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Why Every Woman Over 50 Should Strength Train with Jeanne Phares · FitMitTuro Fitness Podcast

• 1:08
  Turo Virta: So, Jeanne, before we get into practical side of strength training, could you share a little bit about your own background and what led you to this work?
• 1:22
  Jeanne Phares: Yes. So, I have always strength trained. My husband and I-we've been married 39 years this year, and we went to the gym on our first date together. So it's always been an important part of our lives, and so I was working out very consistently over my whole life.
• 1:42
  Jeanne Phares: And and you know, when you're younger, it's a lot more about physique, and and you don't think so much about you know skeletal muscle and how important this is for longevity and and healthy aging. But when I was 55, in what I would consider the best shape of my life, I woke up one morning with a rash, and when I went to the doctor, I found out that I had leukemia, and I had an especially aggressive leukemia that had about a 30% chance of
• 2:13
  survival. Spoiler alert: nine years, eight years later, I'm still here. So happy story in the end. So when I asked my doctor, I'm like, "How did I get cancer? I am literally the healthiest person I know. I mean, I have spent years studying nutrition, and I was actually two classes away from a master's in nutrition when I was diagnosed. And he said, "Well, we don't know where this kind of cancer comes from, but the fact that you are in good shape, that you're strong, that you don't have high blood pressure, you know, you don't have diabetes, you're not taking a bunch of medicines, you're not overweight, will allow you to be given the most harsh treatment, and you know, because they really fight cancer by giving you, you know, poison to kill the cancer, and you will likely be a candidate for a better outcome, and that really sat with with me. And I kept that sort of mindset the whole time I was in the hospital. So I made myself get out of bed every morning at seven a.m. and I would not turn the TV on, and I would not get back in bed till 7o'clock that night. If I was tired and needed a nap, I would do it in the chair by the window. But I crocheted and I read and I listened to music.
• 3:35
  survival. Spoiler alert: And my husband brought me a little, you know, Alexa pod, and and I would listen to what was going on and in the world, and really tried to live as if this was something I was going to get through, and I think mindset is so important. And I think when you start this kind of work, if you've never worked out before and you're you're not sure where to start, or you worked out a long time ago, but you know things are changing because now you're in midlife, and you know you've hit 40 or 40-five or 50, and all of a sudden all the weight is moving to your middle, and you know the things you did before are not working. You need to have that mindset that I I can get back, I I can get to where I want to be. I can age healthy. I can build skeletal muscle, which you absolutely can in midlife. I think you know we used to think that you know if you didn't you know build your muscle and your bone when you were young that by the time you got old you were just sort of you know out of luck, and then also for women my age I mean our mothers they didn't work out so we didn't have a a role model really, and when I went and looked for books for women in midlife about strength training, I couldn't find anything.
• 4:53
  survival. Spoiler alert: Everything was for younger women, and everything had you know 20-year-olds on the covers.
• 4:59
  survival. Spoiler alert: and And I decided to write the book, and my writing coach at the time said, "You know, I don't know if there's a market for this book. And I said there absolutely is a market. There's just a hole in it because nobody is thinking about this huge cohort of women that don't know what to do.
• 5:17
  Unknown: And so the book really does take you through, you know, doing a strength assessment, and you know, certainly talking to you know your medical professionals if you need to depending on what kind of concerns you might have, but it talks it it gives workarounds if you have you know arthritis or something. But it also has advanced moves because I think what women are going to find when they start working out is that you will advance very quickly.
• 5:48
  Turo Virta: Oh yeah,
• 5:49
  Unknown: and you start to feel strong. And when those chemicals, you know, the endorphins and the and the dopamine and all that stuff starts flowing, and you start seeing changes in your body, and all of a sudden, you know, your pants fit a little better around the waist. You know, you get motivated. And that motivation is what drives you, and so I I try always when I'm coaching women to let them know to not judge by the scale. The scale is one data point, and it lies to you because you know muscle weighs more than fat, so you can and muscle is much more condensed than fat. So you lose this much fat, and you now you have this much muscle. Your body has shrunk, but your weight has not changed. So you really have to understand some of these nuances so that you don't get you know you don't get discouraged. I also teach women.
• 6:50
  Unknown: I've I've worked over the course of my life with probably 20 different personal trainers, and I I work with women on how to find a good trainer that understands women in midlife, that isn't going to hand them weights that are too heavy and end up you know hurting a joint or, you know, and and not all trainers. Well, one, I think not all trainers are taught about you know the changes that are hormonal changes and changes that are happening for a woman in midlife. But you know, a lot of them have different specialties. Like I used to work out with a former mr. America, and you know, at the time, I wanted, you know, as much muscle definition as I could get. So I searched out a trainer, and when I first met him, he said, "I'm not a fitness trainer. Get fit on your own. I'm a physique trainer. And I'm like, "Well, that's what I'm looking for. But if you don't understand kind of these differences, then you know, you know, you you could end up just having not a good a good fit. But also, if you don't want to go to the gym, if you want to just work out at home, there's a whole section on how to set up a home gym. And you know, what you need is a mat so you can lay on the floor and do chest press or something. You don't need a bench. You know, you need a couple of light dumbbells and a chair. So if you want to do squats, so that you don't go too low or not low enough, you know, you you squat till you hit. You know, so your bum just hits the seat of the chair, and then you come back up, and so it gives women an entry point for if they've never worked out before. But the book also has some advanced movements for women who maybe they used to work out and they sort of remember, but you know they want to know like why isn't all the cardio I used to do working, and you know why building muscle in midlife is so important, and you know our mothers didn't know this because they didn't have role models and they didn't go to the gym. And I mean, even when I was young, and you'd try to find a you know a a strength training magazine for for women.
• 9:07
  Unknown: You'd find sort of these you know weeder publications with these you know extreme bodybuilding women, and it's like you know, and that that's another question I get. It's like, oh, I don't want to have big muscles.
• 9:23
  Turo Virta: Oh yeah,
• 9:23
  Unknown: and I tell women you're not going to get big muscles because you have about a 10th of the testosterone that men have, and to get muscles like that is an extreme lifestyle. There's there's a a woman I follow on on YouTube, and I read the comments people make, and she's in like 58 and she's very cut, and and people are like, "Well, I don't want to look like her because her arms look like a man's. And I always, you know, one, I would kill or die to look like that, but I just don't have the genetics, you know. Yeah. But I always tell people, okay, one that woman has a lifestyle of you know very disciplined eating, very disciplined supplementation, very disciplined exercise. You are not going to look like her, and she is not saying you're going to look like me. She's saying here are some simple moves that you can do. And at 58, I'm able to maintain the physique I want, and you can get the physique you want. So I, you know, I love her, and I'm I'm constantly trying to navigate all the comments from from people that just don't understand. But anyway, I hope that kind of gives you a little bit of my background, and and I I hope it's coming through how passionate I am about this.
• 10:41
  Turo Virta: Oh yeah, absolutely, and it is it's it makes me so so much smile with all those things, because you know it's it's also a thing what I keep hearing all the time, like what you mentioned, getting big muscles, and I think that is it's it's now maybe it's getting a little bit better, but it was at least earlier, and people who are in their 5060s, they were.
• 11:06
  Turo Virta: Growing up with maybe 90s or or in beginning of 2000 still when there was not much internet and it was all about magazines and posting those bodybuilder pictures and then for somehow it stayed inside that you know I'm gonna going to look like that and as soon as you start to see that actually you are when you are flexing some muscle that there is it's growing and then it's that immediate fear that oh my god I'm going to look like a bodybuilder and I don't want I want to look have just more little bit more toned muscles and look a little bit better and feel better and then it's like but like you said that it's there are how many women are there who are actually trying to look like a bodybuilder, but they are not able to look because it it takes so much discipline to with your nutrition, with your workouts, and it's even even you are doing everything perfectly. It's still you need still also some genetics to do it, so it's it's actually very hard job to be able to look like that, and for sure it doesn't happen by accident if you lift weights a couple times per week. So I hope that is that is some one of those misconceptions. Are there some other, like you mentioned already, couple biggest fears and misconceptions? But what else you have in your mind, or what you hear from women before they start?
• 12:40
  Unknown: Well, I mean, women are afraid of getting hurt, and I tell them you really should be afraid of falling down because it's so easy. I mean, I I think in the past month, about three of my friends and myself have fallen down. The other day, I was in my my living room and I turned around and I stepped on the edge of the dog bed, and the dog bed slipped and I went down.
• 13:13
  Unknown: And I feel like if I wasn't strong enough to sort of be able to, you know, adjust my body and the way you fall becomes a little bit more automatic, I think. If you're stronger, I think it could have been a lot worse. And you know, my my mother fell when she was in her late 60s and broke her hip, and it was really the beginning of the end. And and it it really you know it affects you when you see people in your life that you love struggle like that, so building skeletal muscle is the most important thing you can do.
• 13:55
  Unknown: And so I see a lot of women.
• 13:58
  Unknown: They're like, "Well, I do Pilates and I do yoga and I walk my dogs, you know. And I'm like,"Those things are all lovely, but I will contend that if you only have time to do one thing a day, it needs to be strength training. If you only have time-not a day, but one thing-and and I usually say start off, you know, twice a week, and don't put so many restrictions around it. It's like, you know, you don't have to start off doing three sets of 12 of something. You know, start off. just doing as many as you can to see how many you can do, and then, you know, you fine tune it. This needs to be a lifestyle change and choice in your brain, not a not a destination. It is a marathon, not a sprint, right? So, come at it with a mindset that I don't have to do you know this workout today, but I need to start building muscle for longevity today. And I think you know I think Pilates is great. I think yoga is great. I think walking is great. I you know your heart is a muscle and it needs to be exercised too, but not at the same level that maybe you did in your 20s and 30s, because that kind of exercise increases cortisol, and cortisol is will cortisol is tempered. I don't want to get too scientific here, but it is tempered by estrogen, and in midlife, your estrogen is, you know, jumping all over the place. So you maybe not don't have anything to temper the cortisol response, and that is one of the reasons why you're putting the weight on around your middle. So the cardio isn't necessarily helping you. You need to do enough to where you can speak while you are working out, while you're doing your cardio, so that you are exercising your heart, but not doing so much to create a cortisol response. I think yoga is amazing. I mean, in terms of mobility and. And flexibility; these things are important too.
• 16:09
  Unknown: But cement your strength training practice first, and then you know another question, and I think you probably get
• 16:17
  this a lot too: is do I have to lift heavy? Well, I would say that in midlife, one of the greatest inventions, I guess, that I was introduced to is something called a super slow, where you pick up a much lighter weight, but instead of doing say a two or three second curl up or down, you do 10 seconds up and 10 seconds
• 16:40
  Turo Virta: down.
• 16:41
  Unknown: So you can lift a much lighter weight and still get to muscle failure, which is something else I want to talk about too. But if you were to do super slow for 20 seconds for each complete, you know, rep, you would get six in. And if you can do six, that is, and you get to muscle failure, you know, or close to it. You know, you can get the same kind of muscle strength. Now, lifting heavy, it kind of depends on what your goals are, right? So, lifting heavy will really help you. You know, get more muscle growth. I think, and you're probably much better to articulate this than I am. And you know, but if your goal isn't to, you know, if you're afraid you're going to look like a man, or you don't want big muscles, or you just want to be toned, you know, super slow. It's really hard to get hurt if you're lifting a really light weight. You know, because you know it's like if you're trying to lift a heavy weight, and let's say you're doing a bicep curling. I know you can't see me very well on the screen, but you know if you're having to do this to get that weight hoisted up, guess what? You're one. You're not doing it right because you're trying to work your bicep, and now you've involved a lot of other stuff in this area in an incorrect way, which is going to end up hurting you. And the last thing you want in midlife is an injury because it is much harder to recover.
• 18:16
  Turo Virta: Yeah.
• 18:18
  Unknown: So then, in terms of, so I would say you don't have to lift heavy, and I would say don't lift heavy. And you know, because I have a like a history with you know bodybuilding and and and and strength training and I I like it. There are still some things that I do heavy with my trainer because you know I still have those glory days in the back of my head of when you know when I work out really hard. But for the most part, I do a super slow workout and it keeps me strong, and it keeps me toned, and it keeps me fit and upright, which at this age is so important. I mean, I don't think people want to live to 120, right? They just don't want to end up in a nursing home.
• 19:01
  Turo Virta: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:02
  Unknown: And the best thing you can do for yourself is to build skeletal muscle. Everything else is secondary. Not that you shouldn't put all those other things in, but you know, organize it in a way that gives you the best best opportunity for longevity. And then the other thing, and I just wrote a second book called Eating for Strength for women over 50, which is the sister book to to the strength training book, which is all about a protein forward diet. So you know you want to build this muscle, but you need to support it nutritionally. And as we age, we don't absorb the amino acids from protein as well, and so changing your diet and understanding that protein is so much more important than you ever thought it was, and making that the first thing you put on your plate, you know. And it used to be back in the days. I mean, certainly in the U.S. you know, when you know we had the the nutrition triangle thing that you know the government and it would say, oh, you know, people are getting too much protein, and you don't need that much protein, and you know, it's all been you know research has has debunked that mindset for many years now, but it takes time for people to catch up. So I would say your diet, you know, start moving today and make your diet the very next thing that you're starting to look at to give yourself the best chance for aging healthy and longevity.
• 20:45
  Unknown: And there was something else that you had asked about, I think I went off on a tangent.
• 20:47
  Unknown: But anyway,
• 20:51
  Turo Virta: it's all good, all good. I I have I keep asking you questions, and and if you go off the script, feel free to do it because there is no really script on the disc, because it's all important and. And because what I wanted to ask you and talk about a little bit, because when we talk about losing muscle with AIDS, how much of that is really aging, and how much is simply because people stop using their muscles?
• 21:21
  Unknown: You know, it's I think.
• 21:21
  Unknown: I think it's tied together. So you start, women start losing testosterone in their 20s, and when you hit midlife in 40s, your you know your progesterone starts jumping around, and your progesterone is what helps you get good sleep, which is a whole another important topic in this in this conversation. But and then your estrogen is jumping around all over the place, and these three three hormones, how they work together in your body, are now you know used to be a symphony, right? And now it's like all over the place. They're not supporting each other the way they did, and estrogen supports muscle growth. And if you don't have estrogen supporting your muscle growth, you will start losing muscle. So women start losing muscle in their 30s, and and and you know at a slow rate. By the time you're in your 50s, you could be losing, you know, a half a percent or percent of your muscle mass per year. And by the time you're in your 60s, that gets even higher. And I think the scary thing is, you know, wherever wherever you are, if you're in your 50s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, or beyond, start doing something now. It cannot be bad for you to lift something light and start thinking about, you know, being able to get out of a chair by yourself and being able to lift your groceries and that sort of thing, but you are losing muscle, and you don't have the estrogen to support that muscle growth. So you need to be doing something else. And strength training does that. And also, you know, we talk about bones because women in midlife are, you know at risk for osteopenia and osteoporosis, and what builds bone when you're well at any time is exercise that that pushes on the long bones, right? So I always tell people if you have a child or a daughter that's you know anywhere up to like 30-five years old, tell her to start running today because that pounding on the long bones builds bone. You start to, you know, there's a mechanism in the body where your cells are always turning over and your bone cells are no different, right? So your bone cells start to start to go, and there is another mechanism that remodels and rebuilds the bone. Well, that remodeling mechanism needs estrogen, and so if your estrogen is all over the place, this is why women are, you know, prone to osteoporosis because that remodeling isn't happening. So your bone is getting thinner. So again, before you start any of this, make sure you know where you are with your current bone health.
• 24:35
  Unknown: But strength training and that those movements of pushing weight helps to build bone as well as muscle. And so if you start off slow, and again, you know your, you know your beliefs inform your behavior, and you believe that this is good for me, this is something I need to do, that I want to do, that I'm going to get benefits from, that's going to help me age the way I want to age and have the independence that I want, then it's no longer, you know, I got to hit the gym three times a week, and I have to do all of this stuff. It's I need to make a overall lifestyle adjustment, and I would say for a woman starting today, that lifestyle adjustment is start strength training twice a week, start slow, and start to think about your nutrition in a protein-forward way, and then start working on balance and mobility exercises. And you know that's the kind of stuff you do while you're watching TV. Get up off the sofa, put a chair next to you so that you don't fall, so that's just there if you can grab it and stand on one foot for a minute. You know, maybe a minute is too long when you're first starting out. Stand on one foot for 10 seconds, and then stand on the other foot for 10 seconds and work on those muscles that help you with your balance, because that is so important.
• 26:06
  Turo Virta: Yeah, no. This is I.
• 26:06
  Turo Virta: I love it because it's it's. I love to talk so much about strength, and it's not just about looking better. It's being able to get off the floor, carry groceries, climb stairs, traveling, and stay independent, like you said. But are there, in your opinion, some everyday tasks you consider almost like a real life strength test.
• 26:32
  Unknown: Well, take the stairs, park your car. You know, I'm always I always think it's crazy when you're in a parking lot and people are all like fighting for that spot next to the door. I always go to the furthest spot away I can find my car door, but I want my you know 10,000 steps, and I don't even know where the whole 10,000 steps a day came from, or or if there's any science behind it. To be honest with you, but I figure it can't be bad, right?
• 27:04
  Unknown: Yeah.
• 27:05
  Unknown: And so I this is I. This is kind of how you do the the you know the other the stuff in between is you know take the stairs if you can get your put yourself in a position to walk a little further for something you know lift your own groceries I mean honestly after my cancer treatment, the first time I was able to lift the groceries out of the back of my car, which was months, you would have thought the heavens opened and the angels were singing. I was so happy. It was just a huge, you know, momentous step forward for me. And I was like, I want everyone to understand what.
• 27:44
  Unknown: what what a blessing it is to be able to pick up your own groceries.
• 27:54
  Turo Virta: Oh yeah,
• 27:55
  Unknown: and then also, I mean, I talk a lot about the mindset shift. It's like move yourself out of the mindset that this is what I'm just predestined to.
• 28:02
  Unknown: You know, this is just what happens. People just get old.
• 28:05
  Unknown: This is what happened to my grandmother and my mother, and this is just what happens. And I'm here to tell you that is not just what happens. You are in control of this. I mean, we're all headed to the same place, right? Six feet under. But how you get there and the journey to that place is entirely in your in your control and in your mindset, and there was one other thing that I wanted to say earlier that I think you had asked about, and that's, do I have to like lift heavy and get to muscle failure? Because I always was taught you want to you want to lift to muscle failure, and I think that depending on your goals, you know muscle failure, and you probably speak to this more more intelligently than I can. But you know, if you really want to, you know, build muscle from a physique perspective, I think that that is important. But current research is saying for women in midlife, leaving one or two reps in the tank is actually not a bad thing to do because one, you're less likely to lose your form and hurt something, and the amount of benefit you get from that getting to that last, I really can't lift this weight any more than this is a very small amount.
• 29:32
  Turo Virta: Yeah.
• 29:33
  Unknown: So, and that kind of goes to something that I really hope everybody hears is that kind of remove all the noise.
• 29:43
  Unknown: This this is basic things that you know humans have been doing their whole life, right? Moving their bodies, and you know you don't have to do. You don't have to get overwhelmed by thinking I have to do all the things tomorrow. I have to learn all the exercises. I have to, you know, start going to the gym. I have to have this protocol of exercises I'm doing, you know, if you just go for a walk and take some light dumbbells and start doing that, so that eventually you will move up to doing, you know, a full workout, that is beneficial. And I think when you start feeling good and you start feeling the benefits of what strength training does for you because you know there's you know endorphins and and and dopamine that get released and you start to feel good and you start to see changes in your body. You won't have to wonder if I'm going to be motivated to do this. You will be motivated to do it because you know physiologically you feel good, you look good, your clothes are fitting better. You know the scale might not have moved because we know that muscle weighs more than fat, but the tape measure will certainly move, and it's got to be one of your best friends when you're looking for motivation.
• 31:01
  Unknown: Oh yeah,
• 31:02
  Turo Virta: so it's it's. I like to say it always like that.
• 31:05
  Turo Virta: Often like me. Maybe that workout itself will not. You will not be able to work or not feel motivated to do actually the workout, but you will love the way how you feel after and how it makes you feel in the long term. And this is this is like you said so well. And I you mentioned a little bit about scale weight, because so many women are focusing only on the scale, and and like it, honestly, it takes. I it's very rare, especially in this age group, that I work with someone over 50 or or 40 who are coming and they start to lift weights or do something, and they come after a week or two. That oh my god, I I got so I lost so much weight that I couldn't believe that it's possible. It's going almost too quickly. It's very rare. So it's very common that results are they get. It takes a lot longer than you would like, and and it takes a while that you start noticing some differences, especially on the scale. But there are some other ways, like you mentioned, tape measurements, pictures, your strength measuring your strength or exercises, how you are seeing that. But what other changes women often notice first before they they see anything different in the mirror or on the scale.
• 32:33
  Unknown: Well, I mean, when you're exercising or using your heart, right, and you find that when you get a little bit like you know maybe you didn't know that you could pick up a weight and you know and and get 10 reps out or something, and and so your mind really drives this motivation for you to want to do more. You start to feel better, maybe, and you know this is like the best kept secret. If you want to sleep well, and in midlife, you know, right, our progesterone is jumping all over the place, and that's what helps us sleep. When you strength train, and you know, I mean, whether it's just the mechanism of your muscles are tired or other physiological things that are happening in the body, you know, you start to sleep better.
• 33:21
  Unknown: And when you sleep better, you feel better. Everything in life is better if you're getting a good night's sleep, and you know that's another important thing I think for people to understand is you know you are not building the muscle necessarily when you are working out. You are building the muscle at rest, and sleep is so important for recovery. And you know at this age also, humanity. need maybe more days in between your strength training workouts. For me, I need two full days for recovery, and so it isn't just oh I work out Monday, Wednesday, Friday. It's like okay I work out Monday and then three days later I work out and then three days later I work out and and you know so it just becomes you know you give your body what it needs and so if you're giving yourself time to recover then you're not sore and you're not having a hard time standing up because you worked out too hard or you know or didn't give yourself enough recovery time you're sleeping better so you're waking up feeling refreshed.
• 34:27
  Unknown: These are the kind of things you're going to notice very quickly. Even being able to sit down in a chair and not flop down into the chair, you know. I think you know. I remember my father-in-law when he was older.
• 34:44
  Unknown: He bought one of these chairs where you push the button and the chair comes up so that you can get out of it. And I remember thinking, I don't ever want to have to rely on a mechanical chair to make me help me get out up out of it. And I understand different people have different, you know, issues and and things that with their body.
• 35:03
  Unknown: And but if you can do something about that by starting today, wherever you are, there is no good place to start. Today is the good day to start. Do something. The mindset shift that you get, and just the feelings, the you know, the feeling better in your own skin is what's going to drive you, and the mot, and that's going to give you the motivation then to really start thinking about, you know, getting my workouts planned and getting my meals planned, and you know, making sure I'm getting enough protein.
• 35:42
  Unknown: And it it really is like a snowball effect.
• 35:46
  Turo Virta: It
• 35:47
  Unknown: very there's a very short window in my mind of I have to get up and exercise, or I'm gonna end up you know six feet on here sooner than I want to. That I never meet anybody that has been exercising for any period of time that has that outlook. Because it takes a very short period of time to start feeling so good about it, and then you get proud of yourself, and then you notice the impact you have on people around you, your children and your friends, and you know they're motivated by you. And when you realize, you know, I'm a middle-aged, you know, woman who maybe slightly overweight, but I've started doing this, and now all of a sudden, my kids are proud of me.
• 36:34
  Unknown: Trust me, you want to pick up that next weight. You want to buy that heart monitor and that that pedometer and start measuring how many steps. You want to take the stairs. You want to park, you know, 10 cars away instead of at the door.
• 36:50
  Unknown: It's automatic.
• 36:52
  Turo Virta: Oh yeah. So for someone who is just a beginner, like what kind of equipment would you recommend? Or like, of course, you basically don't need anything. But what would you if you would recommend something, and if you could choose with those equipment only five exercises for beginner over 50, what they would be?
• 37:18
  Unknown: Okay, so I'm going to pull down the book just so I can make sure that I'm I'm telling you what I'm teaching. Oh, wrong, but this is also the tracker that goes with it, so that you know, you know. I think if you write down your goals, they're a lot easier to. I like exercises that kind of work more than one thing, so I like people to start off with a push up because it works your chest and you know your back and your arms. Now, if you're saying I've never done a push up in my life and I don't think I could do one, start with the wall. So you stand about a foot and a half away from the wall. You put your hands up on the wall and you do your pushup. And you know maybe you never go past doing wall pushups, but eventually you'll do pushups on your knees. And I yoga they always sell yoga stores, or even online, you can get knee knee pads. Get a knee pad. So you can do push-ups on your knees, and eventually you can do you know push-ups on you know regular if you want to, you know military style push-ups or whatever. But if you never get to that, a push-up is a push-up, and you're still getting working the muscles that you should be working. So push-ups, number one. Squats are number two because you want to get up and down out of your chair. And you know when you start squats, you know I see online a lot of times people want you to go really low. I don't really like going lower than a 40-five degree angle, you know the angle that you sit at a chair. I guess that's a 90 degree angle. Sorry, and put a chair behind you, one of your kitchen chairs, and just squat low enough to where you know your bum just hits the chair, and then you come back up. That way, you know you're going low enough, so that you're you know getting the work out of it, and you know you're not going too low, so you're not going to overextend your knees or something. So use whatever you know tools you have. I'm trying to like avoid all the exercises that I just love because, and I guess when you're thinking about the five main exercises you should do, think about your big muscle groups first, right? So your chest, your back, your you know your quads, your glutes. If you're working your large muscles first, you know you're going to get the most benefit, and also you're going to be working ancillary muscles. So if you're doing a chest press and a push-up, you're getting your back and your chest. I really like shoulder work for women because, especially women in midlife, because I've had frozen shoulder before, and it is very scary when you can't lift your arm. So light weights, shoulder press, and I even think the best thing is to do combination movements. So with shoulders, your dumbbells, you do a curl and then a press, right? So you're getting two things in at once, and you're hitting sort of that whole upper body carriage.
• 40:53
  Unknown: Your squats are hitting your, you know, your quads and your glutes, and I really love.
• 41:08
  Unknown: Somebody asked me once what my goal for every woman was. I'm like, I want every woman in midlife to know how to do a proper deadlift, because I think I think when you look at someone with really nice shapely legs, and you know, as women, we're you know we still want to look good no matter what our age. A woman that has like good hamstring definition, I think, just makes legs look so much better. And so, in the book, I do go over how to do a proper deadlift. So that's what I would say start with. I mean, you don't have to be. If you do go to a gym, the nice thing about using a machine is just that the machine kind of keeps you aligned, right? You're not going to go off crazy, but if you're lifting, you know, dumbbells light enough, and certainly at home, then you can do that.
• 42:02
  Unknown: And you know, you can start off doing all of these things with with no weights. You know, you can buy yourself a band to do curls with. And the nice thing about bands is, you know, you can get one band and you can make it harder by just holding it closer. Right? Hold it far away, it's easy to pull. Hold it closer. It's it's harder to pull. Anyway, have I given enough? Yeah, thank you, thank you. Very very
• 42:36
  Turo Virta: very helpful. I think I know time is flying, and I know you have a next next call. Last couple questions, because I know that so many women are not feeling confident going into the gym, and but how can someone build confidence before she feels confident?
• 43:02
  Unknown: You know, there's this thing called the Wonder Woman stance, and we used to learn about it, actually, in business school before you go into a meeting, especially as a woman, because when you're in corporate America, a lot of those boardrooms are filled with men.
• 43:12
  Unknown: But you know, you go into the bathroom before you go into the meeting, and you put your hands on your hips, and you give yourself the Wonder Woman stance, which is, you know, we all know who Wonder Woman is, right? And physiologically, that changes something in you. You know, you stand up straight, and you know, give yourself a little pep talk. But what I want every woman to know is, if you are going to go to a gym, trust me, when you walk in there, no one is looking at you and thinking, why is this old lady in the gym?
• 43:49
  Unknown: They are thinking, good for her.
• 43:49
  Unknown: How motivating!
• 43:52
  Turo Virta: Oh yeah. You know, when
• 43:53
  Unknown: I used to run and I would see you know people older than me running, I would just say, it was just so motivating.
• 44:03
  Unknown: It was like that's that's what I want to be. I want to make sure that I'm here. People encourage you, and I think you know gyms are have the a reputation for being you know scary places. But I find people that are in the gym working out to be some of the most you know friendly and down to earth people that you know want you know it's like you're in a community of like-minded people, no matter where you are on your path.
• 44:30
  Turo Virta: Yeah.
• 44:32
  Unknown: So I would say, you know, if you need to work out at home until you get a little bit more confidence, fine. But don't let confidence hold you back.
• 44:37
  Unknown: Yeah. Trust me, none of those people are going to be there to pick you up off the ground when you fall because you didn't build muscle. So let's not worry about what any of those people think.
• 44:53
  Turo Virta: That's so well said.
• 44:53
  Turo Virta: That it's it's true. I I believe also that fitness people, at least what I and I work with my groups, and there is like a I hear often that fear, like you know that I'm I'm completely beginner. I'm not fit. Those other people are fit. You compare yourself, but it's actually very opposite. Like at least what I see in my groups, what I do, there are people. If some new is joining, they are cheering, supporting, and there to help. And not there is nobody who is laughing or looking like at home. Look how big she is, or how beginner someone is. That's absolutely not the case. It's it's fitness people are often they are very supportive, and especially for those, in my opinion, like people who are starting, like there are maybe maybe some younger people they are looking like that. What is that one doing here? But that is what it is. But especially if someone a little intelligence seeing someone older or somebody is coming in, it's a huge respect right away. That wow, this is somebody's you try to do something for your health. One last question. What do you think? Because we often speak about biggest mistakes. What is the biggest mistake women over 50 make when starting strength training?
• 46:15
  Unknown: Not starting.
• 46:16
  Turo Virta: That's so well. I was thinking that that I hope you say it, but that's thank you. There's no better
• 46:25
  Unknown: time to start than today. Do something every day.
• 46:29
  Unknown: It will come to you. And just remember, you don't have to do all the things all at once right away. There are guides out there. There's help out there.
• 46:38
  Unknown: You know, if if you need the support, find a good trainer.
• 46:43
  Unknown: You know, pick up a copy of the book. It is not translated into Italian yet, but I would certainly be willing to do that.
• 46:52
  Unknown: Although everyone else in the world, besides Americans, speaks multiple languages. No, but
• 46:58
  Turo Virta: my my my podcast is in English, so I assume people who listen this will understand.
• 47:02
  Turo Virta: Also, even I'm living in Italy, but people will understand English, and I think most of my listeners are not actually from Italy. They are from US, actually. So, but where where people can find your book and learn more about your work
• 47:22
  Unknown: on Amazon, and you know I have a a website. If if you find the book on Amazon at the bottom, it says Sage Lifestyle Press. That's me, and I am on TikTok and Instagram. It's like it's hard to not to to run into me somewhere, and maybe in your show notes if you just put my email address, that would be great. And
• 47:47
  Turo Virta: I will put all the link link for the Amazon book and your email. So thank you so much, Jen. You will find all information in show notes. So please make sure to check them out. So I really really enjoyed this conversation, and I think the biggest reminder today is very simple: it's never too late to get stronger. You don't need to be young. You don't need to be athletic. You don't need to live in the gym, and you definitely don't need to be perfect. So, and please leave a five-star review if you insert the conversation. As those are helping so many or new people to find this podcast, and thank you. Big thank you for those who have already left it. So thank you so much, John, and talk to you in the next episode.
• 48:35
  Unknown: Thank you, Turo. Bye now.
• 48:41
  Turo Virta: Awesome.
• 48:42
  Unknown: Cool. That was such a great conversation. Thank.