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EVERY WEEK, WE bring you a round-up of the best longreads of the past seven days in Sitdown Sunday.
And now, every weeknight, we bring you an evening longread to enjoy which will help you to escape the news cycle.
We’ll be keeping an eye on new longreads and digging back into the archives for some classics.
Interviews with people who reached peak fitness after the age of 50.
(The Guardian, approx 10 mins reading time)
Not every super-fit person over 50 has a clear “push”. Mags Cook wasn’t particularly looking to lose weight or get fit. “I was always quite a busy person – I didn’t sit around too much,” she says. A retired teacher, Cook, 69, only started running properly at 59 when a friend encouraged her to try parkrun, the national weekly free fun run. “My husband died in 2006 and it was a good thing to know I’d be doing it every Saturday.” She enjoyed it, and her son-in-law suggested she join a running club. “I thought it was the most hilarious idea, because I was coming up to 60 and didn’t think of myself as a runner. But it was the best thing I’ve done – it was amazing.”
Isnt the word ‘peak’ a bit ambiguous there? Most people’s peak after 50 isnt going to be the same as the peak they could have reached at 25. If you start a healthy lifestyle and excercise at 50 after a life of inactivity, any increased level of fitness will be your own personal peak.
@Fred spins kdb: The truth doesn’t sell I’m afraid
It’s never a bad time to start if you can reach your peak potential or not is irrelevant. The fact is you will be better off for taking care of your self.
No
@kevin mc cormack: yes. It was in the title.
All the sports people in retirement are back!!
I know plenty of people took up running in their 40s and have all sorts of knee hip and back problems these stories rarely mention injuries. I suppose a story about how someone is in constant pain after damaging themselves running isn’t as interesting
@Jas: running isn’t the only way to get fit Cycling is great ( if you can avoid falling off or getting run over) swimming is good, so is tennis etc etc etc
Even just going to the gym
Walking is good too
Sitting on the couch- not so much
have your say