{"id":448242,"date":"2026-01-30T22:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T22:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/448242\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T22:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T22:09:09","slug":"im-92-and-feel-50-heres-my-workout-routine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/448242\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019m 92 And Feel 50 \u2013 Here\u2019s My Workout Routine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Estimated7 min read<\/p>\n

Imagine being 92 and driving yourself to the gym<\/a> four days a week, doing deep squats<\/a> and climbing the stairs<\/a> with ease. That\u2019s exactly how life looks for Edna Giordano, a mum of five, grandmother of 21 and great-grandmother of four. <\/p>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t even think about being 91,\u2019 she told Good Morning America last year. \u2018I feel the same as I felt when I was fifty. I\u2019ve always had a busy lifestyle because, let\u2019s face it, with that many children, you have to be busy. So, I never really thought about it, that\u2019s just the way I live. My body feels better when I\u2019m moving.\u2019 <\/p>\n

Even more inspiringly, Giordano only started going to the gym at 65, when she was forced to retire from her job at a local hospital due to her age. Fast-forward 27 years, and Giordano is still going to the gym every other day, with her daughter Dalyce Radtke<\/a> regularly sharing videos from their training sessions on Instagram and TikTok.<\/p>\n

In a Q&A with Radtke on TikTok, Giordano said: \u2018My body tells me I\u2019m not happy when I\u2019m just sitting down. I spend a lot of time painting, working in the garden or taking my dog for a walk<\/a>. If I sit down to watch the TV even for 10 minutes, I jump up to do something around the house and feel better. <\/p>\n

‘Going to the gym on a regular basis in the morning really helps me mentally. I obviously don\u2019t want to go, but after I\u2019ve done it, I feel so much better. When I come home, my mind is more active and my day goes on from there. I sleep really well, I don\u2019t have any problems and my posture<\/a> is really good for my age \u2013 I love dead hanging<\/a> from a bar for that, it really stretches<\/a> you out.\u2019 <\/p>\n

She says staying active is the reason she doesn\u2019t struggle with aches and pains. \u2018I\u2019m not in pain anywhere,\u2019 she says. \u2018My knees hurt when I do certain things but not enough that it prevents me from exercising. I have arthritis in my thumbs that makes it harder for me to open bottles and cans, but nothing stops me from being active. <\/p>\n

\u2018I never took hormone replacement therapy, either. Nowadays, every time you go online, you see supplements and things to help you age better, but we never had those opportunities. Exercise is the one thing that helped me stay healthy. I just got my passport renewed for another ten years, because I plan on being here. You could live to 110. It makes me sad when people feel they have an expiry date. I feel the same as I did 30 years ago.\u2019 <\/p>\n

Giordano’s exercise routine<\/p>\n

A weekly breakdown:
4 x 1-hour gym workouts<\/a>, including a cardio warm-up on a treadmill and dynamic mobility exercises to prepare the muscles she’s about to train, a main strength training workout, and static stretching to finish
NEAT exercise<\/a>: daily gardening, daily walks (including dog walks), always taking the stairs<\/p>\n

Strength training is the main focus of Giordona’s routine, with her doing four hour-long workouts at the gym per week, using workout splits<\/a> to target different areas of her body – she’ll do upper-body on one day, and lower-body on the next. Radtke has shared several clips of her mother doing squats, lunges<\/a>, shoulder presses<\/a>, bicep curls<\/a> and lateral raises<\/a>, plus one of her doing an ab series, including leg raises on a bench, side plank<\/a> dips, bird dog<\/a> and twists. <\/p>\n

At the time of posting, Radtke wrote: \u2018Here\u2019s my inspiring 91-year-old mum tackling ab workout! We live apart, in different cities, in actually different countries \u2013 she\u2019s in Canada. Whenever she\u2019s with me, I enjoy pushing her limits with new exercises. It\u2019s astonishing to witness her physical abilities. She manages, somewhat effortlessly, everything from reverse crunches to hip lifts and side planks. This clearly demonstrates that age is merely a number. Who would have guessed a 91-year-old could maintain such flexibility and strength.\u2019<\/p>\n

Back in 2023, her daughter shared another clip of her strength training routine on TikTok, writing: \u2018My 91-year-old mum took me to her gym today. This is a glimpse of the hour-long routine she does three times a week.\u2019 <\/p>\n

In the clip, Giordano starts with cardio<\/a> on a cross-trainer and treadmill, then strength trains using an overhead press machine, the assisted pull-up<\/a> machine, and dumbbell tricep extensions<\/a>. She finishes with stretching including a frog stretch and child\u2019s pose. <\/p>\n

Studies<\/a> show that age-related loss of muscle mass accelerates when you reach your seventh decade; the risk of falling and injuring yourself may increase, too (around one in three adults over 65 fall at least once a year, according to the NHS<\/a>).<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s now strong evidence to show that strength training can offset these effects as the older you are, the more adaptable your neural motor units \u2013 the cells in your brain and spinal cord that send commands from your brain to your muscles \u2013 will be to the stimulus of strength training; as they become more efficient, you\u2019ll be more able to tolerate submaximal loads (they\u2019re heavy, but don\u2019t require all-out effort) for a longer time.<\/p>\n

Dr Sims, a female physiologist, recommends hypertrophy training \u2013 with sets of 10 to 12 reps. \u2018If you\u2019ve been training accordingly, you\u2019ll have developed significant strength in your fifties, so now it\u2019s time to build up your lean muscle mass,\u2019 says Dr Sims. As for the weight you should be lifting, Radtke says Giordano sticks to ‘light weights’, so choose something that feels comfortable, but not easy. <\/p>\n

Walking is the second focus of Giordano\u2019s workout routine, with her sharing that, as well as walking as much as possible in daily life, she warms up for every strength training workout at the gym with a walk on a treadmill, to maintain her cardiovascular fitness. Her daughter also shared a clip of Giordano completing a power walk in their local park, then performing leg swings, deep squats, shuttle runs and a short jog, before a strength training session of step-ups, push-ups, mountain climbers<\/a>, tricep dips and hanging ab crunches.<\/p>\n

Radtke wrote in the caption: \u2018My mum\u2019s routine is a testament to the exercises we should all embrace for a life of independence and vitality.\u2019 <\/p>\n

There are endless benefits to walking for ageing: studies<\/a> show it decreases the risk or severity of various health outcomes such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cognitive impairment and dementia, while also improving mental well-being, sleep, and longevity.<\/p>\n

3. Mobility<\/a> and flexibility training<\/p>\n

The third key element of Giordano\u2019s routine is stretching for mobility and flexibility (two different things, FYI – mobility is your body’s ability to move through its full range of motion, while flexibility is the ability to stretch). Her daughter shared a video of Giordano\u2019s full mobility routine, including a supine hamstring stretch, figure four glute stretch, modified pigeon stretch, supine lower back stretch, bridge walks, roll-ups, butterfly groin stretch, and sit-to-stands. <\/p>\n

She starts every strength training workout with dynamic mobility exercises to prime the muscles she’s about to work (like leg swings and deep squats before a lower-body strength session, as seen in the video of Giordano’s park workout above), and finishes with static stretches targeting the same muscles. Studies show that static stretches are more beneficial when performed in a cooldown (as opposed to a warmup) as they can benefit muscle recovery by reducing stiffness and decreasing DOMS, while other research<\/a> shows that static stretching after a workout downregulates your nervous system and activates the parasympathetic response, making you feel calmer after training. <\/p>\n

In the caption, Radtke writes: \u2018My mum\u2019s incredibly youthful mobility didn\u2019t happen overnight. It\u2019s a testament to consistency, beginning with small steps \u2013 perhaps just a bit more each day. No frills, no fancy gym, no special equipment.\u2019<\/p>\n

4. NEAT exercise<\/p>\n

Speaking on Good Morning America, Radtke added that NEAT exercise<\/a> (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis \u2013 the type of movement you don\u2019t realise you\u2019re doing every day) is also important for Giordano. She says she always takes the stairs, stays active throughout the day, and looks for opportunities to bolster her mobility. For example, Giordano is responsible for gardening at her apartment building and spends a few hours doing this every week. <\/p>\n

Radke says: \u2018That\u2019s my message, that you don\u2019t need to be in a gym to be fit. You don\u2019t have to do all the extreme workouts. Just stick with the basics.\u2019<\/p>\n

In fact, the time you spend intentionally exercising each day (for example, in the gym) only has around a 10% impact on your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) whereas NEAT can make up to 50% of it, and studies<\/a> have linked higher NEAT levels to a reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases like heart disease and stroke, as it helps maintain healthy blood pressure – something which increases with age as your arteries get stiffer.<\/p>\n

Giordano’s diet and nutrition<\/p>\n

On the diet front, Giordano says: \u2018I do most of my own cooking which is like chicken and vegetables and salads and things like that. I also take supplements: iron, a multivitamin, and AG1 which I take every morning. I also know that I really need the protein, so I try and focus on that \u2013 fish is my primary source of protein.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m not really a foodie, I don\u2019t have a great appetite, but I know that food is medicine. I\u2019ve had no major illnesses, other than Covid a couple of times but I recovered from that easily enough. That said, I do have guilty pleasures; I love Cinnabon\u2019s ice cream, and chocolate. But I balance this out with healthy foods.\u2019 <\/p>\n

Find the Perfect Women’s Health Training Program for You\"Chevron\"Chevron\"Headshot<\/p>\n

\u00a0As Women\u2019s Health UK\u2019s fitness director and a qualified Pilates and yoga instructor, Bridie Wilkins has been passionately reporting on exercise, health and nutrition since the start of her decade-long career in journalism. She secured her first role at Look Magazine, where her obsession with fitness began and she launched the magazine\u2019s health and fitness column, Look Fit, before going on to become Health and Fitness writer at HELLO!. Since, she has written for Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Elle, The Metro, Runner\u2019s World and Red.Now, she oversees all fitness content across womenshealthmag.com.uk<\/a> and the print magazine, spearheading leading cross-platform franchises, such as \u2018Fit At Any Age\u2019, where we showcase the women proving that age is no barrier to exercise. She has also represented the brand on BBC Radio London, plus various podcasts and Substacks \u2013 all with the aim to encourage more women to exercise and show them how.Outside of work, find her trying the latest Pilates studio, testing her VO2 max for fun (TY, Oura), or posting workouts on Instagram. \u00a0<\/p>\n