Fitness

7 Ways to Maintain Your Fitness Level as You Age

Published

1 year ago

December 30, 2024

7 Ways to Maintain Your Fitness Level as You Age

Most people focus on fitness to begin a new habit or seek improvements in health and wellness. This largely requires consistency in basic physical activity. Many people are fit and trying to become extremely fit, which requires adhering to strict and effective programming with greater intensity and more complex progressions.

However, what if you want to maintain your current fitness? What type of program do you do then? Here is a question from a person who has enjoyed the habit of fitness for more than 20 years and is looking to maintain what he has:

Stew — Thanks for your fitness programs and training ideas over the years. I am pretty happy with my weight, body composition, and performance for my age (I just turned 50), and I am not looking at going hardcore in the future. I am looking forward to maintaining what I have. What are the next steps for me? Thanks, Stan

Stan, great job getting and staying fit and active over the years. I am with you. While I enjoy working out and even going hard on occasion, I am not really trying to beat my best record in anything. My goals are primarily health, wellness and a moderately high level of physical performance across the board.

My personal records (PRs) are now in the blood screening tests and doctor’s office. In fact, I heard a doctor say the other day that you prevent a heart attack at 50 years old by adding daily cardio at 30. You prevent painful joints at 60 years old by adding flexibility and mobility to your day when you turn 40. You prevent falling and breaking your hip at 70 years old by adding resistance training to your day at 50. You are well on your way to building a life with longevity.

Here are some guidelines for those who are happy with your current fitness and want to maintain what you have.

80% Is the New 100%

I started implementing this rule after a hamstring injury sidelined me from running for a few months. If you want to maintain what you have, you cannot get injured lifting too heavy, running too much, running too fast or doing too many reps. These are how most of us have injured ourselves while training.

Evolving with Age

As I have aged into my 40s and 50s, adding a focused Mobility and Flexibility Day has been life-changing for how I feel before, during and after workouts. After 50, I have added two mobility/flexibility sessions per week, mixed with moderately paced walking or nonimpact cardio activity. Although I still lift, run, swim and do calisthenics each week, the added sessions of working the joints and muscles differently have made all of the difference in how I feel about moving into my 60s relatively pain free.

Improve Eating Choices and Sleep Quality

As we age, these are essential to recovery, performance and longevity. Focus on a good night’s sleep of 7-8 hours and nutritious natural food choices with minimum or no processed foods. Portion control is also an issue, even if you eat clean. Check out these articles on food intake/caloric needs and sleep, nutrition and exercise.

Enjoy More Social Workouts

Fitness can be a beneficial health activity and enhance our social connections as we age. This combination can aid in maintaining mental health (or improving it). Engaging with a supportive community can significantly enhance your commitment to maintaining fitness. Joining a local gym, participating in group classes or connecting with friends who share your enthusiasm for staying active will continue to benefit longevity results.

Diversify Your Workouts

Stay balanced with strength training, cardiovascular and calisthenics training, mobility and flexibility, and a mix of low- and high-intensity workouts. Resist the tendency to fall into monotonous fitness programming. If you can mix cardiovascular, strength, flexibility and balance exercises, you will see results that stretch across all areas of your life. Instead of increasing intensity in a few activities, diversify your workouts to prevent boredom and challenge your body, promoting overall strength and flexibility and reducing the risk of injury.

Avoid Extremes on the Fitness Spectrum

Our country has a broad sample of fitness levels, ranging from poor to above average. The goal is to hover between the average and above-average zone, working to get good at every element of fitness but not particularly great at any of them. This will help you control body fat, maintain bone and muscle strength, and keep the heart, lungs and circulatory system working efficiently.

You Can Still Have Goals to Set, Even New Ones

While you may wish to maintain your current fitness level, setting achievable goals can provide motivation and keep your workouts interesting. These could range from participating in a local charity run to mastering a challenging yoga pose. Personal goals give you something to strive for and can spice up your routine throughout the year.

In the end, it comes down to: If you don’t use it, you will lose it. So keep moving to maintain what you have. As you navigate the lifelong fitness path, finding the proper knowledge and resources is essential. Seek expert insights into maintaining your current fitness level while enjoying the lifestyle you have built for yourself. Head to the Military.com fitness section now and equip yourself with the tools you can utilize to continue your journey confidently.

Want to Learn More About Military Life?

Whether you’re thinking of joining the military, looking for fitness and basic training tips, or keeping up with military life and benefits, Military.com has you covered. Subscribe to Military.com to have military news, updates and resources delivered directly to your inbox.

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Fitness

Put the fun back in your fitness routine with this 10-minute follow-along workout from The Curvy Girl Trainer Lacee Green

Published

20 minutes ago

April 22, 2026

Press Room

Put the fun back in your fitness routine with this 10-minute follow-along workout from The Curvy Girl Trainer Lacee Green

Ever feel like beginner-friendly workouts are anything but?

That’s how BODi Super Trainer Lacee Green felt, so she devised a three-week, entry-level program designed for genuine newcomers to exercise—or those just getting back into it.

“My beginner-only plan is for every body and everybody,” Green tells Fit&Well.

Green’s program combines low-impact cardio, strength, core and mobility workouts for a total of five sessions a week and 30 minutes a day.

One of the routines she loves—that she says will provide a flavor of the plan—is a total-body cardio workout inspired by seven different sports.

“There is no repetition, it’s all bodyweight and super fun,” she says. “We do basketball, we do pickleball, we do soccer, and it’s really going to get your heart rate up.”

It will all count toward the CDC’s recommended 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity per week, while incorporating resistance training elements to strengthen your bones and muscles, she explains.

And Green has provided the full 10-minute routine below for you to try.

10-minute cardio workout for beginners

Press play on the video above and Green will guide you through the workout, or keep reading to see what’s in store.

Green’s 10-minute beginner-only cardio workout is inspired by seven different sports that she says will help channel your inner athlete.

Each sport links to an exercise during the routine. Follow the short warm-up, then perform each move for 40 seconds and rest for 20 seconds, for one round per sport.

In the video, another trainer demonstrates variations of each exercise so you can make it slightly more challenging as desired. The workout concludes with a short cool-down.

Here’s a brief breakdown of each exercise.

1. Basketball catch and shoot

Step to your side, then reach up into full extension as if shooting a three-pointer. Repeat by shuffling from side to side.

2. Quick football feet

Lower into a quarter squat with your feet wide apart and alternate quick stepping onto either foot. On Green’s cues, switch the direction you face from center to left and right.

3. Skater side-step

Step side to side as if skating, hitting an imaginary hockey stick across your body.

4. Soccer kick-up

Keeping light on your feet, hop from side to side as if juggling a football with your feet.

5. Pickleball shuffle

Lower into a half squat with your hands together in front of you. Keeping low, step or jump forward, then shuffle back to the start position.

6. Boxing jab cross

Stand side on with slightly bent knees and your guard up. Alternate throwing jabs with your left and right, switching your stance after 20 seconds.

7. Baseball squat to high plank

With your feet wide apart, lower into a deep squat with your hands up like a catcher. Place your hands on the floor and step back into a high plank, then back to the low squat.

About our expert

Lacee Green

Lacee Green is a BODi Super Trainer, certified personal trainer (CPT) and coach with more than 10 years of experience. She hosts a number of BODi on-demand fitness programs that are designed to challenge and motivate you while also providing a supportive and inclusive environment.

Fitness

Higher fitness levels linked to lower risk of depression, dementia – Harvard Health

Published

12 hours ago

April 21, 2026

Press Room

Higher fitness levels linked to lower risk of depression, dementia – Harvard Health

research review

People with high cardiorespiratory fitness were 36% less likely to experience depression and 39% less likely to develop dementia than those with low cardiorespiratory fitness. Even small improvements in fitness were linked to a lower risk. Experts believe that exercise’s ability to boost blood flow to the brain, reduce bodywide inflammation, and improve stress regulation may explain the connection.

Fitness

These 20-Minute Burpee Workouts Replaced His Entire Gym Routine – and Transformed His Physique

Published

1 day ago

April 21, 2026

Press Room

These 20-Minute Burpee Workouts Replaced His Entire Gym Routine – and Transformed His Physique

While many swear by them, most people see burpees as a form of punishment – usually dished out drill sergeant-style by overzealous bootcamp PTs. Often the final blow in an already brutal workout, burpees are designed to test cardiovascular fitness, muscular endurance and mental grit. Love them or loathe them, they deliver every time.

For Max Edwards – aka Busy Dad Training on YouTube – they became a simple but highly effective way to stay fit and lean during lockdown. Once a committed powerlifter, spending upwards of 80 minutes a day in the gym, he was forced to overhaul his approach due to fatherhood, lockdown and a schedule that no longer allowed for long, structured lifting sessions.

‘Even though I was putting in hours and hours into the gym and even though my physique was pretty good, I wasn’t becoming truly excellent at any physical discipline,’ he explained in a YouTube video.

‘I loved the intentionality of training,’ says Edwards. ‘The fact that every session has a point, every rep in every set is helping you get towards a training goal, and I loved that there was a clear way of gauging progression – feeling like I was developing competence and moving towards mastery.’

Why He Walked Away From Powerlifting

Despite that structure, Edwards began to question whether powerlifting was sustainable long-term.

‘My sessions were very taxing on my central nervous system. I was exhausted between sessions. It felt as if I needed at least nine hours of sleep each night just to function.’

He also noted that his appetite was consistently high.

But the biggest drawback was time.

‘I could not justify taking 80 minutes a day away from my family for what felt like a self-centred pursuit,’ he says.

A Simpler Approach That Stuck

‘Over the course of that year I fixed my relationship with alcohol and I developed, for the first time in my adult life, a relationship with physical training,’ says Edwards.

With limited time and no access to equipment, he turned to burpees. Just two variations, four times a week, with each session lasting 20 minutes.

‘My approach in each workout was very simple. On a six-count training day I would do as many six-counts as I possibly could within 20 minutes. On a Navy Seal training day I would do as many Navy Seal burpees as I could within 20 minutes – then in the next workout I would simply try to beat the number I had managed previously.’

This style of training is known as AMRAP – as many reps (or rounds) as possible.

The Results

Edwards initially saw the routine as nothing more than a six-month stopgap to stay in shape. But that quickly changed.

‘I remember catching sight of myself in the mirror one morning and I was utterly baffled by the man I saw looking back at me.’

He found himself in the best shape of his life. His energy levels improved, his resting heart rate dropped and his physique changed in ways that powerlifting hadn’t quite delivered.

‘It has been five years since I have set foot in a gym,’ he says. ‘That six-month training practice has become the defining training practice of my life – and for five years I have trained for no more than 80 minutes per week.’

The Burpee Workouts

1/ 6-Count Burpees

20-minute AMRAP, twice a week

How to do them:

Start standing, feet shoulder-width apart
Crouch down and place your hands on the floor (count 1)
Jump your feet back into a high plank (count 2)
Lower into the bottom of a push-up (count 3)
Push back up to plank (count 4)
Jump your feet forward to your hands (count 5)
Stand up straight (count 6)

20-minute AMRAP, twice a week

How to do them:

Start standing, feet shoulder-width apart
Crouch down and place your hands on the floor
Jump your feet back into a high plank
Perform a push-up (chest to floor)
At the top, bring your right knee to your right elbow, then return
Perform another push-up
Bring your left knee to your left elbow, then return
Perform a third push-up
Jump your feet forward
Stand or jump to finish

Kate is a fitness writer for Men’s Health UK where she contributes regular workouts, training tips and nutrition guides. She has a post graduate diploma in Sports Performance Nutrition and before joining Men’s Health she was a nutritionist, fitness writer and personal trainer with over 5k hours coaching on the gym floor. Kate has a keen interest in volunteering for animal shelters and when she isn’t lifting weights in her garden, she can be found walking her rescue dog.