I didn’t grow up as an athletic kid. In grade school, my mom signed me up for soccer and basketball teams. But I was a better bench-warmer than anything else.

Gym class gave me hives. Annual fitness tests? I’d rather stick my head in a book. These feelings continued in early adulthood. I didn’t work out voluntarily for years — and when I did, I didn’t find any joy in it.

As I got older, it changed. I started taking group fitness classes, experimenting with different types of workouts and meeting people along the way. I was also figuring out what made my body feel good. I started lifting weights, honing in on good technique — and thrilled in my ability to lift a few more pounds or add a few more reps.

Running came later. I started alone, then found community in a local running group. I love the runs, but the people make the miles fly by.

My own journey got me thinking about the fact that you can find your way to fitness, or movement at any age. You don’t have to be an active kid, to be an active adult. And I want to make sure I can be as active as I can, for as long as I can.

Over the past month, I’ve spent a lot of time with active older people learning about the benefits — and even bliss — they’ve found in exercise. I’ve also talked to experts who focus on fitness for an older population.

Even though I’m in my 30s, they taught me a lot about what it means to be active as we age, and to live well.

NPR host Juana Summers didn’t grow up as an athletic kid. But when she got older, she found joy in movement.

Juana Summers/NPR

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Juana Summers/NPR

Just start

As we’ve reported our series on older athletes, we spoke to more than a dozen people over the age of 50 about their fitness journeys. We asked many of them a question: What advice would you give someone who’s looking to jump into a new fitness activity?

DeEtte Sauer, 83, is a competitive swimmer who picked up the sport in her 50s after getting sober. Her advice? Don’t be scared.

“You can’t let fear stop you from achieving anything,” Sauer said. “You have to use the fear as something to energize you and invigorate you in order to take the risk.”

She also encourages people to start small.

“Anybody that’s starting out, take little steps. I couldn’t have done it the first day I started. I couldn’t even get halfway across the pool,” she said. “But I trusted the [swim coach] that said, ‘You are strong and you can do this,’ rather than listening to the voice in my head that was saying, ‘Get out of here girl, you don’t belong.'”

Exercise can create — and strengthen — social ties

We spent time early one morning at a mall in Annapolis, Md., with a group of women who have spent years walking side-by-side together, five days a week. The walks got them out their front doors, but the community kept them coming back.

81-year-old Anita Snyder has been walking at the mall for 20 years. She and the other women said it was the walking community at the mall that keeps them going.

“Knowing that we have people here waiting for us [is what] gets us here,” Snyder told me. “I don’t always want to get up and walk, but I got these two waiting for me.”

And the community extends beyond the walls of the Annapolis Mall. Snyder and her friends, Evelyn Boock and Annette Smith, who are both in their late 70s, are all on a group text. When they miss seeing fellow walkers on their daily route, they are quick to check in and make sure everyone is OK.

“If somebody has a grandchild or someone has an illness or something — if you want to send them a card, they’ll get the address,” Snyder said.

She called the mall-walking community a “big family, an extended family.”

Mona Noyes, 86, works out with trainer Emily Socolinksy at Fivex3 Training in Baltimore.

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Kyna Uwaeme for NPR

Strength equals independence

Mona Noyes is an 86-year-old we met at Fivex3 Training, a strength and conditioning gym in Baltimore. Her advice for newcomers? It’s never too late to get started.

Noyes worked at a large school district until her late 70s. After she retired, Noyes said she became less active, and daily tasks became more difficult. Her confidence in her body and independence dropped. Then, her daughter suggested she try working out with a trainer.

“I am doing things now that I would have never even thought about doing before,” she said.

Her trainer and Fivex3 owner, Emily Socolinsky, emphasized the quality of life benefits of remaining active.

“So many people, when they retire, they stop. They stop moving, they stop going out, they stop engaging with other people,” Socolinsky told me. “The worst thing that you can do is stop. And the strength training is so important because it does give you back [that] confidence in your body.”

Noyes said she’s gained a lot of strength. Simple tasks that used to be a challenge are becoming easier again.

“I would creep up the stairs, holding both hands,” she told me. “Carrying things — even a regular grocery bag — it was a struggle for me.”

Now, she can carry four quarts of milk. A miracle, she says.

Matt Ozug and Sarah Handel contributed to this report.