Wait! Before you begin working out as a middle-aged woman, read this!

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This blog post will assist in helping to create workout routines for women over 50 who are ready to build a strong, sustainable exercise routine without the frustration of injuries or burnout. I’ll walk you through the essential phases of training for women 50 and beyond—why they matter, how they work together, and how following them will help you get stronger, move better, and feel your best for life. No more starting over. No more setbacks. Just a clear, effective path to lasting strength and cardio, with a fitness routine that produces real results.

From Start to Strong: Your Essential Phases of Fitness Training

I’ve seen it time and time again—women diving headfirst into a new exercise routine, pushing too hard, too fast, only to end up injured, frustrated, and right back where they started. It becomes an endless cycle of excitement, pain, and giving up.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

I’m here to help you break that cycle for good by showing you the exact steps to build a sustainable, effective workout routine that includes proper strength training exercises and cardiovascular exercises that not only deliver results but becomes a lifelong habit.

Follow each phase in order and let’s do this the right way—strong, steady, and injury-free.

But first, it’s important to understand that the phases of training are smaller, structured progressions that fit within larger training blocks, or levels, each designed to build on the previous one for steady, safe improvements within the physical activity guidelines.

Each stage during the different phases of training has a designated purpose that provides you with a systematic approach for progressing toward your workout goals, while addressing specific needs, and keeping safety as a top priority.

Here are the 3 different stages of training we’ll be chatting about over the next few blog posts:

Stabilization

Strength

Power

  • Phase 5: Power – Post coming soon!

Now, let’s lay down the foundation to your exercise journey that’ll set you up for success!

Your exercise program (multiple, consistent and specific workouts completed in a set time) will need to address all of the components of physical fitness using safe and effective strength training strategies and cardiovascular exercise techniques. This can include, but is certainly not limited to, training in all 3 planes of motion, performing strength exercises that improve joint stability, increase tendon and ligament strength, and stabilize the muscles of the hips, upper and lower back, and the neck, as well as proper breathing techniques during training.

And to note, training in all 3 planes of motion simply means this:

We live in a 3D world, we need to make sure our body can move in all the ways it’s meant to, with full range of motion, without feeling pain. But unfortunately, many exercise programs and fitness equipment are often based on unsound training principles and guidelines, such as using unsafe movement patterns in the upper body and lower body, improper education when it comes to exercise form and execution, and an extreme focus to sell products to women that won’t benefit from the product, or even get injured, just to make the next sale.

Let’s look at it this way…

You’ve seen it before: You’re in the checkout line at the grocery store and the magazine on the shelf (mind you, this magazine is next to the candy bars – how backwards is that?) is screaming at you to try this ‘diet’ or that ‘fitness approach’ for long-lasting, promising results that will change the way you look at physical activity forever, giving you endless happiness.

No. No, this one page in the magazine will not change your life, sorry!

They’re selling you a feeling. They’re telling you how you should look, think, feel, and act…not giving you actual, sustainable approaches that will move you closer to your goals. And in all honesty, the diet industry is just really good at marketing to women! 

So, vital to safe and effective strength training programs, is to use proper progression.

This includes variables such as sets, repetitions, rest periods, and load, whether you’re using a fitness app, doing a home workout, or heading to your local Nike training club. We’ll dig deeper into the different phases of training in these next posts.

It’s important to know that the less conditioned our systems are, the higher the risk of injury.

For the majority of sedentary women, low to moderate intensity workouts, such as performing bodyweight exercises, is extremely safe and can be very effective. However, if the weight training or aerobic exercise training intensity is too high initially, then you will experience excessive overload, which may lead to injury. In the first 6 weeks of one study that focused on training sedentary women, there was a 50 – 90% injury rate.

Overtraining injuries can occur even though exercise training programs are specifically designed to minimize the risk of injury.

So, it’s important to learn and progress your resistance training and aerobic activity routines with a personal trainer or a credible source. Avoid the ‘get fit over-night’ challenges, the ‘21 days of cardio’ quick fixes, or the ‘get 6 pack abs in 3 minutes’ type of resources.

Again, exercise programs need to address all of the components of health-related physical fitness, such as lifting weights, flexibility exercises, increasing core muscles, balance exercises, cardio, and understanding your maximum heart rate using safe and effective training principles. These challenges, trends, or latest fads are not fit for most women, especially if you’re just beginning a workout routine.

If you’ve been consistent with a workout routine for 6+ months and are experiencing no injuries, challenges can be a great way to add to what you’re already doing to build muscle, staying motivated, help reach your fitness goal faster, and assist in moving your body more each day. Please, I repeat… please do not solely rely on challenges to ‘get fit’.

Next, I’m going to get into the definition of ‘deconditioned’, as this term is important to know.

Am I Out of Shape or Deconditioned?

Being out of shape is often how women describe feeling sluggish, having weak muscle strength, or like they’ve lost their fitness level. It’s more of a general term people use when they feel like they aren’t as active, strong, or fit as they used to be.

Being deconditioned, on the other hand, is a more specific term that refers to the actual physiological changes that happen in the body when you’re not consistently active. Deconditioned is a state of lost physical fitness, which may include muscle imbalances, decreased flexibility, a lack of core and joint stability, and an increase in body weight.

This does not simply mean a person is out of breath when climbing a flight of stairs or that they are overweight. It’s again, when a person has muscle imbalances, decreased flexibility, and lack of core and joint stability. The good news is that being deconditioned is not permanent!

By following the stages of training in order that I’m going to give you, you can rebuild strength, mobility, and energy—no matter your age!

Did you know that…

  • Most training, or exercise, programs out there do not take the 50% of the female population that are deconditioned or their age into consideration when preparing or selling a training program.
  • Most training programs do not emphasize multiplanar movements, or movements in all directions, similar to the 3 planes of motion.
  • Most training programs do not focus on full muscle actions, such as concentric acceleration (when a muscle is activated and needs to lift a load), eccentric deceleration (decelerating, or absorbing the force of gravity or a load), and isometric stabilization (holding).
  • And most training programs do not focus on controlled safety and proper regression if the client is unable to perform an exercise with ideal posture and technique.

All of these dynamics seem to be missed with a majority of training programs that you see online, in a magazine, a person that took a weekend personal trainer course, passed and now advertises themself as ‘knowledgeable’, or unfortunately, even personal trainers can miss these dynamics. Focusing on these important variations in a training program will increase, enhance, and enrich your total environment…your total life, now and for years to come! 

Let’s Start Warming Up!

Now that we’ve gone over how extremely, and I mean extremely, important it is to focus on various dynamics for proper progression, regression, safety, and executions when it comes to an exercise program, I’ll walk you through the essential phases of training—why they matter, how they work together, and how following them will help you get stronger, increase muscle mass, move better, and feel your best for everyday life.

Please follow these phases in order!

They’re set up for you this way for a reason; to assist in proper muscle building that’ll create a foundation of a more efficient body that will lessen your limitations and injury rate.

Think of it this way, you wouldn’t build a house starting with the roof or appliances. No, you’d start with the foundation and work your way up. The same goes for your fitness journey and the order of these next training phases. Let’s dive in! Read the next blog post in this Phases series.

Click here to read Phase 1: Stabilization Training for Women 50+.

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