9 Impressive Mature Women Astounding the Fitness World with their Age-Defying Bodies
Women and Ageing
I am so pleased to see older women accomplishing celebrated feats within the fitness industry. This is not because I am myself in the category of the 'older woman', but because I am an advocate of exercise for health and the prevention of age related diseases.
Ageing is not easy. I am grateful for each year I am here, but as I get older, I do realise that I need to add more strength training to help me maintain a good level of mobility and independence. The amazing thing about strength training is that you can start at any age.
With consistency you will reap better health, an increase in bone strength, a decrease in body fat and improvements in your balance and coordination. Again, a great help to us as we age by reducing our chances of a fall and fractures.
We are all living longer and the over 50's age group, born in the mid 1960's and onward, are part of a growth area of the population. By 2030, it is estimated the number of people over the age of 60 in the UK will increase to 20 million, compared to 15.5 million today. MHA (live later life well)
It makes sense to look after your health and invest in your old age. Strength training, cardio exercise and good nutrition are all part of a healthy way of life. Lifestyle choices not only play an unquestionable role in influencing how long you will live, but also how well you live as you age.
Genetics do play a part in our ageing process. However genetics only account for approximately 20 to 30 percent of any individual's chances of surviving to the age of 85. Scientific American (Longevity)
Strength training for the over 50's is a relatively new concept and quite daunting if you have never attempted this before.
These amazing women have either started from a later age due to health issues, or have been in the fitness industry for years and now promoting the amazing benefits that this type of training has on the ageing process
Kathy Smith - Age 69
Kathy Smith is a personal trainer who became a fitness star in the late 1980's and well known for her workout videos. For over 30 years Kathy has been at the forefront of the 'Wellness and Fitness' industry with her life long mission to "inspire the best in all people"
Joan MacDonald - Age 80
Almost 10 years ago Joan MacDonald was told by her Doctor that her health was deteriorating rapidly. She was already on various medications for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and acid reflux.
Unless she made a drastic change to her lifestyle her Doctor would need to up her dosages. At this point Joan was fed up with feeling so tired and uncomfortable in her own skin. She had never really focused on her health but knew she had to change. She turned to her daughter (a yogi and competitive power-lifter) for help.
With a lot of hard work, consistency and help from her daughter, her Doctor gave her a clean bill of health. She has turned her life around using strength training, cardio exercise, yoga and good nutrition to achieve optimal health. Joan has launched Train with Joan as well as her instagram account @trainwithjoan
Keli Roberts - Age 58
Keli grew up in Australia and was very active in all types of sport from a young age. After leaving school she worked as a model, but found this to be a really unhealthy lifestyle and left her with very low self-esteem.
Keli's passion has always been fitness so after leaving the modelling business she became a qualified personal trainer and instructor. After several years of teaching in Australia she moved to America, continued her study in the fitness industry, passed all her exams and worked for Voight Fitness.
Keli grew her clientele through her excellent classes and within months found she was teaching some of the Hollywood elite. One of these clients was Cher and Keli was asked to shoot a 'step, Legs and Abs' video with Cher Fitness - Step Workout
Before Keli completely dedicated herself to fitness, she was depressed, overweight and suffered with very low self esteem. She has transformed her life through her passion and continues to train clients, changing and transforming their lives. About Keli Roberts
Yazemeenah Rossi - Age 65
Yazemeenah is an international model, photographer and social media influencer. Born in Corsica, now living in California, started her modelling career at the later age of 30. She was very noticeable due to her silver locks, but her first passion has always been photography.
Yazemeenah is a natural and likes to 'be real' about her hair, body and wrinkles. She balances her life with a combination of exercise, spirituality and being 'in-tune' with nature. She has practised yoga for over 30 years.
Brenda DyGraf - Age 59
Brenda is an international fitness expert and U.S aerobic champion. Brenda's enthusiasm to help others achieve better health and fitness led her to open her 'Aerobics and Nautilus Fitness Centre' in Florida over 30 years ago.
Brenda is now internationally recognised as one of the top exercise trendsetters and responsible for helping launch numerous fitness systems, including the 'AirClimber', a low impact, air powered stepper. Brenda DyGraf - Youtube Channel
Angela Middleton - Age 58
Angela is a 'Peak Performance' Expert and Social Entrepreneur focused on increasing productivity for individuals, businesses and the country. She was awarded an 'MBE' for her services to business in 2019.
Angela has been named 'The Careers Queen' and a regular commentator on national media. Angela teaches a holistic approach to careers of all ages and combines this with physical fitness and mental health.
Angela has transformed her own health and fitness at the age of 55 and has created her own programme 'Your Body Means Business' . This programme teaches you how to start your career, optimise your own health and grow a successful business.
Angela has a fabulous Youtube Channel featuring videos about her transformation, interviews from her 'YBMB' show and strength training workouts.
Edna Levitt - Age 76
Edna became a certified personal trainer at the age of 65. On her own admission she came from a 'very lazy' family and knew absolutely nothing about the benefits of keeping fit.
It was her son who prompted her to join a gym, just after her 50th birthday. She listened to her son and did start to train at her local gym. She enjoyed it so much that she became a 'fitness junkie' and continued to train 5 times a week. She became committed to keeping her body healthy and she loved the way she felt and how toned her muscles had become.
After 15 years of training and her commitment to retaining her fitness and healthy lifestyle, she made the decision to become a personal trainer to 'older ladies'.
Edna went online and searched for a course to study so she could become a certified trainer. She studied for six months and although she found this incredibly difficult having never studied any science at school (understanding anatomy), she pursued her dream (with a little tutoring from an instructor at her local gym) and passed all her exams.
Edna decided to launch her business '50+ Fitness' and start looking for clients. Her business grew to such an extent, that she was approached to create and present a workshop 'Muscles Matter', addressing the benefits of resistance training for older adults. This resulted in her spending a fair amount of time presenting her workshop to corporations, retiree clubs and senior groups. Edna Levitt - 50 Plus Fitness
Chris Freytag - Age 54
Chris is 54 years old and grew up in Winconsin. She has been married for 30 years and a mum to 3 children. Chris has been a fitness addict from a young age.
Movement has always made her feel good and her mission is to help others feel great and love life. She has also studied food and nutrition and believes that what we eat affects both our physical and mental health.
Chris is the founder of Get Healthy U and loves to share her knowledge with her readers. She is a realist and believes you can transform your body and mind to look incredible at any age.
Chris is a certified personal trainer, health coach and group fitness instructor. She is pilates and yoga trained and an author of 7 books and dozens of fitness DVD's. Get Healthy U - TV with Chris Freytag
Lauren Bruzzone - Age 74
Lauren, a former lawyer has always been active. She practised ballet for most of her life and took part in low intensity classes until she was in her late 60's. Lauren wanted to try something new.
A friend introduced her to cross-fit training and she has been hooked ever since. She decided she wanted a personal trainer and paired up with Wesley James a certified personal trainer.
Wesley started to post videos of Lauren on social media and Lauren went viral. The amazing feats she has achieved through cross-fit training with Wesley are quite unbelievable. At 73, Lauren managed to achieve her first pull-up under the guidance and training of Wesley.
You can see some of her incredible accomplishments on her youtube channel
Age-Defying bodies
As we start to mature we need to consider the exercise programme we choose and the movements we need to think about as we age. The ageing process can cause difficulties and affect our mobility and independent living. Strength training, cardio exercise and healthy eating combined, will lead us to better mobility, flexibility and good health into our latter years.
I hope you enjoyed this article.
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