FOR Trudy Dana Joseph, fitness is not about chasing a smaller body. It is about helping women over 40 become stronger, healthier and more confident in the bodies they have.<\/p>\n
A certified personal trainer, nutritionist and published author, Joseph has built her fitness business, Get Lifted Training (GLT), around women who often feel overlooked or uncomfortable in traditional gyms.<\/p>\n
Born and raised in Moriah, Tobago, Joseph graduated from Bishop\u2019s High School, Tobago, in 1997 before enrolling at the then Caribbean Union College in Maracas, St Joseph, at age 16. She earned a BSc in Home Economics in 2001 and entered the teaching service the following year.<\/p>\n
She has been teaching CSEC Food, Nutrition and Health ever since. But fitness has always been part of her life, through hiking, aerobics, swimming, running and HIIT exercises. It was during the Covid-19 pandemic that she began taking strength training more seriously.<\/p>\n
In a recent sit down with Her Magazine she said: \u201cI frequented the gym with the goal of building strength and a feminine physique. However, the lockdown forced me to improvise with home workouts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Using minimal equipment, Joseph began posting her workouts on her WhatsApp status. \u201cMany people were inspired by my dedication, effort and the physical results I achieved, so they started asking me to train them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The response encouraged her to turn her passion into a profession, and she became certified by the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA). Today, Joseph is a certified personal trainer with specialisations in transformation, group training, corrective exercises and senior fitness at her Eastern Main Road, D\u2019Abadie gym.<\/p>\n
But it was her own experience with perimenopause that ultimately shaped the direction of her work. \u201cEntering perimenopause was a very frightening and confusing experience for me. I noticed that my body was changing in ways I did not understand. It no longer looked, felt or functioned the way I was used to, and it caused me a lot of grief,\u201d Joseph said.<\/p>\n
As she searched for answers, Joseph realised she was not alone. That realisation led her to focus on women aged 40 and over, a group she believes needs a different approach to fitness. \u201cMany women were searching as well, and I recognised that my knowledge and skills were exactly what these women needed. Most of my clients are at some stage of menopause, and being a perimenopausal woman myself puts me in tune with their experiences and needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joseph says the fitness industry has spent years placing too much emphasis on weight loss. \u201cWhile weight gain is a concern for many 40-plus women, it is actually the least of their worries. Women cannot afford to lose their muscle and bone, and the women who do are far more likely to suffer from hip fractures and frailty. This is why women need strength training,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
At GLT, Joseph said the focus is not on punishing workouts or making women feel pressured to lose weight. \u201cOur focus is on functional exercises that build strength with progressive overload, and the right amount of cardio exercises for heart health and weight management,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She also wants to dispel the belief that women should avoid lifting heavy weights. \u201cMost women believe that they can\u2019t or should not lift heavy weights. They are afraid that they will injure themselves. Another tragedy of fitness culture is the belief that lifting heavy will make women look manly. The most obvious change is a woman\u2019s confidence. When my clients prove to themselves that they can take on a challenge and conquer it, it keeps them motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n
She continued: \u201cWhen most gyms went large, I decided to go small because I realised that there is an entire demographic of people, especially women, who are not being served by these large commercial gyms,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
At GLT, she takes a structured and personal approach to training. \u201cIt is certainly not one-size-fits-all. In my gym, they are not allowed to say \u2018I can\u2019t\u2019 but instead, say \u2018I will try.\u2019 That mental shift alone is what builds confidence in themselves and trust in me as their trainer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Joseph also believes women need to stop blaming themselves for changes to their bodies as they age. \u201cTypically, they think that they are overeating, that their body is fighting them, or that they just let themselves go. Most women don\u2019t understand that hormonal changes are responsible for what they see in the mirror and on the scale.\u201d<\/p>\n
She wants women to understand that ageing does not mean their bodies are failing them. \u201cThe most important thing I would like 40-plus women to understand is that there is nothing wrong with their bodies. The changes of menopause are manageable with the right support. You are not going crazy. The symptoms are real, and your best treatment is knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs women, we have been socialised to take care of everyone and everything at the expense of ourselves. We are expected to work day and night, year after year, without taking time for self-care, rest and restoration,\u201d Joseph said.<\/p>\n
Joseph does not believe women should fear getting older. \u201cAging has always been synonymous with decline, loss of usefulness and nothing to look forward to. What I believe is that there\u2019s always something to look forward to in life. That makes it all the more important to preserve my health so that I can enjoy it all. When I think of fitness, I think of happiness, freedom, excitement, adventure. In fitness there\u2019s always something to do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her message to women entering their 40s and 50s who have never exercised is simple: start slowly and focus on consistency. \u201cDon\u2019t try to do too much, too soon. For most beginners, the biggest challenge is showing up consistently. Make sure you can do that before setting any lofty goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
And for women wondering what it means to reclaim their bodies after 40, Joseph has an answer. \u201cTo me, reclaiming your body after 40 means to not become a victim to it; to not suffer through symptoms with no solution. It means to have a body that feels good and functions well. It does not mean being the smallest version of itself, but the strongest and healthiest possible version at this stage,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Get Lifted Training is located on the Eastern Main Road, D\u2019Abadie. Joseph can be followed on social media at @getliftedtraining.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FOR Trudy Dana Joseph, fitness is not about chasing a smaller body. It is about helping women over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[278],"tags":[18,3617,525,135,19,17,526,9223],"class_list":["post-652847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-eire","tag-features","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-local","tag-woman"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}