At 87, Jane Fonda is the first to acknowledge that her fitness habits look different than they did when she was taking over VHS tapes back in the 80s. But like the activist-actress-entrepreneur herself, Fonda’s workouts have aged gracefully — and are as effective as ever.
“I essentially do everything I used to do, just slower,” Fonda told People in a new interview. For example, she says, “I used to be a runner, but now I love walking. I love being outdoors in the woods, especially up and down hills.”
Two keys to Fonda’s routine: consistency and variety. The Grace and Frankie star says she works out every day without fail, so she makes sure to switch between different workouts so she doesn’t get bored. “It is important to mix up the way I move,” Fonda explained. “I alternate days doing upper body and lower body work for strength.” She also looks for a “way to get cardio in,” and says that going for outdoor walks is “one of my favorite ways” to do it.
Fonda, who recently released a series of virtual reality workout classes through the platform Supernatural, has been open about how her fitness routine has changed as she’s gotten older, and why it’s so important to continue to make it a priority to move. “I used to be able to do bicep lifts with 10 pounds and now I do it with five, and I use a lot of resistance bands instead of machines because I don’t want to go to the gym,” Fonda told Elle UK in 2023.
She told the publication that she still does her original workout routines from the 80s, just at a slower pace and with lighter resistance. Sure, she’s a few decades older, but the exercises hold up, Fonda explained. “The essential moves and the essential goal is the same: You want to strengthen your core and your back, which is especially important if you’re over 30. You want to be able to carry your grandchildren. And I can still do that.”
While some goals have stayed the same, others — like the focus on aesthetics and appearance — have shifted, Fonda added. These days, fitness “has to do with how I feel,” she said. “Also, because I’m old, I know from experience that if you don’t keep using your muscles and joints, you’re going to be in big trouble.”
Fonda knows what she’s talking about, too. Exercise is beneficial at all ages, but when it comes to aging, experts have described exercise as the closest thing we have to a “magic pill.” It’s been shown to to slow down your “biological clock” while improving the health of your brain, heart, bones, and more, according to the CDC. And while it’s OK to not be able to do all the high-intensity movements you maybe did in, say, your 20s, what’s important is to simply keep moving — no matter what that looks like.
As Fonda told Vogue in 2022, “I know better than I did even when I was younger that no matter how old you are or who you are or where you are, keeping moving in a way that’s appropriate for your age is absolutely critical to your healthy lifespan.”
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This article was originally published on sheknows.com.