Get motivated to exercise regularly like these gym rats in their 70s and 80s

You know you should develop a regular exercise routine, but you lack motivation. Promises to yourself are quickly broken, and you never establish enough of the workout habit to experience any rewards.

Exercising as you age is important. It's not only good for physical health to help prevent falls or enable you to do basic tasks — exercise is also superb for the mind.

“If you want to be cognitively active, it is so important to be physically active,” explained Dr. Amy Eyler, a professor of public health at Washington University in St. Louis. “There is a such a strong connection between these two behaviors.”

First, regular exercise helps maintain bone density and muscle strength. It also lowers the risk of heart disease and certain types of cancer.

For older people, regular exercise helps maintain strength and balance and allows them to live independently. Research also suggests the immune system may get a bump from physical activity.

There is also a psychological component. Successfully completing a daily exercise can improve one's mood and sense of self-satisfaction.

Getting into the habit of doing regular physical activity can be difficult for some. The motivation to get moving is different for everyone.

Initially you’ll need external motivation — I want to be able to play with my grandkids or keep driving the car — until you see results and the motivation shifts to internal, Eyler said.

“When you set a goal, you should ask yourself on a scale of 1 to 100, how confident am I that I can do this?” Eyler explained. “It has to be over the 90% level of confidence or you’re not going to do it. Lots of people set these goal too high and then fail."

Build to your goals.

“Just walk whenever you can,” Eyler said. “You can walk for 10 minutes pretty much anywhere — indoors, at work, at home.”

And, if you’re trying to encourage others, look for positive reasons rather than nagging.

“Telling someone they will be more independent if they take their blood pressure medicine is better than — take your blood pressure medicine,” she said.

Here are some tips about how to start — and how to stay with it — from three gym rats between the ages of 77 and 86. All got started late and have stayed with it. All three work out with Dr. Irv Rubenstein, an exercise scientist who runs STEPS Fitness in Nashville, Tennessee.

Kathryn Dettwiller, 77, got pushed into exercising 34 years ago by her husband.

“I always hated gym class,” she said. “I always hated getting down on the floor.”

She works out in a gym twice a week with a trainer, which she said gives her added discipline and motivation.

“The external has become internal because I realize I need it,” she said. She cautioned beginners to expect some setbacks — minor injuries — and not to be discouraged.

“Try it as soon as your body starts playing out on you,” she said. “It's like a game of Whack-A-Mole. One time your leg hurts, the next time it’s your back.”

Rick Bolsom, 82, enjoys the structure of having a trainer. In his case, his wife got him started almost two decades ago and he's into a three-times-a-week routine.

“I kept doing it because I had a sense of feeling better,” he said. "The key to me was probably doing it with a trainer. The structure really helped me to continue with it. Now it’s just become part of my life.”

“I couldn't imagine quitting it,” he added. “I work out as vigorously as I did 15, 18 years ago. It turned out to be the smart thing to do.”

Bolsom also added in the social aspect to training in a gym or studio.

“I retired a few years ago. You do miss the connectivity with people.”

Dr. Grover Smith, a retired radiologist, is 86 and still going strong. He attributes this partly to training regularly in a gym three times a week, a habit he didn’t start until he was 74 and well into retirement. He was coaxed to go after several visits to his cardiologist.

He said he went after the fourth time his cardiologist suggested it, although he was not having any specific heart problems. His plan was to go once to appease the cardiologist and that would be it. That was more than a decade ago.

“Medicine was basically my life and it was very time consuming,” Smith said. “It was sometimes seven days a week and I didn't have time for a lot of other things.”

He's not only fit, but now he also gets flattered.

He tells the story about a recent visit to a doctor who, after looking at his charts, told him: “Dr. Smith, you look 15 years younger than your age.”

Smith laughed as he added the punchline.

“I would have told her to get her eyes examined — except she’s an ophthalmologist,” he quipped.

Dr. Grover Smith works out at STEPS Fitness, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Dr. Grover Smith, left, works out with exercise scientist Dr. Irv Rubenstein, right, at STEPS Fitness, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Dr. Grover Smith, left, works out with exercise scientist Dr. Irv Rubenstein, right, at STEPS Fitness, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Dr. Grover Smith lifts a dumbbell at STEPS Fitness, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Dr. Grover Smith works out at STEPS Fitness, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Dr. Grover Smith works out at STEPS Fitness, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Dr. Grover Smith, left, works out with exercise scientist Dr. Irv Rubenstein, right, at STEPS Fitness, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Dr. Grover Smith, right, works out with exercise scientist Dr. Irv Rubenstein, left, at STEPS Fitness, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty on Friday called on members of the public to send any video or other evidence in the fatal shooting of Renee Good directly to her office, challenging the Trump administration's decision to leave the investigation solely to the FBI.

Moriarty said that although her office has collaborated effectively with the FBI in past cases, she is concerned by the Trump administration's decision to bar state and local agencies from playing any role in the investigation into Wednesday's killing of Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis.

She also said that despite the Trump administration’s insistence that the officer who shot Good has complete legal immunity, that isn’t the case.

“We do have jurisdiction to make this decision with what happened in this case,” she said at a news conference. “It does not matter that it was a federal law enforcement agent.”

Moriarty said her office would post a link for the public to submit footage of the shooting, even though she acknowledged that she wasn't sure what legal outcome submissions might produce.

The prosecutor's announcement came on a third day of Minneapolis protests over Good's killing and a day after federal immigration officers shot and wounded two people in Portland, Oregon.

Good's wife, Becca Good, released a statement to Minnesota Public Radio on Friday saying, “kindness radiated out of her.”

"On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns," Becca Good said.

“I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him, as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him,” she wrote. “That the people who did this had fear and anger in their hearts, and we need to show them a better way.”

The reaction to the Good's shooting was immediate in the city where police killed George Floyd in 2020, with hundreds of protesters converging on the shooting scene and the school district canceling classes for the rest of the week as a precaution.

On Thursday night, hundreds marched in freezing rain down one of Minneapolis’ major thoroughfares, chanting “ICE out now!” and holding signs saying, “Killer ice off our streets." And on Friday, protesters were out again demonstrating outside of a federal facility that is serving as a hub for the immigration crackdown that began Tuesday in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Authorities erected barricades outside the facility Friday.

City workers, meanwhile, removed makeshift barricades made of old Christmas trees and other debris that had been blocking the streets near the scene of Good's shooting. Officials said they would leave up a shrine to the 37-year-old mother of three.

The Portland shootings happened outside a hospital Thursday afternoon. Federal immigration officers shot and wounded a man and woman, identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Venezuela nationals Luis David Nico Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, who were inside a vehicle, and their conditions weren't immediately known. The FBI and the Oregon Department of Justice were investigating.

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and the city council called on ICE to end all operations in the city until a full investigation is completed. Hundreds protested Thursday night at a local ICE building. Early Friday, Portland police reported that officers had arrested several protesters after asking the to get out of a street to allow traffic to flow.

Just as it did following Good's shooting, DHS defended the actions of the officers in Portland, saying it occurred after a Venezuelan man with alleged gang ties and who was involved in a recent shooting tried to “weaponize” his vehicle to hit the officers. It wasn't immediately clear if the shootings were captured on video, as Good's was.

The Minneapolis shooting happened on the second day of the immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities, which Homeland Security said is the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever. More than 2,000 officers are taking part and Noem said they have made more than 1,500 arrests.

The government is also shifting immigration officers to Minneapolis from sweeps in Louisiana, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. This represents a pivot, as the Louisiana crackdown that began in December had been expected to last into February.

Good's death — at least the fifth tied to immigration sweeps since Trump took office — has resonated far beyond Minneapolis, as protests happening in other places, including Texas, California, Detroit and Missouri.

In Washington, D.C., on Thursday, a woman held a sign that said, “Stop Trump’s Gestapo,” as hundreds of people marched to the White House. Protesters in Pflugerville, Texas, north of Austin, banged on the walls of an ICE facility. And a man in Los Angeles burned an American flag in front of federal detention center.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, President Donald Trump and others in his administration have repeatedly characterized the Minneapolis shooting as an act of self-defense and cast Good as a villain, suggesting she used her vehicle as a weapon to attack the officer who shot her.

But state and local officials and protesters rejected that characterization, with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey saying videos show the self-defense argument is “garbage.”

Several bystanders captured footage of Good's killing, which happened in a neighborhood south of downtown.

The recordings show an officer approaching an SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle. The Honda Pilot begins to pull forward and a different ICE officer standing in front of it pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.

It is not clear from the videos if the vehicle makes contact with the officer, and there is no indication of whether the woman had interactions with agents earlier. After the shooting, the SUV speeds into two cars parked on a curb before crashing to a stop.

The federal agent who fatally shot Good is an Iraq War veteran who has served for nearly two decades in the Border Patrol and ICE, according to records obtained by AP.

Noem has not publicly named him, but a Homeland Security spokesperson said her description of his injuries last summer refers to an incident in Bloomington, Minnesota, in which court documents identify him as Jonathan Ross.

Ross got his arm stuck in the window of a vehicle whose driver was fleeing arrest on an immigration violation. Ross was dragged and fired his Taser. A jury found the driver guilty of assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon.

Attempts to reach Ross, 43, at phone numbers and email addresses associated with him were not successful.

Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski and Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis; Ed White in Detroit; Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas; Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma; Michael Biesecker in Washington; Jim Mustian and Safiyah Riddle in New York; Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.

Protesters confront law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

Protesters' shadows are cast on the street near law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

Protesters confront law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

An American flag burns outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Two protesters are lit by a police light as they walk outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Protesters are arrested by federal agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

Protesters sit on a barrier that is being assembled outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building as protesters gather in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

Protesters stand off against law enforcement outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Protesters chant and march during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer the day before, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Protesters gather during a rally for Renee Good, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, after she was fatally shot by an ICE officer the day before. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

Protesters confront federal agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

People gather around a makeshift memorial honoring the victim of a fatal shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, near the site of the shooting, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino arrives as protesters gather outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

A protester pours water in their eye after confronting law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)

People gather around a makeshift memorial honoring the victim of a fatal shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, near the site of the shooting, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)