Fitness trainer Rachel Cosgrove’s newest book is all about helping women in their 40s and beyond feel their most confident, capable, and independent as they embrace their new chapter of life.
Rachel Cosgrove wants women in their 40s and beyond to know that as they age, they can become the strongest they’ve ever been. In fact, she feels so adamant about spreading this message, she’s written a book about it.
Released in March 2024, Age Strong is Cosgrove’s third book dedicated to helping women feel strong and confident in their bodies through fitness. For the southern California trainer who owns Results Fitness, Cosgrove’s entire career has focused on supporting her clients to achieve their body transformation goals, but after 25 years in the fitness industry, Cosgrove started to notice some trends. “When I started my gym, most of my clients were in their 40s and they’d tell me, ‘Just wait until you reach my age because fitness becomes a lot harder,’” Cosgrove recalls. “For most of these women when they joined me, their goals were weight loss. But over time, their goals turned into wanting to feel more confident, being able to experience more out of life—really, aging stronger. I wanted to write this book to help them, and to address issues they faced such as hormone and lifestyle changes.”
The way Cosgrove saw it, by the time you’re in your 40s, you’re likely going to head down one of two paths: Due to age, you’ll start to lose muscle, experience more injuries, and begin the process of losing independence; or, you can take control, and start engaging in intentional fitness regimes that will enable you to be able to say “yes” more often. Yes to being part of your grandkids lives, yes to participating in family activities, yes to living the second half of your life in whatever way you choose. Cosgrove wanted to write Age Strong to encourage more women to choose the second path.
Phased Training Program
Age Strong empowers women to take control of fitness as they age through strength training. Featuring real-life success stories of clients who transformed their muscle and confidence, it offers clear instructions and full-color photos for 73 traditional strength exercises and 41 mobility movements, focusing on core, lower body, and upper body strength.
The program is structured in four phases: the Base Phase, which addresses common imbalances and teaches basic movements; the Build Phase, which increases intensity to enhance strength; the Stronger Phase, which focuses on volume by increasing reps and load; and the Age Strong Phase, which guides readers to achieve strength standards for exercises like push-ups, squats, and deadlifts. “Through the program, you’ll realize what you’re capable of in a safe way, doing it progressively over time. You’ll really learn what you are able to lift, while exercising properly with good form,” says Cosgrove.
Overcoming Misconceptions
One barrier to aging strongly that Cosgrove keeps seeing is the misconception that women believe they will become “bulky” if they lift weights. “Women are afraid that they’ll look too ‘masculine’ if they grow muscle,” says Cosgrove, who believes much of this misconception stems from societal pressures to look a certain way. “I believe women should actually feel apprehensive about not gaining muscle,” she notes. Cosgrove has seen women in the gym start to feel empowered by gaining muscle, achieving feats such as a chin-up or push-up when they believed they’d never be strong enough to conquer these exercises. This confidence boost doesn’t end in the gym, according to Cosgrove, although she often sees women begin to lift heavier weights or even sign up for races or events as their confidence grows. “When women shift their thinking to believe that they can do anything, I see that shift in their lives, careers, and family life, too,” she says.
Transformative Strength
Noting that these shifts may start in the gym but are bound to extend into every other aspect of women’s lives is a main driver in Age Strong. Cosgrove points to one pivotal story that’s in her book. “I had a client in her 50s who realized she wasn’t feeling confident enough to hold her grandbaby and walk up the stairs—she didn’t have the strength,” Cosgrove says. For her client, this was a major turning point. After committing to her new fitness program, everything changed in Cosgrove’s client’s life. “My client used to have to ask for help carrying heavy items at the grocery store—now, in her 70s, she’ll offer to help other people carry their groceries. She goes to watch her grandkids’ volleyball games and she hikes right up to the top of the bleachers to get the best seat in the house. She’s confident she can do that.”
And while this anecdote sounds simple, Cosgrove knows that it’s not—especially for a woman who feels intimidated to begin strength training, maybe for the first time. “As gym owners, we try to create an inviting, welcoming environment. But I get it: It’s scary to walk into a gym for the first time,” she says. Luckily, Cosgrove has some ways to combat these fears. She recommends hiring a qualified trainer to show you the ropes, who can talk with you about your goals and create a gameplan to reach them in a way that works for you. Another way? “Have a plan,” says Cosgrove. “Take Age Strong with you to take the guesswork out of which exercises you should be doing.”
Above all, Cosgrove wants women in their 40s and beyond to know that they’re not alone in their quest to feel more confident in their bodies as they embrace the next phase of their lives. “I hope Age Strong gives women the confidence to move forward, take action, and start getting themselves on the path to their best lives,” she says. “You don’t have to sit on the sidelines. You can age strong, and jump right on in.”
Age Strong is available on Amazon.ca or at HumanKinetics.com. Find more from Rachel on her Instagram page: @rachelcosgrove.co.
