HSOS #9: The Key to Effective Exercise for Women 50+

Hormones change, metabolism slows, and suddenly your old workouts just aren’t working anymore. This episode breaks down the most common midlife exercise mistakes, why “bulky” is a myth, and the simple strength strategies that actually build results after 40. You’ll hear how progressive overload works, why recovery matters as much as sweat, and how fueling your body with protein keeps you strong, energized, and confident.

Let’s talk.

Welcome to Her Season of Strength—where women over 40 reclaim their bodies, their energy, and their voices, without apologies. I'm Kim Duffy—registered dietitian, personal trainer, mom, and your biggest hype woman when it comes to aging like you mean it.

This show isn’t about chasing skinny or counting wrinkles. It’s about building real strength—physical, emotional, and hormonal. Each week, I’ll share straight-talking nutrition tips, sustainable fitness strategies, and conversations that help you feel powerful in your skin once again.

Menopause is not an ending, it is only the beginning. This is your season of strength.

📝 What I cover:

• Life update: new grandson + post-challenge glow
• Why your old workouts don’t work anymore (hint: hormones and metabolism)
• Common mistakes: cardio-only, pink 3lb dumbbells, random workouts, no rest, fear of “bulky”
• The truths behind those mistakes (and a little tough love)
• How to actually train effectively: strength first, progressive overload, 2–4x/week, form over speed
• Real-life progressive overload example (adding reps, sets, or weight each week)
• The STRENGTH Ladder framework (stability, total body, resistance, endurance, neuromuscular control, growth, hormone-smart approach)
• Fuel = results: protein, balance, mindfulness, moderation, journaling (see episode 3), alcohol awareness
• What really holds women back: fear, time, mindset, lack of support
• The missing link: consistency + progression + community
• Client story (Cindy) — proof that strength after 50 changes everything
• Why support and accountability matter more than motivation
• Join us in the Fit After 50+ Bootcamp starting Sept. 29

Closing

Cardio queens, I love you — but it’s time to pick up some weights. Strength training with progressive overload is your golden ticket to energy, muscle, bone health, and confidence. Pair it with solid recovery and a protein-first approach, and you’ve got a recipe for feeling strong and unstoppable at any age.

If you’re ready for a plan built for women over 50, with structure, coaching, and a community that keeps you going, check out the link in the show notes for the Fit After 50+ Bootcamp starting September 29.

Links & resources for this episode:

Fit After 50 Plus Program: 8-Week Nutrition Coaching & Fitness Program for women 50+. Next session starts winter of 2026. Join the interest list today for the best bonuses and discounts offered.

Free cheat sheet: "20 Tips to Crushing Menopause"

Join my free weekly newsletter list and get a new high protein recipe sent to your inbox every Thursday.

Find me on social media: Instagram I Facebook I Tiktok

Transcript

[00:00:00] Hi there, and welcome to her season of Strength, where women over 40 reclaim their bodies, their energy, and their voices, without apologies. I'm Kim Duffy, registered dietician, personal trainer, mom, and your biggest hype woman. When it comes to aging like you mean it, this show isn't about chasing skinny or counting wrinkles.

[00:00:20] It's about building real strength, physical, emotional, and hormonal. Each week, I'll share straight talking, nutrition tips, sustainable fitness strategies. And conversations that help you feel powerful in your skin. Once again, menopause isn't an ending. It's only the beginning. This is your season of strength.

[00:00:39] Hello, hello, and welcome back to her season of Strength. I am so happy you're here and my brain is just needing to take a little second to get back into the swing of things. I was gone all last week in Alabama for the birth of my beautiful [00:01:00] little grandson, Cooper, and. It is challenging to get back into the swing of things, and so my brain's just a little bit slow working.

[00:01:09] But I have had a fantastic week. I ran my five day, um, midlife momentum challenge for women 50 plus, and it, it's been awesome. Today is day five. Last night I did a presentation for, um, the participants. Called the Key to Effective Exercise for Women 50 plus. And I thought, you know what? I put in all this time creating this presentation and it's such valuable information for any and all women, not even just women over age 40, but I talk specifically about, you know, how hormones can come into play and why it is essential for us to, um, be doing strength training.

[00:01:51] After we hit our forties. So I thought I would chat with you all about that today. So, um, I just wanna talk. About a [00:02:00] few different issues. Basically just kind of the key principles to, you know, how to create effective strength training for women 50 and beyond. So I wanna talk about what works, what doesn't, and how to make exercise something that you can stick with for the long haul.

[00:02:18] 'cause my goal is I want. You to have a little more clarity and confidence about how to train your body now, not how you did it in your twenties and thirties. All right, so first of all, as women, we go through these huge changes in our forties and fifties. Obviously we're all there, right? We. Have some major hormonal chaos going on.

[00:02:41] We have that dropping estrogen level, which can lead to muscle and bone loss. It can cause some insulin resistance, which also can promote more of that fat storage, which we, you know, we tend to all see that and feel that, especially kind of around our midsections. But [00:03:00] all of these things work together. To slower metabolism.

[00:03:03] And last week, on last week's episode, I talked about specifically about metabolism. And we're gonna, I'm gonna touch on, you know, some of those things again today, but more, we're gonna, we're gonna do more of a deep dive, specifically into making our workouts more, um, more effective. So what that means is just that.

[00:03:21] You know, you can be doing the exact same thing you've done all of your life. You're the same way. You've been eating, the same way you've been moving your body, but you might not get the same results today as you saw back then, and not, not to mention you might see weight gain without doing anything different in your routine.

[00:03:39] Not sure if anybody's noticed this, but I definitely did. I started seeing this in in my forties and like I've told you guys many times before is I didn't even start string training until I was in my forties. But the good news for us is that we don't need to work harder. I think some women just go, oh gosh, I just have to do it.

[00:03:58] More often. [00:04:00] I need to work out more often. I need to do more cardio. I need to restrict my calories more. And we don't necessarily need to do, we, we we don't need to do that. Sorry. We need to just be a little smarter about, um, how we're moving our body and what we're putting into it. And that was the whole power point of my five day challenge.

[00:04:19] Um, but that's what I wanna talk about. In today's podcast episode, so first of all, I wanna touch on some really common mistakes that I see women make. And the first one is they're only doing cardio, right? Where they're, they're biking, they're walking, they're doing the treadmill, they're hiking, they're doing the elliptical step, class aerobics, and they can just be, you know, working out like crazy, doing loads of cardio, thinking that, that, oh, okay, I'm gonna gain muscle this way.

[00:04:46] And unfortunately, you are not. You are not, it's great for, for your cardiovascular system. And I, I'm not saying not to do cardio at all, but what I'm seeing is, um, there are other more [00:05:00] effective ways for us to stop that muscle loss and build up that strength and build up that metabolism that we're losing with age and especially after post menopause.

[00:05:11] I mean, I remember. Most of my life, and before I started strength training, I used to call myself a lazy exerciser because I would love to just, you know, go to the gym, jump on the treadmill, jump on the elliptical or the bike, watch a show on the little TV there for about 45 minutes. And then I might stretch a little bit afterwards, but that was my workout.

[00:05:32] I called it good. Right? But I wondered, I was like, oh, I'm so active. I'm doing, I'm doing everything. Why am I not seeing results? Why am I not seeing more tone in my muscle? Why am I not seeing more fat loss? And that's because, you know, I was, I was only doing cardio. The second mistake I wanna talk about is.

[00:05:51] Um, women using two light of weights. They're not challenging themselves, they're not challenging their muscles. You know, I frequently [00:06:00] see, you know, women that I'm training, that I'm working with, and they might say, oh gosh, Kim keeps handing me a little heavier weight. A little heavier weight. And that's because I watch them and I watch their form and how they're doing these movements, and I'm like, you can definitely continue challenge yourself.

[00:06:16] You can go heavier. And they might go, oh no, I can't. I can't. And then I give them the heavier weight and they say, oh, I did. I, I can do that. And the reason, you know, challenging those muscles and our goal is to actually fatigue them. Our goal is to make them really tired and not be able to finish those last couple of repetitions.

[00:06:36] I know that seems a little crazy for some of you might think, well, why the heck would I do that? That is how we build muscle and we are gonna talk more about that here as, as I continue. So right now I just wanna focus on, you know, the, the mistakes that I see. The next one is random workouts. I see women bouncing from, you know, this YouTube video or that YouTube video, or going to a [00:07:00] variety of classes at the gym, one, one class to the other class.

[00:07:03] Or maybe they actually go and they are doing some strength training, but they're just jumping from machine to machine without really. A plan for, oh, you know, so what, what muscle groups are you hitting? Um, what you know, what did you do last week? Are you doing the same movement as you did last week? And if so, you know, how are you challenging yourself further?

[00:07:24] And are you seeing progress? Are you seeing that you are gaining strength? Are you able to lift a little heavier? Okay, next mistake is that women aren't taking the time to rest those muscles that they're working. Okay, rest and recovery is a huge piece of the healing of those muscles that you just challenged.

[00:07:48] And in that healing and adaptation, that's where we get stronger. That's where we build the muscle. Okay? So the heal, the, the rest and recovery is also very important. So if you're like, [00:08:00] oh, I work, you know, I strength train seven days a week, and. You know, I'm doing back to back leg days or back to back arm days, um, and just killing yourself and you wonder why, you know, you're not seeing results.

[00:08:10] And it could be that you're just not, you're not giving those muscles time to rest. And then the last mistake I wanna touch on is the, and I always, I think this one's so funny, is that fear of getting bulky. And I think I see this more in like, um, you know, like older generations, like our moms or our grandmas and, and they're afraid to lift weight 'cause they don't wanna get too muscular or too, you know, looking more, looking more male.

[00:08:39] Right? And I find this one hilarious and I'm gonna talk about why that's not even possible for this. But uh, you know, for us women, especially us women in our forties and fifties. But, you know, think about which one of those, are you doing any of those, you know. Which one do you relate most with? You know, are you doing too [00:09:00] much cardio?

[00:09:01] Are you not challenging yourself with weights? Are you just doing those rando workouts, not giving yourself enough time to rest and recover, or just you're, you're afraid? Okay, so here's the truth. Cardio alone is not gonna build muscle, and it's not gonna necessarily protect your metabolism. I know you're like, oh, you be quiet.

[00:09:24] My cardio, I'm not giving it up. Right? Because the way we build that muscle is through, um, resistance training. Okay, and I'm gonna talk about that in just a second. Um, next is when we stay with those weights that are too light, you know, it, it will keep us stuck. We won't see progress. We won't see results.

[00:09:44] Those random workouts, yeah, they feel good. They keep us excited because, you know what? They're not boring. I get it. But they're not gonna build results. And without, obviously, without recovery, our body can't grow stronger. And specifically that bulky myth. [00:10:00] We don't have testosterone ladies, and you would really have to work your rear ends off, you know, we're talking, you know, strength training and really know what you're doing to actually.

[00:10:10] Build muscle to the degree where you're like, oh gosh, I look, I look very muscular, I look very bulky. Right? We just, we, we can't do that. Right? What what's gonna happen is that we might see better muscle tone, right? We might see that we lose inches because we are dropping fat and we're increasing muscle because muscle takes up less space than fat.

[00:10:31] Okay, we might see that we have increased strength or we have increased stamina and endurance, or maybe our balance is better, better energy levels, but we're not gonna necessarily see the bulkiness que quote unquote, or very rarely are we gonna do. There are some people that build muscle really easy, some women that do, and they might have higher levels of testosterone.

[00:10:52] But in your life, you're gonna know if you're one of those people. I. Okay, so now I wanna talk about how we [00:11:00] can do, how we can train effectively. So the most effective way for us to train is to do strength or resistance training. That should be an absolute priority. And our secret sauce is that progressive overload.

[00:11:14] And I know I've touched on this in past episodes, but I wanna touch on it just in case, you know, you're just listening to this one today. But progressive overload is where we're gradually challenging our body. With more weight, more repetitions, or more sets. Okay. Um, so maybe, you know, and, and specifically we're doing those same movements, so when I create a training, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do, have my clients do the same workouts.

[00:11:47] So maybe I'll have four different workouts in one week, and then they're gonna repeat those four different workouts the next week and the next week and the next week. But with progressive overload, maybe they're gonna do bicep curls. [00:12:00] They're starting out with 10 pound weights. They're gonna do eight repetitions one week.

[00:12:04] The next week they're gonna do 10. The following week they're gonna do 12, and then that fourth week, maybe they're actually gonna do, rather than only doing three sets of each of those exercises, they're gonna do four. So they are. Pushing and challenging their self without really realizing it. 'cause then at that end of that month, they're, they're gonna go, oh, hey, I can use 12 pound weights now and I can start down this same path.

[00:12:27] And then by the end of those four weeks, you see that, you know, you can actually see the data. I've gained strength, I'm able to increase the weights, and, and that's how we continue to build that strength and muscles. Now many women will ask, well, how often do I need to strength train? What is the, what is the sweet spot for me?

[00:12:47] And I usually recommend two to four times a week. Okay. But if you're someone that's starting out, not doing absolutely anything, you know, maybe you do one day a week and the [00:13:00] next week you try to increase it to two. Or maybe you just do, you know, 15 minute sessions twice a week, you know what is doable for you, you know?

[00:13:10] And how can we make this nice slow progression? Because remember, this is long term. This is not a short term thing. This is like a forever thing. Because we need to do this for our best quality of life. We need to do this to, you know, for us to live the life we wanna live, to travel, to hike, to, um, you know, play with our grandkids, to be able to move and not be, you know, stuck in a wheel wheelchair or using a walker for the last years of her life, right?

[00:13:39] We wanna be as active as we possibly can. And lastly, and most important is don't rush. These movements form will always beat out increasing weight or speed. I want you to slow down those movements, especially until you get that [00:14:00] form properly. In my five day challenge, I did have people, um, use my Trainer Eyes app.

[00:14:05] And the reason why I love that so much is they could see the workouts they were supposed to do, but then each exercise has the, its its own video. So they can go, okay, what is a single arm row? You know? And then they look it up and they get these cues, and then they can do that movement, you know, and you watch those videos whenever you need to.

[00:14:25] But at some point you're like, oh, okay. I know this one. I got it. I've done this movement multiple times. You have that, get that, that, um, muscle memory in there and you know what you're doing and you know what you're supposed to be feeling. But it's form is so important because that's gonna prevent injury, not to mention that's gonna help you to get into the muscle that we need to be working.

[00:14:46] Okay, so I usually use a frame, a framework, and I call it my strength ladder, and it's how I build effective workouts. Um, you know, it's just. Kind of a system that I have designed to, uh, [00:15:00] that works for my clients, specifically women. You know, I have clients from age 45 to my, my oldest client is actually 83.

[00:15:08] Um, but it's not about lifting weights, just it's about building, you know, starting a framework or starting a base of building that stability and balance. Okay. And it all starts, you know, starts right in the center of your body with like your core and building up strength in your core because that will affect your stability and your balance.

[00:15:28] You know, um, the next thing I'm always, I wanna hit all muscle groups, right? So, you know, start with your top and going down, whether shoulders, back, chest, core, but you know, your quads, hamstrings, calves, because they all work together to protect us from back, knee, hip, and shoulder injuries. And I find I, I've heard from so many people that, oh, well I have this injury or I had this surgery so I can't strength train.

[00:15:57] And I begged to disagree. [00:16:00] Your doctor might have told you that you can't do certain movements, but there is always something that you can do. Maybe if you have a shoulder injury, you can't lift overhead. But I got, I got a bunch of shoulder exercises that we can do that don't lift overhead, that we can strengthen those muscles around those joints.

[00:16:17] Okay. Even if you've had a back injury, you can strengthen your legs, you can strengthen your core so that it is locking in and protecting that back from further injury. It's all the more important that you're doing something to strengthen that, right, to strengthen those muscles that are around those joints to protect them.

[00:16:42] So that when you are at home and you do something funky and you do a quick tit twist or turn, or you have a fall or something, you're not gonna be laid up for weeks at a time because you, you know, your back went out, okay. You're gonna be able to bounce back quicker. So I [00:17:00] use progressive overload and all of my workouts, like I said, and I explained how I, you know, typically have my, my clients doing, um, four to six week.

[00:17:09] Um. They're gonna be doing those same movements, those same workouts, those same exercises, while you know, increasing the repetitions, increasing the number of sets, increasing the weight they're using in order to be able to see that strength, that muscle, that endurance increase. And I always focus on proper form.

[00:17:28] When I have somebody in front of me, obviously I'm gonna have them take a step back. I'm gonna have 'em put the weights down. I'm gonna have them walk slowly through form until they. Excuse me, until they, uh, feel comfortable with that exercise, with that movement, and I can see that they're doing it properly and that they're feeling it in the right muscles.

[00:17:49] Okay? Because if we're not, you know, if we're not doing the movements correctly, um, we're gonna increase risk of injury. So, um, that's why I said, you know, I, I love the Trainer ICE program [00:18:00] just because I know that, that my clients have that little video to be able to show them proper form. So, um, I usually, like I said, I recommend strength training two to four times a week, as long as you are alternating muscle groups.

[00:18:13] So say we do legs one day, well, then you're gonna let those leg muscles rest for a day, and then you're gonna move on to, maybe you're gonna do an upper body the next day. Then maybe you'll have a day in between where you're just going for a walk or you're doing some, some kind of lighter cardio to let your body rest.

[00:18:30] And then maybe on, you know, Thursday you start over, you do legs, and then you do arms. Or maybe you do, you know, throw in some full body workouts there, but making sure that you know you're giving those muscles time to rest. And I use this framework in all of my programming, um, including my upcoming signature program.

[00:18:47] It's called Fit After 50 plus. It's an eight week program that it builds upon everything that I'm talking about here on my strength ladder. But it also includes a, a strong nutrition component where we're actually [00:19:00] doing, you know, weekly check-ins where, um, this is my signature program, you know, so it's like.

[00:19:05] A little bit more that, you know, it's, it's a group program, but you're also getting very strong personal kind of, um, coaching and um, guidance. Not to mention a really cool community of, of women over 50 who are kind of going through the same thing as you. Um, so think about this strength letter, you know, which one of these ladder steps do you feel that you're missing most in your current workouts?

[00:19:31] You know, is it your core? Is it your balance? And, and balance is something that we can definitely see as we, um, you know, as we get older, as we lose muscle, you're like, oh gosh, I have a really hard time going on, you know, one foot, or, you know, I get kind of woozy and I get dizzy and I, I kind of lose my balance very easily.

[00:19:52] Maybe it's, you know, cardiovascular endurance. Maybe you need to push that a little bit. You know, is it bone issues? Are you, [00:20:00] do you struggle with bone density, maybe osteoporosis or osteopenia. So maybe you need to incorporate in some good, um, plyometric type movements to help, to, to build that, put a little more stress and resistance on those bones to help, to make them stronger.

[00:20:17] Um. Or maybe it's just consistency, which I find so often is like, oh yeah, I have a great program, but I just struggle with doing it week after week. Or I only get one time in one week, or maybe none the next week 'cause I have stuff going on. Consistency can really be an issue. So another vital ingredient.

[00:20:38] In order to see, um, results from your workouts, it's nutrition, and we all know this, right? It's, we can't out train a crappy diet. So if you're just eating a whole bunch of junk and you're, but yet you're doing these beautiful workouts, you know, two to four times a week or whatever, but you're like, why am I not seeing results?

[00:20:57] Or why am I, you know, not [00:21:00] seeing fat loss? Well, it, it's probably what you're putting in your mouth. So in my, my challenge this past week, we talked about, you know, we focus on one kind of small piece of that, and that is protein, which we all know if you're not consuming enough protein when you're, you know, putting all this time and energy into your strength workouts, you're not gonna see those results because we gotta have the protein, those amino acids to help to rebuild those muscles, to help, to repair those muscles that were.

[00:21:28] That we're causing those little tiny micro tears in when we're doing strength training, and that's how we get stronger. So yeah, we talked about, you know. Protein as well as balancing our meals to try to balance out some of the energy. You know, like we know that if, if we're just eating a whole bunch of carbs, carbs are great for our energy levels, but they aren't for long-term energy.

[00:21:52] Our body can digest 'em fairly quickly and, and we can fly through 'em and they cause that blood sugar spike and [00:22:00] drop. And then next thing we know we're starving or we're looking for that next, pick me up. Okay, so, so in our challenge I talked about just balancing out your meals. So starting with your solid protein source, making sure you're always having some vegetables and really good sources of fiber.

[00:22:18] 'cause fiber is gonna slow down that digestion as well. And then when you are choosing carbohydrates, trying to choose those higher fiber carbs and being aware, being mindful of portion sizes. Okay, so carbohydrates, you know, we can eat those olive garden size plates of pasta, and it's crazy because we're hungry an hour later.

[00:22:41] Well, that's because we digest them so quickly, and that's why, that's why we can overeat carbohydrates. They don't trigger that satiety that tells us, Hey, you're done. You're full. You feel satisfied. Right? They don't do that as well as that protein does, and that fiber does. [00:23:00] Okay. And some other areas that are, that we, we know we need to dial in is, is each person has different macronutrient goals, right?

[00:23:10] You are gonna, you know, a, a woman who is five foot 10 and, and 180 pounds is gonna have a whole different set of, of calorie and fat and carbohydrate and protein needs as compared to the woman who's five foot two and 110 pounds. Okay, who maybe isn't as active as the taller woman? So basically, in order to assess what each woman's macro goals are, I look at their height, their weight, their age, their sex, and their goals.

[00:23:40] So maybe your goal is fat loss or maybe your goal is muscle gain. Maybe your goal is just maintaining your weight and just being more healthy. Okay. So in the Fit after 50 plus program, um, I do do a personal macronutrient assessment for each and every participant. The next area that [00:24:00] is, is super important is mindfulness.

[00:24:02] Okay. Is just, you know, over restriction. We gotta get past that. As, as women, we have restricted calories. Many of us, not, not all of us, but many of us have restricted calories off and on during our life, and we have messed with our metabolism. That's another area that we, we dive into in the Fit after 50 program.

[00:24:21] We spend a whole week on mindfulness. We also spend a whole week on moderation. You know, talking about just how can, how can I still enjoy some of those foods that I love, you know, those sweetss and the treats or, or maybe having a nice glass of wine here and there, or, um, you know, those salty snacks that you like.

[00:24:40] How can you still have those. Without undoing everything that you're doing when it comes to your, your health and wellness goals. And then also what can be helpful for some women is actually being, becoming aware of what they're eating, what they're putting in their mouth. And they can do that through journaling just to kind of track, [00:25:00] um, kind of where they are as far as hitting those macronutrient goals.

[00:25:03] Not that something they have to do forever. And I talked about this in, um, a previous podcast episode. Um, I believe it was. Number four, I'm thinking. Um, and I will, I will link that in my show notes. But, um, just talking about how, you know, talking a little bit about journal and how it journaling and how it can be beneficial and how it's not something you need to do forever, but how it can be helpful.

[00:25:29] Um, and then lastly, one thing that can really make a difference when it comes to the results you're seeing is your alcohol intake. You know, and, and I'm not talking just, you know, if, if you're just someone who enjoys a glass of wine here and there, that's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Right. But sometimes we'll see that, you know, when it's a, a glass or two of wine every single night of the week, it can, you know, that can be an issue.

[00:25:52] It can, it can. Make it difficult for you to actually see results with the exercise you're doing. So like I said, I touch on [00:26:00] all of those things in the Fit After 50 program. I don't have enough time. I don't wanna take up two hours of your day to day on the podcast, so I'm not gonna chat with those to uh, um, anymore today.

[00:26:09] But I do wanna talk a little bit about what Common. Things hold women back. When it comes to starting like a program, like a strength training program or a, a nutrition coaching or a, a wellness program, number one is fear. I think as women, we can be fearful of maybe injuring ourselves, oh, I don't wanna lift weights because I'm afraid I'm gonna hurt my back or hurt my knee or hurt my hip.

[00:26:35] And that can be a fear of judgment. Like it can be challenging if you don't feel like you know what you're doing to go into the gym and, um, you know, like pick up dumbbells or, or get on a machine. You're like, gosh, what if I look silly? I mean, what will I don't, what if I don't know what I'm doing? You know, I'm gonna look goofy.

[00:26:53] Especially when you got all these, these big old, you know, dudes there who are lifting really heavy and they're [00:27:00] looking at you like you don't really belong. Um, that can be, you know, fearful. And then you know that fear of failure of like, well, what if I start this, but then I, then I don't, you know, I fail.

[00:27:10] I don't do well. Next. Next issue that holds women back is time. We're always pushing it off. I hear this all the time. I'm gonna wait until after my vacation, or I'm gonna wait until after summer is over. I'm gonna wait until after the holidays are over or until white. Your life quiets down a little bit.

[00:27:33] Or I find what's funny is I'm gonna wait to start this program until after I lose 10 pounds or 20 pounds or 30 pounds. I find that one so funny because obviously, you know, this, this program would help you to attain that and help you to maintain that, right? Because when we're losing weight, we wanna make sure that we are doing strength training or else we're gonna lose muscle.

[00:27:56] And that is a whole other podcast episode. You know, I have done [00:28:00] all these, I've been through all this and, and I, I talk to a, a lot of women every single day who, uh, who. Tell me about some of these things that kind of keep them from, from really taking that first step forward. Number three is mindset. You know, one mindset is that, oh, I'm too old.

[00:28:21] It's too late for me. I can't start lifting weights. Now I am, you know, 50 or 60 or 70 years old, or I can't because I have bad knees or hips or shoulders or ankles. Or my favorite one is, and I think a lot of women say this, is that I should, I know all these things. I've done this before. I used to be an athlete in high school.

[00:28:44] I should be able to do this by myself. Right? It's kind of like, you know, when, you know New Year's resolutions, we're gonna buy that gym membership or that treadmill or that elliptical, thinking that that alone will motivate us to work out. [00:29:00] Or, you know, and the next thing we know it's, we're using it as a closed drying rack, or we're, we're putting it onto Facebook marketplace and selling it.

[00:29:11] And the last thing that holds many women back is that they don't have the support. They don't have anyone in their corner, anyone. Is that? Who is that positive support to keep pushing them forward? And who won't? Sa SA sabotage their efforts. And I'm not saying somebody's doing that on purpose, but it can be as simple as, you know, you, you're really trying to make healthy and good choices, and maybe you're trying to decrease the amount of time, you know, amount of times that you're ordering food out or ordering DoorDash in or something like that.

[00:29:42] You know, and your husband's like, I'm gonna get pizza. You know that. It's hard to say no to that. So it's important to surround ourselves with people who are, you know, positive and, and find ways. To, um, not that we can get rid of the husband, right, but find ways to, to keep [00:30:00] ourselves on track when those kind of things kind of step into our way, you know, what do you think, what do you think, um, holds you back?

[00:30:09] You know, what, what is keeping you from being consistent with an exercise or a nutrition regimen? Think about that for a sec. Typically the missing length isn't a single magic exercise that you should be doing. You do this special sit up or crunch, or a magic pill. I know you're gonna be like, oh, but GLP ones, they're the magic pill, right?

[00:30:36] Or one food that you should eliminate, or the opposite, eat tons of. It's not a quick and easy solution. First of all, it's consistency with everything. You don't need to do it perfectly. I'm not saying consistency means that I'm doing this six days a week every single day, because you are gonna have good weeks and bad [00:31:00] weeks.

[00:31:00] But the key is that you keep doing it regardless of how it looks and even when it's not perfect. Okay. The next piece of that, that, uh, formula is sticking with that progressive plan. Moving forward with continuing to challenge your muscles. Like we said, with progressive overload, even if it makes you a little sore the next day, that's okay.

[00:31:22] Some women are like, oh, I'm sore. I hate this. I always just like, that's just your muscles telling you that you did something, that you challenge them, that you work them. Obviously, we don't wanna let a pain or anything, but sometimes those muscles, they are gonna get a little sore when they're doing new things, and that's okay.

[00:31:38] That's just like you worked hard. Good job. And then lastly, it's having that positive, that motivating support to keep you going. When life gets busy or you feel discouraged, you need something that's gonna help to keep you moving forward. When, when you alone are not enough to be like, I gotta do this, let's go.

[00:31:56] Right. It. I mean, how many times have you started that [00:32:00] diet or that plan or that program? Only to quit because life gets too busy or things happen, you know, trips or vacation or illness or birthdays or parties or whatever. Most women quit just as their body is about to change. So having kind of that plan and that accountability is what keeps us moving forward.

[00:32:17] And I, I'm sorry. I know this is not sexy. I know this is not like, oh, here's this, this beautiful little diet that's gonna be so exciting and fun. Or Here is this workout program that you're just gonna love from the very beginning and you're never gonna wanna stop. No, it's, it takes time and it takes repetition and it takes, it takes consistency to build those habits.

[00:32:38] But I, you will get to where you enjoy the results. And you enjoy how I have more energy when I workout, or it's my mental health therapy. I know that it is for me, like, and I'm sitting at the computer for hours of a day. I'm just like, okay, I have had enough. I need to get in a workout. It's amazing how it can [00:33:00] just change your whole view.

[00:33:02] So we need to change our views to that long term. This is not a short term quick fix. This is the long term. This is the long haul. This is, this is what we're gonna do in order to age well and in order to be as active as possible for as long as possible in our lives. So how can we stay on track for the long term?

[00:33:23] Well repetitions. You know, don't quit when you get sidetracked. I love the book by James Clear, called Atomic Habits. If you have a chance, I will put it in my, in my, uh, link, in my show notes, but it's one of my favorite books. But he talks about how to make positive changes easy and make negative habits difficult.

[00:33:45] Okay, so set yourself up for success. If there's a habit that you wanna do, how can you make it easier for you? How can you make it more likely that you're gonna do it? Okay, next, focus on the long term. [00:34:00] Focus on, you know, rather than focusing on the scale, focus on your strength, your energy. The Sta the scale is not gonna show the muscle or the strength or the endurance that you've gained.

[00:34:10] It's, it won't show how you've lowered your cholesterol or your blood pressure, or your blood sugars. These are the things that matter and will carry you much further than that number on the scale. And I promise, if fat loss is your goal, it will come with consistency with repetitions. And, and with these changes, when you're not obsessing about your daily weight weights or the daily scale, you know, or if it's moving or not, next is celebrating every win.

[00:34:40] Whether it's lifting heavier, whether you have a little less joint pain, maybe it's higher energy levels, maybe it's better endurance. These are all wins. Write 'em down, journal 'em, post 'em somewhere you can see 'em so that you can remember these positives. Next, anchor your workouts and your [00:35:00] nutrition, these positive nutrition habits, anchor them into your routine.

[00:35:03] Schedule them. So maybe if exercise you've, you've committed to strength training three days a week. Put it on your calendar. Is it Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays that you're gonna do it in the morning before you go to work? Okay. Put it on your calendar and follow through with it. Okay. Don't just make these haphazard like I'm gonna exercise three days a week.

[00:35:23] 'cause the next thing you know it's gonna be Sunday and you've gotten in one, one workout during the week. Okay? And then also surround yourself with people who get it. Surround yourself with that positive energy. Other people with the same goals. Goals. There's a quote that says we rise or fall to the level of the people we surround ourselves with.

[00:35:48] It is so true. If you think about it, an alcoholic, they typically are gonna tell you, um, you're not gonna be able to hang around with, with your friends who also have drinking issues, who the people that you have been [00:36:00] sitting at the bar with and drinking yourselves, you know, drinking with, because they're gonna pull you down with them, you know, they're gonna trigger, they're gonna trigger your addiction.

[00:36:11] So you need to surround yourself with people who are okay with not drinking. Who know how to enjoy themselves without alcohol. Positive, positive support. Right? Or if you think about like CrossFit gyms, why, you know, why is everybody just like so fit and, and loving what they're doing? Because they have this community of people who are like motivating them and supporting them and pushing them to challenge themselves.

[00:36:42] It's, it's awesome. Right? Um, this is about making your health non-negotiable. So before I wrap up, I wanna talk a little bit about the, my, my Signature program that I've been talking about. Um, uh, I've mentioned a couple times [00:37:00] because this episode is dropping on September 25th and the, the fit after 50 plus bootcamp is actually starting on September 29th.

[00:37:09] It, this program, if, if, if this podcast episode clicked with you and if you were like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I need to get more consistent and I wanna, I wanna really start a strength training program that's gonna work for me, that's gonna be more, um, effective. Right. So I actually see results from it. The fit after 50 plus program, it's, it's, it would be perfect for you as long as you don't have any kind of.

[00:37:38] Issues that maybe a doctor has told you you shouldn't be doing strength training, right? Because it isn't gonna be a a one-on-one training session with me. It is gonna be a little bit more independent, but we will have. Personalized nutrition guidance. I'm a dietician with 30 plus years experience, so we are gonna have weekly live coaching calls where we're gonna [00:38:00] talk nutrition, health, lifestyle, and those exercises.

[00:38:04] Not to mention you're gonna be able to jump in the trainer eyes Chat anytime you have questions about any specific exercises. Maybe you want regressions. Maybe you're like, I can't do this one. What else could I do? You would get that right and you're gonna get four strength workouts per week on my Special Trainer Eyes app.

[00:38:22] So it's a phone app, so you can take your workouts with you wherever and whenever you go. And like I kept, I, I've been talking about in this podcast, you're gonna have support from other women going through the exact same thing as you. Right. We talked about how important that support is, how, how it will help to keep you on track and other women who, who have those same goals as you do.

[00:38:45] And are pushing you forward, helping to motivate you. So I will put the, drop the link in the show notes if that's something you wanna check out, if you wanna learn more about it, if you're interested, please. Um, yeah, check it out. Let me know if you have any questions. I'm more than happy to, uh, [00:39:00] to answer those.

[00:39:01] If you wanna reach out, um, you can send me an email at info@strengthennutrition.com or um. Message me on Instagram or Facebook at Strengthen Nutrition llc. So, uh, the key takeaways I want you to get from this podcast is just that cardio alone is not enough. Okay? Strength training with progressive overload.

[00:39:26] It's our best tool, and consistency is how we win over the long term. Okay? We can't, we can't out train a poor diet, so nutrition is a very important piece as well. So if you've been spinning your wheels, know this, your body is capable of change at any age. So if you're ready for a plan that's structured for women over 50 that uses this exact, you know, strength framework that I was telling you guys about and comes with that support to stick with it, um, I'd love for you to check out my Fit after 50 bootcamp starting here just in a few days.

[00:39:59] [00:40:00] And I'd love to see you in there. So check out the link in the show notes for all the details. And I want you to remember this is about progress over perfection. Okay, we're in this for the long haul and this is your season of strength. Have a fantastic day.