3 Lessons From My 60-Year-Old Client That Many Fitness Programmes Ignore
Nikki Jordan is a personal trainer, pre- and postnatal fitness specialist, and founder of Nikki Jordan Fitness Performance. She believes fitness should empower women, not consume them, and helps her clients build strength, confidence, and lasting habits.
In a recent session with one of my clients, she told me her smart scale showed that, since we began training together, she’s lost 3lb of fat but gained 4lb of muscle. For someone in her 60s, this is huge! It’s presumed by many women that gaining muscle after 60 is impossible, whereas it’s more like the habits and mindsets that we have that are restricting us.
Additionally, in my line of work, I see people obsessed with weight so often. More often than not, they’re wanting to lose or maintain. So for her to be unfazed by a gain and pleased with the added muscle, I felt like this was a turning point. In that moment, I asked her what three things she feels she’s done to make that happen.
Here are her three lessons that she’s learned to do that:
Lesson 1: Consistency beats variety overload
She spent many years doing different types of exercise: yoga, light weights, walking. Often combining all three in some way. Since we started training together and focusing more on strength training, keeping the other bits in but separate from each other, having little strength goals in the gym, and tracking weights on the programme. Sticking to a full-body programme with some compound lifts gave her the variety that she likes in a workout whilst also making it challenging enough to see gains. Along the way, deciding on specific weightlifting goals, like doing a chin-up or getting to a certain weight on a deadlift, has given her focus and motivation to keep going.
Having that structure in the gym and her life has helped contribute to a better mindset towards exercise and lifestyle.
Lesson 2: Protein matters more than most people realise
As a pescatarian, she previously had struggled to get enough protein in her diet. Since training started, her main goal for eating has been to get protein in her meals from breakfast. Starting this early in the day has given her a better chance of meeting her protein goal. Protein is a key contributor to increasing muscle, which is why her scales have shown that, while body fat has decreased, muscle has increased. It’s important to remember when stepping on a scale that there is so much more to your weight than one number, and many factors that can affect it.
Like so many, this client struggles with breakfast. Eating earlier in the day isn’t ideal for many. She overcame that by starting her day with a protein smoothie using protein shakes, plant-based milk, and fibrous fruit and veg, then would have that around her training schedule.
Lesson 3: Alcohol quietly sabotages results
Holidays and socialising are a big part of her life. Both of these go hand in hand with booze, so she’s partial to a cheeky beverage or three. Sometimes this would spill over into a glass of wine in the evening, or while out at dinner.
While drinking alcohol every now and then probably won’t have any long-term effect on your health or your goals, depending on how your health is and what those goals are, drinking regularly can have an effect on your body composition but also interfere with your mindset. Seeing the impact regular drinking has on her health long term has made her knock it on the head for all those in-between parts. Holidays and the occasional weekend are okay, but cutting it out in between–a glass of wine in front of the TV, or a vodka and tonic with dinner or an afternoon lunch–has helped her to see a significant difference in her health.
What really struck me about the conversation we had wasn’t what the answer was, it was that she knew it straight away. There wasn’t any revolutionary diet, detox, or magic pill. She’s taken the time to look at these aspects of her life and decide that they need adjustment. She wasn’t prepared to let excuses stand in her way, because there is no real excuse for making small adjustments in your life. They were all very actionable changes.
So often we’re looking or waiting for something to make our lives better, when in actual fact we’re capable of making that happen all on our own.
Read more from Nikki Jordan
Nikki Jordan, Founder of Nikki Jordan Fitness Performance & Personal Trainer
Nikki Jordan is a personal trainer and founder of Nikki Jordan Fitness Performance, with almost a decade of experience helping women become stronger, more confident and more capable through exercise. A qualified pre- and postnatal fitness specialist, Nikki takes a realistic, individualised approach to training, focusing on building strength, developing sustainable habits and helping clients recognise what they’re capable of. Having rebuilt her own life and relationship with fitness following cancer treatment, Nikki understands that health and fitness are about far more than aesthetics. She’s passionate about making exercise accessible, enjoyable and something that genuinely enhances the lives of the women she works with.
