Folks Over 50 Making Fitness a Priority

What do the Recycled Teenagers, Babes on Blades, the Tucson Hot Flashes, Still Kicking and the Over the Hill Gang have in common?

They’re all fitness groups for athletes who are 50 and older. According to a new study done by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Assn., the 50-plus generation is exercising more than any other age group, and they’re not just walking--they’re joining health clubs, running, biking, swimming, playing soccer and in-line skating.

Activities once thought to be the exclusive territory of younger athletes are being embraced by an older generation of fitness buffs. Among them:

The Rodeo Grandmas, a bunch of rodeo-roping and riding women older than 60 in Washington.

The Over the Hill Gang, an international group of 50-plus skiers who believe that “when you’re over the hill, you pick up speed.”

The Atlanta Avengers, a team of men older than 70 who are still running bases and sliding home.

Still Kicking, a Farmington, Conn., soccer team for women ages 50 to 70.

Maria Stefan, executive director of the manufacturers association, said America’s elderly get involved in sports and recreation programs for social interaction as well as physical fitness.

“What the dance club is to the younger generation, health clubs and fitness groups have become to the 50-plus generation,” Stefan says. “They see sports and fitness as the new health prescription for looking good on the outside and feeling good on the inside.”

According to the study, the top five activities for people 55 and older are aquatic exercise, fitness walking, golf, stationary cycling and cross-country skiing. Other surprising statistics:

* Fifty and older golfers play three times as often as their younger counterparts.

* Weight-training is the fastest-growing fitness activity, increasing 54% during the last decade by women age 55-plus.

* More than 3 million people, most of them older than 50, walk in shopping malls for exercise--double the number five years ago.

* Thousands of 50-plus fitness groups are organized annually, in addition to structured health clubs and classes.

Research shows active seniors are on the right track. The American Medical Assn. says that as physical activity increases, the risk of heart disease, hypertension, osteoporosis and non-insulin dependent diabetes drops.

In an article published recently in the medical journal the Physician and Sportsmedicine, Dr. Thomas L. Schwenk of the University of Michigan Medical Center writes that “physical activity may not be a fountain of youth, but it’s the closest thing we have.”

Sedentary seniors can make strides in fitness even when they start late, Schwenk writes. “Most physiological decline stems from inactivity and is reversible.”

The study also shows that older individuals are spending more money on athletic clothing and equipment.