FIT at 52, one personal trainer insists you don’t need to spend hours at the gym to stay in shape.
Caroline Idiens revealed her secrets for staying strong in middle age — including the move she tells clients will make a “real difference.”
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Idiens (@carolinescircuits) is a UK-based personal trainer and the founder of the online exercise platform Caroline’s Circuits.
When her daughter was at prep school, she would run classes for the moms to enjoy after drop-off.
“We would do circuit-based exercises, which is where the name for my business came from,” she told The U.S. Sun.
“So people used to say on the WhatsApp Group, ‘Are you going to Caroline Circuits?’
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“I really enjoyed the group element, but when we went into lockdown, I took it online.”
She now boasts almost two million followers on Instagram, where she shares fitness inspiration.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
Idiens warned against overthinking fitness and said workouts can start from as short as 15 minutes a day.
“You can be fitter at this age than you were when you were at 30 or 40,” she said.
She said people underestimate the benefits of walking, even for just 30 minutes.
But embracing strength and resistance exercises rather than just focusing on cardio is important, too.
She always reminds clients to do squats, in particular, because later in life, these movements will make a “real difference.”
Idiens said her enviable physique results from the online classes she does with her 4,500 clients.
She targets all the muscle groups in her 30-minute sessions, which take place four days a week.
When you’re training upper body, not only can you really feel the benefits, but you can see benefits quite quickly in the arms.
Caroline Idiens
“I walk my dogs an hour every day, and I do the classes,” she said.
“I make sure as much as I’m telling people online to challenge themselves that I’m doing exactly what I’m also telling them to do.
“We are progressing together. It sounds quite cheesy but we’re all on this journey.”
SUCCESS STORIES
Idiens said it’s “so satisfying” when people tell her about their results.
One recently boasted that she went to a wedding and, for the first time, wore a sleeveless dress that showed off her arms.
“People are also doing the classes on holiday,” she added.
“I had some nice pictures from someone doing the legs class on a boat in Croatia.”
FLEXIBLE FUTURE
Idiens said all of her classes focus on longevity but she most looks forward to training her upper body.
“When you’re training upper body, not only can you really feel the benefits, but you can see benefits quite quickly in the arms,” she said.
“Doing upper body work also involves the core.
“We do lots focused on posture and balance and everything that’s going to really help you day to day.
“Things that are going to help you as you get older.
“I try not to make it so gym-based static exercises, instead using accessible exercises that can be completed with or without weights in the home.”
She also likes functional exercises, like squatting down to pick something up and reaching overhead, which are similar to movements made in everyday life.
Idiens said online workouts can be less “overwhelming” than walking into a gym with no prior knowledge of weight training, especially because you can work at your own pace and in your own home.
“From the age of 30 onwards, we lose bone density and muscle mass, which is why this type of fitness is so essential — especially with women during menopause.
“In order to build lean muscle and renew bone cell growth, we need to lift weights and this is the whole foundation of my business and passion.”
Without strength-based exercises, she warned, women leave themselves more prone to injury, falls, and osteoporosis as they get older.
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