3 Incredible Women Who Discovered Fitness Over 50

Fitness culture is so ubiquitous for millennial and Gen Z women that it's almost impossible to open Instagram without scrolling past a Gymshark outfit or booty fitness guide. If you’re not following at least one #fitspo guru or exercising in some sort of way, it's easy to feel out of touch; there’s a huge pressure these days for young women to look and feel fit.

But for our parents' generation, protein supplements and Lululemon Align leggings weren’t the status quo. Aside from Jane Fonda’s "feel the burn" home workouts, fitness as we know it today was a niche reserved for bodybuilders and professional athletes.

Although fitness has become accessible to the point of compulsion – the UK fitness market alone is estimated to be worth £5bn and one in every seven Brits has a gym membership – from how it’s advertised, we’d be forgiven for believing it’s a young person’s game. But the benefits of regular exercise don’t stop when you’re older; in fact, the NHS’ exercise guidelines are the same for all adults from 19 to 64. Refinery29 UK spoke to three women about how they discovered fitness in their 50s.