The Ultimate Fitness Guide for Women Over 40 to Stay Fit

If you want to enjoy your health as you age as a woman, you are at the right place. Many women just focus on looking young and beautiful without targeting to remain strong and energetic throughout their old age. But they need an ultimate fitness guide for women to stay fit, strong and flexible as they age.

Now, if you want to maintain fitness and flexibility through your life’s different stages, let’s see areas you should target in your workout routine:

As you age, it is important to aim to strengthen and maintain the health of your joints. You should follow a fitness guide for women for bone density, hormones balance, and your overall well-being. So, this guide will help you to know about the changes that occur in your body as you become old. Also, you will learn how to move from one stage to another in good health without any fear of weakness. So, you will avoid some pains or changes that women experience as they approach old age.

It is important for you to know that as you become old, your body gradually go through different changes. These changes may occur in your hormones, bones, joints and physical appearance. Also, you may have imbalance in your hormones, your bone density may reduce, and your joints may start aching. Guess what! You can maintain your usual bone health status if you begin and remain active. You heard me right! Regular workouts with this fitness guide for women will help you stay strong and healthy. So, it will also reduce your risk of injuries, and improve your quality of life.

There are so many benefits women get when they are active as they age. Women who exercise regularly have a significantly lower risk of an early death or fatal cardiovascular event than men who exercise regularly. This is true whether they do same amount of physical activity, or even when women put in less effort they benefit more (National Institutes of Health, 2024). These benefits are easier to achieve when they use an appropriate fitness guide for women.

It is important to follow a fitness guide for women that will ensure you maintain a workout routine. According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (2024) physical activity is very important as women get older. They further state that staying active can help:

• Lower your risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancer and reduce your weight
• Improve your strength and balance so you can prevent injuries and stay independent
• Lower your pain, help your bone strength and make your joint stable, mobile and flexible
• Boost your mood and mental clarity
• Improve symptoms of anxiety or depression
• Improve your ability to think, learn, and make decisions

As women get old, they experience changes in their hormones especially during and after menopause. During this period the level of some hormones in your body such as oestrogen reduce. And because of this, your muscle mass, bone density, and even energy levels are affected. But you should not worry, because we are here to help you understand how these changes occur. So, you will understand how you can adjust your fitness routine to make your body to remain strong and healthy (London Hormone Clinic, 2023).

• Muscle Mass: Muscles in your body regularly need repair which intake of foods rich in proteins can provide. It is not only protein that is necessary for this action, but oestrogen also plays a role in muscle repair. So, as you age oestrogen reduces which predispose you to the risk of sarcopenia (muscle loss) more than in men. Therefore, you may find it more difficult to maintain your muscle strength. To help you handle this situation, I suggest you should consider doing strength training exercise 3 times every week (London Hormone Clinic, 2023).

• Bone Density: Reduction in the level of oestrogen as women get old cause their bone density to begin to decrease naturally. This will predispose them to risk of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis more than in men. This may happen, but there is a way out, so let us see what women can do to reduce the effect of hormonal changes on them (London Hormone Clinic, 2023).

• Consider Strength Training: Add Strength Training sessions to your workout routines. Try to target on exercises such as squats, lunges, and weightlifting 2-3 times every week. These will maintain your muscle mass and support bones strength (London Hormone Clinic, 2023).
• Consider Calcium and Vitamin D: Women should consume some nutrients such as Calcium and Vitamin D during their menopausal period. These diets will help them remain healthy and maintain their bone health. Also, they can get calcium from dairy or leafy greens, while sunlight and fortified foods provide vitamin D.
• Maintain Quality Sleep: Sleep is one of the natural ways women need to maintain their hormonal balance and recovery. You should have a bedtime routine that will help, even if it is listening to a calming music. Also, you can read an interesting book or just stretch your Body.

Bone density loss usually takes place as people are aging, which should not result in bones being fragile (osteoporosis). Osteoporosis is a disease that is more common in women than in men which makes bones fragile and weak. As a result, women are at high risk of fractures (broken bones). People with osteoporosis can experience a fracture even as they go about their daily activities. This may ocour with a small fall from standing height which should not occur to a healthy bone (International Osteoporosis Foundation, 2020).

It is important to know that there is something you can do to improve your bone density and prevent this situation. Some fitness routines like weight-bearing workouts can stimulate bone growth and make bones strong and resilient during this period. So, women who are at a higher risk of osteoporosis as they get old will benefit well from this kind of exercise. Also, applying a top fitness guide for women will make duilding and maintaining your bone density easier.

• Cardiovascular workouts: These include low-impact activities that strengthen bones such as walking, hiking, and dancing.
• Strength Training exercises: This is also known as resistance exercises which involve the use of weights, resistance bands, or even your own body weight to build and maintain your bone density.
• Balance and Core Exercises: You can add exercises like tai chi, yoga, or even standing on one leg to improve you balance and reduce risk of falls. These kinds of exercises help to protect bones by making you stable on ground and prevent falls.
• Resistance Exercises: Women who add resistance to their routine, their muscles release calcium, magnesium, and other minerals that strengthen their bones. These exercises use mechanical resistance from weight-bearing, such as resistive bands or weights.
• Flexibility and Stretching Exercises: Flexibility and stretching are important to elongate the muscle fibres and make your joints flexible. There are many variations of these for the upper body and lower body, including the hamstrings and calf muscles, which can get very tight from sitting (Gaucher Foundation, 2024).

• Eat Vitamin D and Calcium-Rich Foods: Some foods that are rich in calcium include dairy products, almonds, tofu, and leafy greens like kale and broccoli. These are very useful for women who are over 40 years to maintain the health of their bones. Also, for your bone health, ensure that your diet is high in calcium and vitamin D. These nutrients are naturally available in tuna, salmon, swordfish, egg yolks as well as in fortified milk, juices and cereals. You can also take calcium supplement if there is need for it (Dunkin, 2023).
• Remember to take Vitamin K and Magnesium: Vitamin K can be found in number of leafy green vegetables whereas nuts and seeds are rich in magnesium. These nutrients support your bone health and help calcium to work well to maintain your bone density as you age.

Everybody’s joint is at risk of being painful or immobile as we become old. This Joint’s stiffness or pain is usually caused by wear and tear in cartilages, inflammation, or previous injuries around joints. So, how can women maintain the health and fitness of their joint, since they may even be more at risk? Therefore, I suggest you stay active with joint-friendly exercises to keep your joints healthier, reduce pain, and improve your range of motion.

• Low-Impact Cardiovascular Exercises: These involve exercises such as Swimming, cycling and rowing which can help the health of your heart. Also, they can improve your joints’ flexibility without putting extra strain on them.
• Flexibility Exercises: Your joint can benefit from gentle yoga or stretching routines to improve your joint mobility and reduce stiffness.
• Strengthen the Muscles Around Joints: You can target to make muscles around your knees, hips, and shoulders to be stronger by doing some workouts. So, focus on those that build these muscles and make them flexible. Also note that strong muscles will help to protect and stabilize your joints, and you will be happier later (Gaucher Foundation, 2024).

• Try To Drink Enough Fluid: If you want your bones and joints to remain health and fit you must develop the habit of drinking a lot of water. So, drinking enough water will help to keep joints lubricated and functioning well because cartilage is mainly water (American Heart Association, 2024).
• Consider Taking Omega-3s: Omega-3 fatty acids which are very important when it comes to maintaining fitness (found in fish oil) can reduce inflammation and improve your joint health.

It is necessary that women prevent falls and improve their mobility as they age. Achieving this at this period is not always easy. Well, there are things you can do to be more flexible and balanced. These may include regular stretching or yoga exercise which can keep your muscles and joints to be flexible. So, these will make your day-to-day activities easier and safer.

• Yoga Exercise: Yoga Exercise involves the combination of flexibility and balance and can help women to age gracefully. It includes positions like the downward-facing dog and tree pose to enhance strength and flexibility. So, I suggest that you do most of the different positionings to achieve result.
• Tai Chi Exercise: This is one of the flexibility exercises for women over 50. And is a type of exercise that is slow but can improve your balance and flexibility and enhance your mental focus if it is practised well (British Heart Foundation, 2021).
• Dynamic Stretching Exercise: When doing this exercise, you need to stretch your arms, legs, and back with gentle, controlled movements to keep your body limber for some time. Studies have shown that this kind of stretching exercise can improve women’s flexibility and balance (Gaucher Foundation, 2024).

• You need to warm yourself up first: Always warm yourself up before doing stretching exercise to avoid injury, because this will make you ready.
• Hold Each Stretch: For optimal results, you should hold each stretch for 20-30 seconds without bouncing. When you continue to practice these stretching routines for women for some time you will gain balance and flexibility

To stay active and motivated as a woman over 50 is not always easy. But this should not discourage you from maintaining a fitness routine. One important thing you can do to remain active is to look for workout programs you really enjoy. So, you should not allow your age to limit your options. Therefore, test some of them to know which one is best for you. Experiment with new fun exercises to find what makes you feel strong, happy, and motivated.

• Join a Workout Group: If you want to always be motivated, you may need to exercise with friends or in a fitness group.These can make your workouts fun and enjoyable. You can look for gyms that offer senior fitness classes for women over 40 that are low impact yet effective (Neal, 2020).
• Engage in Outdoor Activities: Consider some outdoor activities because they help you to stay active and connect with nature. These activities may include hiking, kayaking, or gardening, outdoor and others will make physical activities fun and interesting (Neal, 2020).
• Track Your Fitness Progress: It is possible to track your workout progress by using a fitness app or journal to track your progress. These tools will help you to see how much stronger, more flexible, and healthier you have become.

Women over 50 years should target to exercise at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity every week. This include taking a brisk walk in addition to two days of strength training exercise as your ability can handle. You may need to include flexibility and balance exercises if you are able.

Almost all women can build their muscles irrespective of their age though at different degrees. So, women above fifty years can still build and improve muscle tone, but they need to do strength training exercise regularly. Some experts recommend that you should begin with small weights and gradually add more as you get stronger. But using a fitness guide for women will make your workout journey fun and motivating.

There are so many supplements that can help you remain fit and healthy as you age. These include calcium, vitamin D, and magnesium for bone health, omega-3 fatty acids improve your joint and heart health. Also, they promote collagen production to support your skin elasticity and joint function. Also, you can achieve fitness and good health with some weight loss supplements such as PHIX Matured Hops Extract. So, you need an ultimate fitness guide for women to balance exercises and health supplements.

American Heart Association. (2024). Food as Fuel Before, During and After Workouts. Retrieved December 21, 2024, from https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/nutrition-basics/food-as-fuel-before-during-and-after-workouts

British Heart Foundation. (2021). Fun exercises: 6 ways to make exercise more enjoyable. Retrieved December 21, 2024, from https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/activity/fun-exercises

Dunkin, M.A. (2023). 10 Tips for Healthy Knees and Strong Joints as You Age. Retrieved December 21, 2024, from https://www.arthritis.org/health-wellness/healthy-living/managing-pain/joint-protection/tips-for-healthy-knees

Gaucher Foundation. (2024). How to Build Bone Density: 5 Bone-Strengthening Exercises. https://www.gaucherdisease.org/blog/how-to-build-bone-density/

International Osteoporosis Foundation (2020). Five essential strategies for bone care after 50. Retrieved November 20, 2024, from www.osteoporosis.foundation

London Hormone Clinic. (2023). Exercising through perimenopause & menopause. Retrieved December 21, 2024, from https://www.londonhormoneclinic.com/journal/exercising-through-perimenopause-amp-menopause

National Institutes of Health. (2024). Women may realize health benefits of regular exercise more than men. Retrieved December 21, 2024, from https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/women-may-realize-health-benefits-regular-exercise-more-men

Neal, C. (2020). How to make exercise fun. Retrieved December 21, 2024, from https://womensfitness.co.uk/fitness/how-to-make-exercise-fun/

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (2024). Stay Active as You Get Older: Quick Tips. Retrieved November 20, 2024, from https://odphp.health.gov/myhealthfinder/health-conditions/obesity/stay-active-you-get-older-quick-tips