It’s never too late to overhaul your fitness and build muscle, says Fiona Lambert – who’s the fittest she’s ever been at 62
With her 60th birthday only months away, Fiona Lambert set herself a goal: to get stronger by building muscle and to lose the weight that had crept on in the past few years.
“I wanted to prove to myself and others that 60 is the beginning of something, not the end,” she says. “I was conscious that it would be all too easy to slow down. But I wanted to be fit for future life.
"I knew becoming more active would improve my health, mobility and longevity.”
We start to lose muscle after the age of 30 – as much as 3% to 5% every decade. “This speeds up as we age,” says Dr Ashley Gluchowski, clinical exercise physiologist at the University of Salford. “But it’s possible to slow that rate of acceleration and halt it. There are studies to show that we can build muscle mass upwards of age 90.
“People might think, ‘I’m too old to build strength’, but that’s a misconception that is holding them back from living a healthy, happy and independent life.”
Fiona, now 62, former managing director of clothing brand Jaeger at Marks & Spencer, initially upped her PT sessions to two a week for a mix of cardio and weights.
“Weight-bearing exercise is really important as you get older to keep your muscle density high,” she says. At home, she did 15-20-minute HIIT (high intensity interval training) workouts four times a week and aimed to walk 10,000 steps a day.
By the time of her 60th birthday, Fiona had lost 11lbs and 5% of her body fat, which she has maintained. She still trains regularly and does a lot of walking, documenting her fitness journey on Instagram (@fionalambertofficial).
Here are the moves she swears by for maintaining what exercise physiologists call "functional fitness" – strengthening your body so it can perform simple, everyday movements and activities.
“You could start with five of each exercise, then you can build up the repetitions, or repeat the whole regime two or three times,” says Fiona.
“You will see a difference if you perform this workout three or four times a week.”
Bring one leg forward into a lunge. Keep the other leg – and your back – straight. With your elbows out and fingertips touching, rotate your torso to one side without moving your legs, return to centre, then turn to the other side.
“This is a good exercise to get your muscles warmed up. It gets your bottom and legs working and helps back mobility.”
Stand in front of a step or sturdy box. Mount the step with one foot and bring your other knee up to your waist before lowering that raised foot back on to the ground. Dismount the step and repeat on the other leg.
“This could be done on the stairs. It will help you climb them and to get on and off buses.”
With your feet shoulder-width apart, bend your knees and slowly lower yourself down into a sitting position, knees pushed out, then return to standing.
“Squats are a good exercise to strengthen your thighs and your core. If it’s easier, you can do them by getting in and out of a chair.”
Stand shoulder-width apart, holding a weighted object (such as a water bottle or dumbbell) in each hand, beside your ears, with your elbows out. Lift them towards the ceiling, then bring them back down.
“This is going to strengthen your shoulders, which will help with lifting.”
Begin in a plank position, with your arms and legs straight. Bend one knee and bring it forward to your waist, then return to the plank position, before repeating on the other leg.
“You can do this at different levels. As a beginner, try it off a kitchen work surface, then the seat of a chair, then the floor. You’re working your arms and shoulders and strengthening your core.”
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