RIPPED RETIREES!
Fans of Charles Dance were stunned by the 73-year-old’s six-pack last week but these late-life fitness fanatics give him a run for his money
AGE is nothing but a number. If you don’t believe me, just take a look at Charles Dance. The 73year-old actor, whose role as Tywin Lannister in Game Of Thrones has brought his talents to a much younger audience, was seen wading in the water in Venice last week, proudly showing off his fit and toned 6ft 3in physique.
Being a septuagenarian clearly hasn’t quelled his joie de vivre, if the frolicking with his equally impressive Italian girlfriend is anything to go by, and his acting career is the busiest it’s ever been. But looking years younger takes dedication.
Dance’s exercise regime includes regular freezing morning dips at a lido in Hampstead Heath, cycling and weight training, plus yoga and Pilates.
On these shores, veteran journalist and broadcaster Charlie Bird, who turned 71 this week, revealed on Twitter that he walks on average of ’15 miles a day’ — and like Charles, he looks years younger.
And who can forget the ‘Bruton bod’. Recently, 67-year-old Dublin TD Richard Bruton caused quite a stir as he emerged from the Irish sea sporting a six-pack that would make men half his age envious. For the record, he walks, swims and cycles daily.
Here, we speak to some other fitness fanatics who are defying their age through, it seems, sheer hard graft...
His acting career is the busiest it’s ever been
SUSAN O’BRIEN might just be the most glamorous granny in Ireland. At 63, she has a waspish waist and a dancer’s physique. The former air hostess says that her love of fitness evolved from watching Jane Fonda workouts on VHS.
‘She was revolutionary at the time, and I just loved her,’ admits Susan, who spent lockdown with her husband Pascal, her daughter Alice and her partner, and her now-four-month old grandson Beau. It’s clear she adores the new role in her life. ‘I’m so grateful to be a granny. It’s such a privilege,’ she says.
Susan has always loved to dance, and she says the one regret in her life is that she never trained professionally. But she got a chance to live her dream when Zumba came to Ireland. ‘It was about 12 years ago,’ she says. ‘I went to my first class and I was blown away. I thought, I love this. Initially, I couldn’t keep up because the whole thing is that they don’t actually go through the steps. It’s such a vigorous exercise. You can sweat buckets. You find your flow and do your own thing.’
And that she did. Susan became ‘obsessed’ with the aerobic dance workout, and starting attending daily classes, before training as an instructor herself. Before lockdown, Susan was teaching regular Zumba plus Zumba Gold, which is a more toned-down version for older people looking for a lower intensity exercise.
Such was Susan’s passion for the strenuous dance workout, she began to develop a side-effect that most of us would covet — weight loss. ‘The problem was, I lost too much. I had no muscle tone left. My daughter would ask me where my bum had gone,’ laughs Susan.
Although she was ‘not a lover of gyms’, Susan discovered personal training studio Nikafit and now has muscular strength. ‘People are surprised when they realise my age. To be honest, so am I. My father used to say, I feel the same way as I did when I was 21, and that resonates with me. I love getting older. It’s a blessing.’
WEIGHT-LIFTING GRANNY INSPIRED BY JANE FONDA