Highlights of the Podcast:
01:00 – Question: “I am a 40 year old woman. What exercise should or should I not be doing?”
02:02 – You often do things that are not really the best for you when you’re younger
05:12 – Resistance training is best for women over 40
06:56 – You must do high intensity exercises
09:52 – Resistance training makes you stronger as well
11:12 – Women over 40 should do interval type work
14:30 – You should exercise for 4 hours every week
15:39 – Look after and focus on yourself
17:10 – You choose how you react to situations
18:07 – You are in charge of your health
19:38 – Protein is your friend, not your enemy
Hello and welcome to another new episode of the TheDVCC.com podcast. My name is Mark K. Gray. Sitting next to me is Stephen C. Gray.
Stephen: What does the K stand for, Mark?
Mark: The K is my middle name, and that is my grandfather’s first name, and that is Kenneth.
Stephen: Actually, there’s another. You have another middle name, don’t you?
Mark: I do.
Stephen: It’s M.G. Gray. M.G.?
Mark: Right. Yeah.
Stephen: M.K.G. Gray
Mark: M.K.G. Gray, yes. Mark Kenneth [Goetry] Gray. [Goetry] being my grandmother’s old maiden name to try to keep that in the family. Unfortunately, I haven’t let her know that it’s going to die off when I have children because I’m not going to be giving them that as a middle name. So, I’m sorry, Grandma, if you’re listening to this. And this is Stephen C. Gray.
Stephen: Collin.
Mark: Collin. I just thought you should know that. So, anyway, let’s get on with this. The question is, “I am a 40 year old woman. What exercise should or should I not be doing?” Go ahead, Stephen. Reel it off!
Stephen: Well, it was actually a longer question than that, wasn’t it? It was “I’m 40 now. I don’t want to be doing the types of exercise I was doing when I was younger. I don’t have the will power to try and work so hard.” And you see, I think there’s a prevalence of seeing on the Internet people doing exercise where they’re pushing themselves to such extremes that they’re throwing up and they’re really, really working super, super, super, super hard. And I think it often can get misconstrued as to that is the best type of exercise to do if someone wants to do it. And so, I think we thought we’d have just a general discussion on the different types of exercise, but also, the misconceptions that there are surrounding exercise, particularly when you get to probably 40+. And it actually becomes more important because what you find is sometimes when you’re younger, you can get away with doing things that aren’t necessarily great for you or optimal for you and you actually don’t find out until later on that they weren’t the best thing for you to do and you end up injured and…
Mark: So what kind of things are you talking about?
Stephen: I’m just thinking about myself, for example. When I was younger and playing rugby, for example, I played through injuries. I did things that I wouldn’t do now that I’m older and wiser. And it’s the same for anyone. So…
Mark: So the 40 year old women, let’s get back to that, because I know you like to mention that you play rugby and stuff. Let’s get back into the topic.
Stephen: I was using that as an example that things that used to work – so, for example, using diets. Not just types of exercise but using diets can work when you’re younger, but then they end up affecting you when you’re older. So, for example, a lot of people we speak to, a lot of ladies that we train in Bedford and Milton Keynes, for example, have done a lot of different types of diets when they were younger. And now, they find that those diets actually had a detrimental effect on them now.
Mark: Right. So they’re reaping what they sowed when they were younger. And obviously, they thought it was correct when they were younger and it probably had an effect that worked. But now, it doesn’t and it actually has a detrimental effect, what they’ve done in the past.
Stephen: So when we’re talking exercise, I think a lot of people have done a lot of running, long distance running, a lot of aerobic type of exercise. That now, when they try and do that when they’re in their 40s or 50s, actually tends to have the opposite effect to what they want. So particularly when we’re talking trying to lose weight or actually have some muscle tone, they find that that actually has the opposite effect.
Mark: Right. So, actually, I kind of want to bring to light where we are. I know we’re in a podcast that you’re listening. It’s not video. But we’re sitting in a park in like a – it’s a park bench, but a covered bench. And there’s lots of graffiti around. I read this one – “Me and baby ain’t nothing but mammals. So let’s do it like they do on the Disney Channel.”
Stephen: Discovery Channel.
Mark: Discovery Channel. I can’t even get that right! Good little wording here. I thought that would be a good little interlude. So basically, you can use that as well. Let’s try and make…
Stephen: How do you spell “mammals”?
Mark: Yeah. “AL” isn’t it? It’s AL.
Stephen: AL.
Mark: So they’ve got the spelling wrong a little bit there. You can use that as well. The people that have done it, it’s probably youngsters. And they wouldn’t do this when they’re older and it would have a lot bigger effect if they probably did it when they’re older. You wouldn’t let it pass as much, would you, if you saw a 40 year old man or woman “graffiti-ing” a park bench. You wouldn’t get away with it as much as you do as children.
Same with diet. So there we go, I linked that up for you. Okay. So, we’re saying basically that things such as diets and stuff that might have worked for you in the past won’t necessarily work for when you’re older. There’s an example. What else?
Stephen: Lack of resistance training.
Mark: Right.
Stephen: And maintaining muscle tone. So this is particularly females because that’s what we’re talking about.
Mark: Yeah.
Stephen: So that’s what we’re talking about now. And so, when we talk about what the most effective type of exercise is, it is literally beyond any shadow of a doubt, using resistance training is for women of 40+. But actually, that includes men of 40+. Resistance training is the most effective way by a long way to lose body fat. What we’ve found in our experience, and actually, all the other courses we’ve been on, the people, the trainers and expert trainers we’ve met and talked to and things like that, they all 100% agree that people that don’t do resistance training have a lot harder work to lose body fat and to maintain a good body composition, which means less body fat and a little bit of muscle tone, if they don’t do resistance training.
Mark: Okay. And that’s actually often counterintuitive to ladies. They think that kind of weightlifting or lifting any kind of resistance weights is for young lads, young boys that want to get muscle-bound and they want to do the opposite. But actually, it’s like you’ve just said, it is the most important thing that they could be doing and should be doing to lose body fat and be in the best shape. And also, to reduce risks of osteoporosis and osteopenia.
Stephen: Correct. And it should be noted that we’re not talking – so I know some people would think, what about, for example, body pump? Because body pump uses weights. So is that resistance training? Well, yes. But it is aerobic resistance training. So basically, it’s very similar to doing a long steady state jog because you end up doing hundreds and hundreds of repetitions.
Mark: They do reps to the whole song.
Stephen: Yeah, and you’re doing really low intensity. So you’re not…
Mark: And actually – sorry. Let me just interlude on that. When he says “intensity” because you’ll be like, “Oh no, I work really hard. I sweat a lot!” That’s not intensity. Intensity is actually how much weight you lift compared to how much you can. So, if you’re lifting a weight for 100 reps, 50 reps, that’s a low intensity compared to if you can only just lift a weight for say 5 repetitions. That’s a much higher intensity, the 5 repetitions.
Stephen: You’re actually probably working about 20% of your maximum if you’re doing hundreds of reps.
Mark: Yeah.
Stephen: So, the key is that you’re actually working at a – like Mark says – at a higher intensity so you’re actually pushing yourself a lot more so that you’re trying to increase the amount you lift. And, I mean, you’re never going to become the world’s strongest man. I’m sorry to break that to you. You’ll never build the significant amounts of muscle that the bodybuilders you see on TV have and things like that. But, what we’re talking about is building literally a pound or two of muscle tone, which has a really dramatic impact on a woman’s body because it will allow you to actually lose body fat. So one of the things resistance training is good for is losing body fat because it really does increase your metabolism. It’s one of the only real ways of increasing your metabolism at rest so that whilst you’re at home or doing whatever you’re doing and normal daily activities, you’ll end up burning more in the way of calories than if you weren’t doing resistance training.
Mark: And also, you’ll find that you’ll feel a lot more confident. I certainly see that ladies feel a lot more confident when they feel stronger. So the 40+, probably, you naturally get weaker anyway as you get older. It doesn’t have to be, but you do naturally if you don’t do anything about it. And by actually increasing their resistance training and doing resistance training, they feel a lot more confident because they’re doing things that they’ve never thought they were able to and achieving things that they’ve never thought they’re able to.
Stephen: I mean, as a fine example, we just went and did as a Team DVCC.
Mark: Yeah.
Stephen: So clients from Milton Keynes and Bedford, we all went over to Nottingham, wasn’t it? For the X-Runner, which is an obstacle race type event. And it was great fun. Everyone had a great time. Some people were trying to beat times. Other people were trying to do something they’ve never done before just to do it and complete it and just because some of the obstacles were quite hairy. Some people don’t like water and there was water involved. So it was really great. Everyone trying to get over their fears and taking themselves out of their comfort zone.
Mark: And the oldest lady we had there was 60? How old? 63?
Stephen: You could be in trouble if you get it wrong.
Mark: About 60 to 63. You know, she’s over 60. I know that for a fact because I call her “The Pensionator” [Laughs]. Her surname is Pension, so The Pensionator. And she’s an OAP. But she did a brilliant job. She was amazing!
Stephen: She’s a super thing.
Mark: I know.
Stephen: Yeah. But she was amazing, yeah.
Mark: Exactly. So, I mean, resistance training has helped her a lot. Like she was actually saying that she was so much stronger over the things. Because a lot of, for example, this thing was a lot of strength as well. It’s not just running. You’re having to go up hills, which involves strength. You’re having to climb over things. You use your body weight to climb over things. And I think people don’t realize how much in everyday life. So, actually, if we’re talking about someone – even if say Pat. She’s got grandchildren. So, having to lift up her grandchildren and moving around when they’re moving around, that involves a lot of strength. So, people I think underestimate the importance of being – when we talk about strength, again, we’re not talking about being able to lift 500 kilograms. We’re talking about being able to do…
Stephen: Lift your body.
Mark: Yeah, lift your body and do things that you want to do, like lifting your grandchildren or lifting up the washing simply because you have to lift that off the floor. It’s very similar to a certain type of exercise that you can do in the gym. And I think people underestimate how important being relatively strong, or at least trying to become stronger is.
Stephen: Yeah. Exactly. And that’s a side note. Apart from the weight loss, that’s the other things that you get there. So, that is something that you definitely should be doing as a 40+ female – resistance training. What else?
Mark: Interval type work. So, things that get your heart rate up that you work hard at. And then, you lax off and the heart rate drops back down and you get it back up. That’s effectively called an interval type approach. It’s the most effective type of what we call aerobic type training that burns body fat, that gets rid of body fat. Basically, it’s the best thing to do, whether you have 10 hours a day to exercise or 30 minutes.
Stephen: Yeah.
Mark: It’s much more effective to do 30 minutes of hard intervals than it is to do an hour of long steady state. So, you could probably – most people listening to this podcast can probably have it in their exercise time because you’re more likely doing long steady state cardiovascular work and you could have that and do short, sharp bursts that push you a lot harder and you’re going to end up dropping more body fat than if you just carried on doing your long steady state runs.
Stephen: Yeah.
Mark: So, interval training is very important. And if you’re struggling to – obviously, you might not be able to run. You don’t feel fit enough to be able to run or what have you. You can do intervals with walking. So you walk fast for a period of time, and then you slow down and you walk slower to recover. And that’s intervals. It is all relative.
Now I remember a lady I trained, and she ended up losing I think it was 8 stone, but we actually joke that she probably lost about 40 stone in the time because whenever she would go on holiday, she would unfortunately put on about a stone literally in two weeks, and obviously lose it when she came back. But, I remember that she wanted – one of her goals was to be able to run for – I think it was like for a minute or so. And we literally started by walking, and then she would do 2 paces. And I kid you not. 2 paces at a kind of jog, appears like a jog, and we built it up all the way from that. And now, she runs for 30 minutes with no problem. She’s done 10Ks. She’s done loads of different events and she’s actually very, very fit and very strong as well because we obviously incorporated resistance training with that. So, it’s very important that you do that interval style of work.
Stephen: The thing being, she would’ve been in a real high risk of injury, wouldn’t she otherwise, if you hadn’t done it that way?
Mark: Right. Exactly, exactly.
Stephen: So it’s very important that you take that into consideration. Don’t you think?
Mark: Exactly. So, we’ve got intervals and we’ve got resistance training. What else? Let’s give some more usable advice for 40+ females, Stephen, from your fountain.
Stephen: Fountain of knowledge. Well, I mean, we were talking mainly exercise, weren’t we? But, I think some of the misconceptions as well are the types of exercise because everyone gets kind of – I think it’s almost a type of brainwashing where we’re thinking – I mean, I saw just the other day I think the 10-minute abs. I think it changes. Sometimes it’s a minute abs. I think someone’s managed to do a 2 second…
Mark: That must be amazing that they can do a 2 second abs and you get a 6-pack.
Stephen: I know. I’ve seen it. But actually now, was it 3 minutes? It’s 3 minutes. Anyway, people thinking that they can really, really kind of almost go against nature, I think, and decrease. Because obviously, we’re in a world where everyone wants things easily or more easily. So time is obviously of the essence, but I think realistically, health-wise as well, the ideal in my eyes, the amount of time someone could exercise optimal probably would be about 4 hours a week. You don’t need any more than that. And sometimes it may be less, but sometimes it may be more, but on average, it would equal out to about 4 hours a week.
Mark: Yeah. Exactly. And frequency is very important as well, I want to say there.
Stephen: And consistency, yeah.
Mark: That a lot of people think, “Oh, I can train twice a week, but I get so sore. I could only train twice a week. I get so sore.” But actually, as I’ve found out, that the more – if you get 4 times a week, you’re going to be less sore than if you did 2 times a week. And that seems counterintuitive, but the more often you can exercise in respect of that – about 4 times a week – the less sore you’ll be. Your body will actually recover. Actually, sometimes when you exercise, you recover quicker. That’s kind of a recovery method. And if it’s adequate, you recover.
Stephen: Exactly that. So, basically, you want to be doing 4 times a week of exercise – intervals with resistance training, as we’ve said. And this is particularly for ladies. You want to be focusing on your nutrition as well. So, my point there is you want to give yourself your 4 hours a week where you are effectively giving to yourself to be able to then – I mean, a lot of people talk about having lots of things to do, look after children, look after grandchildren, look after loved ones, but if you’re not looking after yourself – and we try and drum this point in – but if you’re not looking after yourself, then you can’t look after anyone else.
Mark: I know. This happens a lot and it’s the same again. It was reached out to me. Another person, they put on quite a few stone in a year, and that’s because one of their loved one or someone relatively close to them got cancer. And then obviously, they said that their food was up and down and what have you. Like, I mean, we can empathize with that a lot. Not the weight gain, but with the situation, and you can handle things in different ways. We’ve said this before. We’ve done a podcast on it. What happens when – I think it’s when you hit a road bump or whatever, how you react. When you are sitting here now and there’s no issue, you’d say you’re likely to exercise. “I need to keep my morale high, I need to keep my confidence, I need to keep energy up and I should carry on exercising if something happens.” And then something happens and you kind of forget all that.
And this is obviously what that person did, and they’re finding that they need to lose weight now and I’m sure they were less effective in everything they did in that year as well. And it really drove home to me how different people can react differently to the same pressures or the same events and you can choose how you react. You don’t have to react a certain way. You literally choose how you react. So, there’s a good little quote I heard. I was listening to a podcast on the way in this morning and it was “You don’t ever have a problem. It’s how you think about the problem that’s the problem.”
So, I don’t know how I can give you an example here, but it’s not – say, for example, if you don’t have any money. There’s a thing. And it’s not the fact that you don’t have any money that’s the problem. It’s how you’re thinking about that problem that is the issue. So, someone would think, “Okay. I need to get an extra job to get some more money” or whatever, and it’s really how you think about it that makes all the difference.
Stephen: Massively. And I think that’s one of the keys with transformations, with anything with health, is realizing that you’re in charge of it.
Mark: Exactly.
Stephen: I think, and you’re in charge of the results you get effectively. So often, like Mark says, people can kind of blame outside things. But yes, things happen. But how you react to them is the most important thing. So, if you bear that in mind – how will I react? That’s the thing to think about. Not think about the problem. Just think about how you’re going to react to the problem or the thing that happened.
Mark: I mean, if you’re – like we’re talking about – you’re 40+, you’ve probably given enough time to others to be able to afford time to focus on yourself.
Stephen: And the thing being, it’s not even affording the time. I look at it as a way of making time.
Mark: Have time. Not afford.
Stephen: Well, it’s a making the time thing. So actually, 4 hours of exercise and looking after yourself gives you far, far more back. So actually, it’s an investment into having more time.
Mark: Those that don’t make time for their health have to make time for this, for sickness. If don’t make time for your health, you’re going to end up having to being forced to make time for your ill health.
Stephen: It’s like you can’t buy insurance when you need it.
Mark: Exactly that. Exactly. So, in short, intervals, short, sharp bursts, resistance training, focusing on yourself as a rule. And also, focusing on – I’m going to add this one in actually before we were going wrap up I guess around the 20 minute mark, but I want to make sure that as a lady, you understand that protein is your friend and it’s not your enemy. So, having enough protein in terms of lean sources such as chicken, fish and all those type of foods are very, very important to you losing weight and increasing your muscle tone and looking and feeling as good as you can. Don’t shy away from them. And that’s what often, people do, but you really want to focus on having enough of those.
Alright! I hope you got a bit of stuff from this little podcast. If you need to get in contact with us, just reply to any of our emails or put your details in the box and we’ll be able to help you in any way we can! This is Mark and Steve from TheDVCC.com
