To call Dee Simpson an active senior would be an understatement.
“I’m so proud to have turned 80 four days ago,” Simpson told CTV News Toronto with a smile.
It’s been years since most people retired, but Simpson is still working hard and helping others do the same as a fitness trainer.
Dreaming of becoming a doctor, she began working as a medical illustrator in college and worked for decades in the film industry as a documentary filmmaker.
When asked why he never considered retiring at 65, Simpson said: “That’s a very good question. I didn’t want to. I wasn’t ready. And I strongly believe I have another career.” felt.”
Until then, Simpson had never set foot in a gym.
“There were 18 of us,” Simpson recalled. “Everyone was under 33 and at first everyone had to say why they were there. And I was the last one. I was very scared. Obviously the group’s Older girl, but I’m going to do my best to keep up with you…and if I’m lucky, I think I will.
After completing his certification, Simpson says he went to 42 different gyms in search of work. She has only heard from two of them.
“She’s my only 80-year-old trainer,” admitted Erin Billowits, CEO of Vintage Fitness.
For the past 13 years, Simpson has helped train seniors across the GTA to work for Vintage Fitness. She is one of her 18 employees at the company who train at her home and online rather than at a gym.
Dee Simpson can be seen in this undated image. (vintage fitness)
“She has this energy about her,” Billowits said. I feel it.”
Simpson is the oldest trainer at Vintage Fitness. In fact, she’s older than any of her current clients.
“If they think of me as older than they are, in a way I think they might take that as a motivating and useful tool. You can do that too.”
Billowits believes Simpson is an example of how seniors can stay active in old age.
“It’s absolutely most important to them that they can do what they love in life,” Bilowitz said.
Last summer, Simpson cycled over 700km from Belgium to France. She still enjoys whitewater canoeing, snowshoeing and hiking, she says. And she, she says, enjoys helping others reach their fitness goals.
“Helping people and being active has always been at the core of my life. And I always wanted to keep dreaming. And if you don’t keep working, you can’t keep working. I want to be able to do that when I turn 85, just like last year, but I have to keep working.”
Now in her 80s, Simpson says she doesn’t plan to slow down.
“I feel very lucky. I have never been really sick. I have never had a bad disease. I have never had arthritis. I am a very lucky healthy person,” she said. I was.
And she says she will continue to encourage other seniors, both older and younger than her, to stay active.
“Let’s keep working together so that we can live into our 90s and achieve our dreams. That’s the coolest thing.”
