A 70-Year-Old Man, Who Ran a Half-Triathlon, Has 3 Tips to Make Exercise Fun
When I first met Tom Barlow, he was bent over his bicycle, adjusting a chain with the kind of patience you only see in people who have spent decades tinkering with things. He straightened up, wiped a grease streak across his forehead, and smiled. “I’m just getting ready for a morning ride,” he said. “Nothing serious.”
I later learned that “nothing serious” for Tom meant a 1.2-mile open-water swim, a 56-mile bike ride, and a 13.1-mile run—a half-Ironman triathlon. He completed it last fall. He turned 70 two weeks before the race.
“I don’t do this to prove anything,” he told me, sitting in his garage, surrounded by old trophies and hydration packs. “I do it because it’s fun. If it wasn’t fun, I would have quit 40 years ago.”
That’s the thing about Tom. He doesn’t look like a fitness guru. He has a slight limp from an old soccer injury, and his knees creak when he stands up. But he has cracked a code that most of us, young and old alike, struggle with: how to make exercise feel less like a chore and more like something you actually want to do.
Here are his three tips for making exercise fun—straight from a man who has been doing it longer than most of us have been alive.
1. Replace Goals With Games
Tom’s first piece of advice is as simple as it is radical: Stop setting goals. At least, stop setting the kind of goals that feel like homework.
“I see people my age—and younger—who say, ‘I need to do 30 minutes on the treadmill, I need to lose five pounds, I need to hit a certain heart rate,’” he says, shaking his head. “That’s work. That’s a to-do list. Doesn’t sound fun to me.”
Instead, Tom treats every workout like a game. When he runs, he might try to spot five different types of birds before he reaches the end of the road. When he swims, he counts how many strokes it takes to cross the pool—and then tries to do it in one fewer stroke the next lap. On the bike, he picks a random mailbox or a tree a quarter-mile ahead and sprints to it, just to see if he can.
“You turn it into a contest with yourself,” he says. “Suddenly you’re not thinking about the time or the distance. You’re thinking about the game. And games are fun.”
Studies in sports psychology back this up. When you frame physical activity as play rather than performance, your brain releases more dopamine, the chemical associated with pleasure and reward. You’re also more likely to stick with it long-term. Tom’s game-based approach is why he hasn’t missed a week of training in 42 years.
“I never once told myself I had to train for a triathlon,” he says. “I just told myself I was going to go play outside. The triathlon was the result of all that playing.”
2. Find the ‘Fun Partner’—Not the Drill Sergeant
Tom also credits his wife, Linda, 68, with keeping him active. But he’s careful to explain the dynamic.
“We’re not the couple who yells at each other to run faster or do one more rep,” he says, laughing. “That’s a drill sergeant. That’s not fun for anybody.”
Instead, Tom and Linda do what he calls “parallel play.” She walks; he runs loops around her. He swims; she does water aerobics in the next lane. They meet at the car for coffee afterward. They rarely do the same workout at the same intensity, but they do it at the same time.
“The key is accountability without pressure,” Tom explains. “You show up because you know she’s going to be there. But you’re not competing with each other. You’re just sharing the experience.”
This approach works for almost any relationship. A friend who texts you “Meet me at the park at 6” but doesn’t get mad if you’re slow. A neighbor who agrees to walk the dog together but doesn’t judge your pace. A sibling who signs up for the same 5K but runs their own race.
“I’ve seen too many people get a partner who pushes them too hard, and they burn out in three weeks,” Tom says. “You want someone who makes you laugh, not someone who makes you feel bad.”
For Tom, that’s Linda. They’ve been doing this for 35 years. “If it wasn’t fun, we would have stopped a long time ago,” he says.
3. Never Do the Same Thing Two Days in a Row
Tom’s third tip is a strict rule he’s followed for decades: No two consecutive days of the same workout. Not even close.
“If I ran Monday, I’m definitely not running Tuesday,” he says. “I’ll bike. I’ll swim. I’ll go for a hike with the dog. I might even just do yard work if it’s heavy enough. But I never repeat the same motion back-to-back.”
This isn’t just about injury prevention—though Tom admits it’s a big reason his joints still work. It’s about keeping the novelty alive. When you do the same run, the same route, the same machine at the same pace, your brain starts to associate that activity with monotony. You get bored. And when you get bored, you quit.
“Variety is the spice of life, but it’s also the spice of movement,” he says. “If I did the same thing every day, I’d hate it. So I make sure every day feels different.”
Tom’s week might include a long bike ride, a short swim, a run with intervals, a hike with Linda, a yoga class (yes, he does yoga), and one day where he just messes around in the backyard—throwing a football, swinging a kettlebell, or doing push-ups while watching the news. He doesn’t follow a strict schedule. He follows his curiosity.
“You want to know the secret?” he asks, leaning in. “I never plan my workouts. I wake up, I think, ‘What sounds fun today?’ And I do that. Most days, something sounds fun.”
Research supports him. A 2023 study in the Journal of Sport and Health Science found that people who varied their exercise routines reported 40% higher enjoyment levels and were 60% more likely to stick with their program after six months. Variety, it turns out, is a cheat code for consistency.
The Takeaway
Tom Barlow isn’t a celebrity trainer or a motivational speaker. He’s a retired electrician from Ohio who just happens to have completed 12 half-Ironmans and countless shorter races. He doesn’t have a six-pack or a YouTube channel. What he has is a simple philosophy: if it’s not fun, you won’t keep doing it.
“I’m 70 years old,” he says, standing up and stretching. “I’ve been active my whole life. And you know what? I still look forward to my workouts. That’s the only metric that matters.”
Whether you’re 20 or 70, Tom’s advice is worth remembering. Turn your workout into a game. Find a partner who makes you smile, not sweat the details. And mix it up so you never get bored. Because at the end of the day, the best exercise is the one you actually want to do tomorrow.
Ahmed Abed – News journalist