Hints on exercise regime?

[Ellabella222]

I’m in my 50s. Exercised off and on most of adult life. Currently I do 2 Pilates classes a week, I gym session which is 20 mins cardio machine and 40 minutes weights and one body pump class.

Plus I walk at least 30 minutes a day.

I want to tone up and lose weight. I know I need to eat less though!

I will struggle to fit in more exercise tbh. Should I do more weight? More cardio?

Eat less.

Walk more and faster, if you can. Frankly, walking at a decent pace should be pretty much all the cardio you need, with maybe one vigorous exercise session per week to get the heart rate up.

Do more weight training - it's invaluable for people our age, and the more muscle you manage to build the more calories your body will use as muscle is metabolically "expensive" to build and then to maintain. Hence why it is hard to build muscle. You do need to make sure you are on a proper, progressive program, though.

I don't understand how to tell if someone is toned up or not.
Are you fighting biology, age 50+, we aren't meant to have physiques of age 20 persons.

Am I fighting biology? Probably! I won’t ever look like l am in my 20s but I want to enter it old age with string bones and good posture.

@Spodge what do you mean by proper, progress every program?

Strong bones!

@Ellabella222

I mean that if you are going to do resistance training you need to be increasing some aspect of it on a regular basis if you want to develop muscle (which is what gives you that "toned" look). You don't necessarily have to lift heavier weights every single time you go to the gym but you do need to go heavier, or do more sets, or decrease your rest time on a fairly regular basis. Your body can quite quickly adapt to what you ask it to do and a workout that once was really tough can turn into something that really doesn't tax you enough. So long as you are aware of this it's fine. But so many people say "I'll go to the gym and do XYZ" and that's it. They do XYZ for years, sometimes, and wonder why they don't progress. I have been guilty of this.

If there are gym staff who can do a program for you and advise on how and when to increase weights then consult them. The gold standard would be to get a good personal trainer to help you. As a general rule of thumb, if neither of those is an option, then pick a weight which you can manage for between 8 and 12 repetitions. If after 12 reps you could face trying to carry on, then the weight is too light. Have a rest of a minute or so and then go again for between 3 and 5 sets. Then move on to another machine/exercise.

Thanks. That’s helpful.

I would work on building muscle (stronger boned, quick results, increases your metabolism) by swapping your pilates with weight lifting. Aim to eat 1200 kcals/day and over 100g of protein (use MyFitnessPal to track). Good luck!

Thanks.

Currently I do 2 Pilates classes a week, I gym session which is 20 mins cardio machine and 40 minutes weights and one body pump class

I'd swap the pump class for a second cardio+ weights session.

When you say 'weights' - how heavy? Are you training to failure in the main all-body lifts? Deadlift, back squats, bench press (although really, just squats & deadlifts will do the trick).