![\"Elizabeth](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/\/4a63c828-3d96-4880-8a6a-bce1b26cd756.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIn May 2023 Elizabeth Davies went viral. \u201cTraining for my summer body?\u201d the barrister turned personal trainer posted on Instagram. \u201cF*** no! I\u2019m training for my old lady body. Dense bones. Strong muscles. A healthy heart. Good balance. Functional independence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her point \u2014 that fitness is a lifelong game rather than a quick fix to get beach-body ready \u2014 is one she feels is missed by an industry that often prioritises aesthetics over women\u2019s health. Retraining in her new career in her thirties, having not long had two of her three children, she was shocked by how little she knew about the effects of ageing. <\/p>\n
Sarcopenia, for instance, is the process whereby men and women over 30 lose 3-8 per cent of muscle mass per decade. Osteoporosis, which leaves our bones fragile and more easily broken, affects one in three women over 50 worldwide. \u201cI kept having these \u2018why does nobody tell you this?\u2019 moments,\u201d she writes in her new book, Training for Your Old Lady Body.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had this belief that the fitness industry was missing a trick,\u201d she says. Her mission now is to help women of all ages learn how to improve their strength, mobility and bone density and stay independent as they age \u2014 and to push back against some of the more insidious marketing-led gym myths about strength training. Here are some of the worst she\u2019d like us to watch out for. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Davies went viral after posting on Instagram that she was training for her \u201cold lady body\u201d, not her summer body<\/p>\n
ELLA CUCHET.<\/p>\n
Toning is different to building muscle<\/p>\n
The idea that heavy weights \u201cbulk\u201d and lighter ones \u201ctone\u201d is nonsense, Davies says. \u201cThere is only: gain muscle, lose muscle or maintain muscle.\u201d For other unhelpful euphemisms, see \u201csculpt\u201d and \u201cdefine\u201d. <\/p>\n
You\u2019ve left it too late<\/p>\n
\u201cI hear this a lot,\u201d Davies says with a sigh. \u201cAre you still alive? Then you haven\u2019t left it too late for strength training. Your body can adapt at any age.\u201d She recommends beginning at home with squats, sitting down on a chair and standing up again \u2014 10 to 15 times. If you feel good, you can increase how many sets you do. If not? Try a higher chair. Or pick three exercises \u2014 a squat, a glute bridge and a push-up against the wall \u2014 and repeat them two or three times a week, trying a little more each time if you can. \u201cThis isn\u2019t a six-week transformation,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s asking, \u2018What\u2019s the smallest thing I can do today that will move me forward a bit?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Decca Aitkenhead: Could I really get ripped at 53?<\/a><\/p>\n You will always enjoy it<\/p>\n Training isn\u2019t always about pleasure, Davies says. \u201cI like strength training but do I always enjoy it? No. Right now the gym is cold and I\u2019d much rather be under a blanket eating crisps. Yes, find something you can do for the long haul, but don\u2019t believe you\u2019re always going to want to.\u201d Instead she suggests learning to \u201cautoregulate\u201d \u2014 listening to your body and judging how much you can realistically do that day.<\/p>\n It\u2019s more likely to mean you \u201clack clarity\u201d, Davies says. \u201cWe go through life hoping that a moment will magically appear for us to go and move, but life\u2019s busy.\u201d When a client tells Davies they want to do four weekly sessions, she asks: when exactly? Usually, they can\u2019t answer. \u201cIf you can\u2019t be specific, you\u2019re overreaching. And overreaching is a recipe for feeling like a failure.\u201d She recommends scheduling \u2014 literally sitting down with your diary and writing down when you\u2019re going to train. \u201cIt\u2019s a helpful reality check and makes training more likely to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 Antonia Hoyle: The 30-minute kitchen workout that transformed my body<\/a><\/p>\n Women and men need to train differently<\/p>\n Davies says that despite all the \u201cfor women\u201d workouts that look like watered-down versions of men\u2019s training, \u201cthe principles of training for hypertrophy [building muscle], getting stronger or improving your aerobic capacity are the same whether you\u2019re male or female\u201d. What does make a difference to what you can manage, she says, is your starting point, your equipment and what you have going on in your life beyond the gym. \u201cIf I\u2019ve been up with a sick child, I\u2019m stressed with work or argued with my spouse, those things are going to impact my training whoever I am.\u201d <\/p>\n You need to do lots of different exercises<\/p>\n Davies says she sees people trying \u201ca load of random stuff. But with strength training we need to be purposeful about it. Sticking with the same movements is going to build your confidence and tissue resilience, which will make you less likely to get injured.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 Five weightlifting myths, debunked<\/a><\/p>\n Sync your menstrual cycle to your training<\/p>\n This is becoming more popular, Davies says \u2014 the suggestion might be that you should lift heavy in your follicular phase, between menstruation and ovulation, but stick to lighter weights in your luteal phase, the other half of the cycle leading up to menstruation. But what\u2019s really important, she says, is to focus on how you actually feel \u2014 your mood, your energy, your appetite. \u201cGoing into a session believing that you are going to be weak or that it\u2019s going to be a slog based on where you think you are in your menstrual cycle is potentially just creating another barrier to training.\u201d<\/p>\n Never miss a session<\/p>\n Don\u2019t panic, Davies says \u2014 consistency is not the same as perfection. \u201cIf you miss a session you haven\u2019t messed it up \u2014 that kind of thinking is stuck in the \u2018days and weeks\u2019 mentality, whereas I want people thinking in terms of decades,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s like paying into a pension pot.\u201d ![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/\/33177689-63bc-45cb-9836-8787945dcfa1.jpg\")
Training infrequently means that you lack motivation<\/p>\n
Training for Your Old Lady Body by Elizabeth Davies (Leap \u00a316.99) is out on Thursday. Buy at timesbookshop.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In May 2023 Elizabeth Davies went viral. \u201cTraining for my summer body?\u201d the barrister turned personal trainer posted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[49,48,407,84],"class_list":["post-537561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fitness","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}