I have been thinking a lot about my fitness levels lately. My overall health generally actually. I don’t want to spend a fortune on a health club, however, so have been researching blogs to get myself fit on a budget. These are some of the best websites for fitness in your fifties that I found.
Bear in mind, I am a lady of a certain age. You won’t see any body building, muscle ripping or Instagram sensations on my list. I am keeping it real….
They aren’t all specifically aimed at those of us past fifty, but I think they offer a suitable approach to health and fitness for those of us in the prime of life :).
What makes a good website for fitness in your fifties?
There is an awful lot of information and misinformation out there. So what should you look for in a good fitness blog or website?
First and foremost, I would say trustworthiness. Anyone can start a blog or website and claim to be an expert. Are they qualified? How experienced are they? Is the information they are giving accurate?
Clear and readable content. I want the content being presented to be easy to read and interesting, with lots of nice photography and illustrations.
Realism. Personally, I don’t find it that motivating to see people achieve feats of strength, endurance and flexibility that are too extreme for the average body.
Regular content updates. I want a site that is continually evolving with lots of new information and ideas to keep me motivated and inspired.
So here is my list of 10 engaging and interesting websites for fitness in your fifties
J Brown Yoga
In a bid to tone up and improve my spinal health after disc problems caused an excruciating trapped nerve, I have also been exercising every day. As I am a trained British Wheel of Yoga teacher, I do around half an hour of yoga each morning.
I love it. All the benefits you have heard about yoga are real. It makes you feel amazing! Yoga improves your mental well being and eases all those tension points in your body. It tones you up and stretches you out.
However, now that I am in my 50s, I like yoga that is going to make me feel fluid and energised, not exhausted and inadequate. This is why I have been impressed with J Brown Yoga.
I really like Jason Brown’s slow, gentle and breath centred approach to yoga. All those beautiful, scantily clad women doing power yoga and shaping themselves into pretzels just doesn’t do it for me. I have been practising yoga on and off for 40 years and I know that approach isn’t helpful or achievable to most of us.
J Brown Yoga is a subscription service, but at 10 dollars a month, I think it is a worthwhile investment. Cheaper than a class and more convenient if you are strapped for time.
Be Healthy Now
Be Healthy Now is a really interesting, UK based blog covering a aspects of health and fitness. As well as articles to inspire you to exercise more, there are delicious, healthy recipes which look so good. There is also a great discounts page offering money off at companies who focus on wellness.
Petra, who runs the blog, recently wrote a guest post for me, so if you missed it have a look here.
The Pilates Foundation
According to the Pilates Foundation site, ‘Using gravity, breath and spring resistance, Pilates uses whole body movement targeting specific muscle groups to re-educate movement patterns and rebalance the underlying muscular and structural systems in body.’
So many of us spend ours at our desks each day and lead generally sedentary lifestyles. Pilates can help to remedy the resulting back and neck pain we suffer.
The Pilates Foundation teaches the classical series of postures first developed by Joseph Pilates. Although a lot of the site is aimed at teachers there is a lot of information about what pilates is and how to get started here.
Pilates with Priya
I enjoyed reading the blog section of Pilates with Priya. Her post about TV adverts for incontinence pads normalising incontinence made me shout with agreement. If we strengthen our pelvic floors it should be something we can alleviate.
Priya says, “Childbirth, menopause, impact sports and getting older all affect our pelvic floor but that doesn’t mean we have to put up with it or pretend incontinence pads are glamorous.”
There are articles on back pain, hip releases and the effect of Pilates on the nervous system, as well as filmed sequences to watch.
Pilates with Priya is particularly useful for women post childbirth, but her approach will suit those of us catapulting towards or post menopause just as well.
Couch to 5k
Couch to 5K is the NHS’s programme to get us all running! Well, it hasn’t worked on me yet, but it got my sister out of her stilettos and running half marathons in her late fifties. This is not something I ever expected to see, and I am full of admiration for her.
Couch to 5K offers a series of podcasts over nine weeks to motivate you to start running, as well as exercise tips and fitness guides.
Ramblers
If you are unfit, walking is the ideal way to get going and start getting healthier. Ramblers is an interesting organisation. As well as promoting walking for fitness, it offers hundreds of group walks around the UK so you don’t have to do it on your own. Fantastic if you are feeling a bit lonely or isolated and want to make like minded friends.
Ramblers is also a campaigning organisation, aiming to protect the countryside and the environment generally.
You can access a lot of information on the website for free, and can also join for just £3.35 a month.
Mind Body Green
Mind Body Green is a holistic health and wellness blog, with an absolute ton of useful information on how to improve your health.
Their fitness routines are very much yoga based and are worth checking out. If you want to delve deeper you can purchase podcast type classes on a variety of subjects, such as nutrition, meditation and yoga. These seem quite expensive to me, but there is a lot of good, free information you can access too.
Live Strong
Live Strong offers so much authoritative advice on everything related to health and fitness, from food and nutrition to pretty much every exercise you can think of. However, what caught my eye was the series on swimming.
This is a great way to get fit, particularly as you get older. Why? Because as they say, “Swimming is worth the effort. This full-body workout improves both your cardiovascular fitness and your muscular strength — all while causing no impact shock to your body.”
This article tells you the best exercises to do in your 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond.
I got totally lost in this one as there was so much to read!
Slimming World
Although Slimming World is about healthy eating rather than fitness, the two go hand in hand. I don’t think that the idea of middle age spread is a myth. Unless you are careful, it is very easy to pick extra inches up around your tummy as you get older.
There’s no doubt I am healthier than I have been for a long time. I am eating less fat and sugar and more fruit and veg, as well as drinking less alcohol.
This is mainly due to the Slimming World regime I have been following. I wasn’t massively overweight but wanted to shift at least a stone. You are probably sick of me going on about Slimming World, but I am a convert. It really works (and, no, this is not an affiliate link)!
DIY Active
DIY Active focuses, as its title would suggest, on getting fit and healthy at home. It covers a lot of different subject areas to improve your health and fitness, without having to join a gym or fight your way through the traffic to get to a class.
There are loads of DIY workouts and yoga routines to choose from.
There are plenty of inspirational websites for fitness in your fifties. Now is the time to get fitter! Whatever your age, developing an exercise plan that suits you and your lifestyle will bring you huge benefits.
Thank you so much Jane for including Be Healthy Now blog here! Going forward, I am planning to publish more articles specific to audience 50+
I’ve just started swimming again, not because I particularly enjoy it, or am good at it but because it’s a good all round, low Impact exercise. The local authority I work for offer an employee discount card, which means I can swim for £2.50, I had to pay £6 for the card, but that’s for 12 months and it gives me a good discount on all sorts of activities, so I felt it was well worth the cost.
I also do yoga classes via yogaia. com which although they don’t have the variety of classes they used to, is still not bad value at £40for 6 months.
On my shopping list for later today is….A skipping rope! Almost free and a good workout. I’m not entirely sure where I’m going to skip, but I’ll work something out I’m going sure.
I’m itching to start C25K again, but plantar
fasciitis is putting paid to that. I really enjoyed running. One day maybe.
A nice, informative post today, thank you.
That pass is really good value! I tried skipping recently and it was so hard! I never stopped as a kid
Glad you found the post useful Su! It’s great to hear you are already pretty active and already planning to introduce more activities going forward. I wish I had space for skipping as it’s such a fun activity!