Jill Jones is on a mission to change the status quo of aging.
The ISSA-certified personal trainer, owner of Colosseum Gym in New Jersey and co-founder of online platform FitQuo, believes building muscle is the ultimate aging defence.
“Strength training should be accessible, sustainable and part of everyday life at any age,” she tells Fit&Well.
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It’s why she launched FitQuo with co-founder Elizabeth Reeder, to help people get stronger, feel more energized and better able to take charge of their health in the gym or at home.
Now, after years of working with older adults and beginners, she has realized that a handful of factors underpin longevity.
“I’ve found that five things matter most when it comes to aging well,” says Jones.
“Not just living longer, but living better.”
1. Balance and stability
“Falls are one of the leading causes of injury in adults over 65,” says Jones.
Most are preventable. “Balance is a skill, and like any skill, it gets better with practice,” she says.
Jones urges everyone to incorporate single-leg work, slow and controlled movements, and exercises that challenge your coordination, like single-leg deadlifts, to “train your body to catch itself” if you trip or stumble.
“My clients come in wanting to look better. They stay because they feel better, safer, steadier and more confident in everything they do.”
2. Mobility and joint health
Pain and tightness are not inevitable.
“Many of my clients come to me believing that pain is just part of getting older,” says Jones.
Then, within weeks of working together, their stiff hips, tight shoulders or aching knees become a thing of the past.
“Joints need to move to feel good, and when we stop moving through our full range of motion, the body starts closing those ranges off permanently,” she explains.
“Our bodies adapt to our level of movement. A sedentary lifestyle is the real enemy, not our age.”
3. Resistance training for bone and muscle strength
After 30, we naturally start losing muscle mass.
“This process accelerates after 60,” says Jones. “But here’s what most people don’t realize: resistance training doesn’t just slow that loss, it can actually reverse it.”
Building strength is equally protective for your bones too, she adds.
“Using weights signals the body to maintain bone density, which is critical for preventing fractures.
“You don’t need heavy weights, you just need to show up consistently and do the exercises that actually matter.”
4. Cardiovascular fitness
Traditional cardio isn’t the only way to improve your heart health.
“You don’t have to run a 5K to improve VO2 max—the measure of how efficiently your body uses oxygen during exercise,” explains Jones.
“For beginners and older adults, simply raising your heart rate in a controlled, rhythmic way through marching, stepping or brisk walking is enough to make meaningful progress.”
The goal is effort, not speed.
As your fitness improves, Jones says you can introduce new movements like dynamic mountain climbers to keep sessions physically challenging and mentally stimulating.
5. Confidence and independence
“Confidence is built through habit and progression,” says Jones.
“This is the transformation I love watching most, when people who once moved through the world with hesitation start to stand taller, moving more freely, and choose to work out not out of fear but because they’ve worked hard for that fitness and they refuse to lose it.”
When that lightbulb goes off, she adds, there’s nothing quite like it.
“That shift is worth more than any fitness metric.”
Jones has designed this 21-minute full-body workout, which she believes addresses all of the above.
“It can be done entirely from your living room,” she says. “All you need is a chair and a light pair of dumbbells.”