One of the best parts of my week is running my exercise class for older adults. I currently work with 3 women over 60, none of whom had any experience lifting weights and hadn’t run or jumped since they were in school. It’s rewarding to watch them build up to these activities, which they hadn’t considered a possibility until now.
Societal narratives around aging instill older adults with a sense of fear and fragility. If they’re encouraged to exercise, it’s only ever gently using “low-impact” modalities. This doesn’t have to be the case for all elderly people.
Here I’ve compiled some inspiring examples of people not just participating, but excelling after taking up their sport much later than most would consider possible. It’s not just lifelong exercisers that are able to do these things later in life.
Father Time may be undefeated, but you can put up a hell of a fight 💪.
