Regrets, I’ve had a few… Or so the song goes.

But have you had too few to mention? Because that’s the beauty of regret, most of the time, we have an opportunity to put things right or reframe how we deal with the mental anguish of something we did or didn’t do.

That’s why we believe that it’s never too late to begin on your journey of exercise and fitness. No matter our age, if we’re physically able to do so, we can pull on our leggings, dust off our trainers and start exercising. Whenever we start, we can still reap the benefits of training.

In fact, studies prove this to be true. A study carried out in 2019 by researchers at the University of Birmingham right here in the UK, found that people aged between 60 and 80 that had never followed an exercise regime before, were able to build muscle and lose fat. How much muscle they gained and fat they lost, was the same as those of the same age, who had lots of years’ experience of strength training exercise.

This of course doesn’t mean that if we’re considerably younger than 60 years old and have never exercised, we should wait until we’re 60 to start. But it proves that even those who might be of pension age, can still benefit from starting to exercise, backing up the notion that it really isn’t ever too late to make changes.

A separate study in Sweden found that starting to exercise in our later years is far more beneficial than never starting at all, even if we begin when we hit our 50s. This study, which took place over 35 years, concluded that those who took up exercise at the age of 50 had a 49% lower death rate than those who led an inactive lifestyle. When we compare this to smoking, the results are startling – quitting smoking at the age of 50 leads to a 40% reduction in early death, so taking up exercise later in life is more protective than giving up smoking!

The benefits of exercise are the same whether we begin as a young child or much later on in life. Physically, exercise helps up to burn fat and calories, build muscle, form stronger bones, help prevent falls and improve posture and protect us against chronic disease such as obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers.

Exercise helps to support good mental health, too. When we exercise, we release feel good chemicals called endorphins that help to lift our mood and manage stress and anxiety. Plus, if we exercise to lose weight, seeing our weight and dress sizes drop are a great emotional boost!

Perhaps the most difficult part of exercising is actually starting it. Be that starting it completely from scratch, or starting the routine we’ve developed, on a daily basis.

But what’s guaranteed, is that when we’re finished, we’ll feel great (thanks, endorphins!). So get to grips with the excuses holding you back from Owning Your Goals, don’t ever think it’s too late and get started on your fitness journey now. You seriously won’t regret it!