2 / Where to Start If You Want to Be Stronger and Healthier After 45

Once you understand why muscle, bone, cardiovascular fitness and balance become increasingly important with age, the obvious question is: what should you actually do?

This is where healthy ageing can become unnecessarily complicated. One expert tells you to walk 10,000 steps. Another says you need heavy weights. Someone else insists Pilates is enough, while your watch wants more cardio and social media has suddenly decided every woman over 45 needs to sprint.

You do not need to do everything. You need to understand what your body can currently do, what is missing and which type of training improves which part of your physical capacity.

And this is an important shift. We are no longer exercising primarily to burn calories. We are deliberately training muscle, bone, heart, lungs, balance and movement so that we preserve as much physical capacity as possible for the decades ahead.

First, assess the body you have now

Before deciding what your exercise programme should look like, take an honest look at your current physical capacity.

Can you get out of a chair without pushing yourself up with your hands? Can you comfortably get down onto the floor and back up again? Can you carry two reasonably heavy shopping bags? Walk briskly for 20 or 30 minutes? Climb several flights of stairs without having to stop? Stand on one leg without immediately grabbing something?

None of these is a sophisticated medical test, but together they tell us something much more useful than simply asking whether you “exercise.”

A woman who walks for an hour every day may have excellent endurance but very little upper-body strength. Someone who strength trains regularly may be surprisingly breathless climbing stairs. Another woman may be strong but have poor balance or limited mobility.

Healthy ageing requires several different physical abilities, and they need different types of training.

Walking is excellent, but it doesn't cover everything

I want to make this very clear because walking sometimes gets unfairly dismissed when strength training enters the conversation.

Walking is one of the best forms of everyday movement we have. It supports cardiovascular and metabolic health, helps reduce sedentary time, can improve mood and is accessible to most people. Brisk walking can also contribute meaningfully towards aerobic activity recommendations.

So please keep walking.

But walking cannot do every job.

It generally does not provide enough progressive resistance to maintain or substantially increase muscle strength throughout the body, particularly in the upper body. It does not challenge bone in all the ways resistance and appropriate impact activity can. And a comfortable walk may not provide enough cardiovascular stimulus to significantly improve cardiorespiratory fitness in someone who is already reasonably fit.

Think of walking as an important part of the programme rather than the entire programme.

Strength training needs to become non-negotiable

If you currently do no resistance training, this is probably the biggest gap I would want to address.

Resistance training simply means making your muscles work against an external resistance. That resistance might come from dumbbells, barbells, weight machines, resistance bands, kettlebells or your own body weight.

The equipment matters far less than the principle: the muscle has to encounter enough resistance to be challenged.

For most women, starting with two or three full-body resistance-training sessions per week is a very reasonable goal. You do not need to train every day, and you certainly do not need to spend two hours in a gym.

A basic programme should cover the major movement patterns: pushing, pulling, squatting or sitting and standing, hinging at the hips, carrying and using the trunk to stabilise the body.

In practical terms, that might mean some form of squat or leg press, a hip hinge or deadlift pattern, a row, a chest press or push-up variation, an overhead press and loaded carries.

The exercises themselves can be adapted enormously according to fitness, experience, joint problems and access to equipment.

The weight needs to be heavy enough to create a reason to adapt

This is where many women unintentionally underestimate themselves.

If you can comfortably perform 30 repetitions while chatting and feel that you could easily do another 20, the resistance is probably too light to provide an efficient strength-building stimulus.

You do not need to lift the heaviest weight possible, particularly when learning an exercise. Technique comes first. But eventually the final repetitions of a set should feel genuinely challenging while you can still perform them with good form.

There is also no magical repetition range that every woman must follow. Muscle and strength can improve across different loading ranges when training is sufficiently challenging, although heavier loads generally have particular advantages for maximal strength.

For a beginner, something like 8 to 12 controlled repetitions for many exercises can provide a simple starting framework, but it is not a law of physiology.

The more important principle is progression.

When a weight that once felt challenging becomes easy, your body has adapted. At that point, gradually increase the resistance, repetitions, sets or difficulty.

That is progressive overload, and it is how training continues to produce adaptation rather than simply repeating familiar movement.

H2: Don't be frightened of heavier weights

There is still an extraordinary idea that women should lift light weights for “toning” while heavier resistance somehow belongs to men.

Muscle does not understand toning.

It responds to mechanical tension, training volume, fatigue, nutrition, hormones, recovery and genetics.

Women can and should progressively become stronger. That does not mean jumping straight into heavy barbell training without learning technique, nor does every woman need to deadlift twice her body weight.

It means that once you can perform an exercise safely and confidently, do not be afraid to make it harder.

The ability to lift something heavy is precisely the ability we are trying to preserve.

If you are starting from zero, start smaller than your ambition

The greatest programme in the world is useless if it leaves you so sore that you avoid exercise for the next ten days.

If you have been inactive for years, begin with manageable resistance and relatively few exercises. Learn the movements. Give your muscles, tendons and joints time to adapt.

Two short strength sessions performed consistently are considerably more useful than an enthusiastic six-day programme that lasts eleven days.

This is particularly important if you have osteoporosis, significant joint problems, cardiovascular disease, a history of injury or another medical condition affecting exercise. You may benefit from guidance from a physiotherapist, appropriately qualified trainer or healthcare professional.

Starting cautiously does not mean remaining cautious forever.

Start where you are. Then progress.

Your heart and lungs need their own training

Strength training cannot replace aerobic exercise either.

Adults are generally advised to accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week, or around 75 minutes of vigorous activity, or an equivalent combination, alongside muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days per week.

Moderate intensity means your breathing and heart rate increase, but you can still speak. Vigorous activity makes conversation considerably more difficult.

Brisk walking may absolutely qualify as moderate activity depending on your fitness. Cycling, swimming, hiking, dancing, jogging and many other activities can work too.

The important thing is that some of your movement challenges the cardiovascular system sufficiently to create adaptation.

If every walk you take feels completely effortless, that is wonderful movement, but it may no longer be much of a cardiovascular training stimulus.

You don't need to start with HIIT

High-intensity interval training can be useful and time-efficient, but it is not the entry ticket to healthy ageing.

If you are currently inactive and easily breathless, build an aerobic base first. Walk more. Gradually increase pace and duration. Use hills. Cycle. Swim. Choose something you will actually continue doing.

As fitness improves, intervals can be introduced if appropriate. That might initially be as simple as walking briskly uphill for a short period and recovering before repeating it.

There is no prize for making exercise unnecessarily brutal.

The goal is progressive cardiovascular adaptation, not proving how much discomfort you can tolerate.

Balance deserves five minutes of your attention now

Balance training is one of those things people postpone because they don't think they need it yet.

That is precisely why now is a good time to train it.

Try standing on one leg near a stable support. If that is easy, make the task more challenging by changing your foot position, moving your head, performing another movement at the same time or progressing to more demanding balance exercises.

Tai chi, yoga and certain forms of functional training can also challenge balance, but balance can easily be incorporated into ordinary exercise.

You don't need a separate 45-minute balance workout. A few minutes performed regularly can begin challenging the systems responsible for postural control.

The aim is not to become excellent at standing on one leg. It is to maintain your ability to control your body when the environment becomes unpredictable.

Mobility is not the same thing as flexibility

Flexibility describes how much passive range of motion is available around a joint.

Mobility is your ability to actively control movement through an available range.

You need both sufficient range and sufficient control to move well.

If you cannot comfortably reach overhead, rotate your upper body, move through your hips or bend your ankles sufficiently, certain strength exercises and everyday activities become harder.

But more flexibility is not automatically better. You do not need to become capable of performing the splits at 60 unless you particularly want to.

The goal is enough mobility to perform daily activities and exercise safely and efficiently.

Strength training performed through an appropriate range of motion can itself improve mobility. You do not necessarily need a completely separate stretching programme unless you have specific restrictions that need attention.

Bone needs more than calcium

If we want to protect bone, nutrition matters, but so does mechanical loading.

Resistance training creates forces through muscle and bone. Weight-bearing activity exposes the skeleton to gravitational loading, while appropriate impact activity can provide an additional osteogenic stimulus.

Impact does not mean everybody should immediately start jumping.

For a healthy woman without contraindications, appropriately progressed jumping, hopping or similar impact exercise may eventually form part of a bone-strengthening programme. But if you have osteoporosis, previous fragility fractures, significant joint problems, pelvic-floor symptoms or other relevant conditions, exercise needs to be selected more carefully.

This is one area where individualisation matters.

What I don't want is the assumption that walking and taking calcium are automatically enough to protect bone.

Now look at protein

Exercise creates the signal. Your body still needs raw materials with which to respond.

Protein provides the amino acids required for muscle protein synthesis and tissue repair. Protein needs can become particularly relevant as we age because of the anabolic resistance we discussed in the first article.

The standard adult protein recommendation of around 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight per day is designed largely to prevent deficiency in the general population. It is not necessarily the optimal target for preserving muscle in an active older adult.

Many expert groups working in healthy ageing suggest approximately 1.0 to 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram per day for healthy older adults, with higher intakes sometimes appropriate for people who exercise regularly or during particular periods of illness or recovery.

Individual requirements vary, particularly with kidney disease and other medical conditions, so this should never become another universal number everyone has to chase.

The useful principle is simpler: make protein a meaningful part of your meals rather than an occasional addition.

Spread protein across the day

Many women eat very little protein at breakfast, a modest amount at lunch and then almost all of their daily protein at dinner.

Muscle protein synthesis responds to protein-containing meals, so distributing adequate protein across the day can provide repeated opportunities to stimulate that process.

That could mean eggs, Greek yoghurt, cottage cheese or another protein-rich food at breakfast; fish, poultry, tofu, legumes or similar foods at lunch; and another meaningful protein source at dinner.

Plant proteins absolutely count. They may simply require attention to total quantity and variety because different plant foods have different amino-acid profiles and protein density.

You do not need to eat chicken six times a day or carry a protein shaker everywhere.

You need enough high-quality nutrition to support the training you are asking your body to adapt to.

Calcium and vitamin D belong in the bone conversation

Calcium is an essential structural component of bone, and vitamin D is important for calcium absorption and normal skeletal physiology.

The preferred starting point for calcium is generally food. Dairy products, fortified alternatives, some fish, tofu prepared with calcium, certain green vegetables and other foods can contribute meaningful amounts.

Vitamin D is slightly different because food provides relatively little, while skin synthesis depends on sun exposure, season, skin pigmentation, age and other factors. Supplementation may therefore be appropriate depending on vitamin D status, diet, lifestyle and individual risk.

But neither calcium nor vitamin D replaces mechanical loading.

You cannot supplement your way out of never challenging your skeleton.

Eat enough to support the body you are trying to build

This deserves particular attention in women who have spent decades dieting.

Building and maintaining muscle requires energy. Bone also needs adequate nutrition. Continually eating as little as possible while asking your body to become stronger creates conflicting signals.

This does not mean energy balance stops mattering if you need to reduce excess body fat. It means aggressive calorie restriction combined with inadequate protein and insufficient resistance training can increase the risk of losing lean tissue along with fat.

After 45, the goal should increasingly shift from losing weight at any cost to improving body composition while protecting muscle and bone.

The scale is only one measurement. What you are losing matters.

Recovery is part of the programme

You do not become stronger while performing the exercise itself. Exercise provides the stimulus, and adaptation occurs afterwards.

This is why sleep, nutrition and recovery matter.

If you perform hard resistance training for the same muscle groups every day, constantly increase exercise while under-eating and sleep five hours a night, more exercise may eventually become counterproductive.

You should expect some muscular fatigue when you introduce new training, but persistent exhaustion, declining performance, disrupted sleep, ongoing pain or feeling progressively worse are not signs that your programme is wonderfully effective.

Training should challenge you and then allow you to recover sufficiently to do it again.

Stimulus plus recovery creates adaptation.

Your first practical plan

If you are currently doing very little, don't attempt to optimise everything simultaneously.

Start with two full-body strength sessions each week and learn the major movement patterns. Walk regularly and gradually accumulate moderate aerobic activity across the week. Add a few minutes of balance work several times a week and break up long periods of sitting whenever you can.

At meals, make sure there is a meaningful protein source, gradually improve overall food quality and ensure your diet provides the nutrients needed to support muscle and bone. Protect sleep because recovery is part of training.

After several weeks, reassess.

Are the weights becoming easier? Increase them gradually. Can you walk your usual route without becoming breathless? Increase the pace, distance or incline. Is your balance improving? Make the exercise slightly more challenging.

This is how physical capacity is built: challenge, adaptation, progression.

Not punishment.

What I want you to take away: how to stay strong after 45

You do not need the perfect exercise program to become strong after 45 and maintain your physical abilities as you age. What matters is starting at your current level, building strength and fitness gradually, and creating habits you can sustain..

You need to cover the systems that matter. Walk and move because your body needs movement. Lift because muscle and bone need resistance. Challenge your cardiovascular system because your heart and lungs need a reason to remain fit. Train balance because preventing a fall matters. Eat enough protein and nutrients to support adaptation, and recover because improvement requires it.

Most importantly, start at your current level rather than the level you think you should already be at. The goal is not to prove how fit you are today. It is to gradually increase what your body is capable of doing.

In the next article, we will take this further and look at how to actually build strength and physical reserve over time, including progressive overload, muscle growth, power, cardiorespiratory fitness and the difference between exercising and genuinely training for your future body.

Next: How to Build a Body That Stays Strong as You Age

You can explore more articles, free and paid resources, my book and programmes in the Healthy Ageing & Strengthsection of Feel Good Menopause.