If you’re over 40, working out consistently, and still not seeing the results you expect — this post is for you.
Because here’s what most women are missing: at this stage of life, it’s not about training harder. It’s about training smarter. And the strategies that got you results in your 20s and 30s are not the same ones that will get you results now.
In this week’s episode of the Fitness Simplified Podcast, Brooke breaks down exactly how to structure your training for real, sustainable progress after 40 — without the burnout, the injuries, or the frustrating plateau.
Contents
The Mistakes That Are Keeping You Stuck
Before getting into what works, it helps to understand what doesn’t.
Mistake #1: Judging a workout by how many calories you burned.
Using calorie burn or sweat as your measure of a good workout is only going to get you so far. After your 20s, exercise becomes a much more meticulous balance of stress management, recovery capacity, and strategic output. Burning calories doesn’t build muscle. And trying to out-exercise a diet that isn’t dialed in is a tug of war you won’t win.
Mistake #2: Relying on unstructured group classes as your main training format.
Classes that do something completely different every workout might keep you sore — but soreness isn’t progress. Your body is constantly adapting to new stimuli without ever actually progressing. And classes that repeat the same workout every time with the same weights will plateau you just as fast. Real results require a structured, progressive plan — not randomness, and not repetition without advancement.
Start With a Proper Warm-Up
A warm-up isn’t just about literally warming the body up. It’s about priming your muscles, joints, and nervous system for what’s coming.
A solid warm-up has three components:
General movement — 5–10 minutes of light cardio like walking, cycling, or rowing to increase core body temperature and circulation. Tailor it to your session — upper body days pair well with rowing, lower body days with cycling.
Dynamic mobility work — Hip openers, shoulder circles, and thoracic rotations to prime the joints that need the most range of motion. Note: static stretching before lifting can reduce your strength output, so save the long holds for your cool down.
Movement prep — Using a lighter load or bodyweight to activate the prime movers for your main lift. Squatting today? Bodyweight squats, bootstrap squats, glute bridges, or lunges will prime the hips and stabilizers beautifully.
Ramp Up Sets: Your Strength-Specific Primer
Ramp up sets are a strategic way to gradually increase the load to your main compound lift — squats, deadlifts, presses — without exhausting yourself before you even hit your working weight.
Here’s what a solid ramp up sequence looks like for a 135 lb squat:
- Set 1: Empty bar or 40–50% of working weight — focus on form and movement quality
- Set 2: ~60% of working weight — 5–8 reps
- Set 3: ~75–80% — 5 reps
- Set 4: ~90–95% — 3–5 reps
You don’t need full rest between ramp up sets — just load up and go. But before your first working set, rest at least 90 seconds. Your ramp up sets should prepare you, not tire you out.
RPE and RIR: How to Measure a Good Workout
These two tools are what separate a strategic workout from just going through the motions.
RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) is a 0–10 scale of how hard you feel you’re working. Zero means you could nap. Ten is the hardest thing you’ve ever done.
RIR (Reps in Reserve) is the more precise tool for strength training. It measures how many more reps you could have done before reaching failure. An RIR of two means you stopped with two reps left in the tank.
For your working sets, aim for an RIR of one to three. This tells you you’re working hard enough to stimulate adaptation — without grinding yourself into the ground.
Progressive Overload: The Non-Negotiable
This is the principle that makes your training actually work over time. In order to keep getting stronger and building muscle, you have to gradually increase the demands placed on your body.
There are several ways to apply progressive overload:
- Increase the weight — go from 15 to 20 lbs on an exercise
- Increase volume — add a rep, a set, or a working set
- Slow down your tempo — a 4-second eccentric adds significant time under tension without requiring more weight
- Reduce rest time — going from 90 to 60 seconds increases muscular endurance
- Improve execution — better form, deeper range of motion, more muscle activation
Think of progressive overload as your plan and RIR as your feedback. Use both together and your training becomes strategic — not just exhausting.
Deload Weeks: When Less Is More
Every four to six weeks, your body needs a planned recovery period. This is when strength actually happens — when you allow your body to rebuild.
A deload week doesn’t mean doing nothing. It just means pulling back the intensity — dropping to an RPE of around six or an RIR of four — while your body consolidates the gains you’ve been working toward.
On days when your energy is low due to stress, poor sleep, or hormonal fluctuations, it’s okay to reduce your intensity. But recognize it as a recovery day, not a failure — and get back to pushing that RIR of one to three when you’re ready.
Don’t Skip Your Cool Down
This matters more after 40 than it ever did before.
A proper cool down helps you shift out of fight-or-flight and into recovery mode. It improves circulation, clears metabolic waste like lactic acid, and is the ideal time to address any mobility limitations — because your muscles are fully warm and pliable.
Finish with static stretching in your problem areas, followed by diaphragmatic breathing with legs up the wall. You’ll walk out of the gym feeling energized instead of completely depleted.
The Takeaway
More is not always better. After 40, the goal isn’t to run yourself into the ground every session — it’s to train with intention, track your progress, and give your body what it actually needs to adapt and grow.
When you:
- Warm up properly and use ramp up sets
- Train within a smart RIR range
- Apply progressive overload consistently
- Schedule deload weeks without guilt
- Cool down like it matters
You stop spinning your wheels — and you finally start seeing the results your effort deserves.
🎧 Listen to Episode 62: Training for Best Results After 40 to hear Brooke walk through all of this in detail, including how to apply RPE and RIR to your current training plan starting this week.
🔗 Coach Brooke Davis Links
Website: elysianwomenswellness.com Instagram: @brooke_elysian Facebook: Brooke Davis CPT
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