Optimal Aging

How Fit Older Adults Can Stay Engaged in Gyms – Insights from a Fitness Consumer

• Jay Croft

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Jay Croft speaks with Andrew, a retired tech and travel executive and long-time gym-goer, who poses a provocative question: How can gyms stay relevant for older adults who are already fit? This episode dives into how fitness professionals can better serve this overlooked but important segment of the over-50 population. 

If you're a gym owner, trainer, or wellness pro working with older adults, this episode is a must-listen for understanding how to engage those who are fit and want to stay that way — with empathy, programs, and smart marketing.

🧑‍💼 Guest: Andrew

Bio: Andrew is a 69-year-old retired executive who has maintained a lifelong dedication to fitness. As a passionate gym-goer, he offers unique insight into the mindset and needs of fit older adults.
Location: Atlanta, GA

🕒 Timestamps:

  • [00:00] Andrew’s mindset: Pushing limits while aging
  • [01:00] Jay introduces Andrew and the core question of the episode
  • [02:00] Who gyms typically market to — and who gets overlooked
  • [03:00] The deconditioned vs. the conditioned population
  • [05:00] The question from Andrew that sparked this episode
  • [06:00] Concerns of active aging adults: injury, limitation, mindset
  • [08:00] How gyms can help by adapting and supporting
  • [10:00] Gym marketing misses for the 50+ fit population
  • [12:00] Suggestions for better programming and language
  • [14:00] The mindset shift: aging and adapting with strength
  • [16:00] Prioritizing full-body health — including doctor visits
  • [18:00] Community and mental health in gyms
  • [20:00] What active older adults look for when gym-shopping
  • [22:00] Building community and acknowledgment in fitness spaces

🔗 Resources & Mentions:

🎤 Host: Jay Croft

Jay is the founder of Prime Fit Content, helping fitness professionals attract and retain clients over 50 with smart, effective content marketing.

🌐 Podcast Website: https://primefitcontent.com

📥 Email: jay@primefitcontent.com

📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/primefitcontent

🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/croftjay

👍 Rate the show on Apple Podcasts
 📬 Join the email list – https://primefitcontent.com

Speaker 1:

I think the important thing for me is to keep pushing against my limits, even though those limits may come down Right, or even though I have to work around my back or a bad you know bad shoulder Usually it's my elbow, so it's not getting, it's not falling into despair about those things, but learning how to work around it, and I think gyms could help people do that. I think gyms can help older, you know, guys who have stayed in shape to work through these very common issues. You know.

Speaker 2:

Hi everyone, welcome to Optimal Aging, the show for fitness, health and well-being professionals who want to grow their businesses by reaching more people over 50. I'm your host, jay Croft of Prime Fit Content, and today I want to do something a little bit different, stemming from an encounter I had about a week ago at a party celebrating my new book Selling Longevity. During the Q&A portion of the evening, I got a question I've never been asked before and it's a really good question, and it got me thinking and I thought, hmm, I need to explore this on the podcast and see what folks out there think about this. Now. The question came from a man named Andrew, who is a friend of mine who is not in the fitness industry. I know him from the gym. We've both been going to the same gym for many years here in Atlanta. Andrew is 69. He's a retired travel and tech executive. He's in great condition and has been working out I don't know forever, decades and he raised the question about how gyms can market to people like him who are in good shape and want to stay in good shape as they continue to get older and perhaps experience some physical challenges or perhaps even decline that might seem inevitable as we age.

Speaker 2:

Most of my presentation had focused on the segment of the over 50 population that is deconditioned and might be intimidated or afraid to go to a gym for the first time in what could be years, maybe decades, maybe ever, because, let's face it, that's most of the people in the demographic. Most people don't do anything. So they are this deconditioned population for the most part, and that's where the greatest business opportunity is for gym owners. But Andrew, my friend at the event, raised this question what about people like him? What about people like me? We're over 50. He and I are both over 60. We're in good condition, we've spent our lives working out, exercising, enjoying things like that, and we're not at all intimidated to go to a gym.

Speaker 2:

So how can gyms stay relevant to us in their marketing? Granted, it's a smaller segment of the population, but it's still significant enough to warrant a conversation for this podcast, which is, after all, about marketing and communications for fitness for people over 50. You know what do you do? It's like you can't ignore the larger percentage of the population that really is deconditioned and really does need a different type of marketing approach and customer experience approach than people like me and Andrew, who maybe don't need so much orientation or assistance or welcoming, but also don't want to be treated badly or treated like we're 20 years old or any of the other mistakes that you can make, right?

Speaker 2:

So Andrew's question was really interesting, got me thinking and I decided that I would invite Andrew onto the podcast and have an interview with him and talk about this a little bit more with him. So that's the first portion of what you're going to see me speaking with Andrew, and then after that I have Dan Ritchie, who is the president and co-founder of the Functional Aging Institute and who owned a gym for many years serving the over 50 population. So it was just a really interesting question, sparked a lot of good conversation with Andrew, a fitness consumer, and Dan, a fitness provider, and I think you'll enjoy it, and I would love to hear what you think about this yourself. So shoot me an email at jjay at crimefitcontentcom, and let me know what you think. All right, thanks very much. Here it is. Do you remember what you asked me?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think it was along the lines of what advice do you have for some of the I don't know what you're calling them seniors or people in their prime or whatever who have worked out and kept in shape all of their years as they get older? Is there any advice you would give them? I think that was the question.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think it was too one of the women who threw the party for me to send me a copy of the recording because I wanted to know exactly what you said. Because, I have to admit, there was something in my mind thinking really fast like, oh my gosh, I haven't heard this before, but it's a really good question.

Speaker 1:

You know, I could tell, I could tell you caught me Because I mean, mean it's legitimate. You, you have focused on getting people who are sedentary in their older years and saying, don't give up, you can start now. You can get on it, you know, yeah, so it seems like that's been your primary focus. Yes, but yeah, but I don't know Gym owners will also have. You know, I see plenty of people in the gym you and I who have stayed in shape, you know, and we have a different set of concerns. You know what runs through my mind, jay.

Speaker 1:

It's as I keep doing this, it's, it's always. When am I not going to be able to do this? Okay, it's. Will I accept the limitations that my body is beginning to show me? Mm-hmm, you know it's. What extra efforts do I need to stay in shape? And healthy efforts. Do I need to stay in shape and healthy, like stretching? I think for me, stretching has become a lot more important as I've gotten older. It's also about how do I deal with some of the very common ailments that older people may have and still work out effectively, like my back? Okay, how do I do crunches? How do I do abs if I have a bad back? You know so, really working around, not only the mental stuff that goes on about, you know the absolute fear of when is the shoe going to drop, when am I not going to be able to do this? Right, which keeps me going, by the way, because I think the day that I stop going is it'll all go downhill, yeah, but that's a fear that I think we can face.

Speaker 1:

That's an irrational fear that you keep in the back of your mind which, if you take it out and you look at it, okay, what you say is gosh, aren't I lucky to be in good shape for a person this age? Would I ever have expected that? Right? Yeah, I can't. You know, maybe the amount of weights will go down okay, or I won't be able know. Maybe the amount of weights will go down Okay, or I won't be able to do certain exercises because of joint pain or back pain or whatever.

Speaker 1:

But I can learn a different way to do this. You know, I can work around that limitation and I think the important thing for me is to keep pushing against my limits, even though those limits may come down right, or even though I have to work around my back or a bad you know bad shoulder, or usually it's my elbow. So it's not getting, it's not falling into despair about those things, but learning how to work around it, and I think gyms could help people do that. I think gyms can help older, you know, guys who have stayed in shape to work through these very common issues, you know you know how, what, what.

Speaker 2:

that's kind of what I wanted to bring you on here, because this podcast is primarily aimed at the gym owner um, not exclusively. I'm I'm sure some, uh, civilians listen to it as well and that's great. But the question you raised at the book signing last week directly translates to people who run these businesses. And so what can they do you know to to make it easier for us? I wrote about this in the book what my? When my mother was still here, she lived in a little town near Nashville, tennessee, and when I would go up and see her I always wanted to find a good gym and I couldn't find the right one, I'd go try this one and go try that one. Never quite worked. There was nothing that advertised for hey, are you over 50 and want an adult experience at a gym? Come see us. There was nothing, nothing.

Speaker 1:

So the first thing gym owners could do is acknowledge that this is a part of their target audience.

Speaker 2:

Yeah hey, are you a fitness professional trying to grow your business with people over 50? If you are, then you need to know how to communicate with them, how to market to them and how to get them to trust you with their fitness, wellbeing and money. How to market to them and how to get them to trust you with their fitness, well-being and money. We're talking about millions of people who are a little older than the typical market that the fitness industry usually pursues. They have more money, more time and better motivation to make the best long-term fitness consumers you'll find anywhere. If you're not focusing on them, you should be. Prime Fit Content is the only content marketing company designed specifically to help you engage people in this group and to help you distinguish yourself from competitors in your community. It's effective, affordable and super easy to use. Check it out at primefitcontentcom. That's prime like prime of your life. Fit Fit content dot com.

Speaker 1:

Back to the show. There is a fair number of people. A material percentage of their customers are people like us who are older and in shape. Ok, so how do you serve that portion of your market, of that portion of your client base?

Speaker 2:

acknowledge them, you know there has to be special programs, you know everybody's doing.

Speaker 1:

Um, uh, what the part dementia? Yeah, um, what pickleball? No, no, no, it's the intense workout. Barry's hit yeah, I mean everybody's and I'm intimidated to go to a barry's because I don't know that I could do what they're doing. Yeah, so how about a boot camp for older in-shape guys? Don't treat us like you know, we're incapable, like you're going to break. Right, but fashion exercises and stretches that cater to us, okay, you know, don't make us do 100 burpees, we ain't going there. Acknowledge that we're here.

Speaker 1:

Acknowledge that you're not only looking for that 20, 30-something-year-old in shape person but that you have 15%, 20% of your market of these older guys who are coming in, who are in great shape. Cater to them, acknowledge them first. Hey, we're glad you're here. You're amazing. You've done everything you've needed to do to get to this point in your life and you're still in and you're in great shape. Yeah. Now, how do you keep that? Yeah, okay, how do you not give up mentally? How do you adjust to your body? You know changes, right? Um?

Speaker 2:

well, yeah, we, we talked about some of this at the at the party and you know the things the best I could come up with on the fly thank you very much was, uh were things like understanding it's your responsibility and that these habits that you've developed are assets that you need to maintain at this point in life and into the future, and accepting that you are still aging and that, just like you can't be 25 again, you can't even be, you know, five years earlier again. We're just aging it only goes in one way, yeah, it only how old are you?

Speaker 1:

68, 69, 69 you know, I'm already saying, I'm already saying I'm almost 70. It's just to get used to it yeah, well, why not?

Speaker 2:

I mean, it only goes in one one direction, and so we really just have to accept that and stop focusing on what we can't do and stop thinking that well, I'm old, so it's, I might as well just sit here like no, you can still have a lot of life left in you and still do everything that you want to do. It just might be a little bit less, might be a little bit less.

Speaker 1:

But the important thing is is that you do still push to your limits, whatever they are. You do address your mental. You know those thoughts that go through your head of, oh, just give up, your body's going to age and fall apart anyway. You know, address that consciously and there's an intelligent response to that. Okay, yeah. And then how good do you feel, no matter what age you are, after you work out Right, how much better do you feel about yourself. You know, not only from the endorphins that get released, but you know you fit better in clothes. You know, maybe you attract to that occasional daddy lover, you know, whatever, yeah, Well, that's true.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, that's true. And you know, the other thing I think is important is we have to take care of our, our whole health as we mature and continue to age. And I think I mentioned things like keep all your doctor appointments and take, you know, take the appropriate. Uh, no, I'm serious, people blow that off, listen.

Speaker 1:

They blow off their dental appointment and they've got major issues. Yeah, I mean it's ears, it's prostate, it's you know, you name it.

Speaker 2:

I'm not there yet. I'm still at the stage where you know I go see the doctor once a year and he draws my blood, and I see the dentist twice a year and they clean my teeth and all of that. But it's easy to blow that off, you know, and say I don't, I don't need to go, I feel fine. No, you don't know. If you feel fine, who cares how you feel?

Speaker 1:

go to the damn doctor or you don't feel fine. You know, it's been amazing to me that I go with knee pain and I just think, oh, I automatically, I go to, oh, knee replacement, okay, and the doctor gives me exercises to do and things to stretch and weeks later I don't have any pain anymore.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Or prostate, enlarged prostate. Well, I go to a doctor and you know the frequent bladder, the urgency and the frequency. They now have cures for that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, okay.

Speaker 1:

And they're amazing. So it's part of that not giving up. Go fix what needs to get fixed.

Speaker 2:

There's sometimes a good remedy for what needs to get fixed. Right, right, well, exactly, and I think that all of that is just as important to maintaining your health and fitness as continuing to go to the gym or play golf or rock a ball or pick a ball, or whatever it is that you like to do. You know, I talk a lot about going to the gym and that is the primary focus, because I really believe that we need strength training and as well as cardio and flexibility, and I think the gym is the ideal place to get all of that cardio and flexibility, and I think the gym is the ideal place to get all of that um, but really, I would just be thrilled if more people our age did anything.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean that's your major challenge. Okay, because they've given up and how. That's a you know, god bless you. I mean that is a big hill to climb to get someone who's been sedentary suddenly to say, okay, I'm going to get in the gym and I'm going to start. Yeah, even if it's small.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

God bless you. I mean, I think you have success with that. You know it's, it's worth every bit of effort for that. Yeah, yeah, but there's, there's a whole. You know I, I go back if I'm a gym owner and what are my chances of bringing the sedentary elderly into? The gym versus catering and attracting to the target market that is mature and in shape, and catering to their needs.

Speaker 2:

So let's have a hypothetical here. You and I have been going to the same gym for many years here in Atlanta has a very diverse clientele, age-wise. You see, I think they've got teenagers in there. They look like teenagers. If they're not, they're barely 20 and probably 40, yeah. And then there's people our age and everything in between, and I think that's kind of deliberate on the owner's part to to fill the gym up at various times of day. People our age can go in the daytime, kids can go at night, the whole thing. So let's say that you move. You've been in Atlanta for a long time. Let's say that you move to a new comparable city. You move to Denver or Dallas or Chicago and you need to find a new gym and you go on Google or you look on Facebook or you talk to friends or you drive around your neighborhood to find one. What kind of things would be helpful to you that would say not only does this gym want older people, but this gym wants older people who know what they're doing in a gym.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so you know, first identify me as a target market, okay, and I don't know, I can't think on my feet as quickly and say, you know, not the older in fit guy, but it's the, the person who has matured and been active their whole life and is still healthy. Okay, that's who you are and I want to encourage you to continue that, even as your body changes. And maybe there are special stretching classes, okay, maybe there are just classes for people 45, 50 and older. You know one, one of the, and it's not only about fitness. I think people our age often are also looking for community.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, okay.

Speaker 1:

And having a class that caters to that segment, I think might help create some community. And you know, if you're creating community in a gym, more likely to show up.

Speaker 2:

It's really interesting and I'm glad that you brought it up at the event, even though I was a little annoyed with you for putting me on the spot with a question I've never been asked before. I'm kidding, it was a great question. I'm glad you asked it. I'm glad that you made time to talk to me tonight. So thank you very much. You're welcome and I guess I'll see you at the gym.

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Jay Croft

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