Despite being in her seventies and suffering from arthritis, Jane Fonda remains a keen advocate of fitness for women of all ages – but has learnt from personal experience that it isn’t always easy as you get older.
Jane Fonda, now aged 75, has found she’s had to adapt her own fitness regime to the capabilities of her ageing body. And she has found yoga to be a perfect fit because it can build up muscle strength and tone without being too physically demanding.
“I knew that yoga would make me flexible but was surprised to find that it could also keep me aerobically fit as well as strong,” Jane Fonda said.
Jane Fonda has been doing yoga since the mid-1990s but found as age took its toll, she wasn’t as capable of certain moves.
“As I got older, my osteoarthritis made it difficult to do the same demanding postures,” the actress said.
As a result, Jane Fonda has now come up a yoga routine, aimed at those aged 50 and over, which provides a gentle but effective introduction to the popular form of exercise.
“Having had a knee and hip replacement in the last 10 years as well as back surgery, I needed to find a yoga routine that was safe and effective. I knew that one day I would create a yoga program for folks like me. Well, here it is,” Jane Fonda said of her DVD, AM/PM Yoga For Beginners, which will be released next month.
The workout is aimed specifically at keeping older generations active and includes morning and evening sessions users can choose to follow on any given day.
The morning workout is designed to help participants feel rejuvenated and energized while the evening versions aim to promote relaxation and relieve tension and stress.
Jane Fonda revealed how she fits yoga into her own day: “I do one 10-minute segment in the morning to get me revved up and ready to go and one 10-minute segment in the evening to chill me out. Sometimes with Richard, my honey.”
It seems that the women who have grown up following Jane Fonda’s fitness advice remain as resolute as her to stay active.
A survey commissioned to celebrate the release of the DVD found that 60% of 60-69 year olds agreed that fitness was still important in their lives. An admirable 68% of 70-79 year olds said they continued to exercise regularly.
And those in their 80s said they didn’t want to sit around in their slippers either – with 25% saying they wanted to keep in shape and continue to include fitness in their weekly routine.
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