Training for Your Old Lady Body: A Guide to Building Muscle and Mobility at Any Age

An empowering fitness guide from personal trainer Elizabeth Davies (@thiswomanlifts) designed to help you live a long, strong, healthy life with easy-to-follow strength training workout plans you can perform at home or in the gym, no matter your starting point.

Training for a bikini body? No, thank you. We're training for dense bones, a healthy heart, good balance, and to maintain physical independence in our senior years. To carry our groceries up a flight of stairs. To play with our children and our grandchildren after them. We're training for our old lady bodies.

Whether you are starting from scratch or a seasoned pro in the gym, these pages contain everything you need to know to strength train safely and effectively. This essential guide offers practical instruction and powerful motivation to build strength for life, including:

• Sections highlighting pelvic floor health, mobility, and bone density
• A training jargon dictionary
• Modifications for bodyweight exercises
• Tips on sleep health and protein intake
• Creating a routine that fits within busy schedules
• And much more.

Filled with expert guidance and 50 illustrations showcasing various exercises, this empowering companion will provide you with the tools and confidence to establish a healthy, consistent fitness practice, enabling you to feel your best and strongest at any age.

A NEW ANGLE ON FITNESS: Did you know "toning" is a marketing term to make building muscle more palatable for women? For decades, exercise has been packaged and sold as a means to an end for speedy physical transformation: 30 days to get shredded, 4 weeks to washboard abs, 8 weeks to a "bikini body." Training for Your Old Lady Body breaks the mold, encouraging readers to train--not to become the smallest version of themselves, but to be able to carry groceries up the stairs independently at 90.

THE GIFT OF STRENGTH: The best part about building muscle? It's never too late to start. A comprehensive guide to the benefits of weightlifting, this book offers a true omnibus of how and why it can make life more seamless and enjoyable. It makes the perfect gift for women of all ages and fitness levels.

EXPERT, AUTHORITATIVE AUTHOR: Elizabeth Davies, founder of training platform This Woman Lifts, is a Certified Personal Trainer with qualifications in pre- and post-natal fitness. Her training emphasizes helping women build muscle to age strong, regardless of their stage in life--from young mothers to busy professionals to post-menopausal women.

Perfect for:

• Women of all ages looking to build muscle for longevity
• Beginners in the gym looking for guidance on strength training
• Seasoned fitness enthusiasts
• Fans of fitness and longevity bestsellers like Forever Strong and Outlive

Author: Elizabeth Davies
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Published: 09/08/2026
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 8.00h x 6.00w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9781797238845


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 08/03/2026

About the Author
Elizabeth Davies is an ex-lawyer-turned-personal-trainer with qualifications in pre- and post-natal fitness. Davies founded her training platform, This Woman Lifts, where her training emphasis is on helping women build muscle no matter what stage of life they're in. She lives in Kent, England, with her three kids, one husband, French bulldog, tortoise, and two gerbils.