Are You Too Old to Exercise?

A primary purpose of the Greenwood Men's Group in Seattle is to encourage the physical fitness of its members. As we age, physical fitness is not something we can take for granted. We have to work at it, even if only to slow down physical decline.

Substantial evidence from intervention studies and observational research has demonstrated an array of positive health effects of physical activity in older populations.

However, it's easy for us to find excuses for not exercising on a regular basis. We're too tired. Not enough time. Gotta fix dinner. Run an errand. Fix that leaking faucet. Watch a Seahawks game. My arthritis is bothering me. I need to take a nap. The gym is too far away. Etc., etc.

The worst excuse of all is that we're just too old to exercise. Don't believe it? Keep reading!

The fact is, there is always some sort of exercise we can do regardless of our age or disability.

90-100 Years Old Is NOT Too Old

Research on nonagenarians shows you can get stronger.

• A randomized controlled trial in institutionalized nonagenarians (mean age ~92) showed that 12 weeks of twice‑weekly multicomponent training including muscle power exercises (40–60% 1 rep max) significantly increased midthigh muscle cross‑sectional area and high‑density muscle area versus controls, along with large gains in strength and function and fewer falls. This directly demonstrates that even frail people in their 90s can gain muscle mass and power, not just maintain it, with appropriately designed programs.
  

80-90 Years Old "Very Elderly" Is NOT Too Old

Research on "very elderly" shows you can get stronger.

• A meta‑analysis of resistance training in adults ≥75 years found significant whole‑muscle hypertrophy and strength gains, including in “oldest‑old” (≥80) subgroups.
• In adults >85 years, 12 weeks of whole‑body resistance training 3×/week produced ~10–11% quadriceps cross sectional area increase, ~2% gain in whole‑body lean mass, and ~40–46% strength gains, similar to those aged 65–75.
• Review data show very old (≥85) muscle still retains adaptive capacity, with hypertrophy reported in octogenarians and beyond.

So...Are You Too Old for Exercise to Make a Difference?

Quick answer: NO! You’re never too old to start exercising.

93 Year Old Champion Rower

Richard Morgan with wife Rita -- Is He Going to Eat That??

Richard Morgan is a onetime baker and battery maker with creaky knees who didn’t take up regular exercise until he was 73.  Retired and somewhat at loose ends then, he attended a rowing practice with one of his grandsons, a competitive collegiate rower. The coach invited him to use one of the machines.

He got hooked on rowing and never looked back. Now at age 93, he's as fit as a typical 40-year-old. Since starting rowing, he has rowed the equivalent of almost 10 times around the world and is a four-time world champion in indoor rowing.

Richard Morgan in a rowing competition in 2018

Think about it.

If Richard can transform himself from a couch potato at age 73 to a level of physical fitness of someone half his age, why can't you? It's never too late to set aside the excuses and get started.

Read more about Richard's story here.

Seattle Woman, 95: Oldest Female Competitive Pickleball Player in the World

Joyce Jones of Seattle has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest female competitive pickleball player in the world -- for the second consecutive year.

Your Physical Fitness Can Inspire Others

Another reason for us older guys to exercise and be more physically fit is to inspire others to do the same, including family members and the younger generation. See the video below for an example.

Hurdling Life's Challenges and Vaulting into his 80s

What do you think of Joe Johnston's attitude towards life and staying fit? What is yours?

After Family Tragedy, Vincent Gully Began Running at Age 56

Vincent's Personal Motto

How do you know what you're capable of...until you give physical activity the best effort of which you are capable?

A distinguishing characteristic all these guys have is that they make exercise a habit. So why not habitually exercise to your capability? 

By doing so, you'll notice these guys have a zest for life and enjoy what they are doing. They have a purpose, experience a sense of satisfaction, have developed new social connections, found new friends, and increased their healthspan and longevity.

Is there anything here not to like?

Level up your physical activity for two weeks and see what happens. You have nothing to lose!

A 102-Year-Old Yoga Teacher’s Simple Approach to Aging Well

For decades, Charlotte Chopin has been bending and stretching. Since 1982, Ms. Chopin, now 102 years old, has taught yoga in a small French village.

A plaque on her cabinet at home reads: “Happiness is not about having everything you want, but loving what you have.”

Ms. Chopin didn’t try yoga until she was 50, at the encouragement of a friend as a break from housework. She started teaching a decade later, to avoid boredom when she moved to her small town.

When asked what yoga offered her, she answered, simply, “serenity.” “I don’t have too many problems; I have an activity that I like.”

Can you do this?

Or this?

Two and a half years ago, shortly after Ms. Chopin turned 100, she fainted while driving home from yoga class. She crashed her car and broke her sternum. Three months later, she was not only back behind the wheel but also teaching yoga again.

The thing that has sustained her the most, both in her yoga practice and her life, are her students, she said, and the social support they provide. This jibes with research suggesting that people who defy norms of aging place a high value on social relationships.

Her son, watching his mother remain so social in her later years has influenced his own approach to aging more than anything else has. “She loves people,” and “she’s easy with her contact with others.” He aspires to the same.

Ms. Chopin's students have attended her yoga classes for many years, and they greet each other with hugs and warm hellos. They describe  her as a teacher who is a “perfectionist” but always encouraging. “She makes me want to grow old,” one student said.

Ms. Chopin has slowed down as she’s moved further into her 100s. While she used to do yoga daily, she now only practices during the three classes she teaches each week. She can’t do all of the poses anymore, either — she ruled out handstands a few years ago. But she can still touch her toes, and she moves with the steadiness of someone decades younger.

This article is condensed from an article in the New York Times.

Arthritic 81 Year Old Hangs for Guinness World Record

Do you ever do any pull-ups on a bar? Maybe not. Well, what about just hanging from a bar? Can you do that?

Actually, it's way harder than it looks. Hanging from a pull-up bar is excellent exercise to build grip strength, but it can quickly become grueling and painful. Time slows to a crawl as your hands ache, and then sweat.

Bonnie Sumner as she breaks Guinness World Record

Bonnie Sumner's husband died in December 2023. The loss upended her world, but Ms. Sumner isn’t a person to lose herself in grief. She approaches life pragmatically, one problem at a time. She planned a funeral, settled her husband’s estate and returned to the gym the next month.

And it was there she discovered a remarkable talent for hanging from a bar, and two years later, almost by accident, she attempted to break a world record.

In July 2024, Ms. Sumner read about the health benefits of the dead hang: how it was tied to longevity and could help people perform daily tasks as they aged. She’d never heard of it but wondered how her grip strength measured up. She spoke with her personal trainer, who said most of her clients in their 40s and 50s managed about four seconds on their first attempt -- 10 seconds if they were unusually strong.

Ms. Sumner, who is 5-foot-4 and 115 pounds, tried her first hang and dangled for 21 seconds, in spite of arthritic hands.

After that, dead hangs became a part of every session. “When I got to 53 seconds, my hands really hurt, and I said, ‘This isn’t fun,’” But, by her own admission, she has an obstinate streak. “Are you really going to tell me I can’t do three more seconds?” she said.

In February of 2025, she hung for 2:01. At the prodding of the gym’s owner, she looked up the dead hang world record for her age group. It was just over two minutes.

So Ms. Sumner started training, adding farmer’s carries, machine rows and bench presses to her routine. She learned that crossing her ankles helped her engage her lower body while she hung. The training became a welcome reprieve from her grief.

“There were so many things I couldn’t control, challenges I had to do whether I liked it or not,” she said. “This is control. I love that, and I know I can do it.”

Perhaps the biggest challenge during a dead hang is mental, fighting the desire to fixate on the clock. At first, Ms. Sumner focused only on not collapsing in pain from her arthritis. Then she learned to focus on other things: repeatedly counting to 10 or, as the attempt got closer, her outfit and the weather.

On the day of the Guinness attempt earlier this month, Ms. Sumner was regularly hanging for 2:45, but she wanted more.

For the first two minutes the only sound was her trainer giving 30-second updates. At 2:00, Ms. Sumner’s upper body began to shake, and at 2:22 she said one word: “Ouch.” She could have dropped off then and earned the world record, but Ms. Sumner kept hanging.

At 2:30, Ms. Sumner opened her eyes. She asked her trainer to tell her when she’d reached 2:45. Her hands began to slip, but she kept hanging.

Finally, at 3:03, her calf cramping, Ms. Sumner let go and dropped down. She’d beaten the previous time by more than a minute.

When asked what the record meant to her, she thought for a moment and said, “It’s never too late to begin to make yourself stronger.”

Go Back to Exercise Options Page

Go to Main Exercise Page

References

• Cadore, E., Casas-Herrero, Á., Zambom-Ferraresi, F., Idoate, F., Millor, N., Gómez, M., Rodríguez-Mañas, L., & Izquierdo, M. Multicomponent exercises including muscle power training enhance muscle mass, power output, and functional outcomes in institutionalized frail nonagenarians. AGE. 2014; 36.
• Grgic, J., Garofolini, A., Orazem, J., Sabol, F., Schoenfeld, B., & Pedišić, Ž. Effects of Resistance Training on Muscle Size and Strength in Very Elderly Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Sports Medicine. 2020; 50.
• Marzuca-Nassr, G., Alegría-Molina, A., SanMartín-Calísto, Y., Artigas-Arias, M., Huard, N., Sapunar, J., Salazar, L., Verdijk, L., & Van Loon, L. Muscle Mass and Strength Gains Following Resistance Exercise Training in Older Adults 65-75 Years and Older Adults Above 85 Years.. International journal of sport nutrition and exercise metabolism. 2023.
• Distéfano, G., & Goodpaster, B. Effects of Exercise and Aging on Skeletal Muscle.. Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine. 2018; 8 3.
• Witard, O., McGlory, C., Hamilton, D., & Phillips, S. Growing older with health and vitality: a nexus of physical activity, exercise and nutrition. Biogerontology. 2016; 17.
• Phillips, B., Williams, J., Greenhaff, P., Smith, K., & Atherton, P. Physiological adaptations to resistance exercise as a function of age. JCI Insight. 2017; 2.
• Voulgaridou, G., Papadopoulou, S., Spanoudaki, M., Kondyli, F., Alexandropoulou, I., Michailidou, S., Zarogoulidis, P., Matthaios, D., Giannakidis, D., Romanidou, M., & Papadopoulou, S. Increasing Muscle Mass in Elders through Diet and Exercise: A Literature Review of Recent RCTs. Foods. 2023; 12.
• Beaudart, C., Dawson, A., Shaw, S., Harvey, N., Kanis, J., Binkley, N., Reginster, J., Chapurlat, R., Chan, D., Bruyère, O., Rizzoli, R., Cooper, C., Dennison, E., Adib, G., Brandi, M., Chevalley, T., Clark, P., Dawson-Hughes, B., Maghraoui, E., Engelke, K., Fielding, R., Foldes, A., Gugliemi, G., Kaufman, J., Larijani, B., Lems, W., Van Loon, L., Lyritis, G., Maggi, S., Masi, L., McCloskey, E., Messina, O., Papaioannou, A., Szulc, P., & Veronese, N. Nutrition and physical activity in the prevention and treatment of sarcopenia: systematic review. Osteoporosis International. 2017; 28.

The mission of of seattleseniormen.com and greenwoodmensgroup.com is to provide a supportive environment where men from diverse backgrounds can foster camaraderie, develop friendships, share wisdom, enrich one another's lives -- and contribute to all Seattle communities, including Greenwood, Ballard, Crown Hill, Fremont, Green Lake, Licton Springs, Loyal Heights, Magnolia, Phinney Ridge, Ravenna, Sunset Hill, Wallingford, Wedgwood, Whittier Heights. Bitter Lake, Broadview, Haller Lake, Queen Anne, and beyond.

See our Disclaimer