12 Essentials for a Successful At-Home Workout (Women Over 40)

Ready to ditch the gym commute and create a great workout space in your living room or basement? Whether you're a seasoned fitness enthusiast or just starting your strength training journey, working out at home doesn't have to mean compromising on results. Today we're diving into 12 game-changing essentials that will set you up for at-home workout success – no fancy equipment required!

Topics discussed today:

1.  Understanding Your Motivation 

2. The Power of Starting Small

3. Tips for Setting Up Your Space 

4.  Planning for Real Life (aka, things not going to plan!)

5.  Workout Essentials 

6.  Helpful Mindset Shifts

Links Discussed

12-Minute Full Body Workout (YouTube Video)

What 'Lifting Heavy' Really Means for Women Over 40

How to Lift Heavier Without Heavier Weights

Get on the Strong and Vibrant at Home waitlist

Learn more about Strong and Vibrant at Home

Or watch the Strong and Vibrant at Home info video

Nourished Notes Bi-Weekly Newsletter

30+ Non-Gym Ways to Improve Your Health (free download)

Connect with Amy:
GracedHealth.com
Instagram: @GracedHealth
YouTube: @AmyConnell

Transcript

Graced Health Podcast for Christian Women Over 40

Host: Amy Connell

12 Essentials for a Successful At-Home Workout (Women Over 40)

You've been hearing everybody say, "Okay, you've got to strength train." Now you're ready to start strength training, but you want to do it at home. Today I am giving you 12 essentials on creating an at-home workout that will set you up for success and stick with you for a while. Stick around.

I will be having an episode air in the next several weeks with a colleague of mine, another personal trainer, and we're going to be discussing some of the ways that our training has changed over the last decade. She and I are practically the same age, and I have to give a little spoiler alert. One of those things is I don't work out with a lot of people anymore, particularly in group sessions, and I'm working out primarily at home. From discussions I've been having with other women, they are doing this as well.

Yes, a lot of women have their particular gyms that they like to go to—their communities there—and if that is you, I say go for it. I'm so happy for you. As you know, community is such an important part of our health, of our longevity, and I want to encourage you to keep doing that as long as it feels right to you.

But for the rest of us who just kind of want to get in, do our thing, and get out—and yes, that is me too—then working out at home seems to make some sense. However, just like with anything else, I think that there are some important things that we need to set into place to ensure our success.

Today I want to give you 12 things, and I promise it's not super overwhelming, but 12 things to consider when you are working out at home, whether or not you are just now starting because the world is telling you to strength train and lift heavy and do all the things. And if that "lift heavy" thing sounds kind of confusing and overwhelming to you, be sure to listen to my episode from two weeks ago that is entitled "What Lifting Heavy Means for Women Over 40." And then, of course, if you have your weights—if you have your tens and your fifteens and you are out-strengthening them (I know that's not a word, but I'm going to call it that)—then you can listen to the episode after that, which is "How to Lift Heavier Without Heavier Weight."

So those two go right into this episode where I want to talk about creating a sustainable and successful at-home workout. So let's go ahead and jump into those.

Number one: Be realistic and understand your motivation. I can't speak for you, but I can tell you for me and my 50-year-old body, let me tell you what is not realistic. What is not realistic is having my 20-year-old body. What is not realistic is jumping into a workout without warming up, without doing anything, and expecting that it will just follow suit without complaining in terms of either injuries or strains or just being really, really sore the next day.

That may be similar for you, or maybe something similar for you is what's realistic is not saying that you're going to work out every day. That may not be the case. It may be that you say, "Okay, I can do three days a week, and that's it." So be realistic in that. At the same time, I want you to understand your motivation behind why you are wanting to work out and why you are wanting to strength train.

If you're just strength training because the internet is telling you to strength train, then I want you to kind of dig deeper. Let's think about why that is. I was talking with a girlfriend of mine, and her mom is in her mid-seventies and she has been starting to increase her activity, increase her strength training. She used to do it for a while and then she kind of pushed pause on it for a bit, and she's getting back into it. And she said, "Mom, I want to talk about what your motivation is for this. Like, why are you wanting to do this? Because I think that's important when you get to the point where you're like, 'Eh, I don't really feel like it anymore.'"

And her mom said something that when my friend relayed this to me, I went, "Oh, that's good." And this is what her mom said: "I want to be able to say yes to more things." She wants her body to follow where her energy and her heart and her mind is. Sometimes we kind of have to boss our body into place, and that is part of understanding our motivation.

Now, obviously bossing your body doesn't mean taking it through this "no pain, no gain"—you know that I'm not on board with that. But sometimes we have to understand our motivation, and I would say many times we have to understand our motivation in order to keep that going. So that's number one: be realistic and understand your motivation. If you cannot quickly identify what that is, I want you to pause this and give it some thought for a second, and my hope is that the motivation is beyond something aesthetic or externally focused. The motivation is inside us—that intrinsic motivation of what we want to be able to do.

As you know, my faith drives everything I do, and so my biggest motivation is I want to be able to do what I'm called to do. Whatever that is, I want to be able to have the energy and the focus and the drive to be able to do whatever God is asking me to do.

Number two: Start small and progress gradually. This is the bane of my existence in January. Every January I'm seeing all of this stuff come along and everybody is like, "I'm going all in and I'm doing this every day. All of the vegetables and everything. All of the water"—like whatever it is. You know what I'm talking about, and you may have been there in the past. I know I certainly was several, many years ago. Like, "Okay, it's January, holidays are done. Let's go." The problem is those really quick bursts of energy will fade out just as quickly if we don't have our motivation—like number one—and if we don't allow our body and our habits to get in sync with what we are wanting to do.

So start small. Again, that may mean just committing to yourself that you're only going to work out two to three times a week. Two to three times a week is still about a third of your week. So if you want to think about it that way, then yeah, let's get this movement in a third of your week, and then you can add on from there. You do not have to go all in all at once. Then once you're there, progress gradually. If you haven't listened to "What Lifting Heavy Means," please, please, please go back and listen to that because I walk you through the NASM OPT model. That's a lot of letters right in a row, I know, but this is the agency and the organization that I got certified through as a personal trainer, and they have what's called the Optimum Performance Training model.

It is why I chose to get my certification through NASM. I like it so much, and basically it is starting small and with lighter weights and going up there because you're working on stabilizing and strengthening the inside of your body out, which has an analogy for so many things, but I won't take your time with that. But let's just think about that inside by your heart and going out. Hmm. Think on that. Anyway, number two, that was start small and progress gradually.

Number three: Let's get more practical here. Schedule it in. Even if your schedule is going to be, "I'm getting up and within 30 minutes I'm getting in the gym," or "I am pulling out my weights" or something like that. Schedule it in. Put it in your calendar. Make a commitment to yourself. I don't know about you, but I am often the first person I am unreliable to. I will tell myself I'm going to do something, and then if it's not of the utmost importance or if nobody is counting on me—we'll talk about that in a second—then I'll be like, "Oh, that's okay. I don't really need to do it."

This week as I'm recording this, I have carved out as "grind time." I'm getting a lot of things done in this one particular week because my kids are off at school. My husband is out of town. He will be back by the time this comes out, so I'm not being unsafe, honey, don't worry. But I'm here by myself, and let me tell you, I am grinding, grinding, grinding, grinding. Also, I stepped back when I was planning this and thought, "Okay, what would make this a successful week?" And one of the things I knew would make it a successful week is what I call "be still time."

And that is just sitting—preferably outside by myself with God—just in the stillness. And that comes from Psalm 46:10 of "Be still and know I am God." And I love doing it. I believe in it. Also, it's the first thing to go. In fact, as I am recording this on a Tuesday afternoon, the week before this comes out, guess who has not had her be still time? Me. So I say this in that if we don't schedule it in—'cause no, it wasn't scheduled in, it's on my little habit tracker—but I'm the first person to be unreliable to. I don't—that's probably not a grammatically correct sentence, but I hope you know what I mean. So stay reliable to yourself and schedule in your workouts. And yes, I will get my be still time in by the time I go to bed today, because that's so important and that's what's successful to me.

If your day is going to be a strength day or it's going to be a workout day, and that's going to be successful to me, then schedule it in. Make a promise to yourself and don't break your own promise.

Number four: Create your space. If possible, and if space allows, have a corner, have a room, have a place where you know you're going to go to do your workouts. If you're pulling up a YouTube workout, then you want to have some sort of a screen nearby. If you have equipment that you're using—and we're going to talk about that next in number five—you want to have that nearby, but know where you are going. Don't make yourself make one more decision. We have enough decisions in a day. Just know exactly where you are going to go to work out.

It does not have to be a home gym. It really probably just needs to be about the size of a yoga mat. If you can get a yoga mat in a space, then you probably have enough space to work out. I mean, ideally, if it's a little bigger, that's great, but you don't need a ton of space. Just know where that space is so you can go there without thinking about it.

Number five: Organize your equipment. Depending on what you're doing with your workouts and if they're all at home, or maybe if you take some stuff somewhere and then you have it at home the other time, you may have equipment here or there and everywhere. I used to teach outdoor fitness classes, and so I truly did have equipment here, there, and everywhere. It was in the back of my car. It was in my garage. It was in my laundry room, which was kind of a dumping ground. It was in the room where we have a lot of gym equipment. I mean, it was here, there and everywhere, and I was not super organized with it. So learn from me, get all of your equipment in the right space.

I don't do that anymore, and so it's a little easier for me to keep it in the same place. But just know where you are going to have that, and that should hopefully complement your sacred workout space, which is number four. I have long called all of the different equipment that we use "toys"—like our workout toys. So those are your dumbbells and your resistance bands and your resistance ball or whatever it is that you have.

A lot of us who work out from home will start to accumulate different toys over the years and have a—let's just call it a toy box. Have a place where you know where all of your stuff goes. And again, that way is one less decision that you have to make, and you know that it's going to be there when it's time to work out.

Number six: Plan for life interruptions. Going back up to number one and being realistic. Things get interrupted. Life happens. Schedules and calendars get out of whack. When that happens, sometimes we just have to say, "Okay, this isn't going to happen today," but it's worth asking yourself the question, "Is there something small I can do just to keep the momentum going?" One of the things I have on YouTube is a 12-minute full body workout. You will get a decent workout in those 12 minutes.

Can you get in, do the 12 minutes, and then go on with your day? One thing I have talked about in our Strong and Vibrant at Home program is the "alternative minimum yes." And you remember that by AMY, and yes, Amy is my name. So this seems very self-focused and it's really not meant to be, but it's meant to be memorable. So hopefully if you get your regular plan and it's just knocked off schedule, then ask yourself, "What is my alternative minimum yes? What would Amy have me do?" Amy would say, "Okay, go for a 10-minute walk. Do that 12-minute full body workout, do an InstaCare." If you are a Strong and Vibrant at Home student, that's just five to eight minutes of gentle movement. Maybe you stretch, but what else can you do when life interrupts you? And I will put that 12-minute full body workout in the show notes. So if you want to go check that out, you can do that. P.S. A little like of that sure does help, so if you can do that, that'd be great.

Number seven: Have something to check off. There's a reason habit trackers are so popular. In fact, the last several planners I have used just for my own business purposes and content creation, they all have habit trackers in there because checking off that box—there's just, I don't understand the psychology of it, but it feels good and we like it. I am a big fan of both James Clear and John Acuff. They both talk about habit trackers and you don't have to have something super fancy. I actually have a coaching client—I do one-on-one coaching over the phone where we just talk about things. It's not necessarily just training—but I have a coaching client who just decided that she would get a yellow sticky note, put it next to her desktop, and she would just make a check mark every time she did her workouts. It doesn't have to be fancy, but having something to check off when you do that can add again to that momentum and give you that feeling of accomplishment.

Number eight: Find a partner or a community. If I'm totally honest, this is something that I am missing right now. As I mentioned earlier, I have not been doing group workouts like I used to, and I miss that. I miss the community. I miss seeing people, and I am exploring how I can integrate that into my life a bit more. I have had a few seasons over the last few years where I have had workout partners and they show up at 6:30 in the morning. So we are up and at 'em and we're doing it really early. That is super helpful. But at this very moment, at the time of this recording, I don't have anyone, and I do miss that.

I miss the accountability. I miss the companionship of working out, and that's something that I think is really helpful when you are doing something at home. So if you don't have a workout partner at home, that's understandable, but can you create that community somewhere else? Maybe you can find one on a Facebook group. I know in my neighborhood, which of course we're in one of these enormous master-planned communities, we have a women's 40 and over group that's been super helpful. So maybe if you're looking for some accountability partner, reach out on a Facebook group and ask. I wish I could tell you to come to my Facebook group, but I put a pause on that at the beginning of 2025, just because I needed to manage my energy and that was one place where I just needed to step back. So unfortunately I don't have something like that unless you were wanting to do the one-on-one coaching.

Or the other option is we do have optional strength partners in our Strong and Vibrant at Home program. That was one thing I heard a lot when I was speaking with people about developing this course, and that was an element that was enjoyed and appreciated by many of my students, which is the strength partners. And this was just an optional accountability partner and the students replied and said, "Yes, I want a partner," and I just kind of matched them up. And that's another great way to do that on Strong and Vibrant at Home.

Also within this program, we have weekly office hours, so that's a great place to come on and the office hours are live Zoom calls with me. You get a little encouragement, we'll have a focused discussion in this round, and you'll get to see other people. So it's kind of a way of showing up and saying, "Hey, not only am I showing up now, but I showed up on the times that I committed to myself that I wanted to do it."

But finding a partner in a community can be a wonderful help, especially on those times that you're like, "Eh, I don't feel like it." So give some consideration to finding one of those. And I'm just going to say this—I have no basis for saying this—but I don't think that should be your spouse because I don't know about you, but I don't want my husband micromanaging me. I don't want him holding me accountable. That is not the kind of relationship that—let's just say that's not the kind of relationship that encourages us to thrive. So find accountability in the person who you will receive a loving kick in the pants from. And for me, that's not my husband. You decide if that's right for you and your spouse, but for me, uh-uh, no thank you.

Number nine: Going back to some applicable stuff. I want you focusing on what I call functional movements. They're also called compound movements. These are movements where you really get the maximum benefit in the minimum amount of time. And you've heard me talk about these before. These are: you're pushing, you're pulling, squat, hinge, single leg. And then depending on which agency is talking about it, it's either rotational, which is going kind of across your body, or a carry. So those are kind of—those are the six functional movements. I call it six A and six B, because the rotational and carry depends on who is saying it. We'll say different things, but those push, pull, squat, hinge, single leg—those are the things that you will engage a lot of muscles and you will get a lot of benefit in doing those.

If you want to do your biceps curls and your tricep extensions, go for it. But please do that after you do your functional movements, because that is what is going to mimic your everyday movements, which will help you be stronger in the everyday movements that you want to be doing. So those functional movements, compound movements are really important. And yes, these are the movements that we do in Strong and Vibrant at Home, and all of our functional movements are done with resistance bands. I've talked about these on the last couple episodes, but these are resistance bands. Last time I checked on Amazon, they were $35. They are, in my opinion, the best bang for your buck when it comes to finding the right resistance. Do they do everything? No, but if you are just getting started, if you are in that strength stabilization, strength endurance phase that we talked about in "What Does Lifting Heavy Mean," they're great for you and you can utilize those for so many different functional movements.

Number 10: Watch your form, which I realize is hard to do if you're working out at home. If you have a full-length mirror, this is one way that you can kind of check if you know what to be looking for. And I understand without a trainer on hand, this can be a little tricky. That's why in Strong and Vibrant at Home, I talk a lot about what to do and what not to do and why in all of the movements that we do.

Get your form down properly with smaller resistance or less resistance before you progress up and go super heavy. I don't want you getting hurt, and I don't think you do either. So let's go smaller weights, smaller resistance until you are sure that your form is good.

If you're thinking, "Amy, but you're not telling me what proper form is," well, that's a really long episode with a lot of different movements, and that's one reason why I would guide you to Strong and Vibrant at Home, because then you can get the basics and you can go from there. After you complete the program, you're like, "Oh, okay, now I'm confident in what a squat should be, or if I can't do a squat, what the alternative should be until I can get there if it's possible to get there."

Number 11: Listen to your body. Look, every day is not going to be the same. We wake up with different energy levels every day. We have different sleep schedules, we have different stress points. We have different responsibilities put on us, and our body will respond on that. We are not at the point to just power through and go through it. You've got to respond and listen to your body, which means maybe instead of a regular workout, you bump that down to that 12-minute full body that I was talking about, or an InstaCare if you have Strong and Vibrant at Home, or stretching, but listening to your body and responding is very important. Yes, you might need to give yourself a kick in the pants, but that's only for you to decide. I have training clients where they'll show up, where they'll text me ahead of time and say, "I have been in major stress mode. We've gone through a lot recently. Can we just take it down a notch?" And we will, and they're not getting any less strong because they're taking an occasional day to take it down. And we do mobility, we do stretching. So that is always an option. I do like for you to continue that moment of movement, but your movement can be different than what you expected it to be.

Finally, number 12: Celebrate your non-scale victories. As an intuitive eating-focused program, I do believe that we can achieve health at every size through our movement, through our eating, and however our body shakes out from there, then that's where we are. Your scale goals may not be reflected with your health changes, so don't equate the scale to success.

Start noticing other things. Are you getting stronger? Are you sleeping better? How's your energy? How's your mood? All of these things that we sometimes take for granted and may not attribute to what we are doing in our movement. So don't forget that your movement can have wonderful effects elsewhere besides just your body size.

So those are the 12 essential things for having a successful at-home workout. Before we wrap up, I have two things. Number one, I have talked about my Strong and Vibrant at Home program a few times. The doors will be opening September 2nd, 2025, and closing on September 11th. If you are listening to this live as this comes out, that is next week. You can sign up to learn more information and to be sent information over at gracedhealth.com/waitlist, and I will be sure to get all information to you when that starts coming out. The bonuses—if you get my emails, then you will also get a discount code that you can use for this upcoming round. The program starts September 14th. It finishes November 1st. That is our seven weeks, and we will all be doing those together. So this is a wonderful opportunity for you to join in, get your community, get your form guidance, and have someone tell you exactly what to do in just the nicest way possible and the most grace-giving way possible. That's just how I operate.

You can learn more about it by going to gracedhealth.com/strong-and-vibrant. That'll give you all the information that you need to know. Secondly, I kind of give a shout out to those of you who have subscribed to the YouTube channel recently. I had this lifting heavy episode that I talked about a couple times just kind of blow up for me in my little small Graced Health corner of the world. I don't know, it just got some traction and there's a lot of new faces and a lot of new emails, and I'm really excited that you're here.

So I'm glad you're here. Thank you. If you are a new watcher/listener on YouTube, then I want you to comment down below and just say, "Hey, I'm here," and I would love to welcome you into this Graced Health space.

And finally, if you are thinking, "Huh, maybe I want to find an accountability partner. Maybe I want to find a strength partner," then what I encourage you to do is take this episode, send it to a friend, and say, "Won't you be my strength partner?" or something like that. Look, I grew up watching Mr. Rogers, so "Won't you be my neighbor? Won't you be my strength partner?" You get it. You get it. You've probably watched Mr. Rogers as well. Regardless, share the episode with someone who you think would find this valuable and helpful. Okay, that is all for today. Go out there and have a graced day.