How Trinny Woodall got an athlete’s arms at 60 — by her trainer
The TV presenter and beauty entrepreneur has never looked so strong. Her personal trainer, Nathalie Hayward, reveals how she’s done it.
Looking at pictures of Trinny Woodall, you may be forgiven for thinking she’s traded in her arms for those of an Olympic athlete. They are, to put it bluntly, amazing. And at 60? Spectacular.
Woodall has never looked so strong and she’s also not the only one. In her wider circle, all the midlife women are going sleeveless — Davina McCall and Gabby Logan have both graced the cover of Women’s Health with their super-toned over-50 physiques. Think back to how people marvelled at the muscles of Madonna and Michelle Obama, whose arms came into their own in their mid-40s — ever since, having sculpted arms has become a sort of perimenopausal power move.
That’s because it’s not easy to achieve. Most women have more strength in their legs, so getting great glutes or thighs takes less dedication than building biceps and triceps, especially as we age and muscle mass begins to diminish. So I went straight to the source of Woodall’s power to find out how it’s done.
It’s honestly been a very slow journey,” reveals Nathalie Hayward, the personal trainer who has spent the past six years overseeing Woodall’s arms go from weak to warrior. “When I met Trinny, she was in her early 50s and had just been through the menopause. Her balance was terrible. She couldn’t lift more than two kilos and her mobility wasn’t the best.
“She had done Pilates over the years, but she was starting her business, she was stressed, and she’d fallen into a habit of getting into bed at 6pm and eating ice cream and chocolate.”
Apparently, Woodall’s eye for fashion and natural build hid a host of issues.
“Trinny wasn’t lean,” Hayward says. “She’s got a long body and neck, which gives her the appearance that she is leaner than she is, but Trinny did not have definition in her arms when we met, and she was carrying excess body weight. She had joint pain and a lot of inflammation.”
So there’s hope for us all, as long as we can find the willpower.
“Anyone at any level can start — the body is magic, it will adapt and it will get stronger.”
“Reducing the amount of sugar that you eat is paramount,” Hayward says. “Trinny used to start her day with an oat cappuccino, now she starts it with lemon water and a creatine supplement. She also follows the Glucose Goddess protocol whereby you eat vegetables first at meals. So if you’ve got eggs, toast and broccoli, you’d eat the broccoli first, then the eggs — protein and fats — and then you’d eat the carbs, the toast.”
The theory is that the fibre acts like a filter, slowing the rate at which the glucose from the carbs hits your bloodstream, keeping your blood sugar levels as stable as possible. “Then you’ll be less likely to store body fat.”
And don’t forget to prioritise protein, as the older you are, the more of it you need to build muscle, Hayward says.
Once you’ve got your diet under control, it’s time to build strength by lifting heavy weights. For women over 40, this is more important than ever — not just to get the arms of your dreams but to age slower and more healthily.
“Beyond aesthetics, weight training is crucial for women post-menopause,” Hayward says. “It helps combat age-related muscle loss, maintains bone density to reduce the risk of osteoporosis, improves joint health and boosts metabolism.”
Her three top exercises to improve your upper body strength and give definition to your arms are the bent-over dumbbell row (“Great for biceps and back strength”), traditional push-ups (“These work the chest and the triceps”) and the Arnold press or lateral raises (“To target the shoulders for a sculpted, balanced look”). Chuck in some yoga and Pilates poses such as downward dogs and planks and you’ll be well on your way, Hayward says — as long as you commit to at least three training sessions a week, and lift progressively heavier weights over time.
Even then, she admits, amazing arms are not a total given — you’ll be stronger but you might not be entirely ready for a sleeveless dress. This is because by middle age, many of us have a level of skin laxity that can’t entirely be eliminated by diet and exercise. Are there any cosmetic treatments that help?
“This is a question I get so much from my female clients,” Hayward says. “Over the years, we stretch, we shrink, we stretch, we shrink. As we get older our skin slightly detaches, and of course, gravity is going to pull it down.”
She has seen many clients have success with radiofrequency and laser treatments such as Thermage and Morpheus8 — although she’s keen to point out that Woodall hasn’t used any of these to achieve her arm definition.
“People say that [your body] is 80 per cent diet and 20 per cent exercise, but I’d say it’s 70 per cent diet, 29 per cent exercise and 1 per cent treatments, if you’re that bothered about it,” Hayward says.
“Strong arms are attainable. Trinny now lifts 20kg where she would previously only lift two or four. She works damn hard, but anyone at any level can start — the body is magic, it will adapt and it will get stronger.”
