How fit can you (realistically) be at 50?

[Alsoflamingo]

So….. Madonna may have dodgy biceps, but no one can deny the woman is fit. I am not 50 yet, but heading in that direction alarmingly fast and wondering what is achievable in terms of fitness/strength/tone etc. I have always been pretty healthy, did gymnastics as a kid, then kick boxing. Still do ballet and yoga. I suppose I'm after inspiration, really. Positive stories. Just picked up a copy of American Vogue because it has an article entitled 'Getting superfit at 46' which appealed to me. Am I in denial? Do we have to just don comfy clothing and do gentle stretching at this stage in life or can we really push it? Having slight mid-life crisis (probably pretty obvious)...

My dp does research into exercise, my mil has been a subject for him a few times, she's just turned 70 and does 2 lots of high intensity a week, she's a normal 70 year old, but fitter now than she has been for years.

The warning about heavy lifting is sexist crap about how women should look.

We all need muscle, for health now and to help maintain independence in old age.
Build up your upper body muscles, with press-ups, pull-ups, bench press, tricep dips etc. so that it is in balance with a muscular lower half.

It's never to late to start: In studies, people in their 80s have improved health and musculature after starting lifting.

The only warning I would give is that women of 40+, especially those who have given birth, need to be cautious about pelvic floor / prolapses. Also be careful of your joints.
So, get a trainer to check your lifting form and build up the weights gradually and sensibly.

I'm 58 and I train intensively 5-6 x week at the gym: HIIT spin, heavy lifting, boxing, XFit (see my pix)
The others in my classes are very fit, but 20-37 years younger, men and women. I am still one of the fittest and strongest: Age is no barrier.

Yes, I have a lot of muscle - I'm proud to be a strong women
Go for it, OP !

this woman is a total inspiration-and she didn't start training until aged 71 !

I'm 46 and my DP is 50, we are doing the Royal Parks Half Marathon in October. I have better 5k and 10k times now than I did 8 years ago!

The photos in my profile were taken last year and I've just spent the last two weeks in a bikini in the sunshine (although I also ran at least 5 miles every other day).

I'm 53 and cycle 10 -20 odd miles, 4 or 5 times a week. I used to run but my knees are shot and cycling does me no harm.

On the cycle tracks, some days I see more people in their 50s and above than younger.

Unless you have been training hard all your life the answer to your question OP is at 50 it may be you can can the fittest you have ever been.
I started running at 39 ears old, 7 years ago. I have over the years since then taken up triathlon so I am running / cycling/ swimming and doing a weekly weights session. I also have a dog so walk a lot.
I have never been overweight /unfit and I still believe I am fitter now than I have ever been. I achieved a 5k PB this year of 22 minutes, so , while with age you may need more recovery, and need to pay more attention to diet, I don't think age is much of a factor at all. In fact you may find you have more time to exercise at this time of life.
I run for a club where a lot of runners are over 40 and are v fit.
Obviously everyone has different health issues and a different starting point, you can't expect you run a marathon with 12 weeks training without a back ground of running, however either time and a sensible approach you can achieve whatever you set your heart on.
Yoga is great too, I hope to still get to a yoga class for the rest of my life !

OP, are you wondering about exactly what kinds of exercise would be best?

If so my feeling is that this should be dictated by individual circumstances and predispositions, rather than age.

If we were talking about elite levels of performance then I guess that, for most disciplines an athlete would have peaked well before 50.

Because performing at that level likely involves taking things to extreme and training with an intensity which is not sustainable (and would be counterproductive to good health)over the long term.

If you want to have a good level of cardiovascular fitness strength and flexibility, to be lean and in good shape then I think this is entirely possible at 50, provided you exercise and eat intelligently and generally take good care of your health.
However in many ways this involves swimming against the tide, the average person gains fat, loses muscle and develops health problems largely through failure to be conscientious when it comes to diet and exercise.

I don't agree with the ' swimming against the tide ' unless you are in peak condition already. The (slight) muscle loss caused by age for most of us can be counter acted by working out, surely. You would only notice a deterioration that comes with age if you are in great shape to begin with and cannot increase your training load.
Yes, I agree a life long committed club runner is highly unlikely to improve with age. But that is the great thing about starting later in life, my running mates are often disappointed with their race times as they age, I am not, as when you start running you usually have several years (7 they say I think) of improving before you plateau.
In any case surely it's about being as fit and healthy as you can be, at any given age. It's highly rewarding to take up serious exercise at any age, you feel better, look better, sleep better, and it's great for your MH.
Sometimes it's good to set yourself a ( scary) goal - an event like a triathlon, half marathon, a mountain to climb, whatever, maybe with a friend.

Claybury, perhaps I've not explained myself, we are not in disagreement!
I don't mean that there is a tide of personal decline, I mean the social and societal tide, rising tide of obesity and inactivity.
In order to stay fit one has to go against what is the norm in our culture.
At least that's how it looks to me, I am regarded as weird and obsessive by many people because I exercise far more than they see as normal, because I'm very careful about what I eat, etc.

Also - the weights thing doesn't make sense. Powerful cyclists can have bulky quads but maybe they choose cycling because they have the required power. There's a lot of genetics at play. In any case muscle is good ! Better than flab !
If you cycle each pedal stroke is equivalent to lots and lots of light reps in the gym. It's more effective to left heavy weights fewer times, depending on what you wish to achieve.

If you can afford it why not have some personal trainer sessions and discuss your needs /goals.

www.livestrong.com/article/544217-heavy-weight-lifting-vs-lightweight/

Suzanne - agreed ! Outside my sporting friends I'm sure I am considered 'mad' and ' obsessive '. Luckily there are running / triathlon clubs full of people like me......

I'm 53 and fitter and stronger than I've ever been. I'd always walked quite a lot, and done a bit of sailing. But last year I started doing the 30 Day Shred, and have continued doing various Jillian Michaels dvds - plus some extra bodyweight/heavy weights per BigChoc's fabulous advice - I've lost weight but gained muscle which is great! and certainly not 'bulky' - lots of squats and lunges etc my legs are stronger but my thighs are way less thunderous!

Interesting question. Arguably, if a 50 year old and their time warped 30 yr old self embarked on the same training program, then the 30 yr old version would achieve a better result, but that's a moot point because it'll never happen.

Or, to put it another way, can some 65 year olds run a marathon faster than me? Yes, probably. But, can I run a marathon faster now than when I'm 65? Again, most probably, so it depends on your definition of "super fit" and what you're comparing it to.

I think you can still attain a really good level of fitness in your 40s/50's/60s but at the same time you need to be a realist if you've been very fit your whole life. If that wasnt true and it was possible to get as good results in middle age as in teens/twenties, we'd see 60 year old professional sportspeople, and you just dont.

The other day I was at an aikido class, and on the mat were three boys aged 16-17ish, a man aged 61 and two women aged 66 and 67 (and me, 42). The style of aikido we do is quite hard and fast, and few people are still training over the age of 50. But these older people were zippy on their feet and able to throw very strongly, as well as be thrown, breakfall and bounce up again as easily as the teenagers. All three competed in our world championships, doing a 16-technique kata with some really challenging techniques and breakfalls, a couple of years ago.

I have never enjoyed sport but at 54 make myself go to the gym where I do cardio and weights. And Pilates.
I really watch what I eat.
At six feet I'm lucky I can carry a few extra pounds but hate it. I am 11 stone 9 ATM but want to drop half a stone.

Jo Pavey! European gold medal at nearly 41 years just after having second baby.

It probably helps if you're into something which you can pretty clearly carry on doing - at my sailing club there's lots of 'silver surfers' zipping around and a double-hander with a combined age of over 150!

It is very difficult for women to build bulky muscles due to the lack of testosterone!!!!

I strength train and am close to 50 and I'm improving every day.

I do weights and chin ups etc - I have noticeable muscles but they are not bulky - how can they be - women have low testosterone - if a woman is bulky she is taking supplements

www.independent.co.uk/news/science/jo-pavey-gold-medal-the-science-of-her-longdistance-success-9667228.html

Professor Steve Haake, director of the Centre for Sports Engineering Research at Sheffield Hallam University.

“Younger athletes have the advantage in terms of strength and speed over short distances, which is why so many runners switch to longer distances as they get older where it’s more about endurance,” Professor Haake said.

One unavoidable fact about any high-energy sport is that it gets more difficult the older you get. It mostly comes down to the inevitable decline in the maximum amount of oxygen the body can take in – something called VO2max.

Studies have shown that this decline usually begins after the age of 35 and although training can slow down the rate of deterioration, it cannot stop it completely.

Research on elite older runners who undergo heavy training has found that they still have a VO2max that is about 10 per cent lower than comparable athletes of a younger age.

Ageing causes several changes in the body that affect athletic performance. The heart for instance undergoes structural and functional alterations which cause it to be less efficient at pumping blood around the lungs and muscles.

Getting oxygen to the muscles of the body of a long-distance runner is crucial because in the absence of oxygen, levels of lactic acid build up as the cells switch from aerobic to anaerobic respiration – the process of breaking down glucose to release energy.

Older athletes are often better at managing the build-up of the lactate ion in muscles, which causes pain and eventually cramps. One study of older elite runners in their 50s, for instance, found that their muscles worked closer to their maximum VO2 levels for the duration of a race compared to younger runners – which helped to limit the build-up of lactate.

so the potential for aerobic capacity declines from our mid thirties or so but I'd imagine that unless you are performing or competing at a very high levels that's not going to make a whole lot of difference.
I think there is evidence that prolonged high intensity exercise where you sustain a very high heart rate for a long time can be damaging to the heart muscle so there's another reason not to go overboard with aerobic training.

Good reasons to focus even more on strength and flexibility training :o

Agreed Suzanne - endurance exercise tends to reduce muscle generally, not just the heart (not a particularly desirable effect for anyone), added to the stress on joints, especially with running, interval type cardio, flexibility and strength training are, for most older people, but especially 'latecomers' to training, probably a better choice.

I'm 51. I have gone to the gym on and off since I was 34 or so. I was exhausted at first but have never lost the aerobic capacity that I gained there. I am overweight by about 3 stones just now but still excersise. I walked the Inca Trail in Peru this year and I wasn't the oldest. I did love the way my excersise capacity increased when I came home due to the altitude.
My dad is 82 and still swims.It is vital to keep exercising to prevent muscle loss as you get older which prevents falls and the weight bearing exercise prevents osteoporosis which reduces the chance of fractures in older life.
Keep it up everybody.

This weekend my oldest friend turned 50 : he is a fanatical cyclist
another friend turned 60 : she is still a full time dance teacher and swims a mile every morning
another friend turned 70 and she relaxes by doing bodypump, bodyattach, bodycombat and yoga to chill

I'm nearly 50 and really see nothing in the number of my age to determine my fitness

one of my gym instructors is a 54 year old Granny : who runs Military Fitness courses

I think suddenly launching into a hefty exercise routine at 50 having done nothing for years would be pretty risky, but if you have exercised all your life as OP says you should be able to keep going for years. As PPs have said, listen to your body and perhaps change exercises if some are a strain. At 48 I finally had to give up competitive 11-a-side football as I was taking longer to recover after games, but until then I was keeping up with lads in their twenties and thirties because I looked after myself better and greater experience. When walking and running I regularly meet people who are well into their seventies and still fit. Being healthy and fit are even more important as you get older.