Turn Back the Clock: Fitness Trends Focus on Looking and Feeling Younger than Your Chronological Age

The quest for the fountain of youth is now mainstream. Gone are the days when only models, athletes and Hollywood stars worried about aging. It’s become a national obsession, as witnessed by the phenomenal increase in cosmetic surgery for both sexes and fads such as collagen and Botox injections. The generation that grew up in the 1960s not trusting anyone over 30 has had its comeuppance. We’ve passed 30 and then some. We’re at – or maybe even past – midlife but, with a bit of luck, we have many years ahead of us. Can we turn back the clock? Is it possible to look and feel younger than our chronological age?

Lloyd Gainesboro is the owner of the Dedham Health & Athletic Complex, a rather unusual health club because it is affiliated with the Joslin Diabetes Center and some of Boston’s top hospitals. “When someone walks by me,” Gainesboro says, “I look at that person’s body motion and stride. Often I’m amazed when I look at his or her face, or talk to them, and realize that this person is actually much older or younger than I initially thought.”

Gainesboro is convinced that we have two different ages: our actual chronological age and what he calls our “fitness age.” It’s not a new concept, but it’s attracting more attention as our population ages. Fitness age can be determined by a number of factors: muscle tone, strength, aerobic capacity, endurance, flexibility and balance.