Growing Younger

Growing Younger We make it easier for people over 40 to be fitter, stronger and leaner without struggle!

21/06/2026

Who are my Sunday Cardio Warriors!
Leave 🔥 below!

21/06/2026

Who are my Sunday Cardio Warriors!
Leave 🔥 below!

20/06/2026

The reason most people over 40 can't lose weight isn't their metabolism.

It's the 400 calories a day they never see.

A handful of nuts. A splash of olive oil. The sauce on your chicken. A couple of glasses of wine on the weekend. None of it feels like much. All of it adds up fast.

I've kept over 20kg off my own body for 17 years. Not with a special diet. Not with cutting carbs or fasting or anything you've seen trending lately. Just by understanding one thing: calories in versus calories out. Full stop.

Every fad that's come and gone in those 17 years comes back to the same maths. The details change. The principle doesn't.

Here's where most people go wrong. They track the main meal and forget everything else.

But it's the drizzle of oil in the pan (120 calories).

The dressing on the salad (150 calories).

The handful of almonds at 3pm (180 calories).

Those three things alone could be 450 calories. Every. Single. Day.

If you want to eat more volume without blowing your calories, here's what works: roasted veggies, eggs, Greek yoghurt, berries, chicken breast, cottage cheese. Big portions. Real food. Not starvation.

The maths isn't complicated. But you have to count everything. Not just the stuff that feels obvious.

If you're over 50 and struggling with weight that won't shift, that might be the only thing missing.

If you need any help, just flick me a message 💪

19/06/2026

Most people think swimming is just for kids and competitive athletes.
They're wrong.
After 40, your body starts changing in ways that make most exercise harder to sustain. Joints get less forgiving. Recovery takes longer. The things that worked at 30 start creating problems at 50.
Swimming doesn't care about any of that.
The water supports up to 90% of your body weight. That means your knees, hips, and spine get a full workout without the impact that aggravates them on land. You can push hard without paying for it the next morning.
But here's what most people miss.
Swimming isn't just easy on the body. It's one of the most complete training tools you can use. Every stroke works your back, shoulders, core, and legs simultaneously. Your heart and lungs adapt fast. And because water provides constant resistance in every direction, you're building strength and cardiovascular fitness at the same time.
There's a reason people in their 60s and 70s who swim regularly move better than people half their age.
It also does something no gym can replicate. The rhythmic breathing, the quiet, the full sensory shift of being in water. Cortisol drops. Your nervous system settles. A lot of people find they sleep better on days they swim.
The one catch. Technique matters more than effort. Poor form in the water reinforces bad movement patterns and can create shoulder problems over time. Twenty minutes of good swimming beats an hour of flailing.
If your knees, back, or hips have been limiting what you can do on land, the pool might be the thing you've been overlooking.
Have you tried swimming as part of your training? Tell me below.
Gavyn

16/06/2026

She spent 30 years putting everyone else first. And somewhere in the middle of menopause, she realised her body had quietly changed without her noticing.

The muscle was disappearing. The weight was settling around her middle. And no matter what she tried, nothing seemed to shift it.

She came to me a few months ago. Lovely woman, early 60s. Retired nurse. (She just asked I don't use her name)

And spent decades on her feet caring for other people patients, her kids, then grandkids.

She told me she'd "never really had time" to focus on herself.

But the truth was, she'd spent so long putting herself last that it had simply become a habit.

Can you relate?

What she didn't realise was that after menopause, muscle loss accelerates.

Oestrogen drops, and your body starts letting go of muscle faster than it ever did before.

That's not a motivation problem. That's biology.

And muscle is everything. It's what keeps your metabolism ticking. It's what holds your joints together.

It's what means you can get up off the floor without thinking twice about it.

We started slowly. Nothing scary. A guided, full-body strength programme built around her knees and her schedule.

Within a few weeks she was sleeping better. Then her energy lifted. Then she started seeing her waist again.

She told me recently: "I wish I'd done this ten years ago. But I'm just glad I finally did it."

So If you're in your 50s or 60s and you've spent a lifetime looking after everyone else this is your reminder that it's not selfish to take your turn.

It's actually long overdue.

If you'd like to find out what's possible for you, I offer a free discovery session where we talk through where you're at, what's going on with your body, and what a realistic starting point looks like.

No pressure. No hard sell. Just a proper conversation.

Just send me a a message and we'll get you booked in

— Gavyn

16/06/2026

After 50, your body needs up to twice as much protein to build the same muscle. (As long as you are resistance training)

Most people are getting half of what they need.

And you can feel it.

The tiredness that doesn't shift. The arms that feel softer than they used to. The legs that give out on stairs. The recovery that takes days instead of hours.

That's not just ageing. That's your body quietly losing muscle a little more each year because it's not getting the raw material it needs to hold on to it.

Here's the good news. You don't need shakes, supplements, or complicated meal plans.

You just need to know which foods to eat more of.

These are the 10 highest-protein foods per 100g that I recommend to clients

👉 Save this one. Come back to it at the supermarket.

The list (per 100g):

1. Canned tuna — 26g
2. Chicken breast (cooked) — 31g
3. Cottage cheese — 11g
4. Greek yoghurt (full fat) — 10g
5. Eggs — 13g
6. Tempeh — 19g
7. Lentils (cooked) — 9g
8. Edamame — 11g
9. Beef mince (lean, cooked) — 26g
10. Canned salmon — 25g

No fancy ingredients. No expensive powders. Just real food your body can actually use.

Most of my clients are amazed at how much better they feel — stronger, more energetic, sleeping better — once protein becomes a proper priority. Not because they're "dieting." Just because they're finally giving their body what it needs.

If you're over 50 and you've been feeling like your body is slowly working against you, it's not. It just needs the right support.

Let me know in the comments what's your go to protein source

— Gavyn

If your knees hurt going downstairs, this is for you.That moment you grip the handrail. The little flinch before you tak...
10/06/2026

If your knees hurt going downstairs, this is for you.

That moment you grip the handrail. The little flinch before you take the first step down. The way you've started avoiding stairs altogether when no one's looking.

You're not imagining it. And it's not just "getting older."

I see this every single week at the studio. Someone in their 50s or 60s who's quietly stopped doing things because their knees hurt and started wondering if this is just what life looks like from here.

It doesn't have to be.

One of my clients came in barely able to walk down her driveway without pain.

She'd been told to "rest it" for months. She'd tried the exercises from Google. Nothing stuck, and nothing helped.

Eight weeks later, she's doing step-downs in the studio, her knees don't wake her up at night anymore, and she got on the floor to play with her granddaughter for the first time in over a year.

Here's what most people don't realise: weak muscles around the knee are often the problem not the knee itself.

When we build strength in the right places, safely and gradually, the pain starts to ease. The body responds.

Even at 60. Even after years of avoiding exercise.

That's exactly what we do at Growing Younger NZ's only fitness studio built specifically for adults over 40.

Every session is guided, every exercise is adapted around what your body can actually do right now.

No guessing. No being handed a sheet and left to it. No feeling out of place.

If your knees have been holding you back, come and have a chat. The first step is a free discovery session just a conversation about where you're at and what's possible.

https://www.growingyounger.co.nz/contact.html.

— Gavyn

That lamppost is 1,000 steps from my front door.When I first walked to it and back, I was a man who just needed to do mo...
08/06/2026

That lamppost is 1,000 steps from my front door.

When I first walked to it and back, I was a man who just needed to do more cardio. The heart is way more important than the biceps.

That was it. No plan. No programme. Just a lamppost.

Ten minutes. Maybe fifteen. That was all I had.

But I kept going back.

Then past it.

Then further.

Those short walks became a daily 4k. The 4k became a 5k run.

The 5k became 10k then a half marathon. Then a triathlon. Then, 5 years later, a full Ironman.

When I was shuffling to that lamppost, I had zero belief (or desire)ever do an Ironman. Zero.

But here's the thing.

I wasn't training for an Ironman. I was training for the lamppost.

The Ironman just showed up later, because I kept going back.

That's the whole lesson.

Not the Ironman. Not the half marathon. Not even the 4k.

The lamppost.

You don't need an hour. You don't need a gym. You don't need to feel ready or motivated or like the timing is right.

You need a lamppost. Something small. Something close. Something you can do today with exactly what you have.

Because the people who change their health after 50 aren't the ones who waited until everything lined up.

They're the ones who walked to the lamppost.

What's your lamppost right now? Drop it in the comments.

— Gavyn

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18D Highland Park Drive
Auckland
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