It’s January, traditionally one of the busiest months of the year for gyms – and the season of new leggings, good intentions, and general abstinence from sweet treats and alcohol.
And inside one gym in Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow, twice a week, something unexpected is happening. While the music is pumping and barbells are clanking against the floor, there’s a new gym-goer in town.
For a couple of hours each week, it not exactly gym bunnies or testosterone-fuelled fellas taking to the
floor who are pumping weights and squatting with intention.
Project Woman fitness in Kilcoole run by Emma Kinsella. Pic: Michael Chester
‘Most of the women coming into my seniors classes have never set foot in a gym before,’ says personal trainer Emma Kinsella, who runs Project Woman, a fitness and strength-training business.
She trains women of all ages in her small group sessions, and decided to run mature ladies classes (55plus) last year.
Project woman fitness in Kilcoole run by Emma Kinsella. Pic: Michael Chester
‘I have women in their late 60s or 70s and within weeks, they’re squatting, deadlifting and moving with confidence,’ says mum-of-three Emma, who spent years working in a pharmacy before discovering the impact of lifting weights herself by strength training when her youngest child was ten months old.
‘It just changed me physically and mentally,’ says Emma, who is also in her fourth year of psychotherapy training. ‘Yes my shape changed but so did my life – and I finally had head space for myself.’
Her own business came about through her work with strength training clients at Project Man, run by personal trainer and coach Tiernan Dillon, at which men would ask if there was a similar service available for their other halves.
Her inspiration to embark on silver strength training came from her own mum, 72-year-old Mary Irvine, after she underwent a hip replacement.
Project woman fitness in Kilcoole run by Emma Kinsella. Pic: Michael Chester
‘There was nothing between physiotherapy and just being told to do exercises at home,’ she says. ‘It’s almost like people are left to fend for themselves when it comes to movement and fitness at that point.
‘So when she got the all-clear to train, I started doing weight training with her in the gym and I thought, wouldn’t it be lovely if she had some friends in here? I bet there are people who would love to strength train but have never set foot in a gym.’
Fast forward a year later, and Mary is training regularly with other ladies, and Emma has seen a huge demand for her over-60s training, to the point where she has put on extra classes and has waiting lists for her next block.
Project woman fitness in Kilcoole run by Emma Kinsella. Pic: Michael Chester
But before anyone even picks up a dumbbell, Emma meets them one-to-one for a gentle warm-up – and a sneaky assessment.
‘I’m watching how they walk in the door, how they shake my hand, how they move,’ she says. Her groups are deliberately small – no more than six people – and initially, she never leaves her client’s side, to ensure safety and efficacy.
‘When they get stronger and confident in the gym, that can mirror their experience in real life,’ she says.
The physical benefits of strength training in later life are well documented, and Emma is deeply pragmatic in her approach.
Project woman fitness in Kilcoole run by Emma Kinsella. Pic: Michael Chester
‘The ability to squat is huge,’ she says. ‘How that plays out as you get older is simple – in its most basic sense, you need to be able to get up and down from a chair or a toilet unaided.’
As such, Emma translates gym sessions into the everyday.
Farmer’s carries – when you hold weights by your side and walk – becomes carrying shopping from the car. Overhead presses mean lifting Christmas decorations into the attic.
One of her favourite benchmarks is a Ryanair cabin bag.
‘If they seem intimidated to begin with, I tell them it’s 20kg,’ she laughs. ‘Some of them are lifting 35kg. I say, you can carry two Ryanair bags and you want to do that for as long as you can so there’s not a problem to you.’
Mary, Emma’s mother, professes that she was always a sporty person but managed to avoid setting foot inside a gym until after her hip replacement at the age of 71.
‘I knew I had to build up my strength and if I’m honest, I had been ‘I was thinking about how difficult it had become to ladder bend down to get something off the shelf in lights the supermarket and get back up again,’ hous’ she admits. ‘What would that look like in five a week’ years? Plus I am grandmother, I wanted to be able to keep up with my grandkids.’
The progress was gradual but undeniable, Mary says, adding that today, she can ‘squat much lower’ and ‘carry heavier weights’.
Project woman fitness in Kilcoole run by Emma Kinsella. Pic: Michael Chester
‘I was up a ladder taking the Christmas lights off the house this week,’ she says proudly, adding up that beyond mobility, the mental bentaking efits continue to surprise her.
‘It gives me an off the hour to myself,’ she says. ‘I come home with this renewed energy. You realise everyone has their own problems – you’re not alone. ‘Sometimes when you’re older and indoors a lot you can forget that.’
In an age of TikTok trends and aesthetic-driven fitness, Emma believes women in their 60s and 70s have been largely overlooked in health conversations, something which she is aiming to change. ‘We talk about menopause now, which is great,’ she says. ‘But this generation can be invisible.
Project woman fitness in Kilcoole run by Emma Kinsella. Pic: Michael Chester
‘People get siloed into thinking, I’m ageing, I’m not able. But we can see that they are able. Ageing does not mean becoming fragile and that’s a really important message to get out there – our fitness goals change as we age,’ says Emma.
To get you going, Emma has compiled a series of strength exercises that you can start off with – from the comfort of your own home…
Follow Emma on Instagram @_projectwoman_ and @_projectman_ 6