SECRETS TO FITNESS AT ANY AGE
Experts offer exercises for everybody (and every body)
The sun is out, and our screens are filled with shows or ads promoting toned bodies achieving impossible feats of fitness and sporting finesse.
If all of this is inspiring you to get fit, or get fitter, but the task feels daunting and the sofa rather more appealing, have faith: It’s all about finding the right activity for you. To help you enjoy better health and well-being at every stage of life, leading experts reveal the best sports to try for your age group.
20s
Sports to try: sprinting, circuits, rowing
“In your 20s, you are at the peak of your powers,” says Greg Whyte, sports researcher and training coach. “This age needs to be about building strength and muscle — because this will biologically start to decline when you hit 35 — as well as cardiovascular fitness.”
Building muscle now helps develop a good metabolic rate, protecting against weight gain, and will also protect your bones and joints as you age, says Matt Roberts, personal trainer and author of Younger, Fitter, Stronger: The Revolutionary 8-Week Fitness Plan for Men. “Research shows collagen is more readily produced when you have more activated muscle mass, so it’s anti-aging.”
Whyte recommends 30 minutes of moderate physical activity most days of the week, including strength endurance classes, such as circuits, and cardiovascular activities like swimming, running, cycling and rowing.
30s
Try: squash, tennis, pelvic floor exercises
This is a time to integrate energetic, multitasking sports into your routine, says Roberts.
“Tennis or squash played at high intensity is good for getting a muscular, cardiovascular, flexibility and co-ordination workout along with a stress release within one 4560 minute commitment weekly.”
This is also the decade that children are most likely to come along, so women should be paying attention to pelvic floors with planks, side planks, Pilates and yoga. “Try the bridge — lying on your back with your feet flat on the floor, knees bent and doing pelvic lifts up and down,” Roberts says. “This is using your glutes but you’re actually clenching the entire pelvic floor at the same time.”
Muscle naturally starts to decline at this stage, while circulation reduces and we start to lose flexibility and elasticity in the soft tissues. Leave longer recovery times after exercising, and incorporate recovery workouts such as yoga into your weekly routine.
40s
Try: marathons, weights, Pilates Hectic lifestyles can get in the way of exercise, and stress itself can trigger the start of the dreaded middle-aged spread. Explains Roberts: “This can increase your risk of Type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol.”
Try brisk walking, spin classes, jogging and swimming.
Meanwhile, endurance activities such as long-distance cycling and marathons are actually quite welcome in biological terms, says Dr. Polly McGuigan, senior lecturer in biomechanics at Bath University. Take it slow, use a proper training program and keep working on muscle strength to avoid injury, she says.
For women approaching the perimenopause or menopause, fluctuations in estrogen may already be affecting bone density, says Whyte, so try racket games, jogging and fast-paced walking.
As for the spare tire, Roberts recommends lifting heavy weights combined with high-intensity interval training three times a week. Core development work is important now, too, he adds: try Pilates.
50s
Try: boxing, golf, circuit training “A lot of people think they need to slow down in their 50s, but we need the opposite,” says Whyte. “Of course, you need to build up gradually.”
Take a leaf out of Carol Vorderman’s book — the 58-year-old revealed she does 400 squats a week.
To keep up muscle mass and heart health, try cardio activity such as walking and swimming three times a week, fitting in functional training, too, such as squats, dead lifts, bench and chest presses and pushups. A weekly session of yoga or Pilates is an excellent way to protect against falls in older age.
Look for exercises that increase mobility and co-ordination, to work the brain and also your balance, Roberts advises. “Anything that involves throwing, catching or hitting, such as golf or tennis, or boxing with pads is great.”
In the gym, try moves that involve drills with rhythm and changing directions such as circuits.
60s
Try: power walking, gardening, swimming
High blood pressure and heart disease are more common, and it’s natural to worry about exercising, says Roberts. “This time of life is really all about keeping mobile,” he says. “Keeping your cardiovascular system conditioned is crucial, alongside building stability in the hips and lower back and mobility in the shoulders and knees, to help keep problems at bay.”
Moderate intensity cardiovascular work, such as jogging, power walking, gardening, dancing or swimming a few times a week is important. “But you also need to do some interval training to condition the heart and lungs. That could be walking fast up a relatively steep hill for 45 seconds and strolling back down, repeating six to eight times.”
70s AND BEYOND
Try: ballroom dancing, table tennis, yoga
This is a great time to start social exercise such as ballroom dancing, Roberts says. “People with Parkinson’s, for example, do very well with social exercise, such as dancing or table tennis,” he says.
Back pain can be common, and mobility and strength work is important to ensure flexibility. Hatha yoga delivers stretching work in the hips, quads, hamstrings and back, but with a low risk of injury.
Consider simple stretches and balances at home, too.