How Often Should Women Over 40 Strength Train?
- Chris Parnell
- 10 hours ago
- 3 min read
If you’re getting into strength training after 40, you may assume that more workouts will get you better results.
Five days must be better than three. Three must be better than two.
Not necessarily.
For most women, two to three strength-training sessions per week is a very good place to start.
That gives you enough training to build strength and muscle while still leaving time to recover — and, just as importantly, makes the routine much easier to fit into real life.
How Often Should Women Over 40 Strength Train?
If you’re a beginner, I would rather see you complete two good full-body workouts every week than aim for four or five and constantly miss sessions.
If two days fits your schedule, start there.
If you’re recovering well and three days feels manageable, three can work too.
There’s good evidence behind that range. A large 2023 systematic review and network meta-analysis found that all of the resistance-training programs studied improved strength and muscle growth compared with doing no resistance training. Twice-weekly training was the highest-ranked approach for muscle growth, while three times per week ranked highest for strength under certain training conditions (Currier et al., 2023).
More recently, a 2026 meta-analysis looked specifically at women across different stages of life. It found significant improvements in strength and body composition from resistance training, with no evidence that training frequency itself significantly changed the outcomes. The researchers concluded that individualization may matter more than strict age- or sex-specific rules (Isenmann et al., 2026).
That last point is important.
Turning 40 does not suddenly mean you need an entirely different set of training rules.
Two Good Workouts Can Be Enough
One thing I pay attention to with clients is whether the training schedule actually fits the rest of their life.
Work matters. Sleep matters. Stress matters. Recovery matters.
If adding another workout means you’re constantly exhausted, extremely sore, or struggling to stick with your program, adding more isn’t necessarily helping.
I’ve had clients train full body twice per week, even with those workouts only a couple of days apart. That can work perfectly well when the program is structured properly and fatigue is managed.
The goal is not to see how many days you can get yourself into the gym.
The goal is to give your muscles a reason to adapt and then give your body enough time to recover so you can do it again.
What I Tell My Clients
Start with what you know you can do consistently.
If that’s two days, great.
Do two days and make those workouts count.
Once that feels like part of your normal routine, we can look at whether adding a third day would actually improve your training.
Keep this in mind: you don’t get extra credit for making your program harder to follow.
A good training plan should challenge you, but it also needs to work with your schedule.
For a lot of women over 40, two or three well-planned sessions per week gives us exactly that balance.
The Bottom Line
So, how often should women over 40 strength train?
For most women, start with two to three times per week.
If you’re new to strength training or have a busy schedule, two full-body sessions can be enough to start making progress.
If you enjoy training more often and recover well, three sessions can also be a great option.
Don’t worry about finding the “perfect” number of days.
Find the number you can recover from, fit into your life, and consistently repeat.
That’s the schedule that has the best chance of working long term.
References
Currier BS, McLeod JC, Banfield L, et al. Resistance training prescription for muscle strength and hypertrophy in healthy adults: a systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2023;57:1211–1220.
Isenmann E, Geisler S, Havers T, et al. It's never too late: The impact of resistance training on strength and body composition in females across the lifespan – A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. 2026. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2026.03.002.
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