When taking stock of your health and fitness, the scale can lie. So can the mirror. The same goes for friends and romantic partners.

But the barbell?

“The barbell never lies to you,” says Cara Sabin, 37, a professional dancer and personal trainer who cofounded the Lunge Ladies, a women-focused strength training group in Lake View East. “You’re getting stronger, or you’re not.”

For Sabin and her business partner and best friend, Sarah Gonsiorowski, 33, also a practiced dancer, movement isn’t just a means to an end — it’s about functionality. It’s a frame of mind.

A can of CBD seltzer, spinach, and blueberries

Routine you can’t live without?

Gonsiorowski: I always make breakfast, even at 4:15 a.m. I make the same smoothie every morning Just a banana, spinach, almond butter, almond milk, and some blueberries.

Favorite exercise?

Sabin: I love squatting. If I can use my legs, I feel like I can do anything. And Sarah, she likes deadlifting. So together, we could use our bodies to do some damage. We always joke that we’re doing this to be sexy 70-year-olds. When I’m 70, I want to be able to pick stuff up off the ground — but also have my butt look good.

How do you unwind?

Sabin: Sometimes we hop on our bikes, ride like kids down to the lake and enjoy CBD seltzers. They feel like a glass of wine without being a glass of wine.

Gonsiorowski: Sometimes we take books. Sometimes we talk. Sometimes we just look at the lake. It’s agendaless.