A 79-year-old exercises 4 times a week, including dancing and 3-hour fencing sessions. She shared 4 things that help her stay fit and motivated.

• Cherie Rohn, 79, took up fencing at 75. She also works out and does ballroom dancing.
• She shared some of her secrets to staying so active at almost 80.
• These include finding an exercise you love and not trying to be perfect all the time.

Cherie Rohn, 79, has a very structured week when it comes to workouts.

On Sundays, she does a fencing lesson. On Tuesdays, she works out “strenuously.” On Wednesday, she does a three-hour fencing session. She takes Thursday for stretching, and on Friday has a ballroom dancing lesson.

The freelance writer and editor based in Fort Myers, Florida, started fencing when she was 75. She stumbled across online fencing lessons during a lockdown in November 2020, and has been doing it ever since.

Rohn has been active all her life and had done ballroom dancing for a decade before she took up the blade. But fencing is “the most strenuous thing I’ve ever done,” she said. “I have to work out constantly just to be able to do the sport.”

Factors including genetics, luck, and our environment are thought to play a role in how long we live, as well as lifestyle choices such as regularly exercising.

Here how Rohn stays fit as she approaches 80.

Find an exercise you love

From whitewater rafting and scuba diving to skydiving and ballroom dancing, Rohn has tried lots of different activities.

“Whatever pulls your chain, do that,” she said, because if you’re not motivated to do something, you won’t do it.

Nathan K. LeBrasseur, a physiologist who researches healthy aging, previously told BI that a mixture of cardiovascular exercise and resistance training is best for protecting our health. But the best exercise is one you can do consistently, so pick an activity you enjoy and will do regularly.

A 2018 study on 70 people over six weeks, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, found that those in their 80s who exercised regularly for most of their lives had similar levels of skeletal muscle and enzyme activity to those around 30 years younger than them.

Don’t give up

“Don’t quit too soon,” Rohn said. Instead, think about what you’re getting out of exercise.

For Rohn, fencing gives her “immense physical strength” and the ability to “meet the challenges of the day.” Plus, the intense concentration it requires provides an escape from worries, she said.

A 2023 study by researchers at Duke Kunshan University, China, using data on 22,463 people found that physically active people over 80 tended to live longer than their inactive peers, even if they took up exercising later in life.

Don’t try to be perfect all the time

“You can’t be Wonder Woman all of the time,” Rohn said. “Sometimes I eat really crappily. I’m not perfect. I screw up.”

Lots of dietitians advocate for the 80/20 diet, where you eat healthily 80% of the time and allow yourself to eat what you want for the other 20%. This is because the healthiest way to eat, like exercise, is one you can maintain in the long term.

Making resting part of your workout routine

She also takes multiple rest days a week to help her body recover.

Working out too much and not taking adequate rest can lead to issues such as tiredness, lack of motivation, and increased risk of injuries, Danielle Gray, a personal trainer, previously told BI.