Building better bodies as we age

Published 1:30 am Friday, May 29, 2026

By Kate Poss

Special to The Record

Imagine feeling good in our bodies as we grow older, finding strength instead of frailty. That can be a reality with a little training and dedication.

Adam Fawcett, founder of Vibrant Fitness in Langley, will host a pair of free “Functional Strength Training After 60” classes next month: 4 p.m. on June 4 at the Freeland Library and 1:30 p.m. on June 15 at the Coupeville Library. The exercises are designed to strengthen our bodies, and maintain balance as we age.

Audie Black has trained with Vibrant Fitness since 2011. She was a recreational swimmer and competed in a Seattle area half triathlon “with a goal to compete, not complete” in 2013.

In his recent post, “Client Hero of the Month,” Fawcett celebrates Black, who is 70, for her strength and resilience.

“Like Clark Kent, she doesn’t look physically extraordinary,” noted Fawcett, complimenting Black. “She does have way-above-average strength and muscle mass for a woman her age. And here’s a nerdy little trainer’s insight that struck me recently: Audie will NOT get excessive thoracic kyphosis (ETK)—or bent-over-old-woman-hump-back. Not even if she lives to 106. Her spine is strong erect, her posture excellent at 70.”

Yet, in viewing Fawcett’s toned biceps and lithe body, Black teased him, “Now that you’re the Arnold Schwarzenegger of South Whidbey, I’ll never have muscles that way.”

Functional strength training is what Black practices at Vibrant Fitness, and Fawcett said due to her years of training, the woman can safely balance, squat, lift, push, pull, carry, prevent pain and maintain a strong posture.

“There is no way that gravity is going to bend her body into the classic crone shape,” noted Fawcett in his May 14 post.

Functional strength training is designed to condition our body so that it can safely perform everyday tasks such as gardening, lifting, turning and reaching, without causing injury. It can help prevent the onset of chronic disease. Fawcett’s training focuses on fall prevention, muscular endurance and increasing cardio-respiratory capacity.

Fawcett has a somewhat unique take on strength training, noting: “Once you turn 50, get interested and active in learning some strength training. By the time you’re 60, aim to be very effective and efficient at it, and plan to do it for the rest of your life. There is no one thing you can do that will contribute more to your longevity and quality of life after 60 years old.”

It can be intimidating to go the gym; however, Fawcett’s workout room, located in a Langley Fairgrounds and Event Center building once used as a display barn, offers an alternative approach that clients such as Black say make working out fun.

Black joined Vibrant Fitness because she wanted her body to feel good as she aged.

“I don’t think Adam has lost any enthusiasm,” Black said. “His energy is contagious without bulldozing anyone to override their own limits. The main reason I like Adam’s program is its functional fitness. I didn’t join to lose weight. I came because I wanted to be strong when I’m in my 80s. It’s not a busy gym. I am sensitive and self conscious in a place with mirrors all around.”

There are few mirrors at Vibrant Fitness to invoke self-consciousness.

With Fawcett coaching her on a recent afternoon, Black acted as a model for a number of exercises: squats, lunges, balancing, lifting weights, pulling weights, holding 53-pound kettlebells in each hand while walking forward and backward, practicing “postural medicine” by outstretching her arms across a 6-foot driftwood branch and wrapping it back, front and tilting sidewise. In the Roman chair, she grasped hand holds and lifted her knees to her chest a number of times to strengthen her core.

“It’s the career no one thought I’d have — being a model,” Black joked before she placed a thick pink band over her knees, squatted, raised her hands to a prayer position at chest level and walked the length of the space and then repeated the task taking backward steps. Fawcett said the practice is great for hip stabilization.

“This is not a body building gym,” Fawcett said. “This is a longevity, resiliency and quality of life training center. I often say an active person doesn’t need huge strength until they turn 50. At that time muscle loss occurs at about half a pound a year.”

It’s evident Fawcett is in his element while working with his clients. He said he loves his work and recalled an example of why: “I began to work with a man in his 60s who has thought of himself as a strong man since his 20s, but has spent 30 years at a desk. Within a matter of weeks of training, he began to remember in his body, what really being strong felt like.”

Fawcett observed the positive effects the man experienced: “…a powerful change in his posture and presence and poise, physically, emotionally, psychologically…His feeling of possibility was expanded. His ability to continue to be relevant and contribute after retirement and throughout his third destiny (third 30 years of life) came alive.”

Besides being good for our body, functional strength training is also good for the brain, notes Fawcett: “We really put attention on metrics that correlate with longevity — grip strength is highly correlated with longevity, and lower influence of chronic disease. Arthritis, cancer, heart disease, metabolic disease — like type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s — are the four horsemen that will kill most of us. Strength training is a powerful supporter of sustained cognitive function. Who doesn’t want that?”

Fawcett is certified as a personal trainer with the National Association of Sports Medicine. Previously he earned a BSME in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wyoming.

Once a Whidbey Island Waldorf School teacher, he has always enjoyed outdoor sports. He found the appeal of personal training after an injury two decades ago.

“I came to it for a knee injury in 2006 and I didn’t rehab well,” Fawcett said. “The injury led to imbalance in leg strength, which led to pain in my back. When I trained to be a trainer, I started to feel better and younger. I was 46 years old when I started this. I’m very flexible and stronger than I’ve ever been, now at 62. I had two clients last week tell me they’ve never felt stronger in their lives. One is 65 and one is 70.”

Emailing and speaking of many of what he calls his Adam-isms, here is one: “Functional strength training is a whole body/mind skill that anybody can learn. I approach it and train it more like a martial art or meditation. We enter the dojo of the gym to get inside the temple of the body, to develop deeper self awareness and control, and cultivate health and strength, not just for the muscles, but for the entire body, mind, and soul/spirit.”

To learn more about Vibrant Fitness, visit vibrant-fitness.com.

Check out Fawcett’s free upcoming classes at the Freeland and Coupeville libraries by visiting the Whidbey Island Holistic Health Associations webpage,wihha.com/events.