What do you think?
Rate this book
Training for Your Old Lady Body: An honest, no bulls--t guide to help women (re)frame exercise
'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?
Organised around core principles rather than strict prescriptions, Training For Your Old Lady Body invites listeners to understand their bodies, make informed decisions and build a long-term, compassionate relationship with movement. Rather than offering a rigid programme or prescriptive 'one-size-fits-all' routines, this book gives women the knowledge they need to train in ways that keep them moving well for decades.
This is not a six-week bikini body transformation. It's a way of training for life.
'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?
Organised around core principles rather than strict prescriptions, Training For Your Old Lady Body invites listeners to understand their bodies, make informed decisions and build a long-term, compassionate relationship with movement. Rather than offering a rigid programme or prescriptive 'one-size-fits-all' routines, this book gives women the knowledge they need to train in ways that keep them moving well for decades.
This is not a six-week bikini body transformation. It's a way of training for life.
- GenresNonfictionHealth
Audible Audio
Published March 19, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 25, 2026
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!
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!
May 14, 2026
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!
April 23, 2026
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.
May 13, 2026
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!
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!
May 2, 2026
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.
May 15, 2026
👏 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.)
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.)
May 13, 2026
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!
May 11, 2026
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.
April 29, 2026
Listened to this as an audio book and have bought it in paperback after getting so much from it and wanting to be able to go back over parts. I love the honest, no nonsense way it is written and the author narrating the audio book works really well. Definitely would recommend.
April 24, 2026
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.
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.
March 30, 2026
I really enjoyed this! Davies argues for treating exercise as an investment for our older selves. She gives an overview into how exercises changes muscles, bones, the cardiovascular system, the pelvic floor, etc., and how all of these are affected by ageing. She draws on good evidence to counter Instagram myths and fitness trends. Davies gives practical tips in areas like improving mobility and starting a lifting program. Some of the content will be very basic for people who already do a lot of exercise, but the book still provides a great shift in perspective from training-for-now to training-for-life. She also has a strong bias in favour of targeted heavy lifting as opposed to other forms of resistance training (eg circuits, Pilates); I think you have to take that with a grain of salt, but I’ll admit she did make me consider trying some powerlifting!
April 2, 2026
this book really fills a gap in fitness information for women. It covers nutrition, habit making, bone health, the science of weight training, all with a sense of humor, kindness and sense of real life’s difficulties. I found it truly inspiring and educational, and especially relate to training for the long game and not letting short term hiccups get in my way or lead to discouragement. Highly recommend to all women with an interest in living the highest quality of life as long as possible!
March 27, 2026
Excellent chapters following the fundamentals of movement and training and how that benefits women for their future strength and quality of life. Including information on heart health, bone strength, pelvic floor etc this is packed with evidence based studies and experts that bring knowledge and applicable steps to moving and improving.
I enjoyed the fun but no nonsense approach of Elizabeth's writing and how it allows space for all ages, sizes, and abilities.
I enjoyed the fun but no nonsense approach of Elizabeth's writing and how it allows space for all ages, sizes, and abilities.
March 28, 2026
Not a step by step exercise guide, but a reframing as to why looking after yourself is important! Written in the same style as Elizabeth Davies Instagram posts, I particularly found the sections on the biology aspects most interesting - muscle growth, flexibility, bones and cardio. really enlightening and well researched.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews