Lee Moodley is an established South African Movement Therapist and Mobility Specialist. He grounds internationally accredited practices in mindfulness, creating accessibility through Kinisi Therapy, a practice focused on balanced healing.

Retirement isn't just about financial planning; it's about investing in your long-term health and energy. Shifting the focus from short-lived fitness resolutions to sustainable fitness investments can transform how you enjoy your golden years. Discover practical strategies to prioritize your physical well-being and build a lifestyle that keeps you active, vibrant, and ready for the adventures ahead.

Why retirement fitness planning?
Following the festive season, we often make unrealistic New Year's resolutions, many of which are related to exercise and fitness. This article shifts the focus from short-term fitness resolutions to a long-term approach, similar to financial investment. Exercise-based interventions are as effective as, or even better than, multiple classes of pharmaceuticals at reducing mortality from coronary heart disease, prediabetes, diabetes, and stroke.¹
This shift can help you develop and maintain a functional body for your later decades. Retirement planning should include not only a healthy bank balance but also an energetic body! During my finance studies, I was introduced to Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, and his long-term investment principles. In alignment with his investment philosophy, I adopt a long-term approach to my own and my clients' training. Training is more beneficial with small, consistent inputs over a longer period than with large, inconsistent efforts later on. It doesn’t matter when you start; the earlier, the better consistency is key. I apply this philosophy to all my clients' training plans because your body is the biggest investment of your life.
So, you’ve decided you want to be healthier, fitter, slimmer, or simply feel better in your body. That is a great intention, but what does that look like when you retire? Dr. Peter Attia, author of Outlive, talks about the Centenarian Decathlon, a framework for your physical aspirations in your later decades. Consider what you’d like to do in retirement, as your Centenarian Decathlon will shape what you’ll be training for.
Centenarian decathlon goals
In financial planning, we must know the amount of money needed to save while accounting for inflation, as purchasing power erodes over time. Similarly, your body’s capacity declines by approximately 10% every decade.²³
What are the most important capacities for your fitness retirement? Dr. Attia describes these as the key factors for longevity: cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle mass and output, and stability. Quantifying what you need to stay comfortable in the future can be challenging, but working with your Centenarian Decathlon Goals makes it easier. Next, we’ll explore each longevity factor so you can quantify your goals and prepare for retirement.
Cardiorespiratory fitness
Cardiorespiratory fitness is defined as VO2 max, which is the maximum rate at which a person can utilize oxygen. When we are at rest, we require less oxygen; at higher intensity levels, we use more. Essentially, this measures how well we can shift into a higher output level and how long we can sustain it. If you enjoy walking or running, consider the distances you would like to achieve in retirement and the intensity at which you would like to complete them.
For example, if you currently walk 5 km in an hour and are satisfied with this time getting longer as you age, you can add 10% to your time every decade to see if you’d be comfortable with the result.² If you’re unhappy with that time, take the time you’d like to achieve in retirement and subtract 10% for each decade to estimate your current goal. This equation is not an exact science, as everyone is different, but it serves as a practical tool for building a buffer in your cardiorespiratory fitness. Using this principle, you can improve your VO2 max with any exercise, so choose what moves you, whether it’s dancing, HIIT, or sports.
Muscle mass output
The other consideration for longevity is the ability of muscles to generate force. So again, consider the activities you want to perform in later decades and what functional strength will be required. Some of these activities include but are not limited to gardening, DIY, grocery shopping, and even standing at a concert. Remember, having strong arms in a bench press does not translate to lifting a box; the same applies to having a great squat with weak arms. The aim is to find an optimal output capacity for the future to perform fundamental movements, such as sitting and standing, getting out of bed and your Centenarian Decathlon goals.
Note that there is an accelerated decline from age 65, so consistency earlier in life will build up a good habit for your later years.⁴ Once you know what you want to do in your retirement, you can add ± 10% every decade to find the current strength you require. Think about the weights you’d like to carry or move around. How heavy is your bag of groceries? Do you need to carry a child or pet? Would you want to lift something above your head? This will give you an idea of how strong you’ll need to be in retirement, then add ± 10% more weight for each decade until retirement, similar to cardiovascular fitness, to get the strength output you need now. The small, consistent efforts toward strengthening your body will be the high-value savings you have created for future retirement.
Stability
Stability may be defined as the unconscious ability to balance or absorb a load. A scary fact is the leading cause of death among people above age 65 is falling.⁵ What is more unnerving is that the data does not include those who died within a year of their injury. An injury creates an accelerated decline in health, as an individual cannot function normally; this reduced function causes a further decrease in cardiorespiratory fitness and strength, resulting in reduced longevity of an individual.⁶ Allow your training to develop stability in all aspects of your movement functions; this attribute can be overlooked in our earlier years, but our deficiencies compound as we age.
When trying to develop stability, you can be playful. When standing in line, you can try to balance on one leg or lift the free leg higher to challenge yourself. You can also walk a painted line pretending the floor is lava. These playful challenges testing your balance will help your stability. Again, consistency is key.
Final check
We all aspire to live robust and functional lives, but we must invest now. Fitness investment creates buffers for all three attributes of longevity: cardiorespiratory, muscle mass output and stability. So don’t fall into the trap of the latest fitness fads because you woke up feeling like a change this year. Instead, choose various activities you enjoy, such as yoga, CrossFit, and weight training, to work towards maintaining fitness in your later decades.
The ultimate tool
I will not recommend a specific training programme because, as I have mentioned, we all have different and specific needs. However, I will suggest a tool to supplement your fitness programme: Controlled Articular Rotations (CARs) from the Functional Range Systems (FRS). CARs focus on developing good joint space while maintaining strength and control, an essential beginning point for safe training.
The beauty of CARs is their simplicity and efficiency in improving stability, strength, and cardiovascular health. After incorporating CARs into my training, I have reduced my training inputs but increased my output capacity because they are designed around the fundamentals of joint mechanics. CARs can also be done anywhere, anytime and without equipment for those who find training time-consuming and challenging to schedule.
If you want to try it out, use my free online video.
Read more from Lee Moodley
Lee Moodley, South African Movement Therapist And Mobility Specialist
Lee Moodley is an established South African Movement Therapist, Mobility Specialist, and founder of Kinisi Therapy. Lee bases his practices on internationally accredited certifications in 13 styles of yoga, calisthenics, mobility, strength and conditioning. While pursuing his own learning, Lee felt that Yoga practice had become misaligned, as it focused on body conditioning instead of its true essence - healing and peace. Born of this is The Kinisi Method, a modern yoga approach that holds space for the balance between body, mind, and soul. This balance allows a tailored movement practice to stem into self-empowered growth and insight, leading to supported and gentle healing.
References:
Naci, H., and Ioannidis, J.P.A. (2015). Comparative effectiveness of exercise and drug interventions on mortality outcomes: Metaepidemiological study. Br. J. Sports Med. 49, 1414-1422.
Kim, C. -H., Wheatley, C.M., Behnia, M., and Johnson, B.D. (2016). The effect of ageing relationships between lean body mass and VO2Max in rowers. PLOS ONE 11, e0160275.
Lexell, J. (1995). Human aging, muscle mass, and fiber type composition. J. Geronol. A.Biol. Sci. Med. Sci. 50 Spec No, 11-16.
Westererp, K.R., Yamada, Y., Sagayama, H., Ainslie, P.N., Andersen, L.F., Anderson, L.J., Arab, L., Baddou, I., Bedu-Addo, K., Blaak, E.E., et al (2021). Physical activity and fat-free mass during growth and in later life. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 114, 1583-1589.
CDC (Centers for Disease Control) (2021). Facts about falls. Injury Center
Van Ancum, J.M., Pijnappels, M., Jonkman, N.H., Scheerman, K., Verlaan, S., Meskers, C.G.M. and Maier, A.B. (2018). Muscle mass and muscle strength are associated with pre-and post-hospitalization falls in older male inpatients: A longitudinal cohort study. BMC Geriatr. 18,116.