87: Sustainable Fitness for Women Over 35: A Long-Term Training Framework (Not Another New Year Reset)

In this episode of MilesFromHerView, powered by KatFit Strength, host Kat discusses the importance of focusing on long-term fitness goals rather than embarking on drastic New Year's resolutions. Kat, a seasoned strength trainer and ultra marathon runner, shares a sustainable fitness framework designed for busy women over 35, emphasizing the importance of consistency over extreme measures. Key topics include strength training, incorporating HIIT workouts, learning new skills, daily walking, long cardio sessions, and proper nutrition. The episode encourages women to view fitness as a lifelong journey tailored to their individual life stages, from motherhood to menopause, aiming to build a resilient and adaptable body for the future.

00:00 Introduction: Setting the Tone for the New Year

00:34 Welcome to MilesFromHerView

01:24 The Holiday Season and Fitness Myths

02:54 Long-Term Fitness Goals

04:47 The Importance of Versatility in Fitness

07:23 Framework for Sustainable Fitness

07:53 Strength Training Essentials

09:19 Incorporating HIIT and Cardio

11:26 Learning New Skills and Daily Movement

15:35 The Importance of Nutrition

19:00 Adapting to Life's Changes

22:24 Conclusion: Embrace Your Strength

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Transcript

0:00

Don't worry. This is not a New Year new you episode. We're gonna be talking about what to really focus on in the new year. We're gonna be looking at the long game. You may hear some consistent themes that I have been talking about since the start of this podcast. The goal of this podcast and this episode is to help you have actionable items to implement in your fitness goals in 2026. So let's dive in.

Kat: 0:34

Welcome to MilesFromHerView, the podcast powered by KatFit Strength, where busy women like you find practical solutions to fuel your fitness journey with authenticity and resilience. I'm Kat, your host, a mom of two active boys, a business owner, and an ultra marathon runner and a strength trainer in her forties with nearly two decades of experience. I'm here to help you cut through the noise of fads, hacks, and quick fixes. This is a space where we celebrate womanhood and motherhood. All while building strength and resilience and reconnecting with you from a place of self-compassion and worthiness. Whether you're lacing up your running shoes to go out for a run, driving your kids to practice or squeezing in a moment for yourself, I'm right here in the trenches with you. Let's dive in.

1:22

Welcome back to MilesFromHerView. I'm Kat, your host, and I welcome you here to this odd time between Christmas and New Year's. There are so many things that happen in the month of December, so many different holidays, but this is a time of year where. The world seems to slow down. I'm not sure if that is your routine or your experience during this time, but in my house, the house is a disaster. Routines are non-existent, and I'm seeing it in my sphere professionally where everyone is starting to obsess over New Year's. This tone of New Year, new me, the pushing of massive, grandiose fitness goals and overhauling your entire routines to the way you used to live is wrong and doing things perfectly. However, this is not what this episode is about. This is not how I practice fitness, and this is not how I coach the women. I do coach with their fitness routines because you don't need to overhaul your entire routine. You don't need to overhaul your entire life. Yes, there are things we do need to put in. There are things that we need to do every single day. That will help us. And the reason why I strongly urge against overhauling your entire life in every aspect of your life is because you are in the thick of it. You might be building your family, growing your career, navigating postpartum, perimenopause, menopause, and that's a lot. But that does not mean you can't see the change you want to see. It does not mean that. You aren't able to engage in a daily fitness routine, so. The goal of fitness isn't to only peak for one season. Now, early on in my career when I started my business, if you're new here or if you've been a long time listener, you might kind of know my history of how I got into personal training. Prior to personal training, I was a college track and field coach, and I needed a change in my own life, and so I switched my passions of coaching to working with women. And when I was in my early career, I had individuals proceed to give me advice in that I needed to do boot camps geared towards bikini fitness bridal fitness and snap back mommy routines after having a baby. But for me that never sat well for this reason is we don't train for one specific season in our life. We are training for our life overall. Now, that does not mean that there are certain things that certain seasons do demand. So for example, the way I train someone who might be 10 weeks postpartum is different. How I would train a woman whose children are in grade school. They're just slightly different, and that goes back to the individual. The goal is to build a body that is going to carry you through the next 30, 40, 50 years. A body that feels strong and a body that recovers and a body that adapts, and it's very easy to get obsessed with one way of working out. Maybe think back to your twenties. You had that one workout routine, that one workout class, that one way that you knew if you needed to see a big drastic change, you would white knuckle your way through that until you saw those results maybe you're thinking of a time in your life where you did CrossFit and that became your entire identity, CrossFit, orange Theory High Rocks, which is now gaining a lot of traction. Those aren't bad, but here's what I've seen over and over. In the two decades I have been involved in fitness women who only do one thing for years upon years just end up burnt out, injured, are just mentally done. When we move through the decades of life, what becomes more important is versatility. So the women I coach are typically 35 years, and above, we're really looking at a well-rounded fitness plan that allows them to not just look a certain way or hit a personal record in a lift. I'm looking at putting together workouts that are gonna support bone health, muscle mass, joint integrity, hormones, recovery capacity and stress, resilience. We need this at all periods of our life, but it becomes more vital. As we move through the decades, as we get into the forties, the fifties, the sixties, the seventies, so you're not just training for 2026, you're training for the person you want to be at 50, at 60, at 70. And I don't want this to sound like, oh gosh, like I'm only preparing for my old age. No, it's actually freeing because we do lose coordination, balance, mobility, muscle mass, bone density, all of these things starting at earlier decades. And if we are not planning for these things, it can mean more limited freedoms as we progress into the decades that are the fifties, sixties, seventies, and eighties. Heading into 2026, I wanna share a framework that shaped my own training and what has also shaped how I work with women. And a bit of a disclaimer here. There are seasons of more and seasons of less. Pregnancy does change things, and early postpartum changes, things. Menopause, transitions, change things, life happens. So. These are a framework, and it's not about perfection, it's about priorities. The first one, strength training, you wanna lift, you want to strength train, like get in the gym. Pick up dumbbells, barbells, kettle bells, minimally two times a week, ideally three times. If you can get four times, fantastic, but two to three times per week. Strength training is one thing I will not negotiate for women as we age. This is what helps you keep your muscle, protects your bones, supports your joints, and builds confidence that bleeds into everything else in your life. You do not need to be in the gym for over two hours. 30 minutes of a solid lifting session is going to do the trick. It is going to be much better than an hour of doing a ton of exercises. I want you to be pushing and pulling. Wait consistency. Doing it consistently in a range of two to four times, minimally. Two times. And there are seasons where one time, but if you are predominantly doing a strength training routine week after week, two to three times per week, those times where you have to lessen because life. Is Lifeing that one time will act as a maintenance placeholder until you're able to take on more. Second one, sprint or hit workout per week. This is your power engine. This is cardiovascular health. This is metabolic resilience, and I know hi can sound intense, but it's not about destroying yourself. What I find with women, it's either. Only strength training or only hit more women live in the camp, I'm gonna say of hit and hi is great. It serves a purpose. But if we are not progressively strength training, our workouts are only one sided. A hi workout can be as little as five to 10 minutes, 10 intentional minutes where you have energy. We want to spike that heart rate. The heart gets stronger when we are taxing. It does not mean every single workout. We wanna be out of breath pouring sweat. Last week's conversation was about why we don't wanna be sore and pouring sweat every single workout, and what are the markers of a great workout. So this goes back into it. So I highly encourage you if you missed last week's. To tune into last week's because it will further back up the framework that I'm speaking about here. However, you need to have some sort of sprint or hit workout it. Can be a more challenging walk one where you're not at a conversation pace. So how do you do that? That's incline, treadmill, walking without holding on. It can be uphill. Walking outside, going for a vigorous hike is going to help do that. This helps. Your circulation, it helps your metabolic health, your cardiovascular health. We want one sprint or one hit workout per week. Can you do more than that? Yeah, I would say one to two is perfect. Anything more than that, it depends on your energy system and how much you've been training, but one to two definitely is great. Number three, learn something new. It is fantastic to get out and challenge yourself, and it could be maybe you don't know how to strength train, and that is just something new that also helps work with building and strength for your routine. Maybe it's an adult ballet class. Maybe it's learning yoga or Pilates. Maybe it is. Ice skating, whatever it is, learn something new. A new movement skill is going to help challenge your coordination, your balance, your brain, and why this matters is learning a new physical skill builds resilience, and it teaches your nervous system that it can adapt, and you're going to need adaptability. When you're navigating hormonal changes and life changes. All of it helps. Number four, walk daily. When you hear walk daily, it does not mean that you need to find an hour or more for a walk. It can be for five minutes or. Time broken up into chunks throughout your day. I get life is busy. I get the weather. May not always be cooperative I get that Not every person has access to a treadmill, however, find movement. One thing that I encourage is if you are in a desk bound. Job where the mornings are packed, getting the kids out the door to their respective places throughout the day, school, daycare, et cetera, and the evening is getting everyone home and quickly feeding everyone and helping prepare for the next day. It can be exhausting to be like, okay, what about me? But what I strongly encourage is throughout the day, break your sitting. Into increments. Think I'm gonna work for 20 minutes and move up to three to four minutes. May not be that perfect 20, you know, work three movement minutes, find a rhythm. What I don't like for clients is for them to be sitting for two hours at a time without moving your body craze movement. It helps circulation. It helps brain function. Getting that movement in there, that cardiovascular function, the health, the mental clarity, all of this. So find a rhythm that works because walking is foundational. It supports recovery. Regulates the nervous system, helps digestion. It's not a throwaway habit of an excuse. Of, you know, you see on social media where walking gets a bad rap, that it doesn't count as working out. No walking does count. Yes, I wanna see the strength training. Yes, I wanna see the hit. But if you are not in a season of life where those are within your reach, then move your body daily, multiple times throughout the day. Number five, one longer cardio session per week. Run, hike, bike, swim. Honestly, just go for a long walk. Long is relative. Okay. It's the same with heavy lifting. It's relative. It's respective to you. 30 minutes counts. An hour counts. 20 minutes counts. Why a longer cardio session is it builds your aerobic capacity, which matters for longevity. It gives your brain more space. It is the mental reset. Get out nature, look into nature, preserves around you, find a local trail. If you're not sure, I highly encourage you. If you've not been out on local trails or nature, speak to park rangers. They are a brilliant, brilliant place of. Knowledge, they will give you tips. There are a lot of local hiking groups. Kind of connect with people. You'll get to know people. You'll be out in nature. Connecting with nature but find that longer cardio session to get out of your own four walls, out of your own routine, and finally eat more. I know this may sound counterintuitive. For a world that is constantly saying, eat less, eat less, avoid this. Don't eat this, don't do that. Your body needs fuel. And to be quite honest, I see more women are not eating enough to support their lifestyle. You need food. Whether it be three meals a day, an occasional snack, but you need food to help maintain and build a resilient body. Food builds muscle. Food supports hormones. Food helps you sleep, and food helps you perform, and you're not supposed to feel hungry all the time. That's not a marker that you're eating well. You need to eat a meal. Feel fueled, not overstuffed, to the point where it's painful or anything. You need to feel like you have food in your stomach, and realistically, you should feel fed and fueled for up to two hours post meal. Maybe two and a half hours and then be ready to eat again, I do understand with schedules it can be tough and that's where if you plan ahead to set yourself up for success and have something available to you, it'll be more helpful than when you are so overly hungry. You are mindlessly eating before you get to a meal. This is not about eating the perfect foods, it's about allowing your body to have the fuel. So that it can keep you alive and functioning well in your daily life. So as we're heading into the new year, I want you to do something different than your usual resolution stuff. Instead of asking, how do I get leaner by spring, ask yourself, what kind of body do I want in 10, 20, 30 years? And what does that body look like? Maybe it can lift. It has strength. It can sprint, it has power. It can go the distance. It has endurance. It recovers well. It bounces back. It adapts to change it's resilience. Now, let your workouts support that vision. Let your food support that vision. You don't need extreme training to be effective. You need training that is intentional and consistent. And if you're listening to this and thinking, yeah, I actually want to do this, but I don't wanna spend all day figuring it out, that's literally what I do. I offer one-on-one online training for women, 35 plus. There are two options. Essential and Premier Essential is for women who just want a structured training plan with accountability and real coaching that fits into their life and not the overwhelm. Premier is for women who want more check-ins, more face time, and a deeper coaching across all training. They want that extra personal touch, both work. It just depends on what will work best for you. Both plans are built around longevity and consistency, not burnout. You don't need to do more. You need a plan that makes sense for your body and for your actual life. And I know I keep thinking about this time of year where everyone is talking about getting back in track, detoxing, resetting from the holidays, getting back in shape because they fell off some proverbial cliff. But the fact is you haven't fallen off of anything. You are living life. You've been busy, you've been tired. Maybe you've gotten sick, maybe you had other things to prioritize. That's not a failure. That is life. And here's what I want you to know. It does not take some extreme overhaul to come back strong. It takes consistency. It takes a plan that fits. It takes trusting that showing up imperfectly over time is actually more powerful than crushing it for three weeks. This framework, it works because it's sustainable. It's not sexy, or something that is gonna go viral on social media. But it will make you feel strong in your daily life. It will help you move through motherhood, menopause, and all of it with a body that is resilient and capable, and that is a true, real win. This is what I use for myself. I will not come on my podcast and say, I never miss a workout, or I never indulge, or I don't have seasons of time where my fitness takes a backseat because that is not true. I am a human, and when I started my business, it was extremely imperative for me to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. I speak openly with my clients, like, yeah, you know what? Holiday season is upon us. I am going to be enjoying and have enjoyed more treats than I do in any other time of the year. I will have reduced workouts, missed workouts, but that's okay. And when January one comes around. It's just a day and I pick back up with my normal routine prior to all the craziness and busyness that the holiday season has brought. There is no punishing myself for a living. There's no punishing myself for miss routines. There's no white knuckling and doubling down and increasing the intensity of my workouts. The plan was to enjoy. The holiday season to eat that traditional dish, to eat that cookie that I may not have, but once a year, that is the plan. That is life. And when you have a fitness plan that adjusts to where you're at and meeting you where you are, because holidays will come back next year, vacations will occur. Work busyness will increase kid illness. Personal illness does crop up, but when you learn how to be adaptive with your life situation and understanding how you can still incorporate this framework in to not put your health on the back burner to not sabotage your own resiliency, it allows you to. Be more resilient, more adaptive, long-term. If any of this has brought up questions for you, I wanna hear them messages show, send in your questions about training, aging, motherhood, menopause, how to apply this to your life. Your questions genuinely shape what I wanna share with you, I am happy to research this is my life, this is my business and my passion, so. Message the podcast and I truly appreciate your support and you being here. Until next time, keep moving forward. One mile, one rep at a time. Thank you for tuning in to MilesFromHerView, powered by KatFit Strength. If this podcast inspires you, don't keep it for yourself. Hit follow or subscribe to stay updated on the new episodes, and leave us a review to help more women and moms discover this space. Your feedback fuels this podcast and I'd love to hear what's working for you or what topics you want to dive into Next. You can connect with me on Instagram at KatFit Strength or share this episode. Road with a friend who is ready to embrace her strength. Remember, fitness isn't about perfection. It's about showing up for yourself and finding strength in every step of your journey. Until next time, keep moving forward one mile at a time.