BALTIMORE, MD -June 09: Ernestine Shepherd, 74, competing in a bodybuilding show last year, where she received two trophies in Baltimore, Maryland on June 09, 2010. In Rome, Italy on March18, 2010, Ernestine received the Guinness World Record Award for the Oldest Female Bodybuilder. Washington Post Magazine profile of Ernestine Shepherd. (Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
You don’t have to get serious about keeping yourself in shape at a young age for it to make a difference. Scientists have found that there are all sorts of benefits to making fitness a priority as you age. Like making the heart younger, improving memory, keeping the muscles strong and more. Overall, consistent exercise can ease the speed with which your physiological clock is ticking. And oh yeah, it can help you look absolutely fantastic. Just ask Angela Bassett.
But it’s not just famous women of a certain age who are defying time, looking half of their age thanks to their access to personal trainers, chefs and a whole beauty squad. Everyday women are making news and popping up all over our favorite fitness pages because they’ve managed to stay fit and fabulous, whether they’re just in their early ’50s, or thriving eightsomethings. Yes, you read that correctly. Fitness enthusiast Ernestine Shepherd is 81 and in insane shape, and she didn’t really start getting active until she was in her late 50s.
“Despite how important it is to me now I haven’t always enjoyed exercise,” she said. “In fact, I didn’t set foot into a gym until I was 56. I was always too prissy to work out – and you couldn’t get me away from chocolate cake. But the year I turned 56, my sister Velvet and I went shopping for swimsuits. Neither of us had worn one for years. We looked in the changing room mirror, and made a pact to get in better shape.”
She did just that and hasn’t looked back.
