Training For Your Old Lady Body: An honest, no bullsh*t guide to help women (re)frame exercise

by Elizabeth Davies

'Simply the best book I've read on women's fitness and health' PROFESSOR ALICE ROBERTS
'A roadmap for being strong, capable, and free in our bodies at every age' JAMEELA JAMIL
'Witty, data-driven and realistic . . . the only way exercise should be written about!' JENNIFER COX

What comes to mind when you picture your older self?

For too long, social media and the fitness industry have prioritised aesthetics over our health. Every year, we are bombarded with the message to 'train for our bikini body', warping our relationship with exercise and flooding us with misinformation. It's easy to feel overwhelmed, or worse, give up on your fitness journey altogether.

When Elizabeth Davies wet herself during an exercise class, she realised she knew next to nothing about her body. Ditching her law career to become a personal trainer meant she discovered some real home truths along the way. Like learning that muscle mass decreases by approximately 3-8% per decade after the age of thirty, or that osteoporosis affects one in three women over the age of 50 worldwide.

Finding the best products to fight wrinkles might make you look younger, but they won't protect your muscles or your bone density. And what about mobility? Your pelvic floor? Your heart?

Introducing Training For Your Old Lady Body: learn how to move your body now in a way that sets you up to stay strong, active, independent and resilient as you grow older.

This is not a six-week bikini body transformation. It's a way of training for life.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Audiobook

Kindle Edition

Published March 19, 2026

Reviews

[Anna]

In my forties I am finally, after decades of struggle, eating both regular meals and a healthy diet. This offers the opportunity to stop reading books about disordered eating and instead read books about exercise, as I'd like to do more of that now the energy is available. I am also keenly aware of the need to try and retain bone density as menopause looms. (I haven't yet had the courage to read a whole book about the menopause, but probably will soon.) Training for Your Old Lady Body: An honest, no bulls--t guide to help women (re)frame exercise therefore seemed like just the thing, as it is explicitly not about exercise for weight loss or any kind of 'body sculpting' - a term that Davies is scathing about. The focus is on retaining health, mobility, and strength into old age. I found this very refreshing:

Indeed, the more I learn, the more I find it completely baffling that there is so much focus on helping women to avoid looking old - creams and potions and botox and fillers and facials and peels - and so little on helping us to avoid feeling old and moving old. Imagine if 'She looks great for her age!' was a phrase we used when we saw an older person with great mobility, being able to engage confidently in her day-to-day activities and really embracing life, rather than simply a reference to her lack of wrinkles and greys, and/or her perky tits. We are not taught to value movement, progression, change; we are taught to value the opposite - our ability to freeze time, to defy the odds, and (from an aesthetic point of view) to remain static. We are not empowered to work with time, we are encouraged to work against it.

The tone is chatty and down-to-earth, yet still rigorous in citing scientific research and acknowledging where there are gaps. I was particularly pleased by the lack of bioessentialism in a book explicitly aimed at women:

Whole swathes of the [fitness] industry are built on 'for women' workouts that look suspiciously like watered-down versions of men's training - or worse, they're completely random with no apparent recognition of established training principles, like progressive overload.
Here's the truth: the most basic principles of building muscle (and strength and power) are the same for women and men. Muscles respond to mechanical tension, effort, consistency, progressive overload, fuelling, and recovery - regardless of your gender. [...]

What may differ for men and women - and from one individual to another regardless of gender - is context. For example, if women have been taught to fear muscle, that can present a barrier to training. They are statistically more likely to juggle caring responsibilities, which eat into training time. And, of course, when women navigate their menstrual cycle, or life chapters like pregnancy, postpartum, or perimenopause, these can have an impact on sleep, energy, what you eat, and motivation to train. But none of this changes the fundamental physiology of adaptation. They simply mean we must be ready to autoregulate and adjust, and lean into support where needed.

I was somewhat surprised by the content of Training For Your Old Lady Body. It includes much more information about the physical basis of muscle strength, bone density, etc than I anticipated, and less about specific exercises. Davies mentions in passing various different types of squats, but doesn't describe any in detail, so I remain baffled as to how they differ from one another. However this is consistent with the stated aim of the book, to motivate women to find develop exercise habits that are realistic and sustainable, which take into account the need to retain aerobic fitness, strength, and mobility in decades to come. Davies is not prescriptive about the exact movements this requires; she is setting out evidence and options. Although I did appreciate her recommendation of floor time, which I've long been a fan of. When my lower back gets sore after working in front of a computer screen for hours, sitting on the floor and stretching my legs out tends to help.

Overall I found this book informative and inspiring. It helps that Davies is a very similar age to me so remembers the horrors of being a teenage girl in the nineties. (If you don't recall 'heroin chic' count yourself lucky.) She dismisses the idea of using exercise to attain some impossible ideal body shape and instead advocates for taking care of your body so you can stay healthy for as long as possible. I found that encouraging. Indeed, she made me wonder whether to try lifting weights. I've always thought that would be ridiculous for someone who is 153cm tall and weighs no more than 45kg. But why the hell not? Carrying library books around probably isn't sufficient challenge for my muscles and I would like to become as strong, mobile, and independent an old lady as possible.

[Natasha Rega-Jones]

I cannot emphasise enough how much every woman should read this book. I used to view exercise as exclusively a form of torture/punishment that you had to endure to achieve a certain body shape or size by burning as many calories as possible (hence why I haven’t stepped into a gym since uni when I was actively trying to lose weight) but this book has helped me understand that exercise is really more of a tool that can help you maintain your mobility and strength well into old age regardless of how you look or what the scale says. Exercise not as a form of punishment or quest for the perfect bikini body, but as a form of maintenance so that when we reach old age we can still do all the things we love doing today.

Maybe this has always been obvious to everyone else, but to me it was a revelation and I will be trying to actively implement all of the practical advice in this book so that the old lady version of myself will thank me!

[Reading Rachel]

I found this book really insightful on why it's harder to lose weight at my age and how to get strong. I've already utilized some of the concepts and I feel great!

[Laura Lloyd (Hoggard)]

A really informative and enjoyable listen. I'll be adding some of this into my life in order to live my best old lady life.

[Rebecca Ayres]

I strongly think that every woman should read this!

[Catherine Davies]

I could have done with reading this 30 years ago,but as she says,it's never to late!

[Susan]

If you want a book to tell you exactly what you need to do to have a bikini body, hard abs, or whatever other current physical fad is in style, this is not the book for you. If you want to understand why you need to take care of your body, how you can take care of your body, and what taking care of your body will do, this is the book for you! There are no actual exercises explained until page 188 and nothing shown until the final chapter. Why? Because Ms. Davies wants the old lady readers to understand the purpose and impact of exercise. Also, that anything promising anything in 6 weeks, or whatever, is only going to deliver injury and defeat. Ms. Davies guides the reader to determining their best course of action with accomplishable results. Not a flash in the pan, this book provides a solid plan for any woman wanting to remain active in her later, and not so later, years.

Thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for a copy of the book. This review is my own opinion.

[Amanda]

Honestly I feel like I’m on a great 5 star streak and this just continues it.
Sure, it may not be what I thought it was going to be, but it highlights key ageing issues for women’s health that I’ve both never considered properly or even known about. Therefore, Davies absolutely succeeds in her purposes
She also emphasises to just start and keep at it!

[Els De Waegeneer]

Verfrissende kijk op het belang en de aanpak van beweging en krachttraining.

[Kelly Deriemaeker]

3,5 ⭐️🏋️‍♀️

[Charlotte]

What an incredible service this author is doing for women of all ages. This should be taught in schools. This book hit me hard, intellectually, emotionally and physically as I know this will be a guide I keep coming back to as I train for my old age. Elizabeth Davies is knowledgable, relatable, gentle and funny. Thankful that this book came when it did, I only wish it had existed decades ago.

[Rebecca Storr]

Audiobook. Not a training plan, but more a motivational why we should make small incremental deposits into our 'Old lady pension'. Quite technical description in places. Most interesting chapter on the pelvic floor and a great concluding chapter.
Train for cardio, flexibility, bone density, power, mobility and strength little and often, which also helps your brain. Sit on the floor for 10 minutes a day so you practise getting up off the floor every day. Not new ideas but worth repeating and remembering.

[Jemma Ryan]

A friend suggested this, as I'm in my 50's and generally trying to be more active and do more exercise.

There was a lot about this that I liked, especially the scientific explanations of what is needed and why it makes a difference. I also liked that hypermobility was referred to and an acknowledgement that sometimes exercise needs to be done in a different way to promote joint .

What I didn't like:
I didn't need 100 pages (a full third of the book) to tell me to find the time to exercise;
I didn't like or need the CONSTANT references to children/toddlers/babies. A note for the author - 1 in 5 women aged 45 and above in the West do not and will not have children, and that number is only going to increase (and for many of them, this is by circumstance and not by choice). Just a teeny acknowledgement (like there were teeny acknowledgements that some women may be dealing with ill health or disability and that not all women will be become grandparents) would have made a big difference, and in a future edition, I would suggest taking a big red editing pen to many of the references to children/toddlers/babies. Most are superfluous and do not add anything;
I was genuinely expecting to get a bit more 'actual exercises' info.

Nevertheless, a good message that has landed with me, and I have begun to create more challenging and load-bearing exercise into my week.

[Janine]

👏 LOUDER 👏 FOR 👏 THE 👏 PEOPLE 👏 IN 👏 THE 👏 BACK 👏

For someone who has been doing resistance training, cardio, and mobility exercises for a while (not consistently, but - spoiler alert - every bit counts) and who's been following the author on social media, this book was not groundbreaking for me. However, in some ways it was eye-opening, in other ways motivating me to keep training for my old lady body, with some new ideas of how I could improve what I've been doing.

Every woman should read this book, regardless of her age or her fitness level. But especially those who worry about ageing, who complain about how tired they are all the time, whose bodies hurt after doing some gardening, whose backs or legs hurt after sitting or standing too long. (You know who you are.)

This book will most likely not change your whole life. But it will give you a lot of ideas on what to tweak, and some motivation, and certainly also a little bit of rage considering how women's bodies have long been ignored by modern medicine while being put under pressure by modern media. (Nothing new, I know - but we're still suffering from it and nothing will change if we don't educate ourselves and others about our bodies and how we think about them.)

[Kitty]

see tegelikult ei ole kahetärniraamat - siin ei ole midagi valesti ja nõme ei ole ja paljudele inimestele kindlasti on kasulik ja vajalik see jutt. ja mingis mõttes mu oma süü, et otsustasin seda lugeda, kuigi kahtlustasin kohe, et midagi uut mu jaoks siin ei ole. aga ikkagi tahaks nüüd ära öelda, et kõik need kiitvad arvustused "iga naine peaks seda lugema!" on ses mõttes eksitavad, et... kui sa juba oled naine, kes teeb trenni ja saab aru, et terve ja tugevana vananemine on olulisem kui kõhn välja näha, siis sa tegelt ei pea seda lugema enam. see on ikkagi otsast lõpuni selline kihutus- ja julgustuskõne neile, kes veel ei ole kuulnud ega ise välja mõelnud, et kui tahad vanemas eas ka jaksata asju teha, näiteks suuta isesesivalt püsti tõusta või kingapaelu siduda, rääkimata siis lapselastega mängimisest või reisimisest, siis on vaja hoolitseda selle eest, et oleks selle jaoks piisavalt lihaseid, luutihedust ja üldist vastupidavust.

[Yorky Caz]

This should be required reading in schools - its essential information for every girl. I read it on kindle and immediately ordered a hard copy so I can turn it into a workbook and make sure I actually start investing in my old lady body - I want to be able to do all the things I love now when I'm older and if I'm starting to feel aches and pains now that doesn't bode well....I loved the format with a little summary of what had been discussed throughout the chapter and factual information on everything from mobility to strength training and hormones. The fact that a lot of people do very similar exercise that only puts their muscles and joints through a very similar range of motions really made me think. It a book that needs to be read, future you will thank you.

[Penelope Bloom]

An important topic on something most of us don’t want to think about but we will encounter nonetheless – aging. The teachings of the book seem rooted in good, evidence-based recommendations which is always important but not a given. It also breaks down topics that are important but always felt a bit gatekept by gym bros, like progressive overload and grip strength. And we all need to talk about pelvic floor health more, okay? Why are we not teaching people about this earlier on in life before everything is falling down and leaking and maybe when there was a chance to prevent some things?

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for this advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

[Pat]

I wanted to read this book because I found the title intriguing given that I am a senior citizen. I was disappointed in the book overall. In my opinion it had information that is relevant to any age. I did not learn anything new from reading this book.

What I found very annoying was the copywrite image that was on every page. It was distracting and irritating as I was trying to read. The other thing that I found irritating and ridiculous was the chapter about pensions. Why this was inserted into a book about fitness for older women was a puzzler for me.

Although some people might find this book to be informative and helpful that was not the case for me. I would not recommend this book, because I believe that there are much better books on fitness in the marketplace.

[Alison McIntyre]

4.5 stars 🌟

As someone in her early 40’s, I have been out of the exercise game for a while now due to being a single mum of two very busy primary school kids.

I always knew that I NEED to be doing more to prevent things later on in life but the motivation was lacking. However, this book is so inspiring and I love the no BS ways she speaks about healthy eating and training your body.

Plus there’s a few old lady things that were happening to me which she helped to explain. And it is so refreshing to be reminded that it doesn’t have to be an all in thing from the beginning. Try little things each day until you are on a roll.

[Kate Pendlenton]

Annoyingly I had to skim read the last quarter of this book as someone else has requested it from the library! However, I found it really helpful in explaining what middle aged women should be doing to make their bodies strong for old age. There was enough detail for those who want the science, but it was accessibly written for those who want just a precis of the basics. A few swear words sprinkled through the book kept me amused too!

[Bee]

This isn’t the book I expected from the description.

It was heavy on background information with little to no actual hands on application. I mistakenly thought there’d be specific exercises included. While much of the information was interesting, for my own needs I’d prefer less talk, more structured guidance.

As a side note, while I like a casual, lighter tone, her expletives were pointless and off-putting.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[Karianne]

Thank you to Chronicle Books for the ARC! The book is an idea I’ve thought about and a goal I had so I was excited to read this. Having read it, there is a chance it’s my new go-to birthday gift for all the women in my life. I felt seen where I’m at but also encouraged and motivated in concrete ways to set myself up for the best future.

[Lexy]

A good introductory overview into training and fitness for women who may not have trained before and are looking to improve their functional fitness. My only issue was that the audiobook narration had a very unusual / annoying cadence and intonation which was difficult to listen to. Sorry to the author if that was her reading! :)

[Nic Dobson]

This is a fantastic book and I'm recommending it to everyone. I learnt so much about the body and am now in training for my old lady body, ha! Elizabeth gives practical tips to focus on that are achievable for everyday life.

[Maria Cantrell]

I love the idea of this book. But most of the learnings i already knew. I wanted more info on how to do all of the suggestions WITH pelvic floor issues. It seems written for women 40 and under, but with a title like this, I feel it will attract older women.

[Kate Hughes]

A fabulously informative book with a witty edge that has truly inspired me to take my future health more seriously. The author’s direct approach left me in no doubt about what I need to be doing now (aged 50) and I am doing it. No more excuses. Thank you for the wake up call. Essential reading for anyone who cares about their future health.

[Kim Ashworth]

Perfect. Inspiring, hopeful, realistic, practical, funny.

[Natalie M]

Some really good info in a very accessible way.

[Suzie]

Lots of science and background, but the actual execution was short and sweet! Practical with good illustrations.

[Amy Walkers]

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