Two weeks before her 78th birthday, Breda Cody bends down and picks up the dumbbell from the ground beside her. She puts it between both her hands and squats, her backside almost touching her heels.
“Show them how low you can go,” her trainer calls out, as Cody repeats the motion six times.
Just over two years ago, the Kildare woman had significantly impaired mobility due to severe knee pain. At the time, she couldn’t even bend over and walking was slow and painful.
“Eventually, I went to an orthopaedic surgeon. At that point he told me I needed a knee replacement. And I was a bit taken aback,” she says.
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She received painkillers and injections to help manage her pain. In the meantime she joined a CrossFit gym, at the encouragement of her daughter.
“In April of this year, I was back with the orthopaedic surgeon and when he saw the X-ray he said, ‘This has improved immensely. What have you been doing?’ I told him I was going to a gym. At that point he told me I don’t need the operation on my knee now.”
Cody knows she might still need such an operation in the future, but for now, she says, “I’m fine.”
How long does she intend to keep the activity up? If she’s still alive when she’s 90, she’ll still be attending the gym, she says.
Cody is one of many older people who are beginning to recognise the importance of physical activity as we age.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said in adults, physical activity contributes to prevention and management of noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes and reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety, enhances brain health, and can improve overall wellbeing.
Prof Des O’Neill, a consultant geriatrician, said that for older people in particular, there are a “wide range” of benefits.
“It maintains your mobility, reduces the risk of falls – which is a major cause of death among older people,” he said.
“It can serve as a protectant for heart attack, stroke. And it plays an important role as part of the broader picture of brain health in that it can defer memory difficulties.”
Trying to prevent falls is exactly why 63-year-old Denis Horan has in recent years undertaken resistance training. The Drogheda man was diagnosed with Parkinson’s when he was in his late 50s.
He worked in bars in New York City at the time, but quickly learned his diagnosis meant he would need to change his lifestyle.
“New York became too dangerous for me. I was like a bowling pin waiting to be knocked over on the subway. My biggest issue is balance. I was falling over at the bar, and it wasn’t because of drink,” he says.
Horan said he is very aware falling is a leading cause of traumatic death among older people. He trains twice weekly, using resistance bands, and does farmer’s lifts (holding a weight in each hand and walking for a distance or time) to improve his stability and strength.
“Falling can kill you. It takes strength not to fall, and it takes strength to get up. Resistance training has become part of my healthcare.”
Darina Dunne, chairwoman of the Irish Physical Activity Alliance (IPAA), said there is “irrefutable evidence” physical activity, particularly strength training, is the “very best thing you can do for your long-term health”.
Dunne said that currently, movement is treated as a “luxury”. She believes it needs to be prescribed as frequently as medication, particularly in light of Ireland’s ageing population, which will increase the pressure on the State’s hospital system.
“Our healthcare system is based on reacting. We wait until you’re sick. We do little to support prevention. We need a different approach in terms of ageing, and the most effective treatment is to keep people fit and strong to delay chronic disease, to enable them to have not just a longer life but a better quality of life.”
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Her association is calling on the Government to introduce a number of things: increased education about the importance of physical activity; a tax rebate for gym membership to reduce the financial barriers to movement; and a reduced VAT rate for exercise classes so they’re in line with the 9 per cent VAT rate for gyms.
According to Prof O’Neill, removing barriers and acknowledging the social determinants of physical activity is important. On an individual level, he also believes it’s about finding the right type of exercise for you.
“It does not need to be a gym. It could be finding classes and having that social element to it as well. We want to associate exercise with positive experience, maybe dancing or pickleball,” he added.
Trial and error is something to which Christine Norton (69) can relate. She joined the gym after the Covid-19 pandemic, during which she became quite sedentary.
“I had put on weight and my mobility was very bad. I couldn’t get out of a chair. I would have to hoosh myself up out of a sofa. If I fell on the floor, I wouldn’t be able to get back up again,” she says.
She began using a treadmill, almost hiding herself away in the gym, nervous. Then, due to the welcoming nature of where she was working out, she discovered weightlifting.
“My goal is to get as strong as I can lift, which hopefully will be 100kg. At the moment, it’s 85kg.”
Her reasoning for becoming active is simple: she wants to be able to live as long as she can, while feeling as strong as she can.
“When I started I had very little mobility. Now my muscle mass is much better than maybe somebody in their 40s or 50s. I have four grandchildren and I want to be able to go out and have good fun with them rather than them just coming to visit nana and sitting on my chair.”
It is these everyday activities that inspired many people to get into physical activity. For Phil Brown (65), what began as an idea of a way to stave off the physical ailments of growing older has now become a passion.
The Olympic weightlifter (a type of weightlifting that uses barbells) started on her journey in 2018. She has always been interested in fitness and did aerobics and yoga throughout her life, but decided she wanted to make sure she maintained her muscles mass as she gets older.
“To even just carry in the shopping, you need some strength to do it,” she said.
“I want to stay strong. My mum has had numerous falls, broken both hips and she wobbles all the time now. So for me, I want to be as strong as I can be so I’m not a burden on my children when I get older.”
Six months after her first time lifting weights, she was competing.
“It is hard because it’s just you and the bar. There’s so much technique involved. Every time you make one good lift, it gives you such a buzz. I remember after that first competition I actually got a medal and I just really, really loved it. It’s kind of a lifestyle choice now.”
