How to Adjust Workouts When You're Short on Time

Fuel Your Strength

Steph Gaudreau

Fitness, Health & Fitness, Nutrition

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Life doesn't always respect your perfectly planned training week. If you're a woman over 40 following a strength training program, you might be juggling sleep swings, work crunches, hormonal shifts, caretaking, and everything in between. This episode breaks down how to keep your momentum without falling into the all-or-nothing trap so you still get a damn good training stimulus on busy days.

Steph explains a simple framework for structured flexibility – keeping the big-picture plan while adapting the day's session. You'll learn three practical ways to modify workouts using RPE / RIR, so you can train smarter, protect progress, and stay consistent in midlife.

What you'll learn in this episode:

Why "all or nothing" thinking keeps sabotaging your strength progress after 40
The simple shift that lets you keep momentum even when life gets chaotic
Three creative ways to make workouts shorter without losing results
How to know if you're still training hard enough on those scaled-back days
The mindset reframe that makes consistency possible long-term

Enjoyed this episode and want more?

If you want a lifting program that tells you exactly what to do, try 7 days of Strong with Steph here >> https://stephgaudreau.com/workout

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Okay, picture this. You're a woman over 40 who's decided to get a strength training program.
0:05.2	You're ready to go. Everything feels like it's finally in line and falling into place. And then
0:11.8	life happens. Something happens to throw you off your game. You know you're trying to nudge into that
0:18.0	something zone instead of the all or nothing thinking that's really
0:23.1	gotten you in the past. But how do you adjust your workouts to still get something done
0:29.5	instead of falling into the trap of perfectionism? That's exactly what we're going to talk
0:34.0	about on today's podcast. I'm laying out three different options of how
0:38.2	you can adjust your workouts to still get a damn good training session in and continue to make
0:43.9	forward progress without breaking your momentum. If you're an athletic 40-something woman who loves lifting weights, challenging yourself,
0:57.3	and doing hard shit, the fuel your strength podcast is for you. You'll learn how to eat,
1:03.5	train, and recover smarter so you build strength and muscle, have more energy, and perform better
1:10.0	in and out of the gym.
1:12.5	I'm Strength Nutrition Strategist and Weightlifting Coach, Steph Goddrow.
1:16.8	The Fuel Your Strength podcast dives into evidence-based strategies for nutrition,
1:22.2	training, and recovery, and why, once you're approaching your 40s and beyond,
1:26.9	you need to do things a little differently
1:29.2	than you did in your 20s. We're here to challenge the limiting industry narratives about what
1:34.6	women can and should do in training and beyond. If that sounds good, hit subscribe on your
1:41.3	favorite podcast app and let's go.
1:50.5	Hello, my friend, and welcome back to the Fuel Your Strain podcast.
1:52.2	I'm so glad that you're with me today.
1:57.0	We're going to be getting into the nitty gritty today and really thinking about how do you adjust your workout?
	...

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