Three common sense beauty and longevity tips for the mature woman: Make exercise a habit, do what feels right for you, and remember when it comes to working out, that less is more. I promise these are three beauty tips to live by. Stay beautiful!

Three get in shape secrets

Are you wondering what could help you spring into shape with late spring and summer just around the corner? If you want to wear a two piece bikini at fifty years old and look good in it you better get off that couch quickly and spring into shape. I’ve talked to many older ladies at my local gym and I always asked them what helps them stay motivated to make fitness a priority in their life. These three tips are universal responses I get from women who are gym regulars. Maybe it can help you reap the benefits and enjoyment you’ll get from leading a physically active life.

Exercise and Beauty Secret #1: Make it a habit

If you make exercise a habit that you can stick with, you are going to reap the benefits of exercise. This means that whether you workout at home, at the gym, or out doing a sport or activity, that you do it regularly. Your biggest plan should be to find a workout that you can sustain over the long run. Your workout does not have to be a rigorous workout, it has to be a workout you enjoy and can make a habit or part of your every day life. If you are struggling to squeeze your workout into your busy schedule and find yourself procrastinating, then you need to ask yourself if you are working out smart. A smart workout is not how many calories you’ll be burning, but whether you like the workout enough to repeat it on a regular basis.

For some people this means changing what they are doing. Lets say you have a workout routine that you follow at the gym. For example, say you take a pilates or aerobic class at the gym. But, you tend to procrastinate and you only make it to the gym once a week on a Saturday if that. Now, lets say you switch your workout to taking a walk. Taking a walk might burn a lot less calories than an aerobics class. But if you were able to take that walk three or four times a week (verses going to the gym barely once a week if you’re lucky) then that walk is actually a better workout for you in terms of daily habit. Of course doing both workouts would be best, but the point is that you want to do something that fits comfortably into your everyday lifestyle. Exercise that you do regularly is essential for getting into shape and staying there over the long run. Any workout that you can habitually do without having to muster up an over abundance of motivation for, is the right exercise.

Exercise and Beauty Secret #2: Do what feels right

A personal trainer is going to do their job. And if you hire a personal trainer, they are most likely going to show you the workout routines and fitness plans that are going to get you into shape the fastest and most effectively. But hold on, getting into shape quickly and effectively doesn’t really need to be your goal. Your main goal should be something of the opposite – you want to get into shape slowly and methodically (rather than quickly and effectively). Why you might ask? A “slow and methodic” approach to your physical fitness is actually easier to stick to over time than a “fast and furious” approach. It’s the quintessential turtle and the hare story. The hare is faster but the turtle wins the workout race.

The majority of older people, even if they are out of shape, know their own bodies and their own limits best. Only we know our bodies and our limitations best. Often times, no matter how experienced or credentialed a personal trainer or fitness instructor is, they may push you inadvertently to a strain. The last thing you want to is hurt yourself working out or get so sore that you are miserable. Sometimes, working out without pushing yourself is actually best. If you stick to your own physical capabilities and comfort zone, not only will you avoid injury but you also find yourself enjoying the workout and getting pleasure from it. This is the best possible workout – one you enjoy. An easier workout that you enjoy and can do on a regular basis is way more effective in terms of being able to stick to it, then a more intense workout that you might burn out on.

Having worked out at the gym fairly regularly for years, I will give you a tip. The people going into the fitness classes and working with the personal trainers tend to “come and go”. You see them show up as members regularly, and then they just disappear off of the map. Some of the older folks at the gym (the ones that don’t disappear after just a few months) are the ones that literally look like they are “sleep walking” through their workouts! By that I mean, they are moseying through their workouts sooo slowly and happily. Many of them workout out on their own and are not in the class. They just go through the nautilus machines or cardio machines. Sometimes they socialize and sometimes they use the pool. This crew of “gym regulars” that I notice aren’t really taxing themselves in gym classes. They are going to the beat of their own drum, and working out at their own pace. These are the people I see at the gym year after year after year, not month after month and then they vanish from the gym scene altogether.

Exercise and Beauty Secret #3: Less is more

You know the weight loss drill. The quick diets like Slim Fast, Jenny Craig, and all of those. And then you combine that with paying for personal trainers, or joining a workout boot camp. I call this the “shot gun” approach to getting into shape. While the shotgun approach to fitness can really help jump start you onto a workout program initially, it may not be something you can follow in the long run. This is where less is more comes into play. When the initial diet or training is over, thats where longevity comes into play. Thats when it’s up to you and you alone to go into long term weight and exercise maintance mode.

Let’s say you hire a personal trainer once a week and start to work out. So, you are paying maybe $50.00 an hour for an intense workout with the trainer once a week. And you are sore for days after that. You’re happy because you know that if you pay that money that you at the very least are getting exercise once a week. If I had the money I definitely would hire a personal trainer because it helps you get a great workout in! It’s a luxury. But what if you get lazy about paying so after a few months maybe you quit the training sessions and figure you’ll continue it on your own. But without them there for motivation, your workouts wane and eventually you give up and you are hardly getting that workout in at all.

On the other hand, let’s imagine that you find that if you do a ten or twenty minute workout that it’s sort of easy to stick to. Maybe you figure out that if you pop into the gym on the way home and jump on a cardio machine for ten or fifteen minutes, that it’s pretty easy to do. Lets say you get into the habit of stopping by the gym for twenty minutes a few days a week. One day you might hop on the stationary bike, the next time on the treadmill, the next time on the stair climbers. A few minutes, you break barely a sweat. Boom, you’re done, you’re out, and on the way home. You’re doing a lot less than your did with the trainer, but you’re doing it and you’re sticking to it on your own. There you go, you’re doing less, and its more. When it comes to working out regularly you would be very surprised that one of the biggest secrets I can tell you is that less is more. That 10 minute pit stop at the gym a few times a week over a few years time is going to benefit you way more than hiring a personal trainer for a few months and then quitting the program for financial reasons or lack of motivation.

Just remember, that when it comes to working out, especially when you are older and slowing down in life, these three stay beautiful beauty and longevity tips. Make your workout a habit, do what feels right to you, and know that when it comes to fitness longevity, less can most definitely be more.