There comes a point when fitness stops being about chasing a faster 5km time or fitting into a smaller size and starts being about something altogether more practical.
It’s lifting a suitcase into the overhead locker without hesitation. Carrying the shopping in from the car. Getting down on the floor to play with grandchildren. Or simply getting out of your favourite chair with ease.
These are the kinds of everyday movements most of us take for granted, until they become difficult. And, increasingly, experts believe they’re among the truest measures of healthy ageing, prompting more people to rethink what exercise should look like as they age.
For Caroline Rice, that shift is one she has witnessed first hand. At 65, Rice has watched attitudes towards women’s fitness evolve dramatically. Having first discovered exercise in her 20s, she has lived through the “Jane Fonda aerobics days”, raised six children, battled injuries and, more recently, embraced strength training as the answer to staying active. Looking back, she can see how much has changed.
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“I started in my 20s but in those days it was all Jane Fonda aerobics. I started teaching aerobics and then that evolved into circuit training and then into resistance training, but at that stage the fear among women was that we’d get too bulky; we didn’t understand the benefits of lifting weights.”
Like many women of her generation, exercise often had to fit around family life.
“I had five children in six years so I was either feeding or was pregnant and so how I exercised started to evolve. And then, as I got in and out of it over the years, I started to really enjoy training with weights. I was never obsessive about it and did enough to get by, and then as I started to get older I started to see the real benefits to keeping muscles as strong as you can.”
It’s a journey that resonates with Alan Doyle, owner of Synergy Massage Therapy. Having spent 13 years running a CrossFit gym before moving into sports massage therapy, Doyle says his belief in the value of resistance training has never changed – only the number of people discovering it.
“I still believe that weight training is beneficial to everyone no matter your age or previous experience. The benefits of weight training also go beyond the physical, it can help build mental fortitude, increase confidence and you can make friends for life.”
Just as significantly, he says, the profile of the people walking through the gym doors has changed dramatically.
“There are still a few myths out there, that training with weights will make you bulky or using weights will slow you down, but for the majority there has been a positive shift towards accepting weight training as part of a balanced and healthy lifestyle. There are a lot more gyms with dedicated classes for older members and we’re seeing more and more competitors in the ‘Masters’ divisions in weightlifting and powerlifting competitions.”
For Rice, overcoming those misconceptions has been one of the biggest changes she’s witnessed, particularly among women.
“For women, there’s a misconception that lean is better and we have to unlearn that; that you exercise to burn calories. And if you’ve grown up with that mindset it is difficult to lose and understand the impact lifting weights has on your metabolism and overall fitness.”
These days, she says, strength training has become less about spending hours exercising and more about making every session count. “Less is more with lifting weights, it’s about the quality of what you do and being consistent – if you’re going to give more to your training it should be quality not time.”
Doyle says there is a good reason for that approach.
“As we age, especially over the age of 50, our bone density decreases, leading to risks such as osteoporosis. We can help mitigate this process by doing exercises that increase bone strength and bone density. Weight training, paired with some form of impact training such as running or jumping, is the best way to do this.”
But for Rice, stronger bones and muscles are only part of the story. The real reward is maintaining the freedom to continue living life on your own terms.
“We have to keep going and becoming strong,” she says. “We have to be able to do things like lift a suitcase into an overhead locker on a flight, carry it up and down stairs or be able to carry our grandchildren; to be able to get up and off the floor or to get in and out of a chair without help. If you don’t train the muscles that help you do those things you’ll lose them.
“If you weight train you’ll know to brace and how to protect yourself as you bend over. If you then use a muscle that you train in an everyday sense, the support muscles will all know to work to protect it and you’re at far less risk of injury – which is very important.”
For Doyle, that connection between strength and independence is exactly why more people should reconsider what resistance training actually means.
“A mobile joint is a healthy joint,” he says. “The best way to keep a joint healthy is to regularly move it, pain free, through its full range of motion. If we can then load that joint through that range, that’s where we can become unbreakable, as a lot of injuries occur when a joint is taken outside its normal range.”
It’s also why he believes the hours spent outside the gym are just as important as those spent inside it.
“All the good stuff that happens from weight training occurs, not during the training itself, but afterwards, as we recover. We need to give our bodies time to repair and build, which allows us to stay injury free. Adequate sleep and nutrition plays a huge role here. We should be aiming to get at least seven hours of quality sleep each night and consume enough protein and carbs.”
Simply begin
Rice has experienced those benefits throughout her own life. While running became increasingly difficult as knee and hip problems developed over the years, strength training remained the constant that allowed her to stay active.
“I was always a reasonable recreational runner, I’m not a trained runner or a pretty runner and as the body started to break down running became difficult and my knees and hips started to cause trouble but I have always been able to do weight training and resistance training.
“Every time I had to come back from injury, I needed resistance training to come back from it – I needed to challenge the muscles to get stronger.”
That resilience, she believes, doesn’t require expensive equipment or even gym membership. The important thing is simply to begin.
“There are so many different ways you can use resistance training – it doesn’t have to be the gym. There are so many different things you can start with – like wheeling a heavy wheelbarrow around the garden or working with your own body weight and learning how to do a squat or a push up and then adding a backpack for added weight as you progress.”
For those who do want to join a gym, she says today’s fitness landscape is a world away from the intimidating environments many people imagine.
“There are so many different types of gyms now that maybe when you build confidence you can go to small group training instead of a big commercial gym. There are so many older people in the gym these days that it makes it easier, and there are better programmes and you will gain confidence.”
Doyle agrees, believing that finding the right coach is one of the best investments a beginner can make, saying: “Find a real life, in-person coach with a history of helping people in your situation.”
Perhaps more importantly, he says, don’t expect overnight results, or do too much too soon – a mistake he’s seen people making time and again. “Our muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones all repair and grow at different speeds,” he explains “by spending the time to make slow progress we reduce the risk of injury and increase our ability to make progression long term.”
He also says that treating recovery as something to embrace only when you’re injured is an ongoing myth. Instead, he likens sports massage to servicing a car, saying: “A common myth about recovery and massage is that you only need to see us when you’re injured. Just like your car, regular maintenance can help avoid bigger problems.”
Supporting changing needs
But although exercise is one of the most effective ways to maintain strength and mobility, it’s not the only factor that influences how easily we move through everyday life. Weight training and stretching will help with something as simple as maintaining the ability to get in and out of a chair, but increasingly people are recognising the importance of designing homes that support their changing needs.
Furniture design can play a role in supporting comfort, mobility and independence at home. At The Sofa Factory, that thinking led to the development of its bespoke Hip & Knee collection, designed to make sitting down and standing up easier without sacrificing style.
Jennifer Crofts, who is responsible for sales and marketing with the company explains the range by saying: “Our homes should work for us, not against us. We spend a significant amount of time each day sitting and relaxing in our living spaces. Having furniture that supports good posture and makes it easier for us to sit down and stand up can have a real impact on everyday wellbeing. Small design choices can make daily life much more comfortable and enjoyable. Our backs are a valuable asset that we need to respect.”
Recognising that everyone’s needs are different, the Dublin-based company has focused on creating furniture that adapts to the individual rather than expecting people to adapt to the furniture.
“Our new Hip & Knee range allows customers to customise the seat height, depth, width and cushion firmness, creating bespoke furniture that’s tailored to their individual needs,” Crofts says. “Whether someone is recovering from surgery, living with joint pain or simply wants greater support, we can build furniture that still fits beautifully into their home. Increasingly, people are asking about furniture customisation because they understand that investing in their furniture is an investment in their quality of life.”
Whether through strength training or considered adaptations to the home, the ultimate goal is the same: maintaining independence and quality of life for as long as possible. For Rice, that’s why she would encourage people to start resistance training at any age; it’s never too late to make improvements.
“Young people should celebrate older people who start training,” she says. “They should be admired – it’s so hard to do. Young people should think, ‘That’s how I want to be.’ Older people who take that step should be so proud of themselves. The hardest thing to do is to start and that becomes easier.”
