Most people who come to me in their sixties and seventies aren’t trying to get back to what they could do at thirty. They want to carry the shopping without stopping halfway. Get off the floor without help. Keep up with grandchildren. Stay independent, and stay out of hospital.
That’s what I train people for.
I’m Ivan Young — a CIMSPA-accredited Level 4 Advanced Personal Trainer and GP Exercise Referral Specialist. I coach online, across the UK, and almost everyone I work with is over fifty.
Adults from their fifties into their eighties. Most are beginners, or coming back after years away. Many are managing something — arthritis, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, a knee or hip replacement, long-term back or shoulder pain.
A lot of people arrive having been told by a GP or consultant that they need to get stronger, with no idea what that means in practice or whether it’s safe.
No bootcamps. No shouting. No exercise you’d be embarrassed doing.
Adults lose muscle steadily from around fifty, and it accelerates after sixty. That loss is what turns a stumble into a fall, and a fall into a hospital stay. It’s also largely reversible — muscle responds to training at any age, including in your eighties.
This is why strength work sits at the centre of every programme I write, alongside balance and mobility. Not because it’s fashionable, but because it’s the single thing most likely to keep you doing what you want to do in ten years’ time.
You don’t need a gym, and you don’t need to be good with technology.
You get a programme built around the equipment you actually have — several of my clients train entirely at home with a pair of dumbbells and a chair. You film a set on your phone when you’re unsure, and I watch it and tell you what to change. We speak every week, by whatever method you’ll actually use: a call, a message, or a video chat.
If something in the plan isn’t working — a bad week, a flare-up, a holiday, we change the plan. You’re not left following a PDF on your own.
If you’d rather train in person and you’re near Twickenham, I also coach one-to-one.
We start with what you can do now, not what a textbook says a 68-year-old should manage.
Sessions build the movements real life asks for — standing up from a low chair, climbing stairs without the handrail, carrying something heavy in one hand, turning to look behind you. Weights come in gradually, at a load that challenges you and nothing more.
If something hurts, we work around it and keep going, rather than stopping altogether. That usually matters more than any exercise I could pick.
I spent twenty years as a Finance Director. A cardiac incident ended that. Since then I've lost 25kg, reversed type 2 diabetes, and rebuilt my strength through three knee operations, two shoulder surgeries and a ruptured Achilles.
I know what it's like to start again from a body that isn't cooperating, and to wonder whether training is going to help or make things worse. It's why I coach the way I do. You can also read more testimonials from my clients.
Nobody who comes to me is. That's the point of starting. The first conversation is about finding out what you can do comfortably, and we build from there.
Usually yes, and usually you should. My GP Exercise Referral qualification covers diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, COPD, stress, anxiety, depression, arthritis, osteoporosis, lower back pain, PCOS and Parkinson's. Conditions get designed into the plan, not ignored. We also offer specialized nutrition packages to support these conditions.
If you can send a photo or answer a video call, that's the whole technical requirement. Several of my clients are in their seventies.
Not normally. If there's anything that needs checking, I'll tell you and we'll wait until it's cleared.
Most of my clients hadn't either. We start with bodyweight and light dumbbells, and technique comes before load, always.
I haven't found it. The research on strength training in the over-80s is consistently positive.
No — I coach clients rather than train instructors. For qualifications, look at CIMSPA-endorsed providers.
A no-pressure chat, at no charge. We'll talk about where you are now and whether this is the right fit — no obligation either way.