The Ultimate Guide To Transforming Your Body Over 40

Getting Older Sucks

But there’s something special about being over 40…

If you are in your 40s you probably think your best days are past – at least as far as your body is concerned. You are seeing more wrinkles, cellulite and sagging skin than ever before. Your energy, mood and hormones are probably also all over the place.

Welcome to your 40s.

My partner told me I was beautiful the other day. Instead of feeling happy, I thought to myself – I won’t be hearing that for much longer…

So believe me – I know how you feel. Getting older sucks. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying women over 40 aren’t beautiful but if you are watching your youth fade away you know what I mean.

But let me tell you a little secret about being 40-something that’s going to make you feel better. A glimmer of hope if you are willing to grab it.

Women in their 40s have the best transformations.

You see, in your 40s, you have more time and resources to invest in yourself. In your 20s, your lifestyle didn’t support major transformations and your budget likely didn’t allow you to hire a coach. In your 30s you were probably too busy with kids or career (or both).

This is your time. You can become your strongest self.

While we can’t do much about the wrinkles, we can do a heck of a lot about the other changes. In your 40s it’s completely possible to have a better body than the average 20-something, so at least in one aspect, you can look and feel much younger.

For the last decade, I’ve been helping women have major transformations at all ages – and I want to help you change not only your body, but the trajectory of your life. So I’ve put absolutely everything you need to know to get started in this Ultimate Guide. First we’ll cover how you should be training in your 40s, and then we’ll cover nutrition.

You really can have the best body of your life in your 40s so let’s do this!

If you want to jump ahead and check out my most popular program where I take care of everything for you, go here.

It’s actually not that hard…

Before we get into it, I also want to let you know that while this does require work – it’s not actually that hard. If it feels hard right now it’s because you’ve been doing the wrong things.

As you’ll learn later in this blog post, everyone – even myself – does the wrong things at the start. You won’t get results until you start doing the right things. But don’t worry. I’m going to simplify things for you. That’s my job.

Most women need some coaching to get this all sorted. And that’s where my programs come in – they give you everything you need to stop second-guessing and finally get results, even if you’ve failed before. You’ll know exactly what to do and why you’re doing it. There are many testimonials on this website, but here’s a quick summary from Olivia if you want to learn more:

How To Train After 40

Train like you are in your 40s, not your 20s

I’m going to give you tons of practical advice for setting up your program but first there are a couple of special considerations after 40 that set the context for how I do things:

1. Posture should be a priority.

Many of us spend way too much time sitting and bent over with poor posture. At this age, you should focus on developing your upper back muscles because your posture will improve, which will help with a lot of the aches and pains we associate with aging. For example, many of my clients report that their neck or back pain dramatically improves when they start training.

It’s also going to make you look much younger, stronger and confident because you will stand straighter (and have some beautiful new muscles to show off!). If you set the foundation now you will also help prevent the hunched look many women start experiencing in their 60s.

Shoulder problems are also very common as we age – in part due to declining estrogen and it’s impact on our tendons. When you train for better posture, you also work all the shoulder stabilizer muscles and help to keep your joints healthy and mobile.

Here’s an example of a posture-focused, upper body workout:

2. You need a strategy for cellulite.

As we age, cellulite becomes more of a challenge. This is due in large part to fluctuating estrogen, declining collagen and elastin and poor blood vessel health. Because cellulite is largely an “aging” problem, we can’t get rid of it completely. However, a properly designed training program that targets problematic areas will improve the appearance of cellulite and slow its progression.

3. Your program should be designed with joint health in mind.

I know its tempting to hop on the latest workout trends or do workouts off popular free training apps, but when you hit your 40s most of these programs are problematic because they don’t differentiate between someone who is 20 and someone who is 45.

If you care about your joints, many of the movements you would have done in your 20s are no longer appropriate. For example, I tend to stay away from plyometric movements in my programs because I worry about the health of my client’s knees, especially when you are training without a coach to watch your form. I promise that doing some weighted glute bridges will do much more for your physique than jump squats anyway!

There are also ways to put together a workout that reduces load on your joints – and I take care of that for you in my programs. When you think about it, it makes sense to follow a program that’s thoughtfully designed for your 40-something body. You will get better results and keep your body healthy and injury-free.

Here’s an example of how we can target cellulite (on the arms), tighten and tone, while looking after your joints at the same time:

Why Weight Training Rules For Over 40 Women

When I was in my 20s, I can remember going to the gym and seeing this lady who was probably at least 10 years older than me who looked like she had stepped off the cover of Oxygen. I always thought she had some secret and likely great genetics. The difference was I spent all my time on the treadmill and in group fitness classes – whereas she spent all her time in the weight room.

I only figured this out when I invested in my first personal trainer in my 30s. I learned how to lift weights properly and I followed a good program. And that’s when I had my major transformation. It wasn’t super difficult either. Up until that time I had just been doing the wrong things.

If you are struggling or if you can’t get the body you want, then you are doing the wrong things.

In fact, the main reason women seek me out as a coach is that they haven’t been getting results. These women often have great transformations from simply starting a properly designed weight lifting program. If you want to see how incredible your transformation can be when you start lifting weights, check out my client’s photos below.

Weight lifting is the right choice at your age and should be your main focus. That’s because a properly designed program can target typical problem areas in ways that other styles of training don’t. Think of this style of training as “functional body sculpting.” It’s “functional” because we focus on things like building strength, balance, mobility and improving joint health. But, at the same time, we also want to shape our bodies and target trouble areas – that’s where the “body sculpting” comes in. And the good news is you can do both at once!

Finally, in our 40s our hormones can be all over the place and we can become more “stress sensitive.” Focusing on weight loss, extreme diets and lots of cardio will only increase cortisol and make you look and feel worse. Weight training and some relaxing cardio like walking or biking outside is often a more effective combo in your 40s. Of course, you also need to dial in your nutrition but we’ll talk about that in the next section.

How To Set Up Your Training Program

Truth is, the more you can train, the better results you are going to get. You can get good results with 3 days per week but you’ll get better and faster results with a 4-5 day per week program. However, you don’t have to be in the gym for ages. In fact, as I tell my clients, if you can train for much longer than about 45 minutes you probably aren’t training hard enough.

Let’s talk about how to structure your week. Let me introduce you to the idea of a “training split.” In training, this simply means how you split up your workouts, usually in a weekly cycle, based on specific muscle groups. The reason we have days focusing on a specific muscle group, such as your back, is that you need enough stimulus to strengthen and develop those muscles in that session. Otherwise, you can strengthen but it’s harder to get the “sculpting” effect.

Here’s an example of a workout week:

Sunday: Lower body, glute dominant

Monday: Shoulders and posture

Tuesday: Off

Wednesday: Back (sometimes with extra glute work and back work always improves posture)

Thursday: Triceps and biceps

Friday: Lower body, glute dominant – sometimes posture work thrown in

Saturday: Off

This is a simplification but it demonstrates how I structure a typical workout calendar. For example, if someone wants to train 4 days per week, I will give them 2 upper and 2 lower focused days – however, that mix is always varied. For example, in my programs, I will usually mix in some full body workouts focused on things like improving tendon health and balance, core work, and bone density.

While it’s important not to overdo exercise in your 40s, those “off” days can be used for longer cardio sessions, sports or activities like group classes. You can also do some cardio on weight training days.

Don’t worry if this is all confusing – I take care of everything for you if you sign up for my programs!

Don’t forget to assess and adjust – most women miss this!

When changing programs or training focus, it’s important to assess your body and your progress, and adjust your “split” accordingly. For example, for the last couple years I’ve only been training my triceps once per week because they tend to get quite big if I train them too much. However, lately I’ve been noticing they don’t look as firm as they used to so I’ve started training them twice a week again. I will have to closely monitor them so they don’t get too big though!

This self-assessment and adjustment is missing when you just do training off an app, group fitness or generic programs, and it’s a really important part of getting results. Think of your body as a work in progress and you are continually sculpting it into what you want. This makes training a whole lot more fun and satisfying than just focusing on weight loss.

One of the big mistakes a lot of women make is not sticking with a program long enough. I recommend giving any program at least 8 weeks before changing things up. But when you do make changes they won’t be drastic because you should keep weight training as your major focus. For example, when a client finishes one of my 8 week programs, we may change the split depending on if they need to target a certain area of the body more or less. I may also help them come up with a better schedule depending on what’s happening in their life – but we don’t have to change the overall style of training.

Client testimonial from my training app.

Sorting Out Your Over 40 Nutrition

Why You Aren’t Getting Results

When I said we can’t do much about the wrinkles, that’s not entirely true. What you eat powerfully impacts how you age – and we’ll talk about that in a minute.

After coaching women for over a decade now, I can confidently tell you why you haven’t been getting great results:

1. You don’t know how many calories you eat.

2. Your not eating enough protein to support your changing body (your needs increase to prevent age-related muscle loss).

3. You don’t consistently track your food or stick to a set amount of calories.

4. You haven’t figured out how to balance eating well with your lifestyle.

If you aren’t getting results – the solution is simple. It’s just up to you to put in the work. Start here:

Calories in need to be less than calories out.

If you’re not getting results, you need some kind of structure. That means consistently counting your calories with an app – or following a calorie-controlled meal plan.

Why? Because “winging it” doesn’t work. If you’re not tracking something, how can you expect to change it? And if you don’t have accountability, you’ll keep spinning your wheels and feeling frustrated.

Almost every woman I’ve worked with who starts tracking consistently loses weight. Yes, you may have to work a bit harder now that you are older, but it’s completely possible for you to get results too.

Finding Your Balance With Nutrition In Your 40s

One of the biggest challenges in your 40s is consistency. You’re probably enjoying more meals out, more holidays, and more social events than you did in your 20s – and you shouldn’t have to give that up.

Yes, you deserve to enjoy your life. But if you are constantly dissatisfied with your body, you’re not truly happy either.

So there is a balance to be found. You don’t have to give up wine or your social life – but you need some strategies and accountability to keep yourself on track with your nutrition as well. (Note: If you consume alcohol most days, you will likely need to change that habit to get results.)

If you are struggling with finding that balance, I’ve helped so many women like you. In my programs, I don’t ask you to give up your lifestyle. One of my jobs as a coach is to help you decide what your priorities are and how to enjoy life while still making progress. In fact, many women are surprised by how much they get to eat when doing my programs!

Forget Wrinkle Cream If You Aren’t Eating Well

What you eat affects how you age – inside and out. While you can’t erase every wrinkle, you can absolutely slow down the signs of aging. This is a huge topic on its own, but here’s what I want you to remember: any diet you follow should also support longevity.

Most meal plans out there focus only on weight loss or muscle gain. They rarely consider your hormones, your long-term health, or how your nutrition needs change as you get older.

I’ve helped women reduce pain, improve energy and ease mood swings in their 40s through simple changes to their nutrition. And yes – carbs can help with energy and mood in midlife. So be wary of any diet that tries to cut them out entirely.

The good news? I’ve spent years building a plan that works: for body composition, energy and longevity. It’s not about cutting out the foods you love – it’s about learning how to eat in a way that supports your body and your life.

This is your time. Don’t miss out.

Before you start any program, ask yourself:
Is this designed for where I’m at in life?

You don’t have to choose my program – but if you’re a woman in your 40s, there’s truly nothing else designed this thoughtfully, with this level of experience, for you.

This is your time. You can have the best body of your life in your 40s. I’ve helped women at all stages become their strongest selves – and you can too.

If you’ve read this far, you’re ready. Don’t wait any longer to feel stronger and more in control – join the program today and start your transformation.