21 Ways to Optimize Your WORKOUT After 40, 50, 60 or 70

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It's made by a trusted family-owned company that we all can feel good about. Third-party tested for purity and potency. And if you're interested, you too can try a sample for just $6. But even better, you can get 30% off forever with discount code FLIPPING50. That's FLIPPING50. Just go to flipping50.com/blueskycbd. We'll put that link in the show notes and you'll find it everywhere on Flipping 50 at My Favorites. What are you waiting for? Good night. Get ready to optimize your workout after 40. This list of tips comes from a simple roundup of tips shared often on social media, and that surprised me that we don't all know this. So why should you? You know, you haven't, you know, ate and slept this for 40 years. You haven't spent every week keeping up with new science researching the latest peer-reviewed journals and monitoring large groups of women putting to the test of— in your own personal test— what science has already proven. No more than I have monitored how much water a ficus tree needs and how to hire a trustworthy landscape company, which by the way I failed miserably at this past year. No more than I have the slightest idea of what to do when my garage light is flashing. All right, you get the idea. There's no blame here, no judgment. I think though, ridiculously, we as women often feel like, well, I should know that. I mean, I should know how to do that myself. And we often try. So if that's you, you've tried, you've given it your best shot, the rules have changed. So if you're still trying based on knowledge you learned 10 or 20 or 30 years ago, or you've learned it today from a person who actually doesn't know how to train the endocrine system plus the muscle musculoskeletal system, plus your history and current injuries or conditions, time to tune in. So here's a little roundup from me to you, and me as in I'm Debra Atkinson. You're listening to Flipping 50, where I address your top struggles and concerns. Mostly we hope to inspire you here so you can expect and demand a better second half. I share what to eat, how to move, and how to change your mindset so you can have the energy and vitality that you want, need, and deserve in the second and better half. Are you ready? Buckle your seatbelt. So I'm going to give you each of these 21 tips, and I'm gonna just describe a little bit about each. Some will be quicker than others. So this is whether you're over 40, over 50, over 60, or over 70, checking all those boxes. Number 1: start prioritizing strength training. And let's be really clear on this— prioritizing strength training doesn't mean do it more. I know you're going to hear, you're going to read those influence I have a lot of listeners who are doing strength training 4 or 5 days a week, and they're doing major muscle groups, and they're doing chest and triceps one day and back and biceps another, and they're doing legs another. And that is actually not the ideal and best way, especially if you're a woman over 50 with adrenal issues. You're tired all the time, or your exercise time is very limited right now because of time and energy, but you could throw yourself right under the bus. The best place to start is prioritize strength training twice a week, total body, leave adequate space between. And you would want to, right? You're going to leave about 72 hours between, and you want to so that those two are spread out. You don't want to put them Wednesday— Monday, Wednesday, and then have between Wednesday and Monday, you know, a big gap. I like Monday, Thursday, as a, for instance, prioritize it. That means everything else you do during the week is about prioritizing, getting ready for it, being rested for it, and then recovering and resting afterward. Number 2, stop doing cardio. Now that's just a big bold statement. And I don't mean stop going for walks. I don't mean stop doing high-intensity interval training, but that's actually not cardio. It's not aerobic, which is cardio. It is, anaerobic. So, you know, it gets a little confusing to throw these terms out. And if we could say, or if I said cardio, under the umbrella of that is probably anything that gets you even a little bit breathless outside of your daily activities of movement. So going for a walk could be cardio. It is good for your heart even at lower levels, but because it's different than you sitting on the couch, that's not so good for your heart. However, Then there's anaerobic work where you're breathing really hard and then you're recovering fully. That's also good for your heart and actually can be one of the fastest ways to elevate your VO2 capacity for oxygen, which is the definition of how fit are you. And that also has a big greater impact on your mitochondria production. And we can lose that, that can slow as we age. So we've gotta do things that keep it, get it back if we lost it. Number 3, stop thinking you have to work out every day, or I would go as far as to say, or thinking that's a good thing. You do not. You know, if I listed all the things that you want and need, they include, yes, some forms of cardio as discussed, walking and high intensity being the best. We don't want that middle of the road, oh, get your heart rate up. No, I know the 70s and the 80s are like, what, what are you talking about? Yes, no, that's actually where we increase our cortisol levels, and then we have these deleterious effects on our muscle and no benefits really. So we want to avoid that kind of thing. However, we do want to do some level of cardio, highs and lows. Then we want strength training, and we want that for the strength and for the muscle endurance, both in postural benefits. We want to do some agility training. You have to have fast reaction skills. So if you're just going for a slow walk, you're just going for slow strength training, you know, and you've been taught maybe that's how to decrease your risk of injury, it's not enough. You've got to move quickly, not necessarily slinging around weights. And I know some of you are doing, what about kettlebell swings? You know, you will never see me do them in a program. And the reason is because I'm doing a one-to-many program. I rarely will do that because I don't know you and we don't know the sheer forces on your spine, and that bothers me. I know a lot of people do it and they swear by it, and yes, it will get your heart rate up and it is a functional movement, meaning you've got your legs, you've got your core, you've got somewhat upper body going on at the same time. However, if we're really about increasing your metabolism, we don't want to just increase that caloric burn and get all those things firing in a because you're gonna have to do a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately kind of thing. It doesn't last. We want to also bring major muscles to fatigue in a slow, controlled way so that we increase the mass that you have so that your metabolism is higher around the clock. Are you in? Are you with me? Right? So it doesn't mean functional exercise doesn't have a place. It just is probably not your highest priority. Function is really what do we want from it? I wanna be able to get outta my chair when I'm 85 by myself, right? Big, big key there. So there's things we wanna be able to do that your exercise should reflect. So you do not have to exercise every day, even if you also want balance and even if you want that agility and reaction skills and you want power and be able to, you know, say, We jump, women over 60 jump, we can do that. And if you can't, that's a sign that, you know, when you are called to action, and you will be, life is messy and you will be. So how will you not trip? How will you catch yourself and right yourself? Reaction skills and power both are a part of that. Number 4, pay more attention to your energy level, your appetite, your sleep than you do to a number on the scale. Definitely at first and maybe even later as you progress. Because these are the signs, these are the breadcrumbs from Hansel and Gretel that tell you you're going in the right direction. If you have a good healthy appetite, you don't have cravings, if you're sleeping better, maybe not longer, but maybe higher quality of sleep, maybe both, you're doing better. If your libido is improving, if your mood, your function, your ability to solve problems and focus is better, probably your exercise is hitting that sweet spot. Keep going, you're doing great. Number 5 is throw out any dumb scale that you're still using. You have a dumb scale, it's only telling you your weight. Smart scale will tell you your weight and your body composition. That means percent body fat. Now some of them go so far as they're telling you your lean muscle mass in pounds. I do not care and I do not want to know what your percent of muscle— doesn't matter because what we want is percent body fat because we know at 30 or more that's obese. I don't care if you're 60 or if you're 25. I'm not going to say you can be obese at 60, it's okay. When you're seeing, here's where for age ranges the percent body fat is, and they're telling you that for a woman in your age you can be this fat, but when you were 30 you could only be that fat, they're telling you this is what happens on average. These are the norms. These are the test results of a lot of people in your local area, potentially, maybe it's nationally depending on the chain, of people who test and are already fat and unhealthy. Don't compare yourself to that. Come on, it's ridiculous. I know some woman asked this and was almost outraged, like, show me the proof that you have, you know, no latitude for getting, you know, higher percent body fat when you're older. I'm like, "You really want me to tell you that? Okay, let's look at the risk of obesity, the risk of cancer, the risk of heart disease, just to name a few, go up when you're fatter." Okay, so in the past, that's all we've seen is people increasing their fat with their age. Why? Because people weren't strength training as they aged. They weren't prioritizing protein and monitoring what happened so that they could course correct. So let's start. Okay, so check on that. If you change your body composition, meaning you change your percent body fat, then your percent of muscle by default will change. Why percent of muscle does not helpful— you don't want to say, well, my percent of muscle should be what? No, just look at where you are now. And if you're fat, you're overfat, you need to gain lean muscle. So make sure you're not so focused on the scale or skinny jeans that you're losing sight of what will keep you alive. Number 6, weigh yourself no more than once a week is my suggestion. I know people will say every day you need to monitor it, but listen, women can fluctuate by 3 to 5 pounds every day based on salt and, and the foods that they're eating, based on their stress level, based on if they're still cycling. That's a piece of it. Might be based on the hormone replacement that they're doing currently. Could be based on barometric pressure, the exercise they've done, the hydration level they're at. So many things. Once a week, same time of day, same status. And, you know, it's easiest if you do it— get up out of bed, roll out, void your bladder, get on that scale. But again, if you ate something different, you ate quite differently yesterday, the barriods pressure is different, the humidity you were in is different. It's all going to vary just a little week to week, but it won't drive you crazy— as crazy that week. Okay, number 7: warm up smarter. You need a warm-up. You need a 2-step warm-up, and that includes overall core temperature elevation. You're walking, you're marching, you're moving, doing ideally a lower level activity of the thing you will be doing. So you're patterning your body a little there too. And then part 2 is a dynamic warm-up that is like dynamic mobility. So you're maybe stepping back into a rear lunge, bringing that to a knee. You're doing that 5 to 10 times on each side. You are doing a side lunge to a knee, or, um, doing some movements that incorporate balance. So stepping on one leg, keeping your weight on the heel, stepping out 6 inches and tapping— sorry, reaching with your hand down to 6 inches in front of your toe, stand back up, then 12, and then 18. So each side 3 times. So you can't be anywhere else mentally but right there. But those are dynamic warm-ups that bring you in, get your core engaged, make sure you are firing before you put any weights in your hand. Now you're really ready. You consume oxygen at a certain level as you exercise. The more oxygen you consume, the more calories you burn, the more energy expenditure during the exercise, the more energy expenditure after the exercise. It's a 2-for-1, everybody. So if you are giving yourself the warm-up, you will be consuming more oxygen during, because you've got that circulation going, you have more oxygen being delivered to the working muscles. Don't skip it and don't say, I can do fine. You may, but you may be doing excellent and much greater work if you're warmed up better. And then the other one, Yep, cool down smarter. You knew that was coming. We do need mobility. We need to keep it. We used to call this flexibility, right? And I taught for 15 years in kinesiology. We still said, you know, the battery of testing that we did, you know, flexibility testing, and it was stupid, right? A sit and reach test, which is, you know, we've got to have some kind of gold standard. But really, you know, you want to be working with a trainer who can support you in terms of how do you check your mobility level. So think about cooling down so you are not only doing the flex flexibility at a point where your body is really warm and you're going to get the best use out of it. But then you are also doing a little bit of moving, because that movement of 3 to 5 minutes is flushing out lactate, the lactic acid that accumulates after exercise. You're already making your next workout better by doing a great cool down. So that could be a little walk with the dog around the block if you need it. Number 9 is recover smarter. Let your body deal with inflammation from your workout for several hours, even up to 5 or 6 before you interfere with that natural mechanism by introducing, say, a cold plunge or a cold shower even, or infrared sauna. Now that's including introducing a little bit of stress, so that's kind of a— maybe that's a strange one to consider. But omega-3s, you know, omega-3 fats in things like coconut oil or coconut milk in your smoothie, or a lot of antioxidant-rich berries, you may want to back off on doing that until a little bit later because your body has this cytokine storm going on after exercise. And then that happens like when you have a fever or an illness and your body fights it off and becomes more immune. Well, we're not talking about immunity, but we are talking about bumping up your ability to take care of inflammation on its own. We want your body better at at doing that. So don't interfere with that. Do those things, but do them at, you know, later in the day. 10 is train instead of exercising. Replace just exercise of any kind and something is better than nothing mentality with training. And, you know, I used to go for bike rides with, um, a good friend of mine, and he would push me, you know, and he would say, you know, we know you need intensity. I'm saying, you know, we You just did a 2.5-hour ride. And for me, you know, at the point we're at, that was endurance. You don't push during endurance. You're putting your base down. And I had to try to explain to him the physiology of, you know, this purpose for me of this ride today on a Sunday is a long, you know, zone 2. That's where it should be and it shouldn't be sprinting. But I always wanted to dial it up. And I was like, yep, I totally agree, but those workouts happen like on Monday and Wednesday. They don't happen today. So, um, know the purpose of your exercise on any given day. And, you know, know if you're already tired, even if you have— this is supposed to be an intense day or a long day— that you're not training if you trained through And we've learned— we have this mentality. When I say we collectively, if you're in your 50s, 60s, and 70s, we learned this from our parents who were taught and taught us hard work gets rewarded. Listen, it's 2023. What we know now about our endocrine system is totally backwards. You know, if you're extremely tired, you should rest. Yep. We all forgot to say, how do I feel? So if you sit down and you fall asleep, whatever you're doing is not working for you right now. You're actually not supporting yourself. You're creating exhaustion. You probably could be more fit and more energetic than you are. So think about that. Okay. Super, super important. Number 11, plan intense early, light late. And that is the mantra For Flipping 50, number 1, the tenet we use is restore before more. Number 2 is intense early and light late. So work on your high-intensity interval training. You're really working to heavy with multiple sets. It's strength training early in the day. And do yoga, go for walks. Yes, participate in movement later, but keep it light, and that will honor your endocrine system. So for more details on that, you can come over to flipping50.com, you know, and look at engaging in one of our programs so that you really understand it's not just a matter of hitting the quota, you know, today or this week, is actually doing it really wisely to honor your system. Number 12 is fuel before training. So fed exercise, period. And we've got other podcasts where we have addressed this, and so I'd love for you, if this is something that is really hard for you, but even this— so I use I don't do dairy, so I use coconut, uh, creamer. Um, and when I say creamer, I use coconut cream. I don't use anything with junk in it in the process, like a can of coconut cream blended, like blended so it's whipped, so it's decadent. Or I will use powdered coconut milk with nothing else in it except for coconut and That is at least breaking a fast, so I've got some calories in, so your body is ready to go on something. So that those of you who are saying, I don't like to eat before I exercise, try dealing with that. Put something in like that. And then you're going to— 13— fuel after training right away. For those of you who were already starting your exercise in a fed state, you can wait if you can. 60 to 90 minutes is optimal for muscle protein synthesis. So not if you're— this is not for you if you're training every day, you're training hard every day, you probably need to eat more closely to your workout. But the majority of you listening, if you are like, you're exercising just to get the exercise that you need but you're not training for something, not training for a marathon or endurance events, then wait if you can. So that will be much more optimal. Now I realize schedule-wise you may not be able to do that, so do the pieces that you can do. 14 is eat a regular dose of protein at least 3 meals a day, hitting 30-gram minimum, not a maximum, that's a minimum. It's a start. So if you can get 30 grams, get 35, get 40, get 45, and up to 50, it's possible at a meal. And that's gonna seem like, oh my Oh my gosh, how am I going to do that at first? Until it doesn't. Until your body is just, this is so much better for me. I have so much energy. I'm less likely to store fat because of this. And I have more satiety between meals. Don't overstuff yourself to get to a quota, but you want to try to look at first a week of how much am I getting at each meal? That'll be an eye-opener for many, many of you listening. So you want that at least 3 times. If you are trying to hit your body weight in pounds in grams of protein, which is recommended, you're going to potentially need a fourth time or maybe to take some amino acid supplements. So when you're tired, appetite is a mess generally, or you're overly sore or you're achy. Dig into why, you know, not enough recovery. Is it that you were poorly fueled? You have an inflammatory diet. Don't automatically blame exercise when you're tired, you're overly sore, you're achy. It may be something else, but do cut back on the exercise until you figure it out. So this is why logging and keeping a journal just on a daily basis— and you may want to, maybe inspired by the Flipping 50 90-day planner, so that you've got a place to on every day say, okay, where was I? Because if you don't record it, it's really hard to go back and connect the dots. So you're gonna wish— oh, I wish I would have— it's like finishing a program and thinking, I made so much progress, but I wish I would have measured at first. And a lot of people are reluctant to measure at first because they know they're not gonna like the numbers, but you've got to do it. Put it away, you don't have to look at it. Number 16 is make use of biohacking. So, recent episode on this I think you're gonna like. Infrared sauna falls under this category, cold plunge, electrolytes, intermittent fasting, which can all speed recovery and improve inflammation, meaning your exercise can be harder without feeling harder. And these are all if they're applied at the right time and in the right way. Number 17, stop doing random exercise. Now, I alluded to this one earlier— start training, not just exercising. But this gets a little bit more like, you know, when you're training, you know, I want you to think about If you're just going to YouTube, even if you're going to my YouTube channel, and thank you for doing that, but there's no progression unless you already know as a coach, how do I relate the workout I'm doing today to what I've done yesterday and the day before that, the day before that? And how is this workout going to influence the workout that I do, you know, in 2 days from now? You should know the answer to that question or those questions. 18 is never continue to go hard all the time. Every week should have easy and hard days, and every month should have easy and hard weeks. Some entire quarters may be light. You know, say when you're in season doing more outdoor activities like gardening and golf and you're walking more and swimming, you know, you may do a little less strength training. That doesn't mean none. It just means less so that you're allowing the energy to go to the things that you really, really want. Number 18— whoops, number 19, sorry about that, gotta watch me all the time. Stop thinking that you're burning calories and you're going to lose weight because of it. You're trying to optimize hormone balance or you'll never lose fat weight and keep it off. 20. Find joy in 90% of the exercise you do or the way you do it. So yes, you may need to do some part of exercise that you don't love in order to keep actively doing the rest of the things that you do love. But you know, if you don't love strength training— and I know I have a hard time adapting and understand that, but a lot of you will tell me that I find it so boring, you know. I'm guessing maybe you don't have a great program them, but certainly it's boring because you're not tuned into it. Like, how does it feel for you? What's your form? There's so many details to pay attention to. I'm not quite sure how I could get bored doing strength training. Tune in rather than tune out and see how that feels. Do it with a partner, do with a trainer, have a program that is progressive, because I don't think anybody feels bored who's getting progress. I— that's exciting to me. I don't know about you, but you may need to strength train in order to continue doing the Zumba for as long as you want to, to reduce your injury. Number 21: don't compare yourself right now to anyone, even younger you. You could be better than you ever were because you're wiser, you're smarter. We know more. The science that we've gained about exercise and exercise specifically for women in the last 30 years could mean you're better. You're not more tired, you're not more sore. It doesn't take more time to exercise. We've learned so much that we can use to our advantage if only We will. If you need to optimize your workout after 40, I've got two options for you. And if you're lucky enough to be listening when they're open, we have a Stronger Tone and Define. It's a 12-week strength training program. It is our bestseller. It's a perfect start, restart, maybe a reset. I, by the way, I'm an 8-time Ironman, 42-year-old— well, I'm 59, let's say that. But at 42 years as a strength trainer who gains muscle mass easily. But don't let the name fool you. Tone and Define does not mean we're not working on lean muscle, we're not working on bone density. We are. I use this regularly during any given year myself. Then there's always the Flipping 50 membership. It's a perfect way to say yes, not just to everything included in that one 12-week program, but get the next 3 12-week programs so you've got your entire year covered, plus exclusive masterclasses, time with me at least twice a month. We're changing things, so we're going to employ some coaching for you specifically, like one-on-one when you come in, to give you a really strong start. You want to tune up your core, your hips, you need a shoulder support— we've got challenges for that. Look, I've been been doing monthly challenges, new ones every month since 2016. So if you have a foot issue, an ankle issue, a knee issue, a hip issue, a lower back issue, an upper back issue, upper neck, a shoulder, I probably got you covered. And not to mention some lifestyle habits that help you as well— hydration, protein, diversity in your vegetables for your gut health. We've got lots of challenges that you could layer with your strength training program them, in addition to ancillary videos on yoga and Pilates and interval training and so much more. So you can join before our rates increase. They will in January of 2023, and you lock in that subscription rate for as long as you're a consecutive renewing member. So, PS, if you are listening, you found value in this podcast, would you please share with 2 or 3 friends or sisters? I would be so grateful. We need all of us to get on the right track and put an end to the idea that midlife and older women should exercise the same as men or mice or younger women, while at the same time we put an end to the idea that women should gain weight or fat with age and will naturally, or that their healthy percent body fat is really higher. No, no. At a time when disease has historically been more prevalent for older women. That's a little crazy, but even intelligent women have thought so. So let's put an end to the myths and start changing history, really, not just yours, but your whole world's history. You can find the show notes for today at Flipping50.com/OptimizeYourWorkout. Out. And what are you waiting for? Let's start Living 50 today.