Sexagenarians putting the rest of us to shame.

Smashing 1,000 calorie workouts, completing regular 12-mile runs and pulling off yoga handstands - Florence Wilkinsen meets the sexagenarians who won't slow down. Prepare to feel exhausted...

In the basement of the Barry’s Bootcamp gym in west London, music pumps out so loudly you can barely hear yourself think. The room is lit entirely by red strip lights, which – combined with how fast the taut, sweaty bodies are moving – makes it hard to decipher what’s going on, until your eyes start to adjust. All of a sudden the 1999 club classic Sandstorm by Darude blares out of the speakers. As it reaches its thumping crescendo a woman with a swishing ponytail and a headset counts down in an improbably cheery Geordie accent: ‘Five, four, three, two, one…’

Jan Grandison and Nicky Morgan are all smiles as they lift, squat, lunge and pound their way through the high-intensity interval training. They’re twice the age of most people in the room (Morgan is 60; Grandison

64), but you wouldn’t know it – enviably toned, they have no trouble keeping up. The only real giveaway is the reading glasses they need to see the numbers on the treadmills.

Grandison and Morgan are among a growing number of super-fit 60-somethings. While Barry’s, an LA import famed for its intense workouts, which are said to burn up to 1,000 calories per session, might be a bit much for most people of any age, these women are undaunted.

‘We’d been chatting about what kind of exercise we do these days, and we’d seen that a Barry’s was opening near us, so we thought, “Why don’t we go and see what it’s like?”’ Grandison says casually, as she and Morgan perch on bar stools enjoying a vegan protein shake after class. ‘We were just curious. We didn’t know what to expect, other than it’s called “the best workout in the world”.’

‘Of course, it is hard,’ adds Morgan, ‘and people do say, “Wow! Aren’t you a bit old for that?” But it’s sort of become our thing – our home, really.’

The two attend Barry’s twice a week. Having worked out and eaten healthily throughout their lives, they’re modest about their exercise regime. ‘We believe in everything in moderation,’ says Morgan.

Few people would agree that Barry’s is moderate, but Grandison and Morgan are not alone in their love of working out. Recent figures from Sports England’s 2019 Active Lives survey reveal that more than half a million adults became more active in the last 12 months, with the biggest increases in activity levels among people aged 55 and over.

Parkrun has seen a similar trend, with 1.5 million walks, jogs and runs undertaken by those aged 60 and over in the past year. And nearly a fifth of gym chain David Lloyd Clubs’ members are now aged over 55, with the number growing by 10 per cent in the last 12 months alone.

David Lloyd Clubs plans by the end of 2022 to have at least one fitness trainer aged 55-plus working in each of its clubs. GLL, which runs leisure centres across the UK, is also targeting this growing market by offering reduced ‘Club’ membership to over-55s and running an annual Club Games. (This year’s regional London event was attended by 500 Club members.)

Meanwhile, celebrities such as Davina Mccall, Huw Edwards and Lenny Henry are setting the bar for what fitness looks like in your 50s and 60s. And sportswear brand Sweaty Betty has signed up 63-year-old yoga practitioner and grandmother Yazemeenah Rossi as an ambassador.

NHS guidelines suggest that if you’re 65 or over you should do 150 minutes a week of ‘moderate’ aerobic exercise – such as ‘walking fast’, ‘water aerobics’ or ‘line dancing’. You should add strength exercises to this on at least two days a week. But many sexagenarians are embarking on much more ambitious programmes. At a recent British Weight Lifting Masters series, for instance, there were participants in their 60s and one in their 90s, and the official Ironman triathlon includes age divisions up to 79.

The vast array of fitness options now on offer simply weren’t available 30 or 40 years ago, Morgan and Grandison claim. ‘There was Jane Fonda and Lotte Berk…’ Morgan muses. ‘Oh yes, I did Lotte Berk,’ interjects Grandison, ‘but exercise wasn’t really a big thing when we were in our 20s. People didn’t talk about it, nobody really cycled or ran like they do now – charity runs, Parkruns, they’re much more common these days.’

Will Brereton, the UK general manager of Classpass, agrees. ‘Over-60s have more choice on how and where they want to exercise,’ he says. ‘With the rise in boutique fit

‘It’s always quite satisfying to beat people who are less than half my age’

ness studios, they can integrate exercise into their daily routines more easily than ever.’

This is backed up by Sports England’s recent figures, which also reveal activities as diverse as interval training, t’ai chi and weightlifting are increasing in popularity among this age group (there has been a notable decline in the popularity of lawn bowls).

The growth in super-fit 60-somethings is also down to greater awareness of the need to stay healthy as we get older, according to personal trainer and movement specialist Ashley Grossmann. ‘People are starting to realise that our sedentary lifestyles and inactivity are the cause of a lot of the problems associated with ageing,’ he says. ‘For example, there’s research to show osteoporosis is closely linked to inactivity, and in Australia there are physios who prescribe weightlifting to the elderly because it increases bone density and protects against breaks.’

Running enthusiast Chris Finill, a 60-year-old finance bursar at Duke of Kent Independent School, does marathons in his spare time. ‘I started running to and from work in the early 1980s, around the time of the first London Marathon, and back then you were really looked down upon for turning up at work in a muddy tracksuit or sweaty T-shirt,’ he says. ‘But these days it’s completely mainstream.’

Finill has done every London Marathon since the event began in 1981, and holds the world record for running it in sub-three hours for 33 consecutive years. This year he clocked in at two hours 59 minutes. ‘I think the reason why I’ve not slowed down much is because I never trained hard in my 20s,’ he reflects. ‘I didn’t flog myself to the point where I was badly affected by injuries in my middle age. And nowadays, looking back, I’m pleased, as runners who were far better than me at the same age are no longer running because they messed up their knees or lost their

‘Of course, it is hard, and people do say, “Wow! Aren’t you a bit old for that?”’

enthusiasm through doing it too much when they were younger.’

Training five times a week, Finill runs at least five or six miles on weekdays and 10 to 12 miles at weekends; more if he’s gearing up for a marathon. ‘It’s always quite satisfying to beat people who are less than half my age, but it’s more about me feeling good about my own performance and what I can achieve,’ he maintains. ‘Ageing is inevitable, but trying to be the best athlete in my 60s isn’t a lot different from trying to be the best in my 20s. It feels the same – it still hurts, and you still get that exhilaration when you run well.’

Finill plans to continue running ‘until I drop!’ and clearly his achievements exceptional. But it’s no longer exceptional for someone of his age to run a marathon. The London Marathon has seen a steady rise in the number of finishers aged 60-plus every year for the past seven years, representing an increase of nearly 25 per cent since 2013.

We’re capable of much more than we give our bodies credit for, says Finill. ‘You have to ask it nicely, but the body is able to do an awful lot.’ This view is endorsed by Professor Stephen Harridge from the Centre for Human & Applied Physiological Sciences at King’s College London. ‘It’s true that our physical performance and capability declines as we age. We know this when we study master athletes – older people who are still competing in running, cycling, swimming and so on. Their performances decline over time, even though they’re still training very hard and doing all the right things. But despite knowing this, we still seem to set the bar quite low for the expectation of our physical activity levels,’ Harridge asserts.

He believes we need to reset our perception of ageing. ‘The process is going to happen to everybody, but when you add inactivity on to it then you’ve got a worst-case scenario,’ he warns. ‘When we study people’s muscle mass, their cardiorespiratory fitness, their immune system, those who are very physically active have much better function than the ones of a similar age who are sedentary. So exercisers appear to be physiologically younger, but it’s actually in our view the reverse argument – it’s people who are sedentary who are older.’

Sixty-somethings might also be underestimated – but this can work to their advantage, as Bridget Woods Kramer, a 65-yearold yoga teacher from Cornwall, explains: ‘Because I’m older, people feel more comfortable with me.’ Woods Kramer teaches clients of all ages and says she’s seen a rise in demand across the board. ‘Some of the young ones probably look at me and think, “Oh my God, she’s so old, she won’t know what to do,”’ she adds, ‘but I show them some of the more tricky poses and that usually keeps them quiet.’

‘Bridget is stronger and more flexible than most 20-something-year-olds,’ confirms 32-year-old Charis Cooper, who’s seen this first-hand, as she did her yoga teacher training with Woods Kramer. ‘She can do the most challenging inversions, like headstand or the pincha mayurasana forearm balance, and hold them for long periods of time while talking and teaching. She makes it look so easy, but it’s really not.’ Handstands, for instance, can take years of consistent practice, Cooper explains, and require serious shoulder and core strength.

Grossmann, as a personal trainer, has seen a real shift in attitudes towards exercise. ‘I call it the Roger Bannister effect – once you start seeing people doing it, you realise it’s possible. With older people, I recommend resistance training [any kind of exercise where you push or pull a body part against resistance provided by your own weight, powerbands, machines, kettlebells or dumbbells]. My favourite movements – for old or young – are lunges. There are so many different styles – it could be a tiny step forward, or a huge step to the side holding weights – but the purpose is the same: to keep strength and balance in the body.

‘We used to try to wrap older people in cotton wool,’ he adds, ‘but actually that’s the opposite of what you want to do. If there’s still force going through the bones, it tells the body to keep them strong.’

While Finill and Woods Kramer plan to continue with their fitness regimes until they drop, Morgan and Grandison are more cautious. ‘I think everything we say has to be prefaced with the fact that we’re well aware we don’t know what’s round the corner. We could fall off a treadmill in the next class, or we could suddenly pull something,’ admits Morgan. But for now they’re showing no signs of slowing down. ‘We were saying the other day, “Oh, it would be so great if we were still doing this in our 70s,”’ she continues. ‘And 60 is the new 40 really,’ adds Grandison, ‘so why not?’

‘Some of the young ones probably look at me and think, “Oh my God, she’s so old, she won’t know what to do”’