Optimising Fitness After 40: 5 Tips for Women

Hormonal changes that hit women over the age of 40 often cause significant weight gain and muscle loss. In addition to developing a tendency for gaining weight, various other physiological changes also make it difficult for them to shed fat, unfortunately. However, that doesn’t mean women can’t stay fit after forty by any means. All it means is that they need to adapt to their changing body and find out ways to optimize their fitness regime and that’s exactly what we are going to discuss next.

Fitness after 40

Stay Flexible

Our bodies tend to stiffen as we age and the more we let it, the higher our risk of having a stroke or a cardiac arrest. This is why a flexibility routine should be on top of your chart as it will keep your body and joints nimble, your blood flows normal and the risk of injuries to a minimum. Isolated stretches, yoga, and foam rolling work best when it comes to keeping the body flexible.

High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

It is more useful than traditional cardiovascular exercises and HIIT even helps in retaining muscle mass by boosting HGH production. If you hire a personal trainer, he/she should be able to devise a plan of appropriate intensity for you according to your physical condition, weight, age, etc. In general, though, you should limit your HIIT sessions to no more than three times a week.

Reduce Your Cardio Workouts

Contrary to popular belief, cardiovascular exercises can also be harmful to you when overdone, and especially after forty. For example, over-exhausting cardio routines have been linked to arrhythmia, thickening/stiffening of the cardiac muscle and arteries, coronary artery calcification and even unforeseen heart attacks. The bottom-line is that your cardio session should never exceed the half-an-hour to 45-minute mark.

Don’t Neglect Your Core

When you work on your core, you give your entire body stability. People with stronger cores are able to keep injuries at bay and it generally keeps away any postural problems that seem to affect us more and more as we age.

Walk

Walking is one of the most underrated exercises of all time and power walking is even better. You should have a goal of covering at least a few thousand steps (preferably 10,000) each day. It is surprising how beneficial this little exercise can be without taxing your body too much. Just remember to carry your bottle of water with you because staying hydrated during long walks is imperative.

It is important to remember that these tips are not only applicable if your age is more than forty. You can start following some of these even if your age is much below that, because the sooner the better. If you want a single place where all this information and a whole lot more is put together to design customized weight loss and fitness plans for women between 40 – 60 years of age, visit New Body Training and their roster of expert personal trainers in Coventry. The consultation is free and it should give you a preliminary idea of what to expect in the programme.