Are you aware that heart disease is the leading cause of death for women over 50? In this episode of The Holly Perkins Health Podcast, I delve into the significant changes in women's health after 50, particularly due to menopause and biological shifts. It's time to challenge outdated norms and embrace a proactive approach to health that empowers women to thrive rather than decline as they age. As I often say, "Aging is not a decline; it's an opportunity for growth. "
Are you aware that heart disease is the leading cause of death for women over 50? In this episode of The Holly Perkins Health Podcast, I delve into the significant changes in women's health after 50, particularly due to menopause and biological shifts. It's time to challenge outdated norms and embrace a proactive approach to health that empowers women to thrive rather than decline as they age. As I often say, "Aging is not a decline; it's an opportunity for growth. "
Many women experience alarming statistics related to heart disease, obesity, and osteoporosis, yet the conventional advice on fitness and health often doesn’t cater to our unique needs. I highlight three major mistakes that women make: overemphasizing cardio while under-eating, avoiding strength training, and accepting fatigue and weight gain as inevitable parts of aging. It's crucial to understand that womens health after 50 requires a fresh perspective on fitness and nutrition.
Through this episode, I encourage you to shift your mindset and focus on building lean muscle through progressive resistance training and proper nutrition. Discover effective workout tips that cater to midlife women, including toning workouts and menopause workouts that can elevate your energy levels. I share inspiring success stories from my clients who have transformed their health by adopting these new rules, proving that it’s never too late to reclaim your vitality.
We'll also discuss essential nutrition for women, including how to eat for muscle, clean eating tips, and the importance of protein for women. Have you ever wondered how to track macros effectively? I provide insights that will empower you to take charge of your diet and fitness journey. This is not just a wellness podcast; it's a movement towards better health trends for women over 35.
Join me as I advocate for a proactive approach that challenges the status quo. It's time to embrace your strength and potential at any age. Tune in and let’s redefine what it means to be healthy after 50. Together, we can inspire motivation for women everywhere to embrace their health journey with confidence and determination.
Are you training to build muscle? For a limited time, you can learn exactly what I teach my most successful clients to strategically add 5 pounds of lean muscle in the next 5 months.
I'll walk you through the precise adjustments to your training, nutrition, and cardio so your body is primed and positioned to build lean, strong muscle - the kind that lasts. And you can get this live-recorded workshop for FREE (a $20 value). It’s called Optimized for Muscle Lab.
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Speaker #0 Women's health changes significantly after 50, largely due to menopause, aging, and shifts in muscle mass, hormones, bone density, and cardiovascular risk. According to the CDC, about 44% of women are living with some form of heart disease. Nearly 46% of women have high blood pressure or take medication. And more than 41% of U.S. women over 20 are classified as obese. And according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation data, about one in two women over 50 will break a bone because of osteoporosis. Unless you're proactive right now, there's a good chance that your health and your life will decline after 50. But maybe not if you listen to this episode. If you want the new rules for strength, energy, and vitality, keep listening. Hello, and thank you so much for being here. If you are new, welcome. I'm Holly Perkins. I help women mostly over 40 to improve your body composition so that you are at least 70% lean mass, because that's the point where you reduce your risk of disease, you stay in the game of life and out of the rocking chair in the years ahead. And today's episode is one of my new favorites. It's such an incredible topic. Because what if everything that you've been told about women's health after 50 is outdated? And what if the reason you feel more tired or softer or just frustrated with your body isn't actually because of your age, but because of the strategy that you've been following? Here's what I know after years, 30 of them, working with women in this exact phase of life. Most of the advice that's out there was never really designed for us. It was designed for younger bodies, different hormones, and a completely different set of biological priorities. But when you understand these new rules, the ones that are actually based on your body and your body's needs right now, everything starts to change. And I mean everything, and I mean that truly. This is not marketing hyperbole. Listen, if you're struggling with feeling tired all the time, even after a full night's sleep, or if your workouts just feel like they're not working anymore, you're putting in the effort, but you don't see the changes you expect, or if you've caught yourself thinking, maybe this is just what happens after 50 or as I get older, or maybe you've been doing everything that you think you're supposed to do, like eating less, moving more, and maybe you still feel stuck, then this episode is so for you. Because the rules have changed for women's health after 50. It's a whole different ballgame. And I am at the forefront of this conversation because every week I coach women in their 50s, 60s, and 70s to build muscle, improve their bone density T-score, reduce visceral adipose tissue, and restore stamina and vitality. This is something I know as a woman, as a human, and also as a coach. In this episode, you'll learn why the old rules of fitness actually stop working after 50 and what's happening in your body that changes the game. The three biggest mistakes that women make in their health in this phase of life, and these are mistakes that feel logical but are actually working against you. and what actually works to rebuild energy and strength and vitality so that your 50s feel like an upgrade and not a decline. Just last week, a client told me that her bone density improved so much that she moved from the osteoporosis category to osteopenia after just six months of strength training using my protocols. That is powerful. Six months to radically change your health forever. Another client shared that her doctor had to reduce her HRT, hormone replacement therapy, had to reduce her doses because her natural hormone production was improving. Can you imagine? And another client over 50 got a new DEXA scan and increased her lean muscle mass by 4.6 pounds and decreased her body fat by 3.5%. These are incredible statistics from real women, most likely just like you, who are changing the game of their health and proving that aging doesn't have to mean slowing down. taking it easy or accepting fatigue and weight gain and weakness. Personally, I believe that your 50s and beyond can actually be your strongest, most energized years. I've seen it happen. It's happening for me and it's a real option. A woman can feel more powerful at 54 than she did at 34 when she understands how to work with her body instead of against it. And when you stop fighting your physiology and start supporting it. It's not wishful thinking, it's science. And that's exactly what we're here to talk about today, because I am living proof that this is true. I feel so much better at 54 today than I did in my 30s. I was struggling in my 30s on many levels. And really and truly, when you apply these new rules that I'm going to share today, it can be a big game changer for you too. So when it comes to the new rules of women's health after 50, there are some common mistakes that women make. So I'm going to go over those along with what I believe you should do in order to feel better each year instead of slower and foggier and weaker and exhausted. And the first mistake is leaning into more cardio at harder and harder effort levels and eating less to try to control your weight or to lose weight. This seems to be the automatic knee-jerk reaction for most women. More cardio, work out harder, and eat less. And believing that belly fat is just something that you have to accept after 50, it's not true. Yes, gaining body fat and belly fat in particular is super typical in midlife because and If you keep doing what you've always been doing in your 20s or 30s or 40s, and you don't change anything, you probably are going to see a difference in your belly fat, your energy, your muscle mass, and all of these things that I've mentioned. But here's the thing, hear me loud and clear, it's not because of midlife. It's not because of your age. It's because of the biological changes inside of your body as estrogen declines. making the accumulation of body fat so much easier, making you more fatigued, giving you less stamina, and also reducing your lean mass. This doesn't mean that you're stuck with belly fat just because it's happening in this life stage or that you can't ever get the lean and toned tummy that maybe you want. It means that you have to change your strategy because listen. I'm doing it. My tummy looks pretty darn good at 54. Now it's not my best ever, but we're getting there. And I know women my age and older who have a great looking midsection. And it's all about your strategy, doing more cardio and pushing harder in your sessions, probably worked in your twenties and thirties, maybe even in your forties. In fact, I heard from a friend just last week, who's my same age, who said that she has. been doing fasted HIIT workouts specifically to address her belly fat, but yet nothing is really changing. And so of course she feels frustrated and is wondering, I guess, is this just what happens in midlife? Things like that will make you feel as if there's nothing that you can do, especially if you're putting in effort and you're trying and your body's not changing. It's logical to think my body's the problem and there's nothing I can do, but I am here to tell you. that the problem isn't age or your belly fat even, it's purely just how you're going about trying to change your body. Because when my clients do it differently, their belly fat is the first thing to change. I'm not exaggerating. I've got the photos and the DEXA scans to prove it. And these are women in their mid to late 30s, 40s, 50s, and beyond. Your old strategies probably won't work anymore in your 50s. What used to work in the past won't. You cut back on food, maybe you just worked out more, you added more cardio, and you started to see results. So that's encouraging, right? So you lean in and then you get more results. So it makes complete sense that you'd keep going back to that because that's what you did for 20 years or more. But after 50, this strategy really does work against you. And here's why. When you consistently undereat and or don't get your macronutrients right and you undereat carbohydrates and overeat fat, which is the majority of people that come to me, and you overdo the total number of minutes of cardio, you're sending your body a signal, a stimulus. And that stimulus is... Resources are scarce, so let's conserve. Your body responds by holding on to fat because it's the most efficient fuel source. It's going to keep you alive the longest whenever there's a famine. Not that that's going to happen, but this is how biology works. And instead, it starts to tap into muscle for energy. This is called gluconeogenesis and your body knows how to do it very well because if you're not fueling yourself. properly, it's how your brain is going to get the fuel that it must have. It will break down muscle. And that is the worst case scenario. You cannot afford to lose a drop of muscle because we already lose it as we get older. You have got to fight tooth and nail to keep every little bit of muscle that you have. And then if that's not bad enough, there is also a cortisol and insulin sensitivity issue. that makes the accumulation of body fat easier. And I hear this all the time when people first come to me for coaching. I've just accepted that this is part of aging. I don't need to be a bikini model, but I just want to drop a few pounds, or I just want to feel good in my skin again. But see, that's not the whole story. Yes, hormonal shifts after 50 do influence where your body tends to store fat. But what actually drives the accumulation and persistence of abdominal fat isn't just estrogen, it's muscle loss. It's elevated cortisol from chronic stress and overtraining or under eating. It's blood sugar dysregulation from eating erratically and overdoing cardio or working at cardio at too high of a heart rate. I won't go down a rabbit hole here, but you anytime you're doing higher heart rate activity, your muscles are fueled by carbohydrates and your body burns through those carbohydrates very quickly because you only have about 24 minutes of circulating carbohydrates. And when you've used that up, your body has to tap into muscle and liver glycogen to produce those carbohydrates. So high heart rate cardio ultimately I'm Colleen. destabilizes blood sugar, reduces insulin sensitivity, causes hunger, and sugar cravings. It's like this crazy complex cascade of reactions that you don't even know are coming from one thing, too much cardio at too high of a heart rate or under eating or under eating carbohydrates. And these are things that you can change and you can influence once you know better. Muscle is... everything after 50 and you have to protect it. It's your metabolism. It's your stamina and energy. It's your airbag deployment system to protect you from injuries. It's your insulin sensitivity, which directly affects how and where your body stores fat. Losing muscle is not a neutral thing. I've recently heard a weight loss expert speaking. Talking about the use of weight loss injectables to lose weight, and this person basically alluded to the fact that the loss of 25% of the weight loss coming from muscle is normal and expected, as if we're supposed to accept that. No muscle loss is okay, and you do not have to have muscle loss when you lose weight. Some of my clients do have some muscle loss when they're not really dialing in their practices, but the majority of my clients are able to simultaneously burn off body fat and build more muscle. And here's the shift that changes everything. When you focus on building and protecting muscle instead, when you eat enough to support that process and train in a way that signals your body to stay strong, your insulin sensitivity improves. Cortisol comes down. And your metabolism starts working with you and for you instead of against you. Your body composition starts to shift and you might even find that you get better results with less effort when you're engaging in the right effort. Belly fat is not your destiny and more cardio is not the answer to that belly fat. More is not better. Better is better. So new rule number one for strength, energy, and vitality is this. Turn your fitness priorities upside down. Flip the switch. Instead of putting cardio at the top and prioritizing it, put it at the bottom of your list. At the top of the list is this, three dedicated progressive resistance sessions each week, religiously, where your top goal is to repeat the same exact exercises over and over in new ways so that you can increase your weight loads. In my experience, increasing weight loads is what makes the difference, not just lifting weights, not just working hard, not just sweating during your lifting sessions. You actually have to be increasing your weight loads because that is what sparks the muscle metabolism and changes your biochemistry. It's the stimulus your body needs. In my opinion, well, in my experience. The only thing that matters after 50 is increasing your weight loads. It is top numero uno. Not harder workouts, not longer workouts, not weight loss, not more reps, not high intensity circuit classes, definitely not boot camp. And honestly, in some ways, like I don't really even care about VO2 max because your VO2 max doesn't need to be improved. through cardio, you can improve it through a good lifting session. And when you increase the amount of weight that you can deadlift, you will watch your entire body, your health, and your life change on a weekly basis. And what's the best way to increase your weight loads? Lower reps with dedicated rest in between sets. Now, no, you're not going to radically change your body with 30-minute workouts. Some women can, I know for sure. But in my experience, those women who are getting really the ideal body composition and they are self-reporting 30-minute workouts, those are usually the outliers that you see on social media, or they are women who have been refining their workouts for a very long time. So the question becomes, do you want time-efficient workouts because you don't have time? Or do you want to transform your body and your health for all of the years ahead? Because after 30 years in practice, I don't think I have ever met a woman who was actually able to get truly fit by doing 30-minute workouts. I don't think I've ever seen it. Unless they're doing 30-minute workouts every single day, sometimes twice a day, maybe. I know they say that it can be done and I will still hold out for hope for that. But in my experience, I haven't seen it where a woman over the age of 50 actually improves her fitness, her body composition, and her muscle mass to a significant degree with 30 minute workouts. Now you might be thinking, well, I lost weight. I'm in better shape. I've done it. Let me see your DEXA scan. because the truth is a lot of women think. They're making progress. But if you don't really have the DEXA scan to show it, sometimes getting smaller and tighter is just about losing fat along with some muscle. It's not necessarily about building more muscle. And in the case of the woman who swears she's created that body with 30-minute workouts and she's going to teach you how to do them, the only exception is that that one woman was probably a bikini competitor in her 30s. And then she got out of shape and then she got back into shape with 30-minute workouts. Or she was an athlete when she was younger. She probably has some kind of long history so that now it's really just about maintenance. But if you don't have the foundation and you're in maintenance mode, you will never radically improve your body composition and build muscle on 30 minute workouts. Most of us mere mortals. won't have that reality. Unless your 30-minute workouts are like super high intensity raw. which tends to backfire eventually, it's really hard to provide the right stimulus to your muscles in under 30 minutes. Now listen, if you love those high intensity CrossFit style workouts and you love it, go for it. If you're happy with where your body is and those kind of workouts are making you better, great. That's not really what we're talking about here today. We're talking about the woman whose body is changing in her 50s and she doesn't like it and she doesn't know how to fix it. Once you flip your priorities and put resistance workouts at the top, the second thing that really changes your health, energy, and vitality after that is nutrition. And so this leaves cardio at the bottom of the priorities. Because remember, the trifecta of body transformation is strength training, nutrition, and cardio. and all three of those programming tracks. must be synced together in a way where they optimize each other and where all three are working towards the same goal, which is better body composition, not weight loss. So yes, cardio is still important. It's still on the list, but it's not high intensity. It's not fasted workouts. I personally think that is the stupidest thing, the worst idea for women over 50. I'll be unedited. there, I think it is a bad, bad, bad idea. Again, if you're listening and you're like, I love my fasted workouts, then I'm not talking to you and this isn't what we're talking about. But when I probe a little bit further and the woman comes to me and kicks and screams because she doesn't want to give up her fasted workouts and I say, tell me how you feel at three o'clock in the afternoon. And she says, oh, well, you know, I've really been struggling with overeating after dinner or hunger and food cravings at three o'clock. And sometimes in the evening, I can't stop thinking about sweets or snacking. I have been doing this long enough that I promise if you are doing fasted workouts or fasted cardio, about 12 hours later, there is fallout. But 12 hours later is long enough to give you amnesia and you don't realize that the symptoms you're feeling 12 hours later. are coming from fasted workouts. Even if you felt awesome during your workout and in the few hours after. This was me for years. I felt so good. I would jack up on a bunch of caffeine and I would go run around Central Park in New York City as fast as I could with like really high intensity. Feel amazing. Fasted cardio would feel great for about two hours and then I would crash hard. And then several hours later, I couldn't figure out why I felt so terrible, why I was so hungry, why I was distracted by food, why I always needed sugar and had sugar cravings, until I figured this out. Again, cardio is still super important, but cardio is not just getting your steps in every day. That's not cardio. That's energy expenditure. That's neat, NEAT, but that's not necessarily proper. Cardio. Proper cardio is moderate intensity, steady state cardio, three to five times per week for no more than 35 minutes. Now you can engage in any activity that you want for those minutes. And if getting your steps in gets your heart rate into the proper zone, then that can count. But it really is a dose of medicine where you are looking at your heart rate and you are watching the minutes and it's precise. and it's prescriptive and it's dosed. I am a fanatic about this because when I do it right, three sessions a week is all it takes for me, 30 minutes or less, and my belly fat disappears. But as soon as I start pushing more or too many minutes or too high intensity, the next week it comes back to bite me in the butt. Then also as part of this new rule, number one, I will add, stop using your bathroom scale. to assess your progress or your success. Because if you're actually lifting weights the right way, the scale is going to be very confusing and it's going to be very frustrating and it's not going to be accurate at all. Instead, please go get a DEXA scan for body composition if you can, or at the very least, get a professional level in-body report from a local gym or a doctor's office. In my opinion, This is the only body measurement that matters. And in case you missed the memo, the first task at hand is to become at least 70% lean mass according to your body composition screening. Your body comp report will scream at you what your body fat percentage is. So when you get that report, it's going to be bright yellow at the top. This is how much fat you are. All you have to do to determine your percent lean mass is to subtract your body fat percentage from the number 100. And you've got your lean mass percentage. And the first stop, the first goal is to be at least 70% lean mass or better. Up next, I'll reveal the number two and number three new rules for women's health after 50. But first, I want to tell you about a very special supplement, which is a unique kind of creatine specifically designed for women that I personally use every day. Here's welcome news for frustrated dieters. Stop weighing yourself and stop letting your bathroom scale dictate your mood. Creatone is a special creatine formula designed just for women, created by doctors to reshape and tone your body without added diet and exercise. See, two women can be the same height and the same weight, but the woman taking creatone will look more fit, more in shape and toned. Your jeans will be loose. You'll look leaner, toned, and in shape again. And without adding more and more diet and exercise, stop getting stuck in the same exhausting cycle. Lose 5 pounds, gain 6, lose 10, gain 12. The foundation of creatine is the purest form of creatine in the world, sourced from Germany. Creatone targets your body's fat to muscle composition and overall fitness and firmness so that your tummy and your thighs and glutes and arms look tighter and firmer and smoother and more defined. Creatone also supports weight loss by helping convert excess body fat into usable energy so that you burn calories more efficiently. Let me get you started with 20% off your first order. Visit tonetoday.com. promo code HOLLYP. That's promo code HOLLYP at tonetoday.com. New rule number two for women's health after 50 is a tricky one, but the one that when you master it and understand it, it will help you realize that you truly do have dominion over your body, your results, and your health. And there is nothing more empowering than realizing you do have the ability to influence change over your body and your health. Midlife brings so many confusing changes, both physically and mentally. And so it's really normal to not feel like yourself in your own skin and not recognize the body that you've always lived with. Things are different. It's also common to take action to lose weight or to improve your body. But find that it's much harder to get results. And so therefore you think, this is just what happens in midlife. I guess I have to accept it. Getting older sucks. I can't tell you how many of my friends my age say that. And it's so hard for me to bite my tongue because I truly do not believe that. Stop blaming your age. If you are unhappy about it, that's fair. That is honorable. But I promise you, you can change it. You don't have to accept it. And on that note, can we talk for a minute? I have had so many women come to me confused, frustrated, and upset about their health or their body or their belly fat or their belly. And their doctor waved them off and said, oh, it's just menopause. This is just midlife. And they get... dismissed. You might as well just get used to it. This is how it is. That makes me want to pull my hair out and scream. When your doctor says this, no wonder you feel defeated and unable to improve your body because it's like, oh, your doctor's the expert in your health, right? And they see people every day, all day. And so if your doctor is like, man, get used to it. This is what happens. Wow, that's defeating. And it's... maddening. The redhead in me comes out when I hear this because I am witnessing women every stinking week. get the strong, resilient, vibrant body that they want.And so let me tell you this, your doctor is wrong. They are wrong. And that's very bold and brave for me to say it, but I'm looking at my clients of every decade of age get results when they came to me upset and crying because their doctor dismissed them, waved them off and was basically like, eh, just accept it and get used to it. So new rule number two is this is not the time. to throw in the towel, or to give up. This is the time to start a new relationship with your body and start listening and observing what it's telling you so that you can learn to work with it in a productive way. Your body is designed to adapt. Did you know that? That is why humans have survived and been around for 1.9 million years or so. We adapt to our environment. So if your doctor tells you to take it easy or avoid squatting because it's bad for your knees or only do gentle exercise like walking, remember that that is the stimulus you're giving your body to adapt to. If you never climb stairs again, guess what happens? You lose the function to climb stairs. And if you stop... deadlifting, even with a really light weight or just your own body weight plus five pounds, if you stop deadlifting because it's quote-unquote bad for your back, guess what happens? You lose the ability to bend down and pick up something off the floor. You will not be able to pick up your grandchild or your beloved pet when you're older if you stop deadlifting because it's quote-unquote bad for your back. The big mistake here is believing that you should take it easy or avoid heavy lifting or avoid overhead pressing because your doctor said that because of your shoulder impingement or frozen shoulder or labrum tear. Now, I'm not saying that you should run out and go to a CrossFit class after you have spent five months on the couch. The key is listening and learning the right... intensity, and effort for your body at each stage of your fitness. This mistake is so common and really it makes sense on the surface. There is this cultural story that we've absorbed about aging that after a certain point you should be careful. You should slow down. You should protect your joints. We really see this in women over 60. Stick to lighter weights, gentler movement. Nothing too intense. Don't stress your knees. Don't stress your back. And if that's the message that you've been getting from anyone, even from your own subconscious or from well-meaning doctors or trainers or even friends, I understand why you believe it. But if you were to look at what the research actually shows about what supports bone density, joint integrity, muscle mass. strength development, and vitality in women after 50, you'd see that the opposite may be true, is true. Here's the key insight. Your body adapts to the demands you place on it, always. If you consistently ask very little of it, like light weights and easy movement and just walking and minimal challenge, it will respond by becoming exactly that and only that. Less capable, less strong, less resilient, less fit. Your body needs challenge to thrive. Progressive strength training, when it's done properly, with good form and intelligent programming, sends a powerful signal to your bones, your muscles, your endocrine organs, your thyroid, your hormones, and your brain. And that stimulus says, Stay strong, get stronger, stay dense, stay capable, stay pliable, stay mobile. And that strength translates directly into your daily life. Your groceries feel lighter. The stairs feel easier. You move through the world with a confidence in your body you may have not felt in years. And let me tell you, I have the chills. It is life-changing to climb a flight of stairs and it feels good and it feels exhilarating and you get to the top and your body feels awesome. I'm speaking from experience. I could not go up and down stairs in my 20s and 30s because either in my 20s it killed my knees or in my 30s I was always exhausted. This morning I climbed two flight of stairs. by two, and it felt good. My ankles and my knees and my glutes and my back felt awesome and powerful. That is a lot more encouraging than getting to the top of a flight of stairs and going, whew, I'm dizzy and I need to catch my breath. Taking it easy isn't protective. Building real strength is. Here's your roadmap for knowing the right intensity and the right challenge to give to your body each week, each day, each workout. Today's workout should always reflect today's fitness level. If today you're out of shape or you're returning to workouts or you're coming back after an illness or travel, your workout should reflect that. Not what you did when you were in your 30s and not what you did when you were in great shape six months ago. Today's workout, effort or intensity, should challenge you only about 10 to 20% beyond today's ability. Now, I realize that this is going to feel a bit abstract, so think of it this way. What would it look like if you worked just a bit harder today than yesterday? This is in contrast to taking the hardest boot camp class at the gym your first day back. And if you're already in flow and you've been consistent with your workouts, this means that you increase your weight loads by 10 to 20 percent every two to three weeks. Not every workout, not every week. If your leg press has gotten doable, let's say. and you've been pressing 100 pounds on the leg press for as long as you can remember, it's time to increase that weight load by 10 to 20 percent of total weight load. So that means you need to increase it 10 to 20 pounds today or tomorrow, not 50 pounds. And if you've been doing two sets of bicep curls, it's time to do three. You've got to cultivate the physical awareness of what kind of effort is challenging today without it crushing you. And that can take some time, but it's necessary if you want to improve strength, energy, and vitality. Because a big mistake is women go in and they just, they feel good on a Monday or a Tuesday and so they crush it. And then it bites them in the... butt on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and then they got to take it easy. And that's when you get into this cycle of like doing well and then falling off, doing well and then falling off. Because you need to be stronger tomorrow than you are today. And if a doctor ever says, avoid overhead pressing or don't squat because it's bad for your knees, I invite you to turn around and ask that person politely. Well, how will I ever lift my carry-on into the overhead compartment when I fly if I stop overhead pressing? How will I ever pick up my grandchild if I stop squatting? How will I ever be able to climb stairs if I stop lunging? Because remember, your body adapts to what you give it or what you take away. Moving on, something I see a lot that needs to be addressed if you want the strength. energy, and vitality in your 50s and beyond is realizing that fatigue, weight gain, and weakness are not just a part of aging. As I said before, yes, your body and your metabolism do change. I'm not just candy coating this concept. You do change. In fact, aging is the gradual decline of the body's ability to repair, regulate, and maintain itself over time. It involves progressive changes at the cellular, hormonal, metabolic, and organ system levels. Biological aging is influenced by your genetics, your lifestyle, nutrition, physical activity, stress, sleep quality, and environmental exposures. Aging is not a disease itself, but it increases your vulnerability to disease, injury, and loss of function. In general, with aging, we see brain volume gradually decreases with age, especially after midlife. Maximal heart rate and aerobic capacity decline with age. Fast twitch muscle fibers decline more rapidly, reducing power, explosiveness, and responsiveness. And joint cartilage thins and connective tissues lose elasticity. But guess what? You can drastically slow these changes and even temporarily hold them all together. You can't avoid them altogether completely, but you can fight the battle and win. It's what you do now that sets the stage for later. So new rule number three is rejecting this idea. that fatigue, weight gain, and weakness are a given, and that there's nothing you can do, so why bother? And this belief is sneaky because it sounds so reasonable, especially when you're tired, right? It's so much more reasonable to be like, I'm tired. Well, yeah, that's what happens in midlife, so I should take a nap. It almost sounds wise, right? Like acceptance, like maturity. Well, I am 54 now, so... I am going to slow down. Can I tell you how many times I hear that from people and I want to like jump out of my skin and I've really had to cultivate the ability to just like shut my mouth if someone's not asking me for my opinion. But like I wholeheartedly cringe because I vehemently disagree with that and I'm walking proof of it. Yes, my body changed after 40. And it changed again after 50. Hormone shift. Recovery definitely takes longer if I'm not careful. The rules are different. All of that is real and I never want to disregard it. But there is a massive difference between your body changing and your body declining. And that difference is largely determined by your mindset and what you do. Here's what I see in my practice. Women who prioritize muscle, who train with intention and determination, who support their recovery and fuel their bodies appropriately like an athlete, they experience something unexpected. They get more energetic, more capable, more vibrant, not despite being in their 50s and 60s, but right in the middle of it. When you give your body what it actually needs, progressive resistance training, adequate protein. strategic recovery, things shift. Your mitochondria become more efficient and multiply. Your brain volume increases. Your hormones get better. Your natural endogenous hormones, your metabolism stabilizes and speeds up. Your sleep improves and suddenly your story changes. It's not, I'm getting older and this is what it feels like, but I feel better than I have in years. And I'm just getting started. That story is available to you, but it starts with refusing to accept the wrong narrative and also catching your own subconscious tendency to buy into the narrative. Fatigue is not your destiny. Weakness is not inevitable. And the energy that you're craving is buildable. And listen, I will say. This is a bit of a battle because your mind will trick you into thinking that your growing list of symptoms is because you're old. You have to stand guard at the gates of your mind every stinking day, every minute, and remind yourself that is not true. Yes, I'm a year older, but that does not mean that I can't be a bit better tomorrow than I am today. And to give you another glimmer of hope, at 54 and a half years old today, I can honestly say that I am better in every way than I was in my 20s. I've slowed down, but I actually think that's probably what I should have been doing all along if I would have just learned that. In my 20s and 30s, it would have been different. My squats are deeper and heavier than ever before in my life. My deadlift is solid and feels amazing. I climb stairs by twos without a single ache or pain. When I increase the weight load on my Bulgarian split squat, I feel it, my body recovers, and the next week I am noticeably better. And I'm managing body fat with the same level of headache that it always was. Listen. Changing your belly fat isn't easy. It requires effort, but it's pretty straightforward and it's the same headache now. But I will say it's like, I just know exactly what I got to do. So it's really more about me making the decision and feeling motivated because then I just go boom, boom, boom, wait 10 days and my tummy looks better. Building muscle and dropping fat will always be a bit of a challenge. And if you do it right... The challenge becomes simply about showing up and putting in the effort when you don't really want to. Because when you have the right recipe, literally all you got to do is show up. So the question for you today is, are you showing up? And if you're not, why? I want you to think about that. Why aren't you really showing up for yourself? Why aren't you really putting in a bit more effort today? so that you can be better tomorrow. I want you to think about that. And there you have it, women's health after 50, the new rules for strength, energy, and vitality, as I see it in practice every single day. The three mistakes we covered today, overdoing cardio and under eating while accepting belly fat is inevitable, avoiding heavy lifting out of fear and accepting fatigue and weakness as just aging, they're all incredibly common. And they all make sense given the information that most women have been handed. But now you have different information and that changes everything. Next up, be sure to listen to episode 99, Energy Levels Women Want, How to Eat and Exercise to Actually Feel Great Again, because it's the perfect companion to this episode. It's linked in the show notes or just come over to my website blog and search Energy Levels Women. You can also search on any listening platform like Apple or Spotify. Just search Energy Levels Women and you'll find that episode. You may be tempted to think, yeah, well, it's probably too late for me. Or I've already tried everything. Or maybe even, yeah, Holly, I hear you, but my situation is different. I hear that. And I want you to sit with this question for just a moment. What would it be like if the answer wasn't doing? more, but doing what actually works. What would change if you stopped fighting your body and started partnering with it? Because I believe, based on 30 years of experience and everything the science points to, that your best years are not behind you. They actually may be closer than you think ahead of you. I hope you enjoyed this episode and stay tuned for another brand new one on Tuesday of next week. Stay strong, my friend.