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Your first 30 days of lifting after 40, week by week

By Jill McCracken, ISSA-certified personal trainer · · Updated · 2 min read

If you’ve never lifted, or it’s been years, your first month isn’t about transformation. It’s about learning five movements and building a habit you’ll still have next year.

Jill training her shoulders and upper back on a cable machine at home
Training at home counts. Jill on her cable machine.

Why bother starting now? From around age 30, the body loses about 3–5% of its muscle mass per decade unless you train to keep it. Lifting is how you keep it. All you need is a gym or a set of adjustable dumbbells and about 30 minutes, three times a week.

Nervous about the gym itself? How to start when the gym feels intimidating covers starting at home, going when it’s quiet, and walking in with a plan.

Week 1: Learn the moves

Squat, hinge, push, pull, carry. Three sessions, 30 minutes each, light weight. You’re teaching your body the patterns, not chasing soreness. If you’re sore for days, you did too much.

A week-one sessionGoblet squat, dumbbell Romanian deadlift, dumbbell bench press, one-arm row, farmer’s carry. Two easy sets of each. The five moves guide shows how to do every one.

Week 2: Add weight, not days

Same three sessions, same five moves, just heavier. If the last two reps of a set still feel easy, the weight is too light. Resist the urge to add a fourth day. More weight on the same plan is what makes you stronger.

Someone in your cornerWeek three is where most new routines slip, usually on the first busy morning. When you know someone is going to ask how your week went, it tends to go. That’s what weekly check-ins with Jill are for.

Week 3: Fix breakfast

Put about 30 grams of protein in your first meal. It steadies your appetite through the day and gives the muscle you’re building something to grow on. Stanford Lifestyle Medicine recommends about 30 grams per meal for adults over 50. The protein guide has easy ways to get there.

If fat loss is part of the goal, body recomposition explains how to lose fat without losing the muscle you’re building.

Week 4: Test, don’t guess

Retake your measurements. Reload the weight you used in week one and lift it again. It should feel noticeably easier. Progress you can measure beats progress you hope for, and seeing it is what keeps you going.

Day 31: Keep going

Thirty days won’t transform your body. It builds the habit that does. Plenty of people quit right before the part that works, so the goal of month one is simply to get to month two.

If you’re over 50, the next step is a full week with cardio and balance work placed around the lifting: workouts for women over 50.

Month two and beyondThe free 12-week program picks up where this leaves off, with a printable PDF.

New to exercise, or managing a health condition or injury? Check with your doctor before you start. Stop any movement that causes sharp pain.

You don’t have to do this alone.

Knowing what to do is the easy part; sticking with it is where most women stall. Jill coaches women over 40 online with a plan built around you, weekly check-ins and video form checks, so you have a real person in your corner. It starts with a free 30-minute consult call.

It’s not just an app. It’s an app with accountability.

  • Your workouts and meals in your own private app
  • Every set you log goes to Jill
  • A real person checking in with you every week
Request your free consult →See inside the app →

Sources

  1. Office on Women’s Health (HHS): Sarcopenia. “Typically, sarcopenia begins around age 30, when the body naturally loses about 3–5% of its muscle mass per decade.”
  2. Stanford Lifestyle Medicine: Protein needs for adults 50+. For adults over 50: about 0.54–0.72 g of protein per pound of body weight a day (1.2–1.6 g per kg) as a baseline, and about 0.4 g per kg per meal (roughly 30 g), spread across the day.

Keep reading

Strength basics

The only five strength moves you need to start lifting after 40

Squat, hinge, push, pull, carry: the beginner version of each, with form cues.

2 min readNutrition

How much protein do women over 40 need for body recomposition?

1 gram per pound of your goal weight: why, what the research says, and how to reach it.

3 min read

This guide is general fitness and nutrition education, not medical advice. Talk with your doctor before starting a new exercise or nutrition program, especially if you have a health condition, an injury, or take medication.