Fabulous ways to stay fit and strong in your 60s, 70s, and 80s

Age has a terrible tendency to creep up on us, catching us unawares at the most inopportune times.

From bodily changes to disrupted sleep, age makes itself known in a variety of ways – not all of them welcome.

Your experience of growing older may differ to your friends and contemporaries. Certainly, many studies have shown that your health and longevity will likely be determined by the lifestyle choices you’ve made over the course of the past six, seven, or eight decades.

Whether you’re in your 60s, 70s, or 80s, to maintain your health and vitality, it’s important to remain relatively active. Not only could this help to boost your fitness levels but it could also go a long way to supporting your wellbeing and help you stay young at heart.

Build physical activity into your day-to-day life

The NHS advises that adults over 65 should aim to:

• • Be physically active every day, even light activity can help to make the difference
  • Take part in activities that improve strength, balance, and flexibility at least two days a week
  • Spend at least 150 minutes on a moderate-intensity activity each week, reducing to 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity if you are already fit and active
  • Try and reduce the amount of time you spend sitting or lying down and break up long periods of inactivity with some movement.

If the idea of exercise makes you break out into a cold sweat, rest assured that “physical activity” doesn’t necessarily mean working out at the gym.

Light activity could be as simple as making the bed, doing some household cleaning, tidying the garden, climbing the stairs, or simply getting out of your armchair to make a cup of tea.

Meanwhile, moderate activity could include mowing the lawn, taking a relatively brisk walk, going for a bike ride, or a spot of water aerobics (many gyms and leisure centres hold regular classes throughout the week).

When it comes to the 150 minutes of vigorous activity, you want to be aiming to go for a run (if you’re really fit and a glutton for punishment!), swimming, riding a bike fast or uphill, or playing a team sport like football or netball.

There’s a walking netball club in Chelmsford, playing on Wednesday evenings and Thursday mornings. And several walking football clubs in the area too.

Set your sights on improving your muscle strength

Sadly, your muscle mass has been slowly declining since your 30s. This begins to accelerate in your 60s, and remains a prominent part of ageing throughout your later years.

Loss of muscle strength can affect your balance, mobility, and you may find yourself adapting how you approach daily activities.

Depending on your age, health and level of fitness, reduced muscle strength and perhaps less flexibility could leave you struggling with balance and your coordination may not be as good as it once was.

If you’re in poor health, you may find you’re more prone to accidents and your risk of falling could increase.

Strength training can help prevent or slow this decline – and focusing on this area can be helpful whether you’re in your 60s, 70s, 80s, or beyond.

In fact, research has shown that if you’re healthy, incorporating heavy resistance training into your lifestyle at retirement could help you to preserve muscle function and enjoy long-lasting benefits.

How to support muscle strength

If you’re healthy and in your 60s, find a weight or resistance that’s not too light. You need to aim for a workout that makes a difference, so choose a weight or resistance band that’s hard work to lift or push against.

You’ll likely have different levels of strength in different areas of your body, so you may wish to use a selection of weights and bands.

If you’re a member of a gym, the range of weight-resistance machines is a great place to start. If in doubt, set up a session with a personal trainer (PT) who will assess your strength, show you how the machines work, and help to devise a workout to suit you.

The same applies if you’re in your 70s and 80s, but if your energy levels are declining, balance exercises can help.

Try standing on one leg when you’re brushing your teeth, or find a local yoga or tai chi class. If you prefer to exercise at home, there are loads of yoga sessions online these days. Many yoga teachers took to Zoom during the pandemic and classes proved so popular, lots of great teachers have maintained a regular schedule of online classes.

Ultimately, finding ways to incorporate exercise that helps your strength and flexibility is key.

All the activities mentioned here can help.

That said, you need to build regular movement and exercise into your weekly schedule. So it’s important to discover the kind of exercise that both gives you enough of a work out and makes you smile – because if you’re not enjoying yourself you’re less likely to keep it up.

If you don’t already have enough activity in your daily schedule, why not find out what you could get involved with. A good place to start might be the local u3a, where you’ll find walking groups, cycling clubs, fishing and gardening groups, and even pickleball sessions.

Please note

This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.