To hope that the exercise I do now will help mobility when I'm older

God that's me fucked. Rural location and home working means I rarely walk.

Used to walk and cycle everywhere!

Looking at people I know from early 50s to late 60s, I would say the biggest difference is between those who have always walked everywhere every day and the sedentary car-dependent ones. Walking seems to make more of a difference than sports or gyms or running, but it needs to be a daily habit.

I used to run with a running group. The coach also ran another group for retirees (and one or two joined our group also). There were some people who had never run until their 70s, but usually who had kept active with tennis say, finding out they were pretty decent runners.

When I did my fastest ever 10k time and I was about 26 I was still passed in a sprint finish by a grey haired woman club runner!

i work with the elderly and there does seem to be a theme that people who are 80 plus and most mobile/ independent always say they were sporty/ cycled/ walked etc.

I also dip I. And out of a yoga class full of retirees and hoenslty they’re so much more flexible than me in my 40s.

having said that a lot of people who cycle a lot/ play lots of football etc do also have knees etc that cause problems.

also some people get injuries that mean they can no longer do these sports…

So I guess it’s about being active and mixing it up and not being too intense with it 🤷‍♀️

A lot of the younger people doing weights at my gym just don't look that fit. I think there are some who only do weights but couldn't run for a bus. I definitely need to do cardio as well for all round fitness and yoga is great for mind and body, all round flexibility and balance.

Do you do any mobility, balance and flexibility work? At my gym, so many of the people who do weights have really bad mobility / balance / flexibility. These three things become more important as you age. You might feel you are ok now, but menopause is brutal. That's what you need to plan for. I wish I had realised it sooner.

Do whatever you can. My mother is 71 and can’t walk very well now and has frequent falls as she is very sedentary. Mil is 5 years older and out almost every day with her friends making use of her free bus pass. Husbands uncle is about 72 and still plays badminton every week. It seems that being active is so so important.

Definitely moderation. I know it's not necessarily meant to be like weightlifting championship amounts 🤣 I've heard even pilates can be sufficient alongside swimming.

I'm mid/late 50's, work out 3/4 times a week including running and weights. It's a compromise between doing enough and not causing too much wear and tear to your joints, as they have to last hopefully another 30+ years. I also ski and my knees get a bashing.

Whereas in my 30' I would've taken the lift, I take the stairs every time.

Yes. Although I'd be a bit careful about the heavy lifting we are apparently supposed to do, I don't want to end up with prolapsed pelvic organs. Everything in moderation.

My mum has never done gym type stuff but she has walked and gardened and is still very fit at 85.

So yes, doing exercise will help. So will a generally active lifestyle.

Absolutely! If you don’t use it, you loose it.
My 90yr old Mum always tells me that what you do today will have a massive impact on how you are tomorrow.
She does gentle exercises three times a day to help with flexibility, often when she’s waiting for the kettle to boil. She can still bend and touch her toes.

At age 100 my grandmother still walked upright (no stoop and no assistance) thanks to having been disciplined into sitting and standing up straight as a child. She also had full mobility in her hands until the end because she was a terrible fidget! Turns out she was doing the recommended thumb and finger exercise for keeping arthritis at bay without realising it. She did a lot of general exercise throughout her youth and into her early thirties but I don't think a lot after that but she never over ate and never sat still!

We have a friend who has always run, nearly every day for decades. He is now 93, still runs a mile or so each morning and says he is far too young to give up yet.

I know a woman of 85 who resists all her son's efforts to get her shopping online. She walks to the supermarket about five times a week and says it keeps her active, as well as the chance of bumping into someone she knows for a natter.

As women we should be doing both cardio and weight bearing to prepare us for menopause.

I'm 57 and run 3 times a week. I've recently added upper body weights and lower body weightless exercises into the mix as DM has osteo and weights are supposed to help with that. However I was starting to feel a bit inflexible so have built in a quick 15 minute functional fitness into my morning routine - its pretty basic stuff wall sits, back shoulder and hip mobility and standing on one leg drawing circles with the other foot but I can feel the difference. TBH one of the best things you can do is sit on the floor and get up again 10x in a row.

My mother was quite sedentary although she walked everywhere she needed to go and did the garden and I sometimes wonder if doing a bit more exercise might have been useful. DF on the other hand was always raring to go off and do something and celebrated his 90th birthday last week by walking a mile and a half to the swimming pool, swimming a mile to prove he could and walking home again.......

Indeed it will help but as someone said weight lifting is not the only thing one could do.

I think when it comes to exercise it's best to take a more well rounded approach tbh.

I lift a few times a week too but have started to incorporate pilates once a week.

Maybe look at mobility exercises... this will improve your lifts too!

You will likely be stronger and more mobile at sixty if you exercise sensibly in the meantime than you would be if you did no exercise, for sure.

Having said that, life is not fair and another person might be in better shape despite doing little or no exercise. And also the same problems your parents experience will often present themselves to you regardless what you do (hello bunions, and I am looking forward to macular degeneration and osteoporosis in future decades).

I think we are all in denial about the inevitability of ageing these days, tbh.

I agree with ops that it definitely helps but can’t prevent all illness especially as you age.

I have been complacent/in denial for some time as I was finding it hard to get to the gym (family commitments) but wasn’t overweight and was never ill. So I have been convincing myself I was fit and healthy just by being busy and then I was suddenly struck down by an illness which can be very serious. It was a shock and has given me a wake up call.

Tbh I’m not sure if I would have prevented the illness if I had been physically fitter but I am now back at the gym and completely overhauled my eating habits too and I am feeling better for it.

Hopefully it will, you just don’t know. Age 49 I could run 10k, just over 4 years later and I need a hip replacement as turns out I have hip dysplasia . Also menopause has brought on an inflammatory arthritis that is eating away at other joints too. I can’t walk at all without a stick currently and my life is incredibly limited at the moment.

One DGM cycled every day, had an active social life, walked, gardened etc the other was very sedentary. The active one certainly fared better than the sedentary one.
DM is largely sedentary and already has lots of issues age 70.
I have painful arthritis in multiple joints but I do mobility exercises, yoga, walking and gardening to keep myself moving. The prospect of having to be in a home relying on someone else to feed and bathe me is terrifying so I am determined to keep going as long as possible by keeping active.

Forgot to mention........ I also do a lot of stretches and balancing exercises

More is better, but a significant improvement is shown from 4000 steps

Absolutely.

I'm 70 and fitter than most women half my age. I work out most days, I'm generally active, walk whenever possible. I can still ski for hours.

Exercising is so totally worth it. My go-to workouts:

Growingannanas for HIIT/cardio
At least a dozen push-ups every day
3-5 minutes of planks every day (Bowflex 3 minute plank)
Abs exercises most days (e.g. Rebecca Louise's Best Abs or Caroline Girvan's Braced Core and Abs)
Wall sits and glutes work (e.g. Caroline's wall sit workout and Lucy Wyndham Read's Thighs & Glutes)

And - very important!!! - WEIGHT TRAINING. Anything by Caroline Girvan. Challenge yourself and follow her programmes which are extremely well structured. Life-changing!!

10000 steps I can get from walking to and from the station when I go to work and 15/20 minutes at lunch time. I find general activity like this does really help, as well as "proper" exercise for keeping weight down and so on, but I also do exercise which raises my HR to at least 140 bpm every week also.