Starting to Exercise After 50: How to Begin Safely

Is it safe to start?

For almost everyone, yes. The U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines say activity can be safe for almost everyone, and that most people are unlikely to be injured doing moderate activity in the amounts recommended. The most common problems are muscle, bone and joint injuries, and they’re more likely when someone does too much, too soon.

The risk isn’t in moving. It’s in jumping straight to the pace you remember from twenty years ago. Becoming regularly active, gradually, is part of what makes you less injury-prone over time.

If you have a chronic condition or symptoms, the guidelines advise being under the care of a health care provider, who can say which types and amounts suit you. Asking doesn’t mean you can’t exercise. It usually means you’ll do it more confidently.

Start low and go slow

The guidelines say it plainly: inactive people should start low and go slow. Begin with lower-intensity activities, then increase how often and how long you do them a little at a time.

• Pick something comfortable today, like a short walk or a few sit-to-stands.
• Add a little at a time: a few more minutes, or one more day, once the last week felt easy.
• If a week felt hard, repeat it. Progress isn’t a race, and repeating a week isn’t going backward.

Effort is personal. The same brisk walk is easy for one person and hard for another, so the guidelines advise judging effort against your own fitness, not anyone else’s. The easiest tool is the talk test: at moderate effort you can carry on a conversation but couldn’t sing. In the first few weeks, aim for the lower end. You should finish feeling you could have done a bit more.

What normal feels like

Mild muscle tiredness or a little stiffness the day after trying something new is common and usually fades in a day or two. Dull, widespread tiredness in the muscles you used is normal. Sharp, localized or worsening pain is something else: rest, and ask a professional if it doesn’t settle in a few days.

If something makes you nervous, do the smaller or seated version, or skip the day. You can always pick it up tomorrow at the same size.

The guidelines also advise using appropriate gear and choosing safe places. In practice that means supportive shoes, a well-lit route you know, a sturdy chair against a wall for strength work, and an indoor plan for days that are too hot, cold or icy.

A first week you could try

This is our own example, not a researched protocol: three small steps, each one easy to repeat. The four-week Steady Start program builds on them.