My personal bests are behind me – but I’ve found the secret to sustained exercise | Joel Snape

For fitness fanatics it can be galling to see our physical powers wane. The solution is to choose exercises to suit our age, and to find new interests

In a lot of ways, I feel bad for people who decided they hated unnecessary physical exertion during PE lessons and have given it a studied miss ever since. But in one important way, I don't: if you avoid picking up a barbell or lacing up a pair of running shoes until hitting middle age, you could roll into your late 40s faster and stronger than you have ever been. Whereas - and don't feel too sorry for me, because I'm going to start showing off in a minute - at 44, the best way to describe my gym regime is probably managed decline".

Let's get the showing-off out of the way first. In my 30s - I didn't actually start going to the gym myself until I was 29 - I could do a squat with double my own bodyweight on my back, and run 5km in a shade over 21 minutes. I could pull a small van and do a no-handed (AKA aerial) cartwheel. I could, and I'm not exaggerating, hoist a Vauxhall Astra hatchback off the ground 11 times in 90 seconds. I did just that in a competition.

Joel Snape is a writer and fitness expert