“I’ve never heard anyone explain it like that before.” That’s what a listener said after hearing me on the Stronger Than Your Boyfriend podcast recently. And for so many women over 40, that’s the moment; when they realize their experience with fitness hasn’t been personal failure… it’s been a mismatch.
In this post, we’re breaking down why fitness for women over 40 needs a complete reset and why the first step isn’t finding a better workout. It’s understanding the conversation we were never invited into.
Because here’s the truth:
We’ve All Been Training In Someone Else’s Body
If you played sports, went to the gym, or followed a structured training plan in your teens or twenties, odds are it was built for a man. Most fitness programs were.
Even today, exercise science remains male-dominated. A 2023 review in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that women make up only 36.3% of participants in exercise physiology research—and only 30.9% of authors in the field are women. So it’s not just that we were handed outdated training plans. It’s that we were left out of the conversation entirely. And when our bodies started to change? We were told to double down. Train harder. Eat less. Push through.
But what if the problem isn’t you? What if the advice never fit the body you’re in now? This is the shift that’s happening in real time; and it’s why I do the work I do.
This isn’t about finding the perfect workout plan. It’s about creating a space where women can stop second-guessing themselves and start asking better questions.
Questions like:
- Why does recovery feel so much harder now?
- Is this fatigue hormonal or just overtraining?
- What actually supports my energy, strength, and sanity?
Because women in their 40s aren’t failing. They’re navigating a physiology no one ever taught them how to train for.
Why Traditional Fitness Plans Fail Women Over 40
The old rules of fitness were created for men in their 20s – not for women navigating hormonal fluctuations, stress, and shifting recovery needs. And yet, many women in midlife are still holding themselves to the standards of younger, male-centered fitness models. The outcome? Constant frustration, confusion, and a sense of failure when the same plans that once worked now leave them depleted.
Some key differences include:
- Recovery takes longer due to reduced estrogen, which affects inflammation and tissue repair.
- Hormones like estrogen and progesterone impact energy, motivation, joint health, and even mood and they fluctuate wildly during perimenopause.
- Chronic stress, which spikes cortisol levels, can interfere with muscle building, fat loss, and sleep quality.
- We were told to shrink instead of build—prioritizing calorie burning over strength, and scale weight over resilience.
The result? Burnout, injury, and a growing disconnection from our bodies.
What Fitness for Women Over 40 Should Actually Look Like
Midlife fitness isn’t about slowing down; it’s about getting strategic.
If you want to feel strong, energized, and confident, your workouts need to work with your body; NOT against it.
That means:
- Hormone-aware strength training that adjusts volume and intensity based on your energy, stress levels, and recovery capacity
- Total-body workouts that stimulate muscle while minimizing joint stress
- Mobility and core integration as essentials—not afterthoughts
- Nutrition that supports muscle maintenance, bone density, and cognitive function, not just fat loss
- Stress regulation and nervous system support through breathwork, sleep, and smarter recovery planning
Muscle mass begins to decline around age 30 and accelerates with age if we don’t counteract it with resistance training. You don’t need to train like you did in your 20s. You need to train like a woman who’s lived, evolved, and deserves better support.
This Is About More Than Fitness
Fitness in your 40s isn’t just a physical journey. it’s emotional, mental, and often deeply personal. Our goals shift. Our identities shift. And often, we’re forced to reckon with the reality that we’ve been living in a body we’ve pushed, ignored, or misunderstood for years.
This is about how women define success, health, and self-worth in midlife. It’s not just about what our bodies can do; but what we want them to feel like doing.
If this resonates with you, you might also enjoy this companion piece: Defining Wellness to Determine Success where I explore how our wellness journey isn’t just physical. It’s emotional, mental, and deeply personal.
We need more women talking about these changes. We need coaches and practitioners who are willing to shift the script. We need spaces where strength doesn’t mean burnout. And most importantly, we need to stop outsourcing our worth to old definitions of fitness, thinness, and performance.
The more we have these conversations, the more we normalize a different approach: One rooted in understanding, personalization, and long-term health; not punishment or performance at all costs.
This is how we start to rewrite the narrative regarding fitness for women over 40. Not by shouting louder. But by listening, reflecting, and rebuilding with intention.
This isn’t just fitness. It’s a reclamation.
And I’m here for all of it.
🎧 Listen to the full podcast episode here
📚 Want more insight like this? Explore the blog archive or book a Fitness Roadmap Session to start your own process.
Because knowledge is power – but conversation is what creates change.
References
- https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00377.2023
- https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/why-stress-causes-people-to-overeat
- https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/age-related-muscle-loss-sarcopenia
