Something is changing at gyms across America. More people our age are showing up and staying.
The Health and Fitness Association reported that participation among adults 65 and older increased 8.6 percent year over year. Total gym, health club, and studio membership climbed above 81 million in 2025. Those are not small numbers.
And the reason people are going has shifted too. The National Academy of Sports Medicine surveyed 625 fitness professionals for its 2026 report. Longevity and healthy aging ranked among the fastest-growing goals that clients are bringing through the door.
Less About Looking Good, More About Feeling Good
Oscar Kemjika is a former track athlete with nearly two decades of coaching experience. He founded a program called iBE-FiT (which stands for Innovate, Believe, and Empower), and he has been making this case for years.
His focus is on building strength, mobility, and resilience through consistent daily habits. He is not interested in quick transformations or before-and-after photos.
“Form follows function,” Kemjika said to Newsweek. “When the body functions well, physical transformation follows naturally.”
He points to a 67-year-old client who has trained with him for six years. Through consistent exercise (not extreme diets or fitness challenges), she improved bone density, blood markers, balance, and overall vitality.
“Exercise builds far more than muscle,” he said. “It improves focus, confidence, resilience and productivity. As you age, feeling good becomes far more valuable than simply looking good.”
A Word of Caution on “Longevity” Claims
Here is where things get a little more complicated and where it pays to be a careful consumer.
The word “longevity” has become enormously popular in the wellness world. The Global Wellness Institute estimates the global wellness economy reached $6.8 trillion in 2024 and projects it will grow to $9.8 trillion by 2029. Longevity is a growing part of that market, covering everything from exercise and nutrition to cryotherapy, intravenous vitamin infusions, and anti-aging therapies.
But researchers say the label is being stretched in ways that deserve a second look.
Dr. Michael Sagner is a clinical advisor in longevity and preventive medicine at Ageing Research at King’s, based at King’s College London. He told Newsweek that consumers should draw a clear line between preventive medicine and the broader claims of longevity medicine.
“Longevity medicine has basically no scientific base because it has never been shown that certain interventions can actively increase life span,” Sagner said.
He noted that much of the public discussion around longevity draws on observational evidence from exceptionally healthy older populations, not proof that specific treatments can meaningfully extend human life. An editorial published in Nature Medicine echoed that concern, saying evidence for many treatments marketed as slowing aging or extending lifespan remains limited.
Lifespan Versus Healthspan and Why It Matters
Dr. Pinchas Cohen is dean of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and director of the Ney Center for Healthspan Science. He told Newsweek that conversations about longevity often miss a crucial distinction.
Life span measures how long you live. Healthspan measures how many of those years you spend in good health. Life expectancy has gone up in recent decades, but healthspan has risen more slowly, meaning more people are living longer while also spending more years dealing with illness or disability.
“Lifestyle interventions such as diet and exercise improve both life span and healthspan,” Cohen said.
He called the growing connection between fitness and healthy aging a positive trend. But he added a caution about overpromising.
“The problem lies with the unrealistic claims many of these trends are promoting,” he said.
The Practical Takeaway for Our Generation
Here is what this all adds up to. Regular exercise (the kind that builds strength, keeps you moving, and supports your balance) has real, well-supported benefits as you age. The research on that is solid.
The broader commercial promises, though (the treatments and programs marketed as reversing aging or dramatically extending your life), deserve healthy skepticism. Experts say the evidence for those claims is far less certain.
What is certain is this: more of us are staying active longer than any previous generation. And according to the researchers, that simple fact (consistent movement, day after day) remains one of the most powerful things you can do for your health.
