid. Every month you wait is cover lost. The best time to start building your policy was yesterday. The second-best time is today.
At Autonomy, our Early Wins program gives you the data, insight, and coaching to start building real metabolic cover in just 30 days. Muscle, energy, resilience—your strongest protection for the years ahead.
Don’t wait for the claim to come due. Write your policy today.
Dr. Ula Co-Founder and Lead Physician, Autonomy
