Book lovers filled The Rye Retreat on Thursday night 2 April to hear personal trainer and Kent resident Elizabeth Davies talk about her health and lifestyle book, Training For Your Old Lady Body.
Across the evening, a packed crowd heard Davies, 42, deconstruct the misinformation and destructive messaging of the female fitness industry before going on to explain how incremental but consistent change could lead to better long-term female health.
She explained how she grew tired of being pitched the training for your bikini body messaging. When she pushed back against it through her social media channels, she was emboldened by the level of support she received. Not long after, she quit the legal profession, her home for over a decade, to become a personal trainer with a particular focus on resistance work.
She acknowledged that strength training for women comes with a lot of baggage, which she addressed, “It is a myth that strength building will bulk women up. While it is true that muscle strength is a key asset in resisting all-cause mortality.
“From their 30s, women lose eight per cent of their muscle mass per decade from lack of use. However, if you give the body the right stimulus, it will recover. At any age. It’s never too late to start.”
The book is not so much a training manual as a life story filled with ideas to help women assess and address specific female conditions such as menopause, osteoporosis and post-pregnancy pelvic floor recovery, while also tackling the wider problem of an aesthetics-driven fitness industry.
Training For Your Old Lady Body, is published by Bonnier Books. It is priced £16.99, and is available to order from The Rye Bookshop.
Image Credits: Richard Hayden .