“I'm 47 and I almost do more recovery than I do training”—a Peloton trainer shares her exact weekly workout routine

Welcome to Workout Diaries, a series where we ask expert trainers to talk us through what a week of exercise looks like for them, helping you figure out how to develop and maintain an effective workout routine.

Joslyn Thompson Rule is a Peloton trainer, which means exercising is part of her job.

She's always been a runner and loves strength training, but as she's gotten older, she's found that her workout routine has changed.

“Because of the demands of my job, obviously, I have to be physically fit,” she tells Fit&Well. “But I'm 47 now and I almost do more recovery than I do training,”

Thompson Rule likes to focus on exercises that are going to make day-to-day movement easier and future-proof her body.

When we spoke, she had also been training for the Chicago Marathon, which took place on October 12, so she had been incorporating more running into her routine.

Here's what a recent week of training looked like for the expert trainer.

Joslyn Thompson-Rule's weekly workout routine

Monday 12pm
45-minute gym workout
Focus: Full-body strength with barbell squats, bench press and accessory moves.

Tuesday 12pm
30-minute run
Focus: Intervals: five 800 metre interval sprints with walking breaks.

Wednesday 12pm
45-minute gym workout
Focus: Full-body strength with barbell squats, deadlifts and pull-ups.

Thursday 8am
35-minute run
Focus: Easy pace while catching up with a friend.

Friday mid-afternoon
20-30 minute recovery session
Focus: Stretching and mobility exercises.

Saturday 11am
30-minute Peloton Tread workout
Focus: Intervals

Sunday
Rest day

Four tips for developing an effective exercise routine

1. Plan easy sessions

“I always like to do at least a session or two where I think: we're just going to move,” Thompson-Rule says.

She explains that one of her workouts this week was a slow-paced run catching up with a friend.

“We got to catch up, we got to move our bodies and it wasn't a particularly strenuous workout. It was just a nice plod along the park.”

2. Prioritize mobility

As well as the workouts listed above, Thompson Rule stretches daily.

“Every night myself and my eldest son do 15 to 20 minutes of mobility together at night time,” she explains.

“It's our time together. But when I'm doing that [routine], everything feels better when I'm running on the Tread at work. Or when I'm moving through my strength training.”

3. Give yourself grace and be flexible

Many trainers promote discipline in their training, but Thompson Rule says the opposite approach has helped her develop a good relationship with exercise.

“I'm pretty good at giving myself grace when I need it,” she says.

“I will plan my training with the week ahead in mind and my weeks can change. If I don't work out, if my day changes, it's no big deal,” she says.

The trainer explains that this flexible approach can actually help you stay consistent in the long term.

“I'd rather be consistent over a larger breadth of time than [small] amounts of time,” she adds.

4. Start small

If you don't have an exercise routine at the moment, Thompson Rule recommends starting small—like, really small.

“You could literally start and take a one-minute walk around the block,” she recommends.

“The process of getting yourself up and out and walking or stretching or whatever, gets you into that [exercise] habit,” she says.

“I think that we've made fitness and movement really complex, and actually, it's accessible. You can start exactly where you're at and you're exactly where you need to be.”