Best Forms of Exercise for Women in their 40s and 50s

What’s a great form of exercise if you’re in your 40s or 50s, female and don’t really like to exercise?

Middle-aged women do not have to be sedentary. In fact, the more energy you muster up for movement, the more energy you will have for ordinary activities. Moving around each day gets your blood flowing and your digestion primed. It also helps your heart and lungs deliver oxygen to your cells.

You don’t have to be that cliche exercise buff if that is not your personality. You don’t have to put on all the gear and be a gym rat. You don’t need a Fitbit unless you want one… but if you do, by all means go for it.

There are endless options to get some healthy activity in each day. Here are some ideas for you.

Go for a walk.

Walking is an ideal form of exercise to help you burn fat. You don’t have to speed-walk, only if you want to. A brisk walk is a great way to rev up your metabolism, offload stress, get your lungs working and tone your muscles. Walking is considered low impact exercise that actually is the most efficient when it comes to fat burning. The more variety of terrain you walk each day, and the longer distance you walk, the healthier you will tend to be and the more efficient your body will be at burning fat. Of course, each person is different. If you like to run, then run. But keep in mind, we’re discussing people who are not crazy about traditional forms of exercise. Getting outside to go for a walk in the fresh air is one of the best ways to burn calories, exercise your muscles, lose weight and be physically fit… even if you hate the thought of exercise. It’s nice to have good form when walking, but if you start off walking very out of shape, you might have to gradually work up to a good strong form. The proper walking form includes erect posture, a comfortable stride, and your arms and legs moving in coordination to increase speed. Of course it’s also possible to overthink how you walk. So if you are prone to overthinking, just don’t worry about how to walk. Instead, just get out there. Feel powerful, think positive thoughts, breathe the fresh air and take a nice walk. How often should you walk?

A half-hour of a brisk walk each day is a good start and a good routine to get into. If you can walk longer than that, great. But a daily half-hour walk seems to be the recommendation. It’s something most people can achieve even if you’re not really that into exercising.

Ideas for where to walk

Walk around your neighborhood, the athletic field, parks in your area. Try some nearby hiking trails. If you get bored walking the same old streets, see if you can find a local walking group online and get recommendations from these people of where to go. You could even meet up… fall in step with a new crew who can show you where the best walking paths are.

Yoga.

Yoga is an amazing form of exercise for anyone, but especially for women of middle age. If you have never done yoga before, you can work into it slowly by learning the basic poses. These include but are not limited to: mountain pose, forward

fold, downward dog, plank, lotus, and others. Once you have basic yoga poses down, you can also practice yoga breathing.

Proper yoga breathing involves what is known as ujjayi breathing. This involves half-closing your throat to slowly suck air in and then exhale again slowly. It’s almost like half a snore, and sounds like the ocean. This type of breathing, especially when coupled with the holding of yoga poses for extended minutes, has the effect of calming the nervous system.

Correct yoga breathing takes the body out of fight or flight mode so that your body can return to rest and repair mode. This helps us to lower cortisol levels and burn that belly fat without trying.

Anxiety is a common issue with middle-aged women and this at least in part has to do with hormone fluctuations. Yoga is one of the best ways to relax and reset your nervous system. Doing yoga regularly works to promote slower and more mindful breathing throughout your active day, and results in deeper and more restful and healing sleep at night. If you’ve never done yoga before, you might start by watching a few videos on YouTube A certified yoga instructor can teach you the basic positions and how to breathe. There’s definitely more than one breathing technique, but ujjayi is the standard if you are doing traditional Hatha yoga which most people are.

It’s also a good idea to buy a yoga book. Ideally, you should have pictures of the yoga poses in front of you, performed step by step in pictures. Each yoga pose usually involves positioning the body one way, then flowing into another position, and finally getting into the proper yoga pose that you’re trying to do.

A lot of people get mindblocked on the idea that yoga is only for woo-woo hippie types. Not true. People all over the world, with all kinds of beliefs and religions and non-religions, practice yoga. It originated in India but its benefits will work on anyone. You do not have to celebrate the Hindu religion to benefit from yoga in your life.

Yoga is a universal wellness practice that will greatly improve your health and well-being. It’s one of the best ways for a woman of middle-age to bring her body back into balance.

In fact, it’s even possible that once you start yoga and get into it, you will be able to tell exactly when your body needs yoga. Once you achieve this, you can flow through a yoga session without the need for a teacher to instruct you.

Dance.

There are many different types of dance that you can engage in as a middleaged woman looking to liven up your life. You do not need to be a great dancer, you do not need a partner. You can dance in your living room or you can take ballroom dancing classes if you wish.

You can head to Zumba class which is a lively and energizing type of movement that combines dance with aerobics. Bellydance also is another kind of dance that you might find exciting and different as a woman in her 40s or 50s looking to tone up your middle and improve your health. What about all of those

fun exercises you did as a kid?

Let’s not forget about those old standbys: bike riding, hula hooping, jumping rope, roller skating, and other fun exercises that kids typically do.

Or if you’re a sports lover, why not join a sports team? You can play softball, join a women’s volleyball team, sign up for the swim team or any other sport. Please be aware though that as we age, women’s bones become more brittle. You will want to be cautious if you’re doing things like roller skating or balancing on wheels of any kind. This could result in a fall which could cause you to fracture a knee or a hip or a shoulder.

Feeling like you want to get a little sexy? Try pole dancing!

Middle aged women looking to liven things up, get fit and feel fabulous can join an instructor-led pole-dancing class. This could be a fun way to get fit and also maybe give your love life a little boost.

Don’t feel pressured however, if you turn out to not be the pole dancing type. There are different types of exercise for different people. You might be a walker, someone else might be a belly dancer. The point is to get out there, do what you love and get moving.