Personal trainer says looking better than anyone over 40 is all about one thing (2025)

EXCLUSIVE: 'The people I meet over 40 who have boundless energy, a youthful outlook, and seem younger than their years all have a few things in common,' says dad, Chris Davidson

Despite being a personal trainer and running a gym, when Chris Davidson hit his late thirties, he found his rad bod had turned into a dad bod. The middle-age spread was upon him, and with three young kids to look after and a busy work life, he found himself overweight and out of shape. "I’d always felt confident about my body, but looking in the mirror, I didn’t like what I saw. I wasn’t massive, but I would catch glimpses of a tubby middle-aged man in window reflections and be shocked to realise it was me.

"It wasn’t a good look for a personal trainer. So I tried every programme possible to get in shape but I still looked like crap...I constantly had ‘projects’ and big plans; keto for six weeks, powerlifting for three months, cold showers - which I hated - but none of it worked.

"What works in our younger years to stay slim and fit, isn’t always as effective or sustainable when we reach our 40s,” Chris, now 48, explains. So he decided to double down on his efforts and deepdive into diet, hormones and lifestyle to design a programme for himself that would be sustainable and restore his former glory. He focused on simple, realistic habits that ‘stick’ instead of “the yo-yoing between six-week hardcore, gruelling efforts to lose weight only to put it back on again later, which I see a lot”, he explains. “There are no specific workouts, diets, supplements, or hacks. It is just one simple method and once you nail it, there’s no stopping you”, Chris, from Ireland, says. Chris’s approach is based on five “pillar habits’: DAILY movement, REALISTIC nutrition, an EVENING routine, a little ADVANCE planning and MINDFUL supplementation - DREAM.

“This helps folks over 40 get life set up so that they can lose weight, build strength and fitness and regain lost energy as a side effect of some simple habits, not by putting pressure on ourselves to squeeze in relentless workouts or count calories,” he says. “To lose weight you need to constantly turn up and do the minimum effective dose; which means doing just enough to move the needle and improve your health, fitness, and body shape as you get older.

"That just means it’s better to do two workouts a week for a year, than five workouts a week for six weeks a few times a year. Realistic nutrition means restricting calories and eating healthier food most of the time - say Monday to Friday - in a way that's sustainable for you, like relying on high-protein breakfasts and lunches, controlling dinner portions, and just being a bit hungry sometimes.

Then you've some 'wiggle room' at weekends for family fun and social occasions.

And having an evening routine means making sleep and rest a priority. Chris says: “The people I meet over 40 who have boundless energy, a youthful outlook, and seem younger than their years all have a few things in common.

"They are conscious of having to manage stress, they prioritise their sleep, and they understand the importance of hormonal balance as they get older. “Sleep helps you manage stress and regulate testosterone and estrogen, and reducing stress helps you keep cortisol low.” This is all highly achievable with a little bit of advance planning, Chris argues, so that your busy home and work lives don't constantly get in the way.

And although we are bombarded with messages about the latest must-have health supplements every day, Chris recommends being much more mindful about what vitamins, minerals we take, using only what we genuinely know we need. “I believed the hype about everything the same way my clients do. It's so tempting to believe a simple pill can fix our weight, energy, focus and health,” he says. “But ultimately supplements should supplement our healthy lifestyle habits, we can't rely on them to bail us out.” This 'DREAM' formula has worked for Chris and his coaching clients. “The results have been impressive.

"I am now in better shape at 48 than I was aged 28, and clients regularly lose 1-2lbs of weight weekly without feeling remotely like they’re on a diet,” he adds. “These outcomes have been life-changing for clients in terms of boosting health, fitness and body confidence in their 40s and 50s when they’d started to feel like it was too late. “Slow and steady wins the race, and my approach helps over 40s slowly but surely, and in a very low-maintenance way, strip away stubborn fat, rebuild fitness and strength, and look and feel awesome as they get (a little) older.”

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