Ep. #409: The GenX Woman’s Guide to Exercise

Welcome to the Not Your Average Runner podcast. I’m Jill Angie, a certified running coach, and your running BFF here to help you start running. Feel confident and love the journey no matter your size. Now, if you’ve ever felt like you just weren’t meant to be a runner, think again. I believe that running is for all bodies, even yours.

This podcast is your warmup buddy, giving you tips, motivation, and the support you need to lace up and get moving. I’ve helped thousands of women become runners, and now I wanna help you. Let’s go.

Hello my friends and welcome back to the podcast. Today we are diving into a topic that is near and dear to my heart, and that is fitness for women in midlife, especially Gen X women in midlife. Because let’s be honest, our bodies are not the same as they were in our twenties or our thirties or even our forties.

The fitness industry has not been kind to us, and we are juggling more than ever. But we also have a secret weapon. We are Generation X, we survived dial up internet, shoulder pads, snack wells. We can figure this shit out. So most fitness advice out there was written for either 20 something bros who live at the gym, or Gen Zs who grew up with Instagram influencers, teaching them that ABS are the ultimate achievement.

Neither of those worlds apply to us. We are perimenopausal, postmenopausal, somewhere in the thick of it. We have got hot flashes and creaky knees and slower recoveries. Maybe a teenager rolling their eyes at us while our parents are texting us about their doctor’s appointments. Our stress levels are higher, our sleep is weirder, and our bodies respond differently to food and exercise.

My bestie developed an allergy to tree nuts when she was 52 years old. Out of the blue, that shit happens and the idea that we should just try harder and eat less and move more is quite frankly insulting. It ignores our lived experience and that is why it is time for a new playbook. So here is the good news.

We are scrappy. We grew up drinking hose water, staying outside until the streetlights came on and taking care of ourselves because our parents were busy working. We are risk. Sourceful as hell, and we know how to adapt. And that adaptability is exactly what is gonna carry you through this chapter of your fitness journey.

You don’t need a bootcamp. You don’t need a 75 hard challenge. You need consistency, flexibility, and the right perspective. So here are the core principles. Of the Gen X Women’s Guide to Fitness, do it for your future self, not the scale. That’s number one. Do it for your future self, not the scale. Fitness is not about squeezing back into your prom dress.

It is about being strong enough to travel and chase your grandchildren and hike a trail. Or just get off the damn couch without grunting. Okay? Think long game. Your sixties, your seventies, your eighties now. Number two is minimum baseline over maximum effort. You do not need two hour workouts. You do not need to crush yourself with high intensity interval training.

Six days a week, a 10 minute walk counts. Gentle yoga counts, some nice easy running intervals, perfectly awesome. Consistency matters more than intensity. Number three, the principle that I love. This is my favorite one. Mix tape it just like we used to record songs on our cassette players off the radio.

You remember that? I have some fond memories of waiting for the radio for the DJ to announce the song and like just rushing to hit record before it would start so I could get the whole thing anyway, just like we used to make mix tapes. Fitness should be a mashup, right? A little strength training, some cardio, some stretching.

Enough variety to keep you interested and to cover all your bases. Principle number four, recovery is part of training. You cannot treat your 50-year-old body like your 25-year-old body. I know you want to. I know it is frustrating that you cannot stay out all night and party and wake up the next morning without being hungover.

It’s not a thing anymore, my friend. It’s just not sleep. Hydration and recovery. Are your buzzwords. They matter more than ever. If you are sore, rest, if you are tired, nap. If you are dehydrated, drink some fucking water. This is actually how you get stronger, not over-training yourself or pushing yourself too hard.

Right? Follow the principles of recovery. And finally, principle number five, can we finally reject toxic fitness co culture? Can we just. Stop it. Okay. No more punishing yourself for what you ate. No more, no pain, no gain, no more thinking. You’re lazy because you skipped a workout. You are allowed to enjoy your body in all its forms.

And fitness should feel like an act of care, not punishment. All right? Now there’s a culture, a layer to all of this because, you know, fitness doesn’t exist in a vacuum, especially for Gen X. We are doing this while blasting eighties music in our earbuds. Right? Lean into your roots. We’re quoting the Beck Breakfast Club in our heads.

When we lift weights, we are rolling our eyes at TikTok Wellness Hacks. All right, lean into your gen, ex gen exude, if that’s a word. That’s part of the fun, right? Make a workout list. Full of Prince and Madonna and Nirvana and and TLC and Pearl Jam or whatever was your favorite put on the Rocky soundtrack, if that gets you moving.

We don’t need boutique studios with ring lights. We need comfy supportive sneakers, A good playlist, and maybe a friend who gets it. So if you’re listening to this and you’re thinking, okay, Jill, this all sounds great, but where the hell do I begin? Here is your Gen X. Quick start plan. Pick one thing you can do in 10 minutes or less.

Maybe it’s a walk. Maybe it’s some body weight squats. Maybe it’s a stretching session. All right. One thing you can do in 10 minutes or less. Anchor it to your day right after coffee, before you check email while dinner is cooking. Like make it part of your routine. Do it three times this week. That’s it.

Don’t overcomplicate it. All right. Bonus points if you crank up some eighties or nineties tunes while you do it. But that’s it. Keep it simple, my friend, because fitness. Especially for Gen X is not about chasing someone else’s rules. It is about a way creating a way of moving that works for your life, your body, and your future self.

You have already proven that you can survive a lot of shit. You can absolutely figure out how to thrive in this chapter of your life. All right, now, if you want more help with this, that’s exactly what I’m teaching inside the Midlife Movement Makeover. It is a 30 day reset for midlife women who are just sick and tired of starting over.

You’re gonna get daily sparks, which is what I like to call my, my little bits of inspiration and instructions Every day. You’ll get super easy, simple, short workouts, and you’re gonna get a mental framework for making movement stick without shame or pressure. Now I’m gonna drop a link in the show notes so you can grab a, you can also go to not your average runner.com/midlife.

That’s not your average runner.com. Slash midlife. Okay, my friend. Let’s do this. We’re Gen X, we’re kind of badass. I’ll talk to you next week. MWAH.

Real quick before you go, I’ve got a fun challenge for you. Take my exerciser personality quiz to find out exactly what kind of exerciser you are and how to make running feel easier and more enjoyable.

Just head over to not your average runner.com/quiz to take it and get your results. That’s not your average runner.com/quiz.