So, a lot of ladies and new clients that used to be fit have had two children and work in high powered jobs, which usually means long hours and stress. The kids meant that they weren’t able to prioritise health, fitness, relaxation and shape.
Of the new clients I have had at this age range they do not want to be too bulky or injured. And yes, I agree with these women and for younger women in their 20s, yes you can look bulky from doing weights and yes, I do disagree with the industry and personal trainers that say you can’t look over muscled or bulky from weight training.
I totally disagree and from experience have seen women look over muscled and bulky in numerous commercial gyms and in the so-called best of the best PT studios (no names here as that’s not useful). I’ll just go for useful concepts of training to get the results you want for a lady in her 40s or younger women that want to be slim, healthy, balanced, athletic and in shape for the long term.
So, step 1) cardio and sprints. I absolutely disagree with personal trainers and concepts that say cardio is a waste of time and not productive or useful. I have to disagree. Am I saying do an hour of cardio with your client? No, I’m not. Am I saying it’s useful to do some cardio to progress your clients confidence in cardio, fitness, shape and ability to reduce body fat? Yes, absolutely I am!
Remember that I speak from experience here, not theory. So, I have trained women from 20 to 50 years old who went to PT studios complaining that even though they lost weight, slimmed, and got ripped… still they look too muscley.
The reason being they lost body fat from simply using weights and diet. What they didn’t do was rhythmic movement like running or walking hills or cycling or boxing or kickboxing or dancing for 5 minutes intervals. These get constant blood flow, bodyfat burning, fitness and heart and lung health through appropriate cardio and strength.
Another point I have to say is not every lady can do cardio due to back and neck injuries, so there are ways to slim without cardio but that’s another article and that would require weights, stretching and core.
So, here’s a general beginner workout to transform a new client of mine in her 40s, but like I said for any lady who wants to slim without looking too bulky, this was designed specifically for her regarding her injuries, fitness and biomechanics; her ability to move.
- 5 mins of running at comfortable pace and then 1 minute at 80 to 90 percent at her perceived effort
- Shoulder press for 13 reps
- Sprint at 90 percent of her perceived effort
- Overhead squats for 12 reps
- Sprint at 90 percent effort
- Leg curls x 15 reps with a stretch at the end of each rep
- Lateral raises x 12 reps
- Sprint at 95 percent
- Leg curls x 15 reps
- Lateral raises repeated
- Sit ups x 15
- Back extensions x 15 reps
- Reverse crunches x 15 reps
- Reverse crunches and hip thrusts x 15 reps
- Back extensions x 15 reps
- Sprint at 95 percent
- Reverse crunches with kick ups
- Sky divers
Any questions, please feel free to call me for coaching – I’m happy to help!