Can your physical fitness really improve as you age?

The latest instalment of the Mission Impossible franchise, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, sees Hollywood heavyweight Tom Cruise reprise his role as Ethan Hunt. He’s maintained his famous commitment to doing his own stunts, upping the ante with each new film.

Promoting the eighth instalment of the spy series, Cruise told US TV talk show host Jimmy Fallon that a scene where he clings to the wing of a plane as it reached speeds over 200km/h took “decades” to perfect.

Tom Cruise says preparing for a stunt when he hung off the wing of a plane took “decades”.Credit: AP

Most of us will never need to dangle in the air from a flying plane, sprint across a rooftop or ride a motorcycle over a cliff, but there’s a message for us all in what Cruise can do at 62: maintain your fitness, muscle strength and muscle power, and you can often keep running, lifting and jumping into your 60s and older. And there are good reasons why you should.

Cruise turns 63 this year and while his stunts are jaw-dropping, we’d be less awestruck by his fitness if we saw more images of over-60s doing stuff more strenuous than strolling. But check out most images of older adults exercising, and you can bet they’re not running, sprint swimming or lifting weights - and if walking is all we see, it ignores what we might be capable of as we age, and what science says about the benefits of more intense exercise on older bodies and brains.

So let’s unpick how Cruise keeps in shape - and what we can all learn from that.

He holds on to muscle power

“We have two main types of muscle fibres - slow twitch muscle fibres for low-intensity endurance activities like walking or jogging, and more powerful fast twitch fibres that provide the combination of strength and speed you need to jump, sprint, or get out of a chair. If you trip, it’s muscle power that can stop you falling,” explains Edith Cowan University Exercise Medicine Research Institute professor Dr Robert Newton.

Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie on the set of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.Credit: Antonio Olmos

“We lose muscle power with age, partly because of hormonal and immune changes - but mostly from disuse. But, with the right training, you can maintain muscle power for longer. Bounding and hopping are good, so is using weighted bags - throwing them or jumping with them, for instance. Strength training helps too - when you squat, it’s good to go down slowly but then explode upwards.”

Think of hanging on to muscle power as an investment in your future - people in their 70s with low muscle power are almost 2.5 times more likely to experience falls and fractures compared to those with better muscle power, according to Australian research.

Cruise stays strong by lifting weights

“Walking is good but it’s only half the story. It has very little benefit for maintaining muscle size and strength, and declining muscle strength is becoming a major public health problem. People are now developing sarcopenia, meaning loss of muscle mass and strength at younger ages, in their 50s,” Professor Newton says.

“We don’t lift heavy loads any more and there are few jobs now that require heavy physical labour. But humans are meant to lift heavy weights and unless you strength-train major muscle groups at least twice each week, muscle strength declines and eventually activities of daily living get harder and your quality of life deteriorates.”

Cruise stays flexible - and upright

We might think wrinkles are the greatest ageing giveaway, but so is how we move and stand. Stiff gaits and stoops are ageing, but agile movements and good posture can create an ageless look, even as the wrinkles grow.

Tom Cruise at the Mission Impossible premiere at Cannes.Credit: Getty Images

“The key to flexibility is staying strong because strength is the basis of all movements,” explains Sydney Sports and Exercise Physiology exercise physiologist Chris Hughes. “The role of muscles is to keep our skeleton moving and the stronger these muscles are, the greater your range of movement.”

As for good posture, it’s not just about standing tall and squaring your shoulders. Strength training using free weights like a barbell, kettle bell or dumbbells is the way to go, Hughes says.

“It forces you to use postural muscles that keep you stable in order to manage the load.”

But flexibility’s enemy is sitting.

“Sitting for long periods causes tight joints and tight muscles in the lower body like hamstrings and hip flexors - and this can cause low back pain. It also causes leg muscles to shorten and, over time, this puts strain on the joints and cause pain,” says Australian Physiotherapy Association National President Dr Rik Dawson.

Tom Cruise, pictured here in Top Gun: Maverick, is known for his stunts.Credit: Scott Garfield/AP

“Stretching helps - it’s worth seeing a physiotherapist or exercise professional to assess your tight areas and learn which stretches you need to do every day.”

Running can also cause shortened muscles - he recommends stretching the muscles of the lower body after a run or after a weights session targeting the lower body.

Cruise keeps on running

Cruise keeps running - in that fast, distinctive style, with forearms slicing through the air. But we don’t have to run as fast as him to get benefits - like a reduced risk of premature death.

US research following 55,000 people for over 15 years found running was associated with a 45 per cent reduced risk of death from heart attacks and strokes, and a 30 per cent reduced risk of death from anything - even in those running at a slow pace and for a few minutes a day. As for messing with your knees, there’s good evidence that recreational runners have less knee osteoarthritis than non-runners.

Besides, being able to run is a function worth keeping. Unlike Ethan Hunt, you may never have to sprint from danger, but as an over-60s grandparent, you might need to run after a grandchild - or
better still, run with them.