Fitness
The nine golden rules for strength training in midlife, according to experts
NHS guidelines encourage adults aged 19-64 to complete two-and-a-half hours of exercise per week, or a bit less if it’s more intense, alongside a couple of “strengthening activities”. But exercising at 19 tends to feel very different to exercising at 64.
Not only do your social, work and family commitments mount up as you advance through life, but your ability to recover from intense exercise also reduces. Yet the benefits of exercise, and strength training in particular, become more valuable the older you get for injury prevention, freedom of movement, and heart health.
Patrick James, head coach at Marchon Victoria gym, understands this better than most. Despite more than a decade of experience working as a coach, he counts persuading his mum to lift weights as one of his top achievements to date.
“She’s 67, and always felt that if she walked regularly and did the gardening, she didn’t need to do it,” he says. “But if you want to walk up the stairs and get out of a chair in 10 years’ time, you need to strengthen your legs.”
It started with a simple twice-weekly bodyweight circuit; kneeling press-ups off the sofa, squatting to a chair, rows with a weight in the garden and single-leg hip thrusts. Now she is the proud owner of three different kettlebells and completes four or more home workouts each week.
“She can feel the benefits of it now – that rush of endorphins, feeling healthier and feeling stronger,” James says.
Those aged 50 and up can experience similar results sans gym, with just a couple of weekly workouts, he adds. This approach maximises the juice-to-squeeze ratio of your exercise efforts.
Here are his tips on how to maximise your workout.
Tip 1: Consider your exercise choice
“In your younger years, you can afford to train poorly and get away with it,” James says. “As you get older, moving towards your 50s, 60s and 70s, you can’t. Whether through hormones or your body’s ability to synthesise protein, the rate at which your body can adapt and recover from exercise slows down.”
But this doesn’t mean you should stop exercising – quite the opposite. James’s solution is to box smart.
“I can’t train my 65-year-old client the same way a bodybuilder in their 20s trains,” he explains. “He might have played rugby back in the day and now he has very little cartilage in his knees, so it hurts to do a heavy back squat, so I have to find an exercise or variation that allows him to train the same muscles without it being painful.”
For example, instead of heavy barbell squats, James might prescribe goblet squats to a box, reducing the range of motion to one that is comfortable for the client.
Tip 2: Lift lighter weights for more repetitions
Lowering the weight you’re lifting and the number of repetitions you’re lifting it for can reduce pressure on certain joints and minimise discomfort during strength training workouts.
“Heavier strength training – lifting a heavy weight for five repetitions or less – will put a bit more pressure through the joints,” James says. “You can get a similar stimulus for building muscle and maintaining strength from lifting lighter weights for 10-20 reps.”
For example, you might substitute the five sets of five heavy barbell squats mentioned above for three sets of 10-20 goblet squats to a box.
“The intensity will be a little bit lower, but you’ll still get a great stimulus to develop muscle and build a stronger body,” says James. “And for most people, the joints will feel better through doing some strength training, if they build it up gradually.”
The key is to start with lighter weights and exercises with smaller ranges of motion, then progress over time.
Tip 3: Challenge yourself
There does have to be an element of challenge in a strength training exercise to ensure it’s effective for building strength and muscle, James says.
“We don’t need to be training to failure [the point where your muscles are too tired to complete another repetition] on every set, as someone in our 50s or 60s,” he explains. “We just want to make sure the sets we do are somewhat challenging so we can create a good stimulus for muscle growth. If we can do that consistently, then, over time, we are going to get stronger.”
Take a “little and often” approach and aim to hit major muscle groups in the legs, glutes, back, chest and shoulders twice a week.
Tip 4: Embrace the full-body workout to maximise efficiency
Rather than focusing on a single muscle each session, James recommends doing full-body workouts two or three times per week.
“For building muscle, we know that one set done three times per week is better than three sets done once per week,” he explains, adding that the more you work a certain muscle and movement pattern on any given day, the more it will take out of you. The quality of the exercise will also decrease as you tire, leading to diminishing returns.
By spreading each muscle’s workload through the week, you can keep your body feeling fairly fresh and ready for the rigours of daily life – as well as your next workout.
Tip 5: Get your priorities straight
Six to 10 sets per week for each major muscle group should be sufficient to build muscle for most people, James says. If you want to focus on developing a certain area, you might add a couple of extra weekly sets or exercises that target those muscles.
“You want to prioritise the big muscles in your sessions – these are usually working in the compound or multi-muscle exercises you can lift more weight with,” he says. “In the lower body, aim to hit the quads, glutes and hamstrings. In the upper body, there are the pecs in the chest, the lats in the back and the delts of the shoulder.”
Tip 6: Progressive overload is essential for continued results
The body adapts to get better at the things we consistently ask it to do, so strength training can be seen as a conversation with our muscles.
Every time we lift weights, we are telling our body that we want to become stronger. If we make a strong enough case, doing sufficiently challenging exercises, then over time it will adapt by bolstering our bones, tendons, ligaments and muscles.
This is why we have to apply progressive overload: the process of gradually increasing the difficulty of our workouts over time, in line with our increasing strength and fitness levels. You need to increase the weight, up the number of sets and repetitions, or switch to a more challenging exercise variation, relative to your rising strength level, to send the body a clear message that you want to continue to grow stronger, rather than just maintain what you have or lose muscle.
Tip 7: Find low-impact ways to raise your heart rate
If you are new to exercise, James advises opting for a lower-impact form of cardio – for example, using exercise machines such as exercise bikes, rowing machines and ellipticals, which make it easy to get your heart rate up with a low risk of injury.
Using these machines once or twice a week to get a bit out of breath can deliver plenty of health benefits, including improved heart health and reduced risk of several major illnesses.
These more intense activities should also be underlined by a healthy dose of daily movement – “Aerobic activities such as longer walks.”
Tip 9: Put enjoyment first
Enjoyment is the most important, and most overlooked, tenet of a successful exercise plan. You could have a scientifically-optimised training plan for building muscle, but if you don’t follow it because you don’t enjoy it, it’s going to be redundant, James says.
“It’s about finding a plan that someone can adhere to, enjoy and be consistent with,” he says. “And if you’re consistent, you’ll most likely see results.”
The four-move workout
This is a beginner workout with minimal equipment, which works the main muscle groups of your upper and lower body and should take no more than 30 minutes. Do three sets of 10-20 repetitions of each exercise, and repeat two to four times per week.
The aim is to perform at least 10 repetitions in every set, while using a weight challenging enough that you cannot easily lift it for 20 repetitions.
“As you start to adapt to the training and become familiar with the movements, try to either increase the weight or number of reps.”
If you don’t own any weights, a filled water bottle or rucksack can be used instead, but James recommends investing in a couple of dumbbells or kettlebells to broaden your exercise horizons if you’re training at home.
“You can get a set of kettlebells for around 20 quid,” he says. “Start with a 5kg and 10kg weight, and as you get stronger, you can buy heavier options.”
Exercise 1: Squat to chair or sofa
Sets: 3 Reps: 10-20 Rest: 90 seconds
Coach’s notes:
- If you are not using a weight, hold your arms out straight in front of you
- If you are using a weight, hold it against your chest in the goblet position
- Place your feet just outside hip-width apart with your toes turned out slightly
- Take a big breath in and hold it as if someone were going to punch you in the belly
- Take two seconds to lower your bum to the chair in a smooth, controlled motion
- When it touches the chair, stand back upright, breathing out as you do so
- Keep your eyes looking straight ahead with your chest upright throughout the movement
- Over time, you can make this exercise more challenging by increasing the depth of the squat or by increasing the weight or reps
Exercise 2: Romanian deadlift
Sets: 3 Reps: 10-20 Rest: 90 seconds
Coach’s notes:
- Hold the weight in front of your thighs in both hands with your arms straight and relaxed
- Place your feet hip-width apart with your toes pointing straight ahead
- Take a big breath in at the start of the rep
- Bend your knees slightly, then keep them in this position throughout the exercise – this is important for preventing you from using your lower back rather than your lower body muscles
- Lower the weight in a straight line toward the ground by hinging at your hips, keeping it close to the front of your legs throughout
- As you do this, think about pushing your hips back horizontally as if you are closing the fridge door with your bum
- At the same time, let your shoulders come forward like you are looking over a cliff
- Stop when the weight reaches the middle of your shin, then stand back up
- Your back should remain in a relatively straight position the whole time
Exercise 3: Press-up to chair or sofa
Sets: 3 Reps: 10-20 Rest: 90 seconds
Coach’s notes:
- Find a chair, sofa or another sturdy raised surface to press up from. This makes the exercise slightly less challenging than a standard press-up – the higher the surface, the easier the exercise will feel, so you can progress to lower surfaces over time to make the exercise more difficult
- Place your hands on the surface, just outside shoulder-width apart
- Keep your bum squeezed and hips forward so that your torso and hips stay in one line
- Bend at the elbows to lower your torso until your chest touches the chair or sofa, then press through your hands to return to the starting position
- Start on your knees, and over time, you can progress to your feet as you get stronger
Exercise 4: Single-arm row
Sets: 3 Reps: 10-20 Rest: 90 seconds
Coach’s notes:
- Support yourself on the back of a chair or sofa with one arm while you hold the weight in the other hand
- Keep your back flat and your torso roughly parallel to the ground
- As you row, think about pulling your elbow towards your trouser pocket rather than pulling the weight straight up to your chest
- Finish the rep with the weight at the bottom of your ribcage, then slowly lower it back toward the ground until your arm is straight
I have a story that a lot of people might be able to relate to,” 47-year-old David Keohan tells me. Given the Irishman’s favourite pastime is ripping 150kg-plus boulders from the ground, I’m doubtful. But he continues.
“In my twenties I was into art and music and drinking and smoking. I was obese and unhealthy, mentally and physically. Then you get to your thirties and your body says, ‘Hold on a second, we need to start doing something about this, kid’.”
At 32, hungover, he went into a sports shop and bought a pair of trainers. “I remember the young fella working there laughing and going, ‘Are you sure, man?’” says Keohan, laughing.
Within six months, he had run a marathon. In the next few years, he became a world champion in kettlebell sport. Then, when Covid lockdowns struck, he started lifting stones. Heavy, heavy stones.
“I got bitten by the bug of feeling good,” Keohan continues. “Before, I never knew what feeling good felt like. But once you start to feel good, it’s amazing, and you realise how bad you felt for the last 10 years.”
Reviving the ancient culture of Irish stone lifting
When Covid lockdowns hit in 2020 and gyms were closed, most people used burpees in their bedroom to stay in shape. But Keohan, a father-of-three, had other ideas.
“I met my wife in art college and she carved stones,” Keohan says. “The stone I started lifting in the backyard was one of hers that weighed 60kg. I use strength training to keep me on an even keel anyway, so I think this helped keep me mentally sane throughout those years.”
A friend, who was building a wall at the time, saw what Keohan was doing and duly dropped 70kg and 90kg stones at his house. He has been without a gym membership ever since, instead performing lifts such as squats, rows and presses with gigantic stones – often with kettlebells balanced precariously on top of them.
Come along to one of these stones. If you can get the wind under it, great, but it doesn’t matter. The most important part is that you get to be a part of the continuation of its story and culture
This approach isn’t for everyone, sure. But it goes to show how fitness plans are far from one-size-fits-all.
“I sometimes go to the beach, name stones and lift them,” Keohan says. “It’s a free gym, you’re there by yourself, you get to hear the seabirds – why wouldn’t you?
“Then I found out there was a whole culture attached to stone lifting – it was more than just ‘man picks up rock’, so I started researching it.”
Read more: How to start running when you’re a walker, according to an exercise physiologist
Scotland has strong ties to lifting stones, with the Dinnie stones in Aberdeenshire being the best-known example. Other areas in Iceland and the Basque region also have a rich history in the practice.
“They were like a job interview in some cases,” Keohan says. “You couldn’t be a stonemason or a fisherman unless you could lift a certain stone. Or they were used as a rite of passage as you progressed from child to adult to warrior.”
Ireland has a strong culture of stone lifting, too. But this was wiped away centuries ago, largely through British colonisation and the famine, leaving little trace.
Learning of the Fianna stone in Scotland – named after bands of medieval Irish warriors – gave Keohan the hint he needed that lifting stones existed in Ireland. He then made it his mission to unearth any stones that remained west of the Irish sea.
Read more: I tried the Royal Navy’s new fitness test – and it wasn’t what I expected
The stone of Inishmore – the first of many
He found his first on the Atlantic island of Inishmore in 2023. The breadcrumb trail that led him there included a mention in a short story called The Stone by Irish author Liam O’Flaherty, a tip-off from a Reddit post by O’Flaherty’s ancestor, and a collection of folktales from locals.
“Me and my friends went off in a camper van, headed over on the ferry then cycled to get to the right area,” Keohan says. “But once you get to Inishmore, you realise it’s just an island made of stone, covered in stones. And the stone we were looking for was located in a field of boulders.”
Fortunately, it stood out immediately – a rounded 171.2kg rump of granite with a uniquely pinkish hue, sitting in the middle of a small clearing. This isn’t 171.2kg of weight plates loaded on a knurled, ergonomic barbell either. It’s wet, it’s unwieldy, and it won’t be picked up without a fight.
Keohan went away and dedicated his free time to becoming strong enough to lift the stone: lifting progressively heavier stones in his training, eating more and packing on 20kg of body weight.
Months later, he returned to Inishmore and prised the stone from the floor. He lifted it to his lap, then lips, before planting three kisses on its cold surface – just as the protagonist in O’Flaherty’s short story had done. And with that, the culture of Irish lifting stones was continued.
From this point on, Keohan doubled down on his goal of tracking down more stones through myths, stories and word of mouth. Continuing the hunt at weekends, around his job at a construction depot in Waterford, he has since found more than 50.
“It’s given me a whole new purpose and a lease of life in my forties,” he says. “Finding this culture and sharing it with people has been amazing. It’s bringing back strength and pride, and there’s a whole national identity attached to it, too. ”
People now travel from all over the world to lift stones that Keohan has rediscovered. His Instagram account, Indiana Stones, has a loyal five-figure following. He recently released a book about his discoveries called The Wind Beneath the Stone. Irish stone lifting is back.
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Keep rolling: the life of a lifting stone
Historically, lifting stones served many purposes. Some started life as jostle stones outside pubs, stopping horse-drawn carts from cutting corners and damaging the pub’s walls. Some were placed at crossroads or along mass paths as entertainment. “People have always wanted to pick stuff up,” Keohan explains.
Other stones were used as a tangible measure of strength to decide if you were well-suited to a certain job. In Iceland, a set of four called the Dritvík stones were used to determine how much of that day’s fishing haul each sailor took home, Keohan tells me. They weighed 23kg, 54kg, 100kg and 154kg – the stone you lifted onto a natural plinth dictated your role in the boat and what share of the catch you kept.
“They had the same thing in the west of Ireland, I’ve found,” he adds. “They were all in the same boat, quite literally, and whoever could lift the stone the highest on their body would get the share of the catch they wanted. It was a cut-and-dry way of thinking, which I really enjoy.”
This, he says, is “the opposite of toxic masculinity” – a buzzword describing an antiquated environment of hierarchical masculinity, often based on subjective measures.
Read more: Study reveals the small changes to your diet, sleep and exercise that can add years to your life
The stones, by contrast, are inarguably objective – you either lift them or you don’t. Whoever you are, whatever your background, you can try. Pass or fail, you’re part of something bigger.
“It’s supportive and healthy,” Keohan says. “Come along to one of these stones. If you can get the wind under it, great, but it doesn’t matter. The most important part is that you get to be a part of the continuation of its story and culture. The strength aspect is secondary to me.”
To take part, there are just two overarching rules: “Respect the stones and respect the culture.”
“These stones aren’t pieces of gym equipment; they’re historical items,” says Keohan. “If the stone is broken, the story is dead and you broke the chain.
“If you’re strong enough to pick it up, you’re strong enough to put it down again without dropping it from your chest or shoulder. If you do that, you’ll have me and every other person who loves the lifting stones chasing after you.”
And that is a brawny group you do not want to fall foul of.
Read more: Almost nobody does this in their workouts – and almost everyone could benefit from it, top coach says
New mums have a lot on their plates. Between nappy explosions, work meetings, school runs, and trying to maintain some semblance of a social life, it’s almost guaranteed to be an overwhelming time, most of the time. Throw into the mix disrupted sleep, patchy eating times, and the emotional rollercoaster of parenting, and it’s no wonder that to most postnatal women, finding time for fitness and wellbeing seems impossible. As a mum of four, I’ve done it many times over and know the pressure all too well. And yes, time is tight, but the good news is that rebuilding your body post-pregnancy doesn’t actually require long, mean hours in the gym.
Are Kegels all they’re cracked up to be?
So, you’re postnatal and determined to carve out time for you and your body. Good news: there’s no shortage of fitness advice online. Bad news: not all of it is as credible as it might appear. Trying to figure out whose advice to trust is overwhelming, especially when two experts completely contradict each other.
Most exercise advice for postnatal women will mention Kegel exercises. Kegels are pelvic floor contractions which strengthen the deep core muscles. Don’t get me wrong – they’re a really important part of postnatal recovery. But there is much more to the story than it often appears, and a few more steps are needed before bringing Kegels into our workouts. When these steps are missed, women can be left feeling frustrated at the lack of results they’d hoped for.
Before you start squeezing your pelvic floor every time you’re at a red light or unloading the dishwasher, we need to reconnect with the entire core system. Pregnancy can have drastic effects, like shifting posture, flaring the ribcage and tilting the pelvis. These changes can all affect your pelvic floor health, and Kegels alone are not enough to fix them.
Your pelvic floor doesn’t work in isolation. It’s part of a team, along with your glutes, abdominal muscles, abductors, lower back, and your respiratory system. Together, they make up the deep core. Everything needs to work in synergy, and for that, we need three steps: respiration, engagement, and activation.
When I started the StrongLikeMum YouTube channel, I wanted to create a hub for short, effective postnatal workouts for all women, from a postnatal expert who knows that intensive courses and strict diets are completely unrealistic. Here are my three absolute non-negotiables when it comes to exercise after pregnancy – and what makes them so vital to recovery.
Step 1: 360 breathing
Okay, breathing sounds boring, but this step is not to be missed. Our breathing really affects how our core functions. The movement and position of your diaphragm and ribcage can deeply impact how the pelvic floor is loaded and positioned. During pregnancy, it’s not uncommon for the ribcage to lift, or ‘flare’, as the baby grows and takes up more space. Internal organs, including your diaphragm, are pushed upwards, and this can cause the ribcage to protrude outwards, with the lower ribs pushing upwards.
As pregnancy progresses, your pelvis is tilted forward, which means the increased weight of the baby, placenta and amniotic fluid is shifted off the supportive bony structures of the pelvis and rests much more heavily onto the pelvic floor below. If misalignment continues, no matter how many kegel exercises you do, the increased pressure on the pelvic floor could mean you struggle to engage the muscles as efficiently as you’d like to when needed.
For this reason, I start all my clients with a 360 breathing exercise. You can work on this exercise sitting in a chair, but I’d recommend lying back on a mat. While keeping your hands relaxed by your sides or resting on your lower abdomen, take a deep inhale. The goal is to encourage the diaphragm to descend. Keeping your shoulders relaxed, allow your ribcage to expand and visualise your pelvic floor relaxing and releasing. In the first stage of this exercise, allow your breath to ‘fall’ away with a soft ‘hah’ sound, without drawing up the pelvic floor on the exhale. Focus on keeping your shoulders relaxed and the pelvic floor released. You can then build on the pelvic floor kegel activation as you exhale.
Often, Kegel exercises reference the feeling of stopping the flow of urine. Instead of this, try visualising the coccyx bone at the back of your pelvis and the pubic bone at the front of your pelvis, drawing inwards towards each other and lifting up along the midline. To join me in this technique, try this StrongLikeMum workout.
Resistance bands
Resistance band exercises can be incredibly useful as we attempt to fix rib flare and support our posture, all of which allows better core engagement. Here’s a great exercise to engage the pelvic floor and abdominal muscles, including your obliques: Sit or stand holding a resistance band in one hand. Holding this arm out in front of you, in line with your shoulder, grab the other end of the resistance band in your other hand, a little lower than the first. Inhale, and as you exhale, pull the resistance band diagonally downwards, gently encouraging your ribcage across to the opposite hip. Inhale and return to the start position and repeat.
Step 2: Getting to the deep core
The ‘box row’, as featured in this workout, is one of my all-time favourite exercises for postnatal women rehabilitating their pelvic floor. This move is best when paired with other deep core engagement exercises like pelvic tilts, leg slides, the bridge and heel taps.
Firstly, by working in the box position, we slightly increase the challenge for your pelvic floor because you’re working against gravity. Pulling backwards with the resistance band strengthens your upper back muscles, which helps to support better posture.
Resistance in the upper body also triggers a response in the pelvic floor via a deep line of soft body tissue known as the Deep Front Line. This is why this box row is so fantastic for postnatal women. If, however, you are managing diastasis recti, it’s important to keep an eye on your midline when performing this exercise. The box/all fours position can place an increase of pressure onto the front abdominal wall. However, this can be a good way to strengthen the front abdominals and rehab diastasis recti, provided you can garner tension along the midline. If you notice a bulge along the midline, modify your exercises and begin with workouts like this.
Step 3: Don’t forget the glutes
Alongside pelvic floor activation and posture rehabilitation, glute exercises are a crucial (and often forgotten) part of postnatal recovery. During pregnancy, as your bump grows, your pelvis can shift forward, which puts increased pressure on the pelvic floor. By activating your glutes, we can help to restabilise the pelvis and encourage better alignment. Glute kick-backs are a fantastic body-weight exercise that activates the deep glutes, and you can progress the movement by adding a resistance band.
By looping the middle of the band around your foot and holding the ends in both hands, you can increase the resistance in the working leg, pushing backwards. Other valuable glute exercises for the postnatal period are the glute bridge, butterfly, fire hydrants, lunges and squats when you’re ready.
But before anything else, the three steps of respiration, engagement and activation are vital for an effective postnatal recovery. Connecting your breathing to your deep core, using your upper body to engage your pelvic floor and activating your glutes to realign posture all help to strengthen and heal your body, post-birth.
Subscribe to Strong Like Mum to get new videos every Monday and Thursday. There, you’ll get all the help you need to build functional strength, core stability, and confidence, from bodyweight and resistance workouts to gentle return-to-exercise routines
Fitness
What is soft fitness? Experts say the gentler wellness trend could be the key to finally enjoying exercise
For years, the wellness world told us that fitness had to hurt to work. Early morning boot camps, relentless HIIT classes, “no days off” mantras and punishing training schedules became badges of honour splashed across social media feeds.
But in 2026, a very different kind of movement is taking over and, for many women, it feels like a collective exhale. Welcome to the era of “soft fitness”, the wellness trend redefining what it means to be healthy.
Instead of chasing exhaustion, people are increasingly gravitating towards gentler forms of movement that prioritise feeling good over pushing harder. Think reformer Pilates, long walks, mobility work, stretching sessions, recovery-focused workouts, infrared saunas and moderate strength training designed to energise rather than deplete.
And according to experts, the shift may actually help people stay healthier for longer.”Soft fitness gives people permission to move their bodies in a way that supports both physical and mental wellbeing, rather than constantly pushing themselves to exhaustion,” Tahnee Donkin, National Fitness Manager at Genesis Health + Fitness tells HELLO! “It’s really about creating a fitness routine people can sustain and enjoy.”
At its core, soft fitness is not about abandoning exercise or avoiding challenge altogether, it is about balance. Rather than exercising purely for aesthetics or dramatic transformation photos, the focus has shifted towards longevity, recovery, energy and emotional wellbeing.
It is also attracting a remarkably broad audience, beginners who once felt intimidated by traditional gym culture are embracing it, alongside busy professionals, older adults and even dedicated gym-goers looking to soften the intensity of their routines.
“Some people still love high-intensity training, and that’s great,” Tahnee says. “Soft fitness simply creates more accessible pathways into fitness for people who may have previously felt overwhelmed by traditional gym culture.”
© M.R.WoodsThe rise of soft fitness reflects something much bigger happening culturally too, after years of hustle culture encouraging people to optimise every aspect of their lives, many are reaching a point of physical and emotional burnout. Increasingly, wellness is no longer about punishment or perfection. Instead, people are asking a different question entirely: “How do I want to feel?”
“We’re seeing people redefine what health actually means,” Tahnee explains. “It’s no longer just about aesthetics. More people are focusing on how movement supports their overall wellbeing.”
That mindset shift has helped fuel the booming popularity of recovery-led wellness experiences too, from red light therapy and cold plunges to massage, mobility sessions and infrared saunas.
Recovery, once viewed as something reserved for elite athletes or luxury spas, is now becoming an everyday wellness essential.
And while gentler movement may sound less effective on paper, experts say soft fitness can still deliver significant long-term results, particularly when consistency is involved.
“When people genuinely enjoy their routine, they’re far more likely to stay consistent,” Tahnee says. “And consistency is what creates lasting results.”
© Getty ImagesBeyond physical fitness, many people are also reporting benefits including improved sleep, lower stress levels, better mental clarity, faster workout recovery and more stable energy throughout the day.
In many ways, soft fitness is not about doing less at all, it is about training smarter. Another reason the trend is resonating so strongly is because it feels far more inclusive.
Traditional fitness spaces can often feel intimidating, particularly for people who do not identify with intense gym culture or transformation-focused messaging. Soft fitness offers something different: calming, welcoming spaces centred around wellbeing rather than competition.
Reformer Pilates, for example, has emerged as one of the biggest gateway workouts for newcomers because of its supportive atmosphere and adaptable nature.
“Environment matters,” Tahnee says. “Spaces that feel calm, welcoming and personalised help people feel more comfortable starting their fitness journey.”
Combined with more flexible training schedules and recovery services that fit around increasingly busy lifestyles, the wellness industry is becoming more approachable than ever before. And perhaps that is why soft fitness is striking such a powerful chord right now.
In a world that constantly feels overstimulated, exhausting and permanently switched on, softer approaches to health feel not only appealing, but necessary.
The rise of soft fitness may well signal the end of the old “no pain, no gain” mentality and honestly, many people seem more than ready for it.
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