Fitness
6 Fitness Influencers Over 50 Who Deserve a Follow
This story is part of This Is 50+—an in-depth look at guys who are thriving later in life, with tips and tricks on how all of us can future-proof our bodies.
TAKE A SCROLL through your social media feed, and you’ll find no shortage of fitness content. The stars of those exercise routine and form videos are probably a lot of ripe 20-and-30-year-olds, though, in the prime of their physique.
Scroll a little further, and you’ll find another impressive group of fitness influencers over 50 who are keeping up with (and often surpassing) those 30-year-olds. Sure, it’s cool to watch them do wall sits while holding 100 pounds, juggle enormous kettlebells, and even rep out lock jaw push ups with 70 pound (you really have to see this one to believe it). But, best of all, they’re utilizing their platforms to teach others how to do the same—at any age.
Regardless of how old you are, what kind of exercise you enjoy, or where you are in your fitness journey, there’s so much to learn from these inspiring influencers. Here are five of our favorites, along with their advice for performing at your best after 5o.
Colin Daring
COLIN DARING’S JOURNEY began with a simple bench in the basement of his childhood home, where his father taught him how to train. Often, they would go to a local park and do calisthenics, like pull ups—something the 53-year-old senjoys doing to this day.
After traveling to different countries and seeing their traditional forms of training, he started becoming interested in “odd objects,” as he calls them. He began training with a variety of equipment including kettlebells, Atlas stones, sandbags, and mace clubs. Now, he takes to social media to post videos about the use and benefits of these different styles of training (and some more traditional training tips, too).
Daring is aptly named—much of his content includes heavy kettlebell juggles that are not for the faint of heart. Bells weighing upwards of 70 pounds flying behind the back, under the leg, and over the shoulder—all magically sequenced together in a way you have to see to believe. He teaches kettlebell workshops at a few gyms in Brooklyn, and offers online training. Even in his 50s, “training is now embedded in my lifestyle,” he says. He’s only looking to get stronger, too—he sets short term and long term goals for himself that help him stay consistent and motivated.
HIS ADVICE: Find movement you enjoy that keeps you physically and mentally engaged. “Watching TV on the treadmill doesn’t really count,” he says. “Think tennis, volleyball, basketball. Exercises that have the mind and the body engaged at the same time.”
Bill Maeda
HAWAII-NATIVE BILL Maeda, 55, has been a trainer since 1987. Recovering from addiction, and being diagnosed with PTSD and ADHD, training was the only job he was able to hold for many years, he says. “I could hide from the world in my small gym near Waikiki, and fixate on one client at a time.”
In 2012, he was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer. He underwent surgery and chemotherapy that left him “physically plundered and deeply depressed,” he says. That carried all the way through 2019, when his mother passed away, and into 2020, when lockdown began. During quarantine, he randomly decided to take a video of how many push ups he could do in 10 minutes, and posted it to YouTube. He didn’t think twice about it—until “an avalanche” of notifications began to light up his screen.
“Somehow that video took off, and the comments that came in changed my life,” Maeda says. “People from everywhere were saying the kindest and most encouraging things that I had ever heard. Their kindness and support taught me to stop feeling sorry for myself and redirect that energy into serving, teaching, and at the very least entertaining any who grace me with a few moments of their time to watch my videos.”
After that, he dedicated himself to filming his daily workouts. That was more than 4 years ago. Since then, 2 million people have followed him to watch his impressive lifts and less traditional strength feats (that lock-jaw push up we talked about earlier? Yeah, that was him).
HIS ADVICE: Start easy. Like, really easy. “The goal is to get in the habit of training every single day,” and continuing to do so, he says. “The only way to do this is by making the workouts very short and very easy.”
He suggests starting with just 5 minutes on the clock. Pick a handful of exercises you can do and are comfortable with. Work through ranges of motion that are doable. “This is exactly where you want to be. You should also feel certain that they can do the exact same thing tomorrow…and the next day and the next day,” he says.
When you are ready to dedicate more time, add a minute, and then another—slowly build to where you want to be. The short time frame will help build the habit, which is more important than the exercise itself. “That’s what they mean by easy does it.”
Bryan Krahn, C.S.C.S.
BRYAN KRAHN C.S.C.S. HAS been studying, practicing, and writing about exercise science and training for almost 20 years. In fact, he’s written lots of content for Men’s Health, including our muscle-building guide for men over 40.
Krahn, 50, dubs himself a “semi-serious physique-athlete,” meaning he builds and maintains a aesthetic frame, but does not compete in body building competitions. While you might find a picture or two of his impressive six-pack on his Instagram, you’ll find that most of his content is information based. He uses “a base of scientifically supported industry practices but also a litany of techniques that have been shown to work in the real world,” to fuel his training programs and his content.
HIS ADVICE: “Train like you want to show up again tomorrow,” he says. “After 50, longevity and preventing injury becomes the new ‘optimum.’” To do that, he suggests three things. First, never work through pain—find an alternative if any exercise bothers you.
Second, don’t be afraid to use safer alternatives to high-risk lifts. For example: “A barbell overhead press is a great lift if you have the technique and shoulder mechanics for it. But using dumbbells with a neutral grip is easier on the shoulder and just as effective.”
Third, aim for higher reps with lighter weight on most exercises. You’ll still get the muscle building benefit without sacrificing safety. You can find even more of his tips for building muscle after 50 here.
Paul Sklar
PAUL SKLAR, C.S.C.S. IS a Division 1 athlete turned fitness expert. He was a distance runner during his time at Wake Forest University, where he earned his bachelors degree in Exercise and Sports Science. He began competing in duathlons, where he was ranked second nationally, and 25th in the world.
The 52-year-old been a professional trainer since 1993, working with novices and professional athletes alike. He’s taken his expertise to Instagram—where he posts his workouts, mobility exercises, and recovery routines.
HIS ADVICE: “If you want to get lean (and have a strong foundation), make sure you never miss leg day. You get better bang for your buck with a well-rounded program.”
Brad Schoenfeld
SOCIAL MEDIA IS full of misinformation. If you want to make sure you’re getting foolproof, science-backed fitness info, look for no further follow than 61-year-old Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D., C.S.C.S..
Schoenfeld is a professor in the Department of Exercise Science and Recreation at Lehman College in NYC, and a leading researcher on muscle building and fat loss. He’s also competed as a drug-free body builder for most of his life. A self-coined “fitness myth-buster,” his page is a one-stop shop for real tips and tricks for body composition.
HIS ADVICE: “The aging process tends to impair recovery; you simply cannot recuperate as well at 50 vs when you were 20. Thus, it’s important to be cognizant of how your body responds to training and manage exercise volume and frequency accordingly,” he says.
Cameron Shayne
CAMERON SHAYNE’S INSTAGRAM feed looks a bit different from that of your traditional male fitness influencer. Instead of hulking around big weights, you’ll find the 52-year-old crawling on the floor, demonstrating impressive feats of mobility, and taking down guys half his age in Jiu-Jitsu fights.
In the 90s, Shayne established himself as one of the pioneering voices and teachers of contemporary yoga, martial arts and the movement culture in Los Angeles. In 2001, he designed Budokon Mixed Movement Arts by combining the combat arts of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts together with yoga, crawling patterns, mobility, calisthenics, and cognitive studies into a single black belt system. Now, he trains some of the best professional UFC, ADCC, and Bellator fighters in the world. Now, he takes his teachings to social media, where he’s gained quite a following.
HIS ADVICE: “Athletic longevity depends greatly on joint mobility. Focus on the 3 essential qualities of joint health: mobility, flexibility and strength,” he says.
This is just the beginning. See what else guys at 50+ are thinking, doing, and crushing here.
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InnerCity Weightlifting volunteers find a sense of fulfillment by helping clients improve their fitness.
When people think about treating or managing their mental health, therapy, journaling and reading are often among the first solutions that come to mind. While those are all valuable tools, one of the most effective outlets is often overlooked: physical fitness.
At the Lift US Foundation, based in Oakland, leaders emphasize the mental benefits of exercise for adolescents through a strength-training-focused approach. Through its partnership with the NBA Foundation, the organization has expanded its efforts to empower young people and, as founder Mike Jenkins describes it, “create superheroes.”
“The need in the community is very foundational about strength and health in general, physical and mental,” Jenkins said. “I locked in on a term I like to call generational health, and what that means is the young people in our program become the healthiest in their families, and they take those values going forward in their own.”
As for InnerCity Weightlifting, which is based in Boston and Chicago, the organization uses personal training to help people affected by systemic barriers and past challenges build a new path forward. The nonprofit helps individuals with histories of gang involvement earn personal training certifications before connecting them with paying clients.
Though some people may not want to pursue personal training full-time, ICW still provides them with fitness tools they can carry throughout life while also helping guide their next steps into the workforce.
“Learn how to work out safely, learn how to give your friends a workout and then tell us what you need, what kind of jobs you’re interested in, what’s holding you back from some stability,” said ICW’s head of development Ian Kilpatrick.
Fitness to opportunity
From the ground up, Lift US focuses on teaching young people how to understand their bodies through fitness, nutrition education, counseling, mentorship and mental health support, all while helping them develop a future-focused mindset beyond the program.
Seeing a program participant progress through each phase and ultimately succeed is Lift US’s ultimate goal.
Rucker Johnson Jr. joined the organization at age 10 with a passion for science, art and drawing. Over time, he developed a love for weightlifting as well, eventually earning a spot on Team USA and setting his sights on representing the country at the 2028 Olympic Games.
“A complete human. A complete person, physically strong, mentally strong, academically strong, and not relying on getting a football or baseball scholarship. They are just doing it to empower themselves,” Jenkins said.
Johnson Jr. also branched out to the Hidden Genius Project, an Oakland-based nonprofit that trains and mentors young Black men in technology, entrepreneurship, and leadership. The organization has partnered with the NBA Foundation for several years.
Job pathways beyond fitness
As mentioned before, ICW ultimately helps place participants into jobs even outside the fitness industry, with their interactions with clients playing a key role.
The organization has seen numerous trainers transition into different industries simply by networking and performing well with the people they train. “We had guys get jobs at Toyota because a training client was a manager at Toyota, we’ve had a client start a dog grooming business and hire her trainer as one of the first employees,” said Kilpatrick.
The organization also builds partnerships with corporations such as UPS and Home Depot to streamline job pathways for participants.
Looking ahead, ICW is also focusing on creating more in-house managerial roles for participants who may not want to become full-fledged trainers. Either way, the organization provides volunteers with a sense of belonging and direction that helps them rebuild stability in their lives.
At their core, both organizations aim to build belonging and long-term success through fitness, which is a great place to start.
Fitness
Alexandra Daddario, 40, Relies on This Underrated Crunch Upgrade for Strong Abs – Here’s How to Do It Properly
From enduring some serious physical prep for Baywatch to working consistently with elite trainer Patrick Murphy, Alexandra Daddario’s dedication to fitness is well-documented. She often shares insights on social media, and in a recent Instagram post, the White Lotus star gave an insight into how she trains her core with one powerhouse movement: the reverse crunch into shoulder stand.
Why is it so good? Most traditional ab exercises require repetitive spinal flexion—the process of pulling your chest down toward your knees, like in a standard crunch. This isolates only the upper section of your abs, and for women who spend hours sitting at a desk, it can reinforce a slouched, rounded posture.
Daddario’s movement flips the mechanics entirely since you actively curl your pelvis up toward your chest. In doing so, you target not only your upper abs, but the lower portion and your obliques (the sides) simultaneously, all while keeping your chest open and your neck unstrained. This translates into a much stronger core, better posture and crucial lower back protection. Research also shows that a controlled posterior tilt – the lower-body curl that initiates Daddario’s move – recruits a significantly higher percentage of deep core muscle fibers than traditional crunches.
Daddario then drives her hips directly up into a vertical shoulder stand. This completely removes momentum from the equation (meaning you can’t “cheat”) and forces your abs—particularly your obliques—to balance your body and prevent you from tipping sideways.
She then takes it one step further into a Pilates plow position with her legs overhead, before reversing the movement and, again, using her abs to control the lowering of her entire lower body as she slowly unrolls her spine down onto the mat. The plow portion is optional (and super advanced); the slow, controlled, lowering phase, which happens whether you move into plow or not, is where the magic happens, challenging your core through both lifting and resisting gravity. Inspired? Here’s exactly how to do the move with good form, and how many reps and sets to aim for.
How to do a reverse crunch into shoulder stand
- Lie on your back (either on a mat, or on a reformer Pilates machine, like Daddario, with your arms anchored tightly to the floor.
- Engage your core to curl your knees toward your chest, then fluidly press your feet straight up toward the ceiling, lifting your hips and lower back off the floor.
- Slowly lower down, one vertebra at a time. Aim for 3 sets of 6-8 controlled reps.
Optional progression:
- As you reach shoulder stand with your legs extended to the ceiling, slowly start to lower your toes toward the floor over your head. Your weight should rest entirely on your shoulders and upper back – not your neck.
- Keeping your legs straight, use your core to extend them straight back up to the ceiling, then control the descent by rolling your spine down one vertebra at a time, with your legs remaining straight.
As Women’s Health UK’s fitness director and a qualified Pilates and yoga instructor, Bridie Wilkins has been passionately reporting on exercise, health and nutrition since the start of her decade-long career in journalism.
After earning a first-class degree in journalism and NCTJ accreditation, she secured her first role at Look Magazine, where she launched the magazine’s health and fitness column, Look Fit, before going on to become Health and Fitness writer at HELLO!
Since, she has written for Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Elle, The Metro, Runner’s World and Red. Today, she oversees all fitness content across Women’s Health online and in print, spearheading leading cross-platform franchises, such as ‘Fit At Any Age’, which showcases the women proving that age is no barrier to exercise.
She has also represented the brand on BBC Radio London, plus various podcasts and Substacks – all with the aim to encourage more women to exercise and show them how. Outside of work, find her trying the latest Pilates studio, testing her VO2 max for fun (TY, Oura), or posting workouts on Instagram.
Fitness
Steffie Bryant, Alistair Brownlee to Share AI, Performance Insights at European Congress – Health & Fitness Association
From artificial intelligence to elite sport, the HFA European Congress keynote speakers will explore the forces reshaping health and fitness around the world.
By Lia Palazzo, Manager of Public Affairs
Steffie Bryant and Alistair Brownlee are set to offer the two keynote addresses at the 2026 HFA European Congress.
Artificial intelligence and high-performance leadership will take center stage at the 2026 HFA European Congress, where Keepme.ai President Steffie Bryant and two-time Olympic triathlon champion Alistair Brownlee will headline the annual gathering of fitness industry leaders.
The Congress, scheduled for September 24-26 at London Stadium in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, will bring together executives, operators, suppliers, investors, and innovators from more than 35 countries to explore the trends shaping the future of health and fitness.
Bryant will open the event on September 24 with a keynote examining how artificial intelligence is transforming fitness businesses. As president of Keepme.ai, she has helped clubs adopt AI-driven tools to strengthen member engagement, improve operations, and drive sustainable growth. Her session will focus on how operators can leverage emerging technology while maintaining a people-first approach. Her keynote is sponsored by Keepme.ai.
Brownlee will headline the second day of the Congress, sharing lessons from Olympic competition, entrepreneurship, and health innovation. The only athlete to win two Olympic gold medals in the individual triathlon, Brownlee is also founder of sports nutrition company truefuels, an investor in health and wellness companies, and co-founder of the Brownlee Foundation, which promotes youth participation in sport.
The speaker lineup reflects this year’s Congress theme, One Vision. One Voice., which focuses on the role innovation, collaboration, and leadership will play in the next chapter of the global fitness industry.
In addition to the keynote presentations, attendees will hear from more than 40 speakers from the fitness sector and related industries addressing trends, GLP-1 usage and exercise, emerging markets to watch, investment opportunities, retention, payment ecosystems, corporate wellness, community initiatives, and more. The full schedule can be viewed here and includes time to connect with suppliers in the Sponsor Marketplace. On September 26, attendees can participate in club and studio tours across London. The club tours can be added at the time of registration.
Presented in partnership with ukactive and hosted by industry leader David Minton of EVOLVE, the HFA European Congress is the industry’s premier European event, offering business leaders insight into emerging trends, new technologies, and opportunities shaping the future of the industry.
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