Sonya Yaksich, 66, is in the best shape of her life—and she has the data to back it up. Yaksich owns a smart scale, which is an advanced bathroom scale that measures not only body weight, but also metrics such as body fat percentage, muscle mass and bone mass.
According to her scale, her metabolic age (which compares the number of calories the body burns at rest compared to others of the same chronological age), Yaksich is 63—three years younger than her chronological age. “I’ve also increased bone mass and muscle mass,” she tells Parade.
How does she do it? It took a mindset shift; Yaksich has only been working out consistently for the past five years. But she says she’s proof that anyone can improve their health, no matter their age.
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Yaksich’s Health Journey
“Exercise wasn’t something I pursued until later in life,” Yaksich reveals. She says that she was overweight as a young child and spent her teens and early adulthood yo-yo dieting. “Then, life just happened,” she shares.
In early and middle adulthood, Yaksich pursued motherhood and became a registered nurse. Like many women, she put her own health on the back burner to prioritize caring for others, both at home and in her career. But years spent working as a nurse showed her the very real impact of not prioritizing health. “I started to see the toll that chronic disease and illness placed on my patients and their families,” she says.
For Yaksich, COVID was the ultimate wakeup call. “So many lives were lost and seniors were especially targeted, particularly if they had a chronic illness,” she says. Yaksich was in her early 60s and decided that she no longer wanted to take her health for granted. “I don’t want to look back and think, ‘What if I had done something earlier?’” she explains.
The Workout She Does Regularly
She started researching what types of exercise would best support her health and was drawn to strength training because it helps preserve bone and muscle mass, which both naturally decrease with age. Since she was new to strength training, Yaksich felt self-conscious going to the gym, so she decided to buy an at-home strength system called “Speediance Gym Monster.” Outfitted with a touchscreen, the machine has hundreds of guided workouts, which Yaksich followed in the privacy of her own home.
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Inside Yaksich’s Weekly Workout Routine
Using her new machine, she started lifting weights two to three days a week, doing a full-body routine that includes assisted squats, deadlifts and curls. The other days of the week, she prioritized stretching. Over time, she’d increase the weights she was lifting to keep challenging herself.
Now, five years later, Yaksich says she strength trains five days a week and spends the other two days of the week stretching and recovering. She does plenty of cardio too, such as playing pickleball or riding bikes with her husband. “My husband and I love to go on walks,” she adds, sharing that they are hoping to do some hiking in Colorado next year.
Yaksich’s five-day-a-week sessions are anywhere from 30 and 60 minutes long. She varies the guided workouts she does to keep her workouts both interesting and challenging. “I spend quite a while stretching before and afterwards, but would say the actual strength training sessions are about 30 minutes,” she tells Parade.
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It bears repeating that Yaksich didn’t start strength training five days a week, and her level of fitness may not be right for everyone. Before you start a new exercise program, it can be helpful to meet with a personal trainer for guidance. If you are over 65, it can be beneficial to work with a personal trainer specializing in training people over 65.
The Impact Her Workouts Have Had
Yaksich says that regular strength training has improved her health in many different ways. “I’ve had a big improvement in joint health and stability,” she says. “I don’t wake up with sore knees or a sore back like I used to. Strength training has become my fountain of youth.”
To fuel her body properly, Yaksich has changed how she eats too. Now, she makes sure she gets plenty of protein and has cut back on simple carbohydrates. “My sugar cravings have disappeared,” she says.
And, as her smart scale reported, she’s gained muscle mass, bone density and has decreased her body mass index.
How To Get Fit at Any Age
Yaksich emphasizes that at the beginning of her fitness journey, she was not even confident enough to walk into a gym. So if that’s where you are right now, she 100% understands. Her advice for getting started is to first talk with your doctor about what is safe for you to do. For example, if you have knee or shoulder issues, it’s important to know how to work out safely to avoid aggravating these sensitive areas.
She also recommends doing guided workouts, at least to start. That way, you can make sure you maintain correct form, which is key to avoiding injury and getting the most out of your workouts. For Yaksich, this guidance came in the form of her Speediance Gym Monster guided workouts, but this can also look like taking exercise classes at your local gym or booking a few sessions with a personal trainer who can show you how to properly lift weights and use strength training machines.
After that, Yaksich says the key is to stay consistent. She also says it’s important to keep challenging yourself. “When strength training, you should be able to do every rep while maintaining proper form. The last couple of reps should feel challenging, but be doable. Most importantly, listen to your body. If something doesn’t feel right, stop and re-evaluate your form,” she says.
What Yaksich wants people to know the most is that it’s never too late to get started. “Do I wish I had started earlier? Yes. But you can start at 70 or 80. Movement is key to keeping the body feeling good, no matter how old you are,” she explains.
If you stick with it, you just might age backwards, just like Yaksich.
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This story was originally published by Parade on Nov 25, 2025, where it first appeared in the Health & Wellness section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.