9 Best Daily Exercises for Women Over 50 to Sculpt a Lean Waistline

As you enter your 40s, 50s, and beyond, your body changes. You naturally lose lean muscle mass—a process known as sarcopenia—anywhere from 3% to 8% each decade, to be exact. In addition, thanks to hormonal shifts, body fat tends to gravitate toward the abdominal region—ugh. Lifestyle changes like higher stress and poor sleep hygiene can complicate fat loss, too. To help you out, we’ve rounded up the best expert-approved, daily moves for women over 50 to sculpt a lean, mean waistline.

It’s never too late to build the strong, sculpted body you’ve always wanted—after all, age is just a number!

How To Sculpt a Lean Waistline After 50

In order to transform your waist, strength training is key. This means using tools like resistance bands, medicine balls, and ab wheels in your workouts. Be mindful of engaging your core from all angles to ensure you’re training every single one of your ab muscles. Lastly, don’t sleep on cardio.

“A lean waistline does not come from exercise alone, but an awareness of body alignment and how to activate one’s core. As we age, we often lose strength when it comes to pelvic and spinal stability, which directly relates to a sculpted waistline and core,” explains Maria Pertile, master trainer for Club Pilates studios. “Crunches alone were believed in the past to strengthen and slim the waistline; however, we know now that moving the torso in a variety of directions and recruiting ALL the abdominal muscles is far more effective for developing a strong core.”

Why is strengthening the core so important—especially as you age? According to Michelle Ditto, VP of training and technique for Pure Barre, “A stronger core can improve your posture and help you stand a little taller. This can improve your confidence and help you feel more self-assured. A stronger core can also improve your balance and help you prevent falls and injury.”

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9 Daily Exercises for Women 50+ To Build a Lean Waist

Below, experts share the best daily exercises for women 50+ to sculpt a strong, fit waist.

Hundreds

This productive Pilates exercise targets the abs.

1. Begin seated on a yoga mat.
2. Roll back, bringing your chin to your chest and hovering your shoulder blades above the floor.
3. Extend your legs to a 45-degree diagonal.Bring them together and point your toes.
4. Reach your arms forward.
5. Begin pumping your arms, breathing in for 4 pumps
6. Exhale for 4 pumps.
7. Repeat for 30 seconds.
8. Rest for 10 seconds
9. Repeat for 3 rounds total.

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Bicycles

Bicycles are another stellar move that fires up the abs.

1. Lie down flat on your back, knees raised and bent to 90 degrees.
2. Place your hands behind your head.
3. Crunch up, bringing your left elbow toward your right knee and extending your left leg.
4. Repeat on the other side, bringing your right elbow toward your left knee and extending your right leg.
5. Slowly alternate, aiming to maintain range of motion.
6. Repeat for 30 seconds.
7. Rest for 10 seconds
8. Repeat for 3 rounds total.

Teasers

Gear up for more ab-burning goodness with teasers.

1. Begin seated with a weight in each hand.
2. Lie down flat on your back, reaching your arms toward the ceiling.
3. Extend your legs on the ground, zipping them together and pointing your toes.
4. Slowly engage your core as you roll your arms and legs up to form a “V.”
5. Use control to lower.
6. Repeat for 30 seconds
7. Rest for 15 seconds.
8. Repeat.

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Planks

Planks are a total-body exercise.

Think drawing the waist into the midline, activating the glutes and hamstrings, all the while maintaining a neutral spine,” Pertile notes. “To have a neutral spine in a plank means that the spine has a natural curve without excessive tucking of the lower lumbar … your waist and pelvic girdle will LOVE you for this exercise.”

1. Place your hands under your shoulders.
2. Press into the pads of your fingers and hug your inner arm toward your armpit.
3. Walk your feet out to hip-width.
4. Engage your abs, squeeze your buttocks, and pull upward through your quads.
5. Hold the position.
6. Start by doing 10-second holds. As you feel more comfortable, work your way up to 30 seconds, then 2 to 3 minutes.

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Spine Twists

“The spine twist is an amazing exercise for whittling the waist,” Pertile tells us. “Many of us in our daily lives lack mobility in all planes of motion and spinal health and core stability depend on these movements.”

1. Begin sitting tall, legs extended in front of you.
2. Maintain a tall spine and stretch your arms out to your sides, palms facing down.
3. Inhale as you sit up tall.
4. Rotate to the left or right with your arms outstretched like the letter “T.”
5. Exhale 3 times to rotate even deeper into the exercise.
6. Inhale as you return to the center.
7. Twist to the other side.
8. Perform 6 reps per side before resting.

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Half Roll-Back

“What makes this exercise an ‘ab whittler’ is the focus on the drawing of the navel to the spine, or scooping of the core to flex the lower lumbar,” Pertile explains. “To progress this exercise, try rolling back with a two-count breath pattern, inhale to roll back, and exhale to return to start. This is a great way to focus on the waist and draw the core to the midline to support the spine and the pelvis.”

1. Begin seated on a workout mat, knees bent and feet flat on the floor
2. Stretch your arms out in front of you, palms facing down.
3. Inhale as you sit tall.
4. Exhale, round your spine, and “scoop” your abs as you roll halfway back.
5. Inhale as you hold this position.
6. Breathe out to roll back up to the start position.
7. Perform 6 to 8 reps.

Lateral Flexion

“Flexing the spine laterally is an important functional movement in our daily lives. Think of how often we reach down to the side to pick something up or grab something to the side,” Pertile tells us. “Lateral flexion as an exercise helps us to provide stability and strength to these movements and works on pelvic stability in such a way that it works to connect core muscles in a corset-like fashion.”

1. Lie down flat on your back.
2. Your bottom arm should be extended with your palm facing the floor and your head resting on it. Your top arm should be extended as well and resting on your body.
3. Inhale, engage your core, and lift your upper and lower body off the floor. Your top hand should move toward your knee as you lift.
4. Hold the top of the movement.
5. Exhale to return to the floor.
6. Complete 6 to 8 reps.

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Mountain Climbers

Mountain climbers are a great move for your abs and obliques.

1. Begin in a high plank.
2. Quickly drive your right knee toward your left elbow.
3. Swiftly return to a plank.
4. Repeat the movement with your left knee.
5. Continue to alternate at a fast pace.

Lunges

Lunge variations fire up the quads, hamstrings, glutes, and full core engagement.

1. Stand tall with your feet parallel, hip-distance apart.
2. Place your hands on your hips.
3. Step one foot forward.
4. Engage your core and bend your knees, lowering to form 90-degree bends in both legs.
5. Keep your upper body straight.
6. Press through your front heel and the ball of your back foot to rise.
7. Perform lunges for 30 seconds.
8. Repeat on the other side.
9. Rest for 10 seconds between each set.

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