Orangetheory creator Ellen Latham says she still feels like an athlete at 68 — and shares 3 tips for longevity workouts

• Orangetheory Fitness cofounder Ellen Latham said working out too hard or too often can backfire.

• For longevity, she recommends regular interval training, with enough rest time and mobility work.

• Tracking your workouts is also key to staying motivated and getting results without burning out.

After more than four decades in the fitness world, Ellen Latham has no intention of slowing down.

At 68, Latham still feels like an athlete, bouncing back from two knee replacement surgeries so she could go back to running, strength training — anything to get her heart rate up.

"I turned around at 60 and went, 'Ooh, these knees are not working and I feel I have a lot of life left in me,'" she told Business Insider. "Now they're fabulous. I feel like I'm getting a second life, a second wind."

And when it comes to exercise, Latham is all about working smarter instead of harder, especially for long-term health.

In 2010, when Latham launched the hit fitness franchise Orangetheory, she took a hard pass on the HIIT trend, and tough instructors whipping you into shape, shouting, "Ellen, give me 10 more!" She thought: "How do you know 10 was not enough for me?"

With Orangetheory, she devised a kind of interval training with a range of intensities, to keep everyone's heart rate largely in the "orange" — i.e. 80-90% intensity, according to color-coded heart rate zones — and only occasionally pushing higher, into the "red zone."

Orangetheory was also an early investor in collecting data to help individuals optimize their own exercise routine — now a huge trend in the fitness industry, from wearables to gamified workouts.

Latham said her own workouts follow this format. She pays attention to her VO2 max — a measure of lung capacity and longevity, which helps her curate a functional strength training and mobility routine.

Here's what Latham recommends to get the most bang for your buck at the gym, and what to avoid for better results.

1. Don't push too hard for too long

Latham said she sees the best results in people who don't sweat as much as possible for an hour but instead find their sweet spot — being challenged just enough to keep coming back.

Working out as hard as possible, as with classic HIIT training, can have benefits, especially in small doses, but the most valuable workout is one you want to do regularly.

"I'm not going to sit here and say 'you should be doing pure HIIT training.' The volumes of people don't stick with that," Latham said.

For best results, it pays to get enough consistent, moderate exercise, with different levels of intensity, targeting different things.

Latham likes to follow a combination of cardio and resistance exercise to build muscle and bone strength — what she calls a "multivitamin for fitness." "Everything that takes place within that hour is something that I would want to put in the human body," she said.

2. Tracking your workouts really helps

Latham said her training philosophy has always been data-driven, and working out without tracking can leave gains on the table.

"What you do not measure, you can not improve," she said.

Working with heart rates helps tailor the exercise for each individual to focus what's right for their body and goals, whether they're an elite runner training for competition or a grandmother

"You don't worry about the triathlete next to you. You're not supposed to do what they're doing," Latham said.

Similarly, your VO2 max — measuring how your heart performs during exercise — is a known metric of longevity that you can improve over time.

Latham said she's a fan of "benchmark" workouts, like a one-mile run or 1,000 meter row, that you repeat periodically to check how your heart is holding up. Regardless of what fitness level you start at, tracking your progress over time can keep you motivated (and it's key to building more muscle, too).

"I'm not interested in just coming in here and randomly moving in a circuit. What I'd really like to know is, am I getting better?" she said.

3. Rest days are crucial

Finally, Latham says you shouldn't show up every single day.

"Try to take what we call a green day," she said — maybe a little light cardio, if you must, but nothing more. "We don't want you over training."

Resting between workouts is what allows your body to repair from the effort and build back strong.

Ideally, people should be doing an exercise like Orangetheory three times a week, she said. The rest of the time, the best kind of exercise is what you love, whether that's CrossFit, Pilates, or powerlifting, Latham said.

Taking time out of the gym also leaves room for all the rest of the things that matter for a long, healthy life, like eating well (which Latham leaves to the dietitians) and having fun.

"We want to give you more life day-to-day and maybe add a few years on at the end," she said.

Read the original article on Business Insider