How Long Does It Take to Get in Shape After 60?

How long does it take to get in shape after 60? Learn the four phases many women go through as they build strength, improve flexibility and balance, and make exercise a consistent part of life.

A new client recently asked me, “How long does it take to get in shape?” It’s a question I hear often.

After training hundreds of women over 50 in the South Hills, many of them over 60, I’ve found there are four distinct phases most women go through as they progress. In this article, I’m going to walk through each phase so it’s easy to understand what progress can actually look and feel like after 60.

Just keep in mind that no two people are exactly the same, so the rate at which someone progresses will always vary.

Another client told me this week, after hearing about these four phases, “I’m not patient when it comes to fitness.”

I told her, “I understand. Most of us aren’t patient when it comes to our fitness. But this is your body. It’s important to be patient and progress at a pace that is both safe and effective.”

After 60, safety is one of the most important parts of any workout program. If someone gets injured while working out, it can set her back for weeks or even months.

So let’s go through the four phases most of my clients experience as they work toward their fitness goals after 60.

The Foundation Phase

This is the first step in getting fit after 60, and it’s one you should not skip or underestimate. Many people want to jump straight into the workout, but before you can make real progress, you need to know where you’re starting.

When we have a new client at A50 Personal Training, the first thing we do is perform a one-on-one assessment. This helps us understand her current strength, flexibility, balance, previous injuries, and which exercises are appropriate for her.

This is one of the most important parts of the entire process. It’s not enough to simply exercise. You need to be doing the right exercises for your body.

If you’re considering a gym or personal training studio in the South Hills and they skip a one-on-one assessment before you begin, I would ask them why. Without understanding your starting point, it’s very difficult to know which exercises you should be focusing on.

Once the assessment is complete, the next priority is learning how to exercise correctly. That means learning proper form, breathing, and technique.

Your results will be a direct reflection of how well you perform the exercises. When we have a new client, we spend a tremendous amount of time and energy during this phase helping her learn proper form.

I understand why people want to move past this quickly. You’re excited to get stronger and start seeing results. But if you rush through learning the exercises, you can end up doing them incorrectly, and that can increase your chance of getting hurt.

The Foundation Phase really comes down to two things: understanding your starting point through an assessment and learning how to perform the exercises correctly.

When you get those two things right, you give yourself a much better foundation for everything that comes next.

The Transition Phase

Once you have learned how to perform the exercises correctly, you will usually begin noticing some changes.

Your joints may begin to feel less stiff. Your muscles may start feeling stronger. Your balance may begin to improve.

At this point, you have officially entered what I call the Transition Phase.

This is where you begin moving from simply learning new and challenging exercises to actually feeling the benefits of doing them consistently.

It can be tempting to skip the learning process and jump directly to results, but in my experience, it rarely works that way. You first need to learn how to do the exercises properly. Then, as you continue doing them correctly and consistently, the changes start showing up.

You may still be learning new exercises during this phase, but there is an important difference. Now you are beginning to see and feel that your body is changing.

That can be extremely encouraging, especially for someone who came in feeling weak, stiff, or unsure whether exercise was really going to help.

The Momentum Phase

The Momentum Phase is one of the most exciting and encouraging stages.

By this point, you have learned proper exercise technique, started seeing results, and built enough experience that you are no longer completely new to fitness. You now have a much stronger base to build from.

This is often the phase when our clients begin noticing that everyday life feels easier.

Things that once felt difficult may not feel as difficult anymore. Stairs may become easier. Getting out of a chair may feel different. Carrying groceries, luggage, or doing things around the house may require less effort.

The stiffness and weakness that brought someone in may also begin to be replaced by better flexibility and new strength.

When our clients reach this phase, we celebrate it with them. But there is also something important we have to watch for.

It’s easy to get comfortable.

Once you start feeling better, it can be tempting to keep doing the exact same exercises that got you there. You know them. You’re good at them. They feel familiar.

But if you want to continue progressing, your body still needs new challenges.

That does not mean making workouts extreme or constantly changing everything. It simply means continuing to introduce appropriate exercises and challenges so your body has a reason to keep getting stronger.

The goal during the Momentum Phase is to enjoy the progress you have made without allowing that progress to become the place where you stop.

The Adoption Phase

Few people talk about this phase, but I believe it may be the most important phase of all.

It’s very common for adults to look at exercise as something they are going to do for a season of life. They join a local South Hills gym in January and stop going by March. Or they purchase a certain number of sessions with a personal trainer and stop exercising when those sessions are finished.

That approach can produce short-term progress, but your body does not stop needing exercise because a program ended.

Your body is one of your most important assets. Your muscles, joints, strength, flexibility, and balance need ongoing attention if you want to continue feeling capable as you get older.

The ultimate goal is to make exercise part of your life.

Something you do every week. Month after month. Year after year.

Think about brushing your teeth. You probably would not decide to stop brushing for a week because you were busy or going on vacation. Taking care of your body requires a similar long-term mindset.

Some of the clients I work with who reach this phase tell me how much they miss their workouts when something gets in the way. They will also ask us for a plan they can do while they are traveling because they do not want to lose the progress they have worked so hard to build.

To me, that is real success.

You have reached the Adoption Phase when exercise stops feeling like something temporary you are forcing yourself to do and starts becoming a normal part of your life.

It takes time to get there. It often takes a change in mindset, along with coaching and accountability during the earlier phases.

But once you reach that point, you are no longer simply trying to “get in shape.”

You have built a way of taking care of your body that can continue for years.

How to Start Your Own Fitness Journey

Just getting started can feel intimidating and uncertain. That’s completely normal.

Many of our new clients have told us they were nervous or hesitant before coming in. Some wondered if they would be the only one who was “out of shape.” Others simply were not sure what to expect.

There are a couple things we do at A50 Personal Training to help make that first step feel more comfortable.

First, we offer a complimentary week of personal training. It is an actual free week of personal training with no pressure to join. We simply tell people, “Enjoy this week and let us know if you’d like to reserve a spot after it’s over.”

Before your first session, we also start with a one-on-one assessment so we can understand your starting point and make sure the exercises are appropriate for you. From there, we try to make each step feel comfortable and clear.

And if you are not ready to start anything yet, that is completely fine too. Sometimes the best next step is simply learning more.

I wrote another article called Is It Better to Exercise at Home or Join a Gym After 60? If you are still deciding what type of exercise environment may be right for you, that may be the best article to read next.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jason Zawodniak is the Co-founder of A50 Personal Training, the first personal training studio in the South Hills built exclusively to serve women over 50. With nearly two decades of experience in the fitness industry, Jason noticed early in his career that women over 50 were consistently underserved — showing up to gyms where they felt out of place, unsure of what to do, and afraid of getting hurt. After hearing those same stories from his own clients year after year, he made a decision: in 2017, he opened A50 to create the program he knew this demographic deserved. Today, Jason specializes in helping women over 50 build the strength and flexibility they need to stay active, prevent injury, and keep up with the people and activities they love most.