{"id":574447,"date":"2026-08-20T03:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T03:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/574447\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T03:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T03:30:09","slug":"at-79-this-is-alison-steadmans-only-exercise-and-its-not-running-or-the-gym","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/574447\/","title":{"rendered":"At 79, this is Alison Steadman’s only exercise \u2013 and it’s not running or the gym"},"content":{"rendered":"

No matter what your age, going to the gym and running are not the only options to build fitness. Gavin and Stacey star Alison Steadman has found a less intense alternative that helps keep her active as she gets older, but it\u2019s beneficial for every decade.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m 78 so I don\u2019t want to do anything intense like running<\/a>,\u2019 Steadman explained in an issue of Woman & Home<\/a>. What\u2019s the alternative? Walking<\/a>. \u2018I just try to walk as much as possible, whether it\u2019s going to the shops or in and around my local woods,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

Pilates<\/a> was a big part of her routine back in lockdown times, but she found that too time-consuming once workspaces reopened. \u2018I did Pilates online during lockdown; I had the mat and the ball and everything but as soon as you get back to work it\u2019s hard to find the time, so walking it is.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"alison<\/p>\n

Stuart C. Wilson\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Walking is one of the simplest ways to maintain fitness as you age because it keeps your cardiovascular system working while also training your muscles and the functional movement patterns you use to stay independent every day. Brisk walking (quicker than a stroll, so you feel slightly out of breath) is particularly effective and has even been linked to living a longer life \u2013 research<\/a> showed that women who walked at over 4mph could have a 15-year longer life expectancy than those who walked at less than 3mph. Really. <\/p>\n

Beyond that, science shows it can boost your mood, reduce risk of heart failure in postmenopausal women, build muscle, reduce diabetes risk, boost immunity and improve your sleep. All for \u00a30 and with zero equipment. It\u2019s no wonder Steadman swears by it. <\/p>\n

She\u2019s conscious of her nutrition, too. \u2018I eat a lot of fresh fish and vegetables,\u2019 she added in the same interview. \u2018We try to have three or four veggies with our meals; I don\u2019t eat a lot of carbs or potatoes so we tend to go very big on veg. My favourite fish is lightly dusted plaice.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

As 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.<\/p>\n

After earning a first-class degree in journalism and NCTJ accreditation, she secured her first role at Look Magazine, where she launched the magazine\u2019s health and fitness column, Look Fit, before going on to become Health and Fitness writer at HELLO!<\/p>\n

Since, she has written for Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Elle, The Metro, Runner\u2019s World and Red. Today, she oversees all fitness content across Women’s Health online and in <\/a>print, spearheading leading cross-platform franchises, such as \u2018Fit At Any Age\u2019, which showcases the women proving that age is no barrier to exercise.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No matter what your age, going to the gym and running are not the only options to build…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[149491,147678,147290,5218,283106,2117,565,2120,134,207184,2116,111,139,69,282092,251090,283105],"class_list":["post-574447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-collection-fit-at-70-and-beyond","tag-collection-fit-at-any-age","tag-collection-fitness-app","tag-content-type-default","tag-contentid-d1a195ca-9bf0-42b4-8e82-76aadee8798c","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-fitness","tag-hasproduct-true","tag-health","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-gb","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-shorttitle-at-79","tag-sponsored-false","tag-this-is-alison-steadmans-only-exercise"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}