By James Hilton, founder of Jim’s Gym
Good news first. Ageing well is one of the most studied subjects in health research, and the findings keep landing in the same encouraging place: moving more, in almost any form, is linked with a longer life and with keeping hold of the things you love doing.
You don’t need a perfect programme to get there. You need something you’ll come back to, a bit of strength work, and some good people to do it with.
I’m James, and I run Jim’s Gym. Here’s what the science on living actively after 55 says, where it’s strongest, and what to do with it on an ordinary Tuesday morning here in the UK.
What ageing well looks like
It isn’t a number on a birthday card. For most people it means carrying on with the things that make life good: walking the long way round, getting down on the floor with the grandchildren and back up again, carrying your own case off the train, dancing at the wedding until the band packs up.
At Jim’s Gym we think about fitness through seven parts we call the Components of Total Fitness: physical, medical, mental and emotional, nutritional, social, spiritual, and health-related fitness. Our focus is that last one, moving to improve your health and the way you live, because it feeds all the others.
Every bit of movement counts
The most reassuring study I know on this was published in the BMJ in 2019. Ulf Ekelund and colleagues pooled individual data from eight cohort studies covering 36,383 adults with an average age of 62.6, whose activity was measured by a monitor worn on the body rather than remembered for a questionnaire [1].
More activity, whatever the intensity, was linked with a lower risk of dying over the follow-up period, which ran for a median of 5.8 years. That included light activity: pottering, walking to the shops, hanging the washing out. The biggest difference showed up between the least active quarter of people and the quarter just above them.
Two fair notes. This is observational research, so it shows a link rather than proving cause and effect. And nearly three quarters of the people in it were women, so it fits some readers more closely than others.
You may need fewer steps than you think
Ten thousand steps a day has been doing the rounds for years. In 2022 Amanda Paluch and colleagues put it to the test in The Lancet Public Health, pooling 15 studies and 47,471 adults [2].
More steps were linked with a lower risk of death, up to a point that depended on age. For adults aged 60 and over, the benefit levelled off at around 6,000 to 8,000 steps a day. For adults under 60 it levelled off at 8,000 to 10,000. Again, these are observational findings, so treat them as a strong pointer rather than a promise.
So if 10,000 has always felt like a mountain, 6,000 to 8,000 is a very good hill to aim for.
Strength keeps you doing the things you love
This is where the evidence moves from links to a proper trial. The LIFE study, published in JAMA in 2014 by Marco Pahor and colleagues, recruited 1,635 adults aged 70 to 89 at eight centres across the United States [3]. All of them were inactive at the start and had some physical limitations, though every one could walk 400 metres.
Half were given a structured programme of walking, strength and flexibility work, twice a week at a centre and three or four times a week at home. The rest went to health education workshops. Over an average of 2.6 years, 30.1% of the activity group lost the ability to walk 400 metres, compared with 35.5% of the education group.
The people in that trial were older than most readers of this blog, supervised at a research centre, and starting from a lower base. What it does show is that structured strength and walking work pays off even when people start later and with some limits.
My own rule of thumb is simple. Lift something. Yourself, a weight, your grandkids, the big shop. Twice a week.
Getting down to the floor and back up
Here’s a little test I love. Sit down on the floor, cross-legged, then stand back up, using as little help from your hands or knees as you can manage.
In a paper published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology in 2026, Claudio Gil Araújo and colleagues followed 4,282 adults aged 46 to 75 who had been assessed at an exercise medicine clinic in Rio de Janeiro [4]. Over a median of 12.3 years, the people who scored best on this sitting-rising test tended to live longer than those who needed more support.
It’s observational, and the group was 68% men in Brazil, so it isn’t a perfect match for a UK reader. The test is no verdict on anyone. It’s a neat way of checking the strength, flexibility and balance you use every day, and every one of those can be trained.
The social side is part of the science
In 2010 Julianne Holt-Lunstad and colleagues pooled 148 studies covering 308,849 people with an average age of 63.9 [5]. People with stronger social relationships had a 50% greater likelihood of survival over the follow-up, which averaged 7.5 years.
That review is observational and covers all sorts of relationships. It’s also one of the reasons I’m proud of the community side of Jim’s Gym. The members’ WhatsApp group is hundreds of Jimsters strong and buzzing. There’s Book Club, Craft Club, Art Club with John Skelcher, and monthly nutrition sessions with Ian Thomas, Registered Dietitian.
What to do with all of this
Put the research together and the recipe is pleasingly simple.
Move more, in whatever form you enjoy. Light activity counts.
Lift something twice a week.
Practise getting down to the floor and back up.
Do it with other people when you can.
That’s what Jim’s Gym is built for. There are 15+ live classes a week on Zoom, every one recorded, plus 1,000+ on-demand videos: Fitness and Strength with me, Zumba Gold with Row, Yoga with Virginia, Pilates with Aimie, Tai Chi with Andy, Dancercise with Anna, and Balance. Many classes have seated and standing options, and most work in a living room with little or no equipment. Have a look at the class timetable to see what fits your week. I film the classes in a studio in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, and you join online from wherever you are in the UK.
Angi has been training with me for a long time, and she put it better than I could:
“A fantastic palette of activities specifically tailored for the over55 age group. We have been training with James for over five years, and really appreciate the sincerity, ingenuity and expertise that he invests.” Angi Drew, Jim’s Gym member
Your next step
Start with the free Fitness MOT. Five exercises at home, no scoring and no pass mark. Retake it every four to six weeks to see what’s moved.
Then join Jim’s Gym for £12.99 a month, or £129.90 a year: join for the year and get 2 months on me. There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee, no contracts and no joining fees.
It’s never too late.
Quick questions, straight answers
What does the science say about exercise and ageing well?
Large studies link regular physical activity with a longer life and with keeping everyday abilities. A 2019 BMJ analysis of 36,383 adults found more activity of any intensity, including light movement, was linked with lower risk of death. A 2014 JAMA trial found structured activity helped adults aged 70 to 89 keep their walking ability.
How many steps a day should I aim for over 60?
A 2022 Lancet Public Health analysis of 15 studies and 47,471 adults found the benefit of extra daily steps levelled off at around 6,000 to 8,000 a day for adults aged 60 and over. Walking more still builds fitness, but 10,000 steps isn’t a magic number for living longer.
Is it worth starting exercise in your 70s?
Yes. In the LIFE trial, published in JAMA in 2014, 1,635 inactive adults aged 70 to 89 took up a structured programme of walking, strength and flexibility work. Over about two and a half years they were less likely to lose the ability to walk 400 metres than a comparison group who attended health workshops.
What is the sitting-rising test?
It’s a simple check of everyday fitness: sit down on the floor and stand back up using as little support from your hands or knees as you can. A 2025 study of 4,282 adults aged 46 to 75 in Brazil linked better scores with living longer. It reflects strength, flexibility and balance, which can all be trained.
Does a social life matter for ageing well?
It appears to. A 2010 review of 148 studies and 308,849 people found those with stronger social relationships had a 50% greater likelihood of survival over an average of 7.5 years. The evidence is observational, but it’s a good reason to exercise with other people rather than always on your own.
References
[1] Ekelund U, Tarp J, Steene-Johannessen J, et al. Dose-response associations between accelerometry measured physical activity and sedentary time and all cause mortality: systematic review and harmonised meta-analysis. BMJ. 2019;366:l4570. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l4570
[2] Paluch AE, Bajpai S, Bassett DR, et al. Daily steps and all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis of 15 international cohorts. Lancet Public Health. 2022;7(3):e219-e228. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(21)00302-9
[3] Pahor M, Guralnik JM, Ambrosius WT, et al. Effect of structured physical activity on prevention of major mobility disability in older adults: the LIFE study randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2014;311(23):2387-2396. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2014.5616
[4] Araújo CGS, de Souza e Silva CG, Myers J, Laukkanen JA, Ramos PS, Ricardo DR. Sitting-rising test scores predict natural and cardiovascular causes of deaths in middle-aged and older men and women. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. 2026;33(12):2170-2178. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurjpc/zwaf325
[5] Holt-Lunstad J, Smith TB, Layton JB. Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review. PLoS Medicine. 2010;7(7):e1000316. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316
James Hilton is the founder of Jim’s Gym, an online fitness community for adults over 55, based near Stroud, Gloucestershire. He set it up for people who want to keep doing the things they love, with classes, community and a fair bit of laughing along the way.