Some people seem to have been born in Lycra. They’re the ones who hit 30 just a lithe as they were at 20 and celebrate the milestone with an extra sesh at the Crossfit gym. But for those of us who don’t even run for the bus, is thirty too late to get fit? The good news is these inspiring individuals prove you can be fit after 30!
Getting fit after 30 – just like any stage in life – requires dedication, hard work and self-discipline.
But if you want to get fit after 30, you could do worse than to take a few tips from the pros.
Jack Foster took up long distance running at the age of 32. He went on to represent his adopted homeland of New Zealand in two summer Olympics, competing in the men’s marathon event in the 1972 Munich games and the 1976 games in Montreal. He continued competing until his death at the age of 72, when he was killed in a cycling accident.
His advice for runners, applies just as well to participants in other sporting activities. Find out what works for you and stick with it!
There’s no point trying to force yourself to stick with a sport you hate. If you detest working out at the gym, then cancel that gym membership! Focus on finding a type of sport or physical activity worth leaving the house for.
Fit After 30: Don’t Let Your Past Experiences Hold You Back!
A lot of people looking to get fit after 30 missed out on sports early on life. Often this was because they convinced themselves – or were convinced by others – that they were just not athletic.
But while perhaps not everyone has the capacity to be a professional athlete, everyone has the capacity to find a sport that they enjoy. If you enjoy a sport, you can quickly develop a passion for it which may even motivate you to push yourself further than you thought was possible.
When Dorset-born, mother-of-two Marsha Little was a child she hated ballet classes at the village hall. When the other girls made fun of her lack of coordination, she told herself that she was just born clumsy.
It was only twenty years later, when she had enrolled her oldest son in karate lessons that she wondered if it might be time to reconsider.
Her son’s instructor was offering adult beginner lessons and so she signed up on a whim. She soon fell in love with the sport, and at the age of 38 – seven years after her very first class – she had earned her black belt!
Her advice for others looking to get fit after 30 is not to set limits based on the stories you’ve been telling about yourself… after all, there’s no point trying to open up a new chapter, if you’re already certain you know how the story is going to end.
The day she turned 30 registered-nurse Tessa Hewitt-Jones weighed 350lb.
After a difficult upbringing she had developed a disordered relationship with food, which she turned to as both a source of comfort and a form of punishment, sometimes bingeing to the point at which she was in physical pain.
She entered into psychotherapy in her late 20s, and by the time she had turned 30 she was being supported by both her therapist and her doctor to make the lifestyle changes necessary to reach a healthy body weight. Along the way she developed a passion for power-lifting which has seen her compete in championships all over the world!
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