Intergenerational Gains: The Grandfather-Grandson Duo Who Train Together
Working out regularly into your 60s earns respect. Keeping up a routine into your 70s earns admiration. But continuing to train well into your mid-80s? That type of commitment to fitness earns reverence – and sets a profound example for everyone else in your life.
Just ask 84-year-old Toronto resident Jake Stothard, who exercises alongside his 37-year-old grandson, Phil Mackenzie. Phil, who played professional rugby before transitioning a career in fitness, drives 39 kilometers (about 24 miles) from his home in Oakville, Canada to Toronto twice a week to work out with his grandfather. Phil often documents their sessions on his social media channels, and clips of the pair training have served as a sterling example for how exercise can be a point of connection between generations.
The octogenarian says he started working out when he was 16. But he wasn’t inside a gym using standard weights at the start – he was at a boatyard, lifting plates of steel or other heavy material he and his friends found lying around. He worked as a roofer and in house construction and renovation well into his 70s. Today, he can knock out reps of push-ups and hold a plank any day of the week (though he’s transitioned to a gym and actual weights and machines instead of scrap metal).
When Men’s Health spoke with Jake and Phil, they had just wrapped up a gym workout. The 84-year-old doesn't just stay active with his grandson; Jake was due to go for a two-hour power walk with his 80-year-old wife right after the conversation.
We talked to Phil and Jake about what it means to work out alongside each other, what their training looks like, and how to keep exercising into your mid-80s.
MEN'S HEALTH: How did you two start working out together?
PHIL MACKENZIE: After I retired from rugby, I really hadn’t thought about what I was gonna do. I always had an entrepreneurial dream, but I didn't put a lot of effort into making it happen. My granddad and my brother built my house, and the plan was for me to help them. I only did a little of the labour and I'm like, this is definitely not for me. I like hard work, but I like doing it in fitness.
So I started training friends and family. I wanted to try and scale, so I started posting workouts online in 2017. Then COVID hit. All of my programmes were for people going into a gym, so my business went to zero. I started posting free YouTube workouts and people liked those a million times more than just following a sheet of paper. People found it really relatable. I've carried that on since.
My grandad has always worked out on his own. But about a year ago, we really started working out together regularly.
MH: When you work out together, what does that look like?
PM: He's got a really good gym setup in his condo building. Let’s take an upper-body day. They’ve got a machine that has the bench press, lat pull-downs, etc. So we’ll focus on those. We started with 12 reps. We did that for four weeks, and we’ve worked our way down. We've gone as low as 8 reps. It'll be a main compound movement like the bench, press, pull-downs, and then we do movement stuff. He's 84 years old. Even though he's insanely strong, it'll be working on balance and coordination. Step-ups, like getting up a curb or steps, single-leg calf raises, moves like that.
His core is insane. I'm pretty sure he could hold a plank for five minutes, maybe longer. We rotate through all those exercises. Usually we're in the gym for 45 minutes. We do the same for leg day. He'll do leg extensions, hamstring curls, farmers carries, and squats with dumbbells at the side.
Those are the main movements. He's insanely muscular. Today he was doing 64 kg on the bench press for 8 reps – and that's after his upper body has been out of commission for a while. He had a cortisone injection in his shoulder a few weeks ago.
MH: Phil, you're very immersed in the fitness world. What have you learned from your granddad about working out as you age?
PM: With both of my grandparents, it's been so ingrained in me that [fitness] leads to a better life. I was a professional rugby player, arguably as fit and strong as I could be. I’d come home every day [from training] and nap. And there’s my grandfather, renovating my house. He was 74 at the time, and I remember I came down from a nap, and he's like, ‘Oh, my God! I can't imagine anything worse than sleeping in the middle of the day because you're missing out on life.’ At that moment, I stopped napping.
It's really hard for me to grasp the concept of not being capable because of my grandparents' example. The moment you stop using it, you lose it. My grandad fell off a three-story building when he was in his 50s and he shattered all his bones. They told him he wouldn't walk again. Look at him now. It's mind over matter in a lot of ways – he's shown me it builds resilience.
MH: A lot of readers may be close to their grandparents. But for you, it's pretty unique that you're able to work out at this level with him. How do you think that's impacted your overall relationship?
PM: It's definitely something that we've bonded over. He's always been my number-one supporter. He's always said, ‘You can do anything,’ so for me to be doing this with him at 84 is pretty special, and I definitely don't take it for granted. I try to enjoy every workout, because you never know when the last one is coming. Hopefully it's a long way away. But it'll be something I've cherished forever and I hope I get to do it with my grandson.
'He’s always said, "YOU CAN DO ANYTHING," so for me to be doing this with him at 84 is pretty special, and I definitely don’t take it for granted'
MH: Jake, when you were young, how did you figure out fitness without any formal training or instruction?
JAKE STOTHARD: That was no problem. I just did it. Whatever the exercise. More of a, 'try it and see what it feels like'.
PM: He's very old school. My Nanny told me a story about when he signed up for a marathon. He was a roofer, tiling, laying the big tiles. A super physical job. He was in his 40s. And he signed up for a marathon. And he ran the whole thing in his work boots.
JS: The boots fit me like a glove.
PM: I think it's that 'mind over matter' again.
MH: How have your workouts shifted as you've aged?
PM (speaking for Jake): I think now, barring dumbbell squats, the farmers carries, curls and maybe a few other exercises, almost everything is machine-based. It’s easier on the machines. For the bench press, it’s more stable all round. And really leaning into the specific reps and the strength. In the past, if there were weights, he would use the weights. If there weren't, he would just do push-ups.
In the last 10 years, he’s moved to going really hard on the elliptical for cardio. And then he and my Nanny walk every day – fast. So that's been a staple.
MH: Jake, how often are you working out?
JS: I work out seven days a week. I get bored easily. I can't sit still.
PM: For a lot of years, the renovations were a huge part of both of my grandparents’ exercises. But also smaller things, like they never drive to get groceries. They walk. That's something I'm conscious of now: I try to walk fast. They will walk for two hours. Even in the snow.
MH: For the readers who want to do intergenerational workouts like you two, what do you recommend?
PM: That's a good question. I think a lot of people see the one per cent of the craziness on social media and think, 'That's so intimidating.' But me and my granddad, again, I'm 37. So basically 50 years younger than him, and it's the same movements. It's just a different amount of weight. At the end of the day for any workout, it’s finding a weight that is hard for you. I could have just as good a workout with my granddad as I could with a professional athlete because a lot of the basic movements are the same.
JS: Yeah, I agree.
MH: Do you each have a favourite workout or exercise?
JS: Shoulder press. I don’t know why, I just like it.
PM: I like sprint intervals as much as I hate them. If you take the magnitude of a challenge, nothing challenges me more than sprinting or doing the intervals, and that makes you feel the best. I really like how you feel afterwards. In terms of weightlifting, I'd probably default to a leg exercise, because I find them the hardest.
MH: Phil, do you feel like you work out harder when you’re with your granddad?
PM: I do. If I'm working out with my grandad, I'm like, ‘I can't make any excuses,’ because he's 84 years old and every single rep, he gives his all. He is the hardest worker I know and working out with him certainly motivates me to push harder.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
From: Men's Health US
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