It’s been 28 years since Jane Fonda had women around the globe donning leg warmers and jumping around their living rooms until they could «feel the burn». Now, at 72 – but looking decades younger – she’s back. With two new DVDs due out in November, the original workout queen wants to show a slightly older generation that it’s never too late to get in shape.
The new DVDs – Jane Fonda: Prime Time Walkout and Jane Fonda: Prime Time Fit & Strong – aren’t exactly the sweat-fest of her earlier routines.
«This is not a high-impact aerobics video,» she says. «It’s a lot of marching and walking, or using light handweights, working different body parts.
«There is an endless list of good things that can happen to you if you exercise,» she adds. «It’s important that people my age keep moving.»
And let’s face it, she’s the ultimate advertisement for her philosophy.
Now in her eighth decade, with a new hip and knee and also, she admits, a little cosmetic help from the surgeon’s scalpel, Jane is slim, toned and unbelievably smooth-skinned.
So how does she do it? «I owe 30% to genes, 30% to good sex, 30% because of sports and a healthy lifestyle with proper nutrition and for the remaining 10% – I have to thank my plastic surgeon,» she jokes. Scalpels aside, here is the Fonda formula for looking as fabulous as Jane…
You’re never too old to exercise
«I am 72-years-old,» says J a n e. «I ‘ve had a hip replacement and a recent knee replacement, and I still manage to stay active.» In fact the fitness guru says she still likes to work out for at least an hour four or five times a week.
And while age hasn’t stopped her exercising, it has meant she’s had to a dapther routine: «It includes exercises and weight work designed to strengthen and maintain my core – my torso.
«As we age, those are the muscles that help us maintain posture, balance and strength. Exercise is also the key to building and maintaining my energy.»
Over the last decade Jane has abandoned her wild aerobic routines for yoga, which can help increase flexibility as well as keeping joints free and healthy – though even a fitness guru struggles sometimes.
«I can’t do what I used to,» she admits.
Put some colour in your diet
«A lot of how I eat is by colour,» explains Jane. «I always have dark purple every single day – blackberries or blue berries. I always have dark green – broccoli, asparagus or dark green lettuce. I always have something red, something yellow and something white.»
This sensible approach means Jane gets a variety of fruit and vegetables and a number of different essential vitamins, from the vitamin C found in orange fruits and vegetables, like oranges and carrots, to vitamin A in leafy greens such as spinach and kale.
Embrace every year
Feeling great past 60 is about appreciating what age has brought you as much as it is trying to ward off its saggy assault on your body.
«I’m happier, the sex is better and I understand life better. I don’t want to be young again,» insists Jane, who says age has given her a better perspective on life. «Less important things are less important. Like being thin and being hit on.»
Look after your skin
Although she’s been the face of L’Oreal Paris anti-ageing cream, Jane insists that the secret to younger looking skin can’t be found in a pot alone.
«It’s not that I haven’t tried virtually everything,» she says. «But for me, the truest, most reliable beauty potion is regular, vigorous exercises combined with good nutrition. These are the most important things you can do for your skin.
«Exercise increases the circulation and brings a rich flow of nutrients and and oxygen through the blood to the skin’s cells.»
Do the betweenthe-sheets workout.
An exercise routine that doesn’t involve getting out of bed? Sounds like the perfect workout.
Jane credits a healthy sex life as contributing to her amazing body – and science agrees.
One study found that couples who have sex at least three times a week look more than 10 years younger than the average adult who makes love twice a week.
Time for a workout!
By mirror.co.uk
©2013 Body Ballet®