For years, Anne Somauroo struggled to walk due to her osteoporosis pain. Now 68, she clocks 15,000 steps a day and lifts heavier than ever.
For 10 years, I spent almost every day in agony. In 2019, I was diagnosed with osteoporosis – a condition that weakens bones and indirectly causes joint pain. Doctors prescribed me painkillers, calcium tablets and anti-inflammatories, but they gave no relief. I couldn’t walk for longer than 45 minutes – and I wrote off exercise entirely. Then, during the lockdowns, my knee pain became unbearable.
Before retiring from my nursing career in 2017, I’d been on my feet every day. Now I could barely walk. I decided enough was enough. I tasked my daughter with finding me a personal training gym, and she found Roar in London.
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Anne Somauroo
When the day of my consultation arrived, I felt anxious – and I was convinced that my age would mark me out as different. I needn’t have worried about it. Not only were the trainers welcoming, but they were knowledgeable about my condition and how weight training could help to strengthen the muscles surrounding my joints.
Anne Somauroo
I signed up for a 12-week programme, made up of three hour-long workouts each week. The first session was hard. I was so out of breath and had no idea what the exercises or equipment were. But alongside teaching me how to perform the moves, my trainer explained to me why we were doing them.
‘I’m no longer in pain, I sleep deeper and I have more energy.’
Sticking to the schedule was tough, especially at first. Each week, we’d do a full-body, upper-body and lower-body session, with a focus on leg exercises, as walking without pain was my main goal; that way, each muscle group got a rest. And having a PT to hold me accountable really helped to keep me motivated.
Anne Somauroo
Three weeks in, I began to feel different. I had more stamina, and I was finishing every session with a huge sense of accomplishment. And as my strength improved, my pain began to feel much more manageable. By the end of the 12 weeks, I got through a day without ibuprofen – the first time in more than a decade.
Anne Somauroo
Two years on, I’m still doing the same routine – only the weights are heavier and I’m doing more advanced exercises. When I started out on my fitness journey, I couldn’t do a squat and had never heard of a leg press; now, I can do both with 40kg.
But my confidence in the gym is the least of it. I’m no longer in pain, I sleep deeper and I have more energy; it’s no exaggeration to say I feel 20 years younger. I walk up to 15,000 steps a day and I’ve booked a walking holiday in Japan.
Anne Somauroo
My approach to training has led to an interest in nutrition, too. Breakfast might be eggs and smoked salmon, lunch could be chicken with rice and vegetables, and dinner is fish and vegetables. The biggest game changer has been upping my water intake; now, I drink 3L a day.
When I retired, my biggest worry was how I’d fill my days – I even moved my retirement date back three times. I only wish I’d started my fitness journey sooner. Now that I have, I know I’ll keep training for the rest of my life.
As Women’s Health UK’s fitness director (and a qualified yoga teacher), 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’s 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’s World and Red.
Now, she oversees all fitness content across womenshealthmag.com.uk and the print magazine, spearheading leading cross-platform franchises, such as ‘Fit At Any Age’, 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 – 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.