The best way for women to live brilliantly is to get extremely healthy. Healthy women tend to thrive.
Why?
A healthy woman has abundant, vibrant energy that helps her experience joy, feel fulfilled, and love herself and others.
Women Fit Over 50
It probably won’t surprise you if I tell you that, over the years, I’ve discovered that strategies for improving health, nutrition, and fitness are slightly different for women than for men – especially over 50.
Sometimes, these differences are exaggerated more than necessary.
Fundamental health principles remain the same for all genders: improve sleep patterns, eat an anti-inflammatory diet, utilize cross-training and functional exercises when working out, and think positive thoughts more often.
However, some differences must be honored if permanent health upgrades are to be successful.
Here are three strategies I’ve noticed help women – in particular – to live brilliant lives and be fit over 50.
1. Healthy Women Give Themselves More Time to Make a Positive Difference
The advantage to living the healthiest life possible is that it gives you more time and energy to do things that will benefit or advance the human race.
When you improve your physical, mental and spiritual health, it adds more years to your life, yes – but more importantly, it adds more life to your years. This can give you the additional time and energy to:
- demonstrate kindness
- embody compassion
- share love
- deepen your relationships
- help make a positive difference in the world
It appears that one day, you will have a life review. But even if you don’t believe this, imagine that it is true.
During this review, you will be your own jury and bear authentic witness to your Self – and you will finally, viscerally, know how others secretly experienced you and felt around you.
Your personality and press releases will evaporate and what will be left is the entire truth of who you were in this life.
Even if there has been selfishness and fear up to now, by living healthier, you will have the chance to increase the zestful passion and genuine goodness in your life review.
Give yourself that opportunity.
The key to filling your life with joy is to craft a lifestyle that matches your unique interests while also supporting your health.
Healthy Women’s Physiques
In terms of physique goals, many women prefer to emphasize definition and shape. They would rather have sleek, firm muscles than large, bulky ones.
Generally, the way to achieve these goals is to do exercises for more repetitions while using less resistance.
Stretching-type exercises that emphasize mobility, posture, and flexibility can also increase the resting length of muscles, helping to create a trim silhouette.
One of the common mistakes women make when planning their fitness comeback is forgetting to add compound movements into their weekly regimen, such as squats.
Women tend to be drawn toward isolating exercises that target specific areas of the thighs, buttocks, and arms – which is good – but too often neglect to add the fundamental exercises like presses, pulls, and deadlifts.
Compound movements are essential for creating the visual results women seek while improving overall health.
Compound movements improve muscle strength, shape, and texture by recruiting multiple muscle groups and joints – often increasing mobility and burning more calories than standard isolation exercises.
Healthy Women’s Nutrition
The low-fat trend of the 1980s seemed like a good idea at the time.
But it was hard on women.
An obesity epidemic ensued.
Women need healthy fats. Research has established that when women replace carbohydrates with unsaturated fat – such as pure olive oil – their risk of death from coronary heart disease is significantly reduced.
Fats and cholesterol are also needed to regulate hormones – and without fat, some very important vitamins have difficulty being absorbed by the body.
For nutrition, one of the concepts women find success with is learning to think of food as medicine.
Instead of eating only for comfort or to self-medicate, it can be helpful to eat for the science of the body.
Yes, each of us needs joy in our lives. In fact, the more joy, the better!
However, food might not be the best source of emotional comfort. It can be helpful to experiment with finding or creating other joy zones in life to replace the habit of looking to food and snacks for positive feelings.
2. Healthy Women Rise Above the Times in Which They Live
Contemporary life has many advantages for which you can feel grateful, but be discerning.
You live in a consumer culture that has mass-developed destructive daily habits, many of which you have absorbed into your routine without realizing it.
Your soul is thirsty, and that punch coming down the corporate conveyor belt – you don’t have to drink it.
It will only make you thirstier.
3. Healthy Women Create Happy Balance with Simplicity
Simplicity does not mean you have to sleep on a straw mat in a bare room; it does mean that you’ll probably feel better when you live the simplest version of the particular life you were meant to live.
So whether you’re retired and living in a studio apartment or running a business empire from a 12-story headquarters, the joy and meaning of your modern life will deepen when you can simplify your daily routine and surroundings.
Thank you for your newsletter – excellent USEFUL information. You are my inspiration to keep it goin’! I’m a 51 year-old female and though I have always worked-out, about five years ago I got more seriously into educating myself about strength training, supplements, mind-body connection – and rest and recovery. That’s how I found your newsletter! Hope you keep me on your list as I read your valuable info weekly. Feeling younger everyday and will not stop learning and striving to be better in all aspects of life. Loving the journey!
–Jill
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I enjoy your updates and follow your Pinterest board. I want to get back to that level where working out is like brushing your teeth. Since finding your posts and reading your emails, I’ve started PiYo, walking, and anti-inflammatory food choices. I can see an immediate difference in my arms and legs. Thank you for sharing your philosophies and workout regime. You’ve given me hope that I will find my fire again and get back to my fightin’ weight!”
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By the way, Google Analytics tells me that about half of this site’s viewers are women, and half are men. During my decades as a fitness trainer and wellness coach, my clients have also been approximately 50/50 – half women, half men.