Television icon and Blue Peter alumnus Anthea Turner is still as active as ever in her 60s, often posting on Instagram and writing on her blog about the ways she’s building strength for life.
Earlier this year, she even trekked to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro – the highest mountain in Africa – to raise money for children’s anti-bullying charity Kidscape.
Her fitness routine, then, is clearly working. So, what exactly does that routine look like?
Anthea’s fitness routine
While Anthea has spoken in the past about doing gym workouts and Pilates sessions, she has also shared how she embraces the idea of getting fit ‘without trying’.
In other words, she embeds fitness into her everyday life so that it becomes default and doesn’t feel like working out.
While Anthea’s Kilimanjaro challenge would have involved additional hiking-specific preparation, she’d been laying the foundations for lifelong strength through her regular habits and routines long before that.
‘From standing on one leg while cleaning my teeth, to parking at the far end of the supermarket carpark so I walk back, taking the weight of my two heavy shopping bags, to engaging and strengthening my core muscles by walking everywhere with shoulders right back, to my whole dog walking routine,’ Anthea wrote in her My Weekly column.
Said dog walking routine, she added, involves exercising her dog (a Frenchie called Soho, FYI) while ‘wearing a 5kg weight vest, 2kg ankle weights and 0.5kg wrist weights.’
Anthea also shared that she squats, lunges and hugs trees while waiting for Soho to finish exploring (which she said he does a lot of) while out walking.
Why weighted walking is effective
Firstly, even without added weight, walking is an effective low-impact, weight-bearing activity for building fitness and protecting health.
In fact, a huge study recently published in The BMJ found brisk walking to be one of the most effective types of exercise for protecting against age-related bone loss.
Anthea has been vocal about being diagnosed with osteopenia in her late 40s – a condition where bone density is considered lower than normal and which can later develop into osteoporosis – and has worked with experts to raise awareness of early detection and effective management. Both conditions disproportionately affect women.
‘All women – and men – should be doing some weight-bearing exercises. You don’t need to find an expensive gym, something as simple as three sets of 10 star jumps is a good start and resistance exercises are largely about using your own body weight to do the job,’ Anthea told HOSPITAL HUB. ‘I use ankle weights and a weighted vest, so I can multitask resistance into my daily chores.’
By adding extra weight, Anthea is making her walks work harder for her body, likely eliciting both extra cardio and strength gains.
Want to try weighted walking yourself? A few things to bear in mind: ensure that you increase the weight gradually (consult a professional if you’re unsure or have been diagnosed with any conditions such as osteopenia or osteoporosis), and if you’re going to invest in a weighted vest, take some time to find the correct fit. After all, comfort is crucial to consistency.
And with that, happy (weighted) walking!
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Hannah Bradfield is a Senior Health and Fitness Writer for Women’s Health UK. An NCTJ-accredited journalist, Hannah graduated from Loughborough University with a BA in English and Sport Science and an MA in Media and Cultural Analysis. She has been covering sports, health and fitness for the last five years and has created content for outlets including BBC Sport, BBC Sounds, Runner’s World and Stylist. She especially enjoys interviewing those working within the community to improve access to sport, exercise and wellness. Hannah is a 2024 John Schofield Trust Fellow and was also named a 2022 Rising Star in Journalism by The Printing Charity. A keen runner, Hannah was firmly a sprinter growing up (also dabbling in long jump) but has since transitioned to longer-distance running. While 10K is her favoured race distance, she loves running or volunteering at parkrun every Saturday, followed, of course, by pastries. She’s always looking for fun new runs and races to do and brunch spots to try.