Blog: The great outdoors – how to have mental resilience at 60 and beyond…

Mental health is the catchphrase of the decade. 

The rise in it’s use in the press and media is significant and there’s much more awareness about ‘mental health’ generally. 

But what does this mean for each of us as we move through the different life stages?

I know for sure that my mental health requirements were hugely different pre-motherhood to what I needed once I had two babies under 19 months. 

And likewise now my mum’s mental health requirements in her 70s are different to mine in my (very) late forties. 

Maintaining a resilience as you enter your sixties is just as important as it was in your twenties and thirties. The rules have changed, but the needs are the same 🙂

• You may be part of the sandwich generation. The solid and dependable link between elderly parents and the struggling independence of off-spring. 
• You may be approaching early retirement or in retirement and needing to adjust to a new routine after 40 years of the weekly 9-5.
• Friends and colleagues that you’ve had as support and friendship over the years will change as people move on, leave jobs and start their new phases of life.
• You may be noticing that there are more aches, pains and limiting problems that make you think about your health more often. 
• Finding out who you are as you – may leave you wondering what it is you used to do before you became an employee or boss or a full-time mum or carer.

Any one of these things happening can leave you feeling unsettled and out of sorts. Several together can challenge even the most sturdy of mindsets. 

At FastTrack Fit Camp we help our clients to feel like they have some positive structure to their week with our outdoor exercise classes. However it’s the additional benefits of regular exercise that our clients are also pleased with and grateful for. 

Take Paul for example. Paul joined us whilst still in full time work and used his weekly Twyford Fit Camp sessions to blow off the stresses of the day. Since he’s taken early retirement he’s been able to maintain his routine with us, build on his mental resilience as well as his strength and fitness and enjoy a sociable, healthy retirement. 

Read Paul’s full story here. 

Or Sue. Sue has been attending Fit Camp sessions in Winnersh for several years and in that time has had two partial knee replacements. Sue knew that following her operation and recuperation she would be able to come back to Fit Camp and, with our support, help her to regain the lost strength in her knees. The support of her fellow campers has helped Sue to recover healthily by getting back into her routine with a group of supportive campers around her. 

Read Sue’s full story here. 

Managing mental health is a challenge at times and there are many ways to improve the situation. 

However exercising outside has frequently been shown to have near instant results on someones mood and mental health. 

The powerful combination of oxygen and daylight build serotonin levels to help the happy-hormones do what they do best – and boost your mood.

Whist you can get similar results with improved food choices (cutting down on processed foods, processed seed oils and refined carbohydrates) counselling or medication. You’ll be hard pushed to find something (legal) that gives you the improvement as quickly as a burst of outdoor exercise can. 

Getting outside, moving and socialising is a fabulous way to getting fit at 60.

Imagine being healthy, fit and resilient for whatever life throws at you. Feels good doesn’t it?!

To see for yourself what we do at FastTrack Fit Camp and how we can help you like we have Paul and Sue, please register on this form and we’ll be in touch very soon. 

FastTrack Fit Camp is an outdoor fitness business with the focus on improving people on the inside so they feel good on the outside. In 2019 FastTrack Fit Camp became a Social Enterprise and committed to distribute a minimum of 50% of profits back to community environmental projects each year with the goal of helping our local citizens feel good whilst being outside too.