At 56, Jennifer Lopez is proof that adapting your training routine with age pays off. Just take this Instagram post. The star looks stronger than ever – and she says one switch has made the biggest difference: trading cardio for weights.
When CBS Mornings show host Gayle King asked how hard she has to train to look so good, J Lo said she focuses on quality over quantity: ‘I think I’ve gotten good at working out what I need to work out without killing myself. I think when I was younger, I was like doing all the things and like, working so hard. And now, I work smarter, not harder. You know?’
‘That’s what my trainers and I think about a lot. It’s like, I have 40 minutes for you right now and we need to maximise that – and we do. I lift heavy, I do a lot of weights now because as you get older you need to start doing that in your 30s and you need to do that because, even if you’re like, into cardio and you want to be slim or drop weight or whatever, muscle is the thing that burns fat. And as we get older, we lose the muscle. So, we need to build the muscle to keep a youthful appearance, you know?’
She’s not wrong. Women typically lose 3-8% of muscle per decade after the age of 30, and the rate of loss can accelerate to around 5-10% per decade after 50. By your 70s or 80s, science shows you could have lost 20-30% of your peak muscle mass if you don’t regularly strength train.
Caroline Idiens, PT of fitness platform Caroline’s Circuits and Women’s Health cover star, even calls skeletal muscle the ‘organ of longevity’. Because beyond the ‘youthful appearance’ J Lo references and the fact that muscle is scientifically proven to burn more calories at rest than fat, studies show it also protects bone density, posture and mobility – especially during and after menopause, when falling oestrogen levels can lead to fat redistribution and increased risk of osteoporosis. Caroline says some of her clients have sent her their bone density scans – and after previously being diagnosed with osteopenia, regular weight training has massively improved their bone mass.
‘Building muscle is like building armour as you age,’ Caroline adds. ‘And I love that younger women are already thinking, “Why wait?”’
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As Women’s Health UK’s fitness director and a qualified Pilates and yoga instructor, Bridie Wilkins has been passionately reporting on exercise, health and nutrition since the start of her decade-long career in journalism. She secured her first role at Look Magazine, where her obsession with fitness began and she launched the magazine’s health and fitness column, Look Fit, before going on to become Health and Fitness writer at HELLO!. Since, she has written for Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Elle, The Metro, Runner’s World and Red.Now, she oversees all fitness content across womenshealthmag.com.uk and the print magazine, spearheading leading cross-platform franchises, such as ‘Fit At Any Age’, where we showcase the women proving that age is no barrier to exercise. She has also represented the brand on BBC Radio London, plus various podcasts and Substacks – all with the aim to encourage more women to exercise and show them how.Outside of work, find her trying the latest Pilates studio, testing her VO2 max for fun (TY, Oura), or posting workouts on Instagram.
