If you want to become fit over 50, there’s never a better time to start than today. When we create new habits that enhance our health, we boost our potential to age in a way that allows us to stay active.

Even if you already work out regularly, it’s essential to know how your training should evolve once you’re over fifty. As our bodies begin to change, we should adapt the way we fuel and use it to enable a better quality of life in our later years.

You can build muscle at any age, but it’s probably the most important way to get fit over fifty. Simply put, some form of strength and resistance training is essential as we age because stronger muscles means stronger bones and fewer injuries. For some people over fifty, strength training results in rebuilding some of the natural muscles they had in their younger years and ensuring they stay toned and firm.

As our agile flexibility decreases with age, it can be easy to resign ourselves to thinking that we’ll never regain it. However, maintaining our flexibility through to old age is vital to ensuring we get the most out of our later life. Maintaining flexibility after fifty is important as it helps decrease the risk of injuries such as fractures and muscle strains. It also improves your posture and your ability to perform daily tasks.

No matter what age you are or fitness level you’re at, it is never too late to start getting fit and healthy. You can always adapt the routines to suit your current capability and you are never too old to try new things or feel great in your own skin. Pilates is a system of exercises designed to improve physical strength, flexibility and posture, breathing, and overall well being. I’m a big fan of Pilates for women and men over 50. It brings to the table so many of the extra considerations that we need to account for in our fitness journey and healthy lifestyle strategies. It can be easily implemented in short periods of time and it delivers results.

For seniors who are looking for a safe, effective way to enhance their physical health and overall wellness, the stretching, breathing, and meditation practices of yoga can be a great solution. Because the poses (called asanas) can easily be modified or adapted to suit an individual's needs, yoga is safe for seniors of all fitness or ability levels.

No matter what your age, exercising with dumbbells is a good way to stay in shape. That said, free weight exercises do offer a number of benefits for seniors specifically.

In addition to choosing the right weights and exercises, it's important to give your body enough time to rest and recover between strength training sessions. It also helps to follow a few guidelines for creating an injury-free weight lifting workout. If designed appropriately, a weight training program for seniors can offer benefits that enhance overall quality of life.

Flexibility is an essential component of good health and fitness and is especially vital for seniors. With an ageing body comes decreased flexibility, especially if we forget what’s necessary to keep ourselves flexible and moving well. By improving your flexibility, not only will you be improving the range of motion in each of your joints, but you’re going to find yourself moving around with greater ease. All those daily movements will seem so much easier, and you’ll feel yourself becoming free of painful niggles.
You’ll have improved posture, improved balance and also decrease your chances of picking up a future injury.

Let's take the first step to get lean and fit as older adults and seniors!