79-year-old fitness influencer Joan MacDonald.Joan MacDonald/Supplied
Joan MacDonald’s wake-up call came from her daughter. At 70 years old, Joan had high blood pressure, lymphedema in her ankles and kidney failure. Basic movements like getting down on the floor and back up again were strenuous.
“You’re on a highway to a nursing home, mom,” Michelle MacDonald recalled telling her mother.
Michelle, who is a trainer, was visiting her mom in Coburg, Ont., when she first noticed the extent of her deteriorating condition. Standing inside Joan’s home, Michelle watched as her mom struggled to walk up the stairs. She saw the broken capillaries in her face from acid reflux. She learned that Joan was on blood pressure drugs that are nearly impossible to wean off.
Michelle was supposed to get back on a plane in a few days but she couldn’t leave without trying to get her mother to understand the gravity of her health. They spoke for a long time about the risks of continuing to ignore her mounting issues, and the changes they could make with just a little bit more movement. She wasn’t sure if any of it was getting through.
It did. By the time Michelle woke up the next morning, her mother was waiting for her in the car, wearing a black Good Life T-shirt, baggy black sweatpants and an old pair of sneakers, ready to head to the gym.
“I was bound, bent and determined to show her that I could actually do it,” said Joan. “That I was good for my word. That I would see it through.”
Nearly a decade later, Joan is a fitness influencer with more than two million followers across multiple platforms, the owner of a fitness app that helps other women begin their strength journeys and an author.
Two weeks into her training, Joan got on a plane to Mexico to train with Michelle and her husband.Joan MacDonald/Supplied
The first workout
Joan had been active on-and-off for years, playing slow-pitch baseball and doing some biking, but nothing prepared her for how challenging that first workout with her daughter would feel.
Michelle kept it simple: They would cycle through just four strength machines, like the shoulder press and lat pull-down, that were scalable and easy to learn. They added only the lightest weight possible and focused on pushing or pulling explosively and slowly controlling the return. Joan grimaced with effort, her face turning bright red, and she sweat through her shirt. But she finished the workout.
That didn’t mean she loved it instantly. “But I said I was going to do it,” she recalled thinking. ”I’ve got to do it.”
The next day, she was ready to go again.
Two weeks into her training, Joan got on a plane to Mexico to train with Michelle and her husband. Under Michelle’s guidance, she started using free weights, adding movements with less stability to challenge her core and co-ordination. Another two weeks in and she loaded two 45 pound plates onto the leg press machine.
But she was about to face her biggest challenge: Sticking to her routine at home on her own.
The stronger and more capable Joan became, the more she wanted to help other women around her age get over their fear of exercise, especially when it came to dreaded aches and chronic pains.Joan MacDonald/Supplied
Getting stronger
When Joan returned home, she had a new mindset about exercise. Skipping workouts didn’t even occur to her.
She increased her exercise frequency from two to four times a week and tried to ride her bike to as many places as possible.
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When Joan first started training, Michelle would print out her workouts to take to the gym. Soon, she began to cross-reference YouTube videos to help with her form. Those early sessions took nearly three hours. But the learning curve was worth it: All of Michelle’s clients are part of an online community, sharing tips and offering encouragement to each other. Once Joan became a little more tech-savvy, she was able to join them, helping her feel less alone on her journey.
Improvements in her overall health and ability to live independently were almost immediate. Within two months, she noticed she was more agile and could climb and descend stairs more easily. Her edema went down and her acid reflux became less severe. But the biggest moment came during a visit with her doctor who halved her blood pressure medication dose. In less than a year of training, she was allowed to go off that medication entirely.
A few years into her training journey, Joan launched an app, Train with Joan, to help women of any age and fitness level.Alvaro_Mejia/Supplied
Paying it forward
The stronger and more capable Joan became, the more she wanted to help other women around her age get over their fear of exercise, especially when it came to dreaded aches and chronic pains.
“If people are hurting a lot, I think they don’t want to try something that’s possibly going to make them hurt more,” said Joan. When you use muscles you haven’t worked in a long time, there will be some discomfort at first, she added. She had to push past that initial soreness herself. When she did, she found not only strength, but also pride on the other side.
Joan is of a generation that was told that as women get older, they should do less and take it easy, that it’s not possible to build muscle past a certain age. Once she learned how wrong this messages was, she set a goal to help other women avoid the trap of misinformation.
A few years into her training journey, Joan launched an app, Train with Joan, to help women of any age and fitness level. The app offers training, workout plans and meal ideas, as well as a community to connect with along the way.
Today, at 79, she is still on a mission to get other older adults moving.
“It might work for them, it might not,” she said. “But at least try. … You can’t say you can’t do it if you haven’t tried.”
Alyssa Ages is a journalist and the author of Secrets of Giants: A Journey to Uncover the True Meaning of Strength. She is also a strongman competitor and endurance athlete, as well as a former personal trainer and group fitness instructor.
