Super Age Games Founding Athlete Denise Kirtley, 48, is crafting well-rounded longevity[lon-jev-i-tee]nounLiving a long life; influenced by genetics, environment, and lifestyle.Learn MoreClose for a “magnificent second half.”

Denise Kirtley’s fifth decade has been her best one. Since turning 50, she’s gotten into the fiercest shape of her life, built a thriving business that helps thousands of women do the same, and bet on herself more every day. The irony: She built that more perfect life by finally accepting and embracing her own imperfections. 

Before, Kirtley found herself in a pattern: she might stick to a plan for five or six weeks, but would give up if she found herself getting off-course. “This is the first time I thought, ‘OK, I wasn’t perfect. But I’m going to get right back on track tomorrow.’”

Begin Again (As Many Times As It Takes)

Learning to start again after those little stumbles helped the now-55-year-old lose 50 pounds in a year, but also set her life on a new trajectory: Kirtley used the same attitude to compete in (and win) bodybuilding competitions. She applied it to starting and building a brand-new business, Rebellion Body, that helps thousands of women transform their bodies and lives.

“You can move forward without having to be perfect. And I’ve been able to move a business forward with no prior knowledge of this area,” she says. “Mentally, I feel like I can handle anything. I know I show up for myself. I believe in myself. I have confidence in myself because I know what I’m capable of.”

But even with all that success, Kirtley still thinks she can push herself further. While she’s helped women across the globe get stronger, a win for their longevity, happiness, and self-esteem, the LA fitness icon now wants to build a more well-rounded fitness for herself and others, incorporating more endurance, balance, and other markers that will help her and her fellow rebels age well.

That desire is why Kirtley has signed up to be a Super Age Games Founding Athlete, and why she’s bringing others along for the well-rounded ride.

Building Strength In Herself and Others

Kirtley woke up one morning to a shock: Her wedding rings didn’t fit anymore.

“My fingers had grown too large. I was just really so disgusted,” she says.

At the time, Kirtley was 49. She’d gained around 50 pounds over the prior two to three years. Doctors had told her she was pre-diabetic. And with arthritis in both knees, she was in pain. But the squeeze of her wedding bands, she says, was the final straw: “The next week I started, and I didn’t look back.”

What she started was strength training[strength tray-ning]nounResistance-based exercise to build muscle and support healthy aging.Learn MoreClose: Working with a coach, Kirtley’s lifting led to a loss of those extra 50 pounds within a year. With the buzz of her success, and wondering what else she could do with her body, she took to the stage of a bodybuilding show at age 52. She fell in love with dumbbell lateral raises and the bench press, ultimately pressing 115 pounds. And she’s kept up her bodybuilding-style training, with two upper-body and two lower-body strength training days per week.

Kirtley didn’t just change her body; she also transformed her confidence and mental resilience[ri-zil-yuhns]nounThe ability to recover quickly from stress or setbacks.Learn MoreClose, she says. Getting in the best shape of her life in her 50s, something she didn’t believe she could do, gave her the courage to walk away from 22 years of executive recruiting and start a new pursuit: Rebellion Body, a coaching business and fitness app that helps women build muscle, get strong, and change what they believe about their own bodies.

“They’re rebelling against this narrative of decline that we’ve been fed our whole lives — that once we hit 50, it’s the black balloons: Your life is over. Give up your dreams. You’re out to pasture,” she says. “That was always BS. I think we can have amazing lives to 100.”

Strength and mobilitymoh-bil-i-tee]nounThe ability to move freely and easily through a full range of motion.Learn MoreClose are key, she adds. “If you can’t maneuver around in your life, if you become limited because of your physical capabilities, then you are not able to live a full life,” she says. “For me, it starts with being able to really move well in my body, to feel strong, to feel confident when I’m out in the world that I can handle whatever comes at me.” 

The Goal: Well-Rounded Longevity at the Super Age Games

Over the past half-decade, Kirtley’s mission to retain capability for herself, and Rebellion Body clients, has revolved around strength.

And for healthy longevity, that’s huge: people with more muscle experience lower risks of death and disease as they age. But aging women tend to engage in strength training less often than men do: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 23.8 percent of women aged 45-64 participate in muscle-strengthening activities twice per week, as of 2020; for women 65 and over, that number drops to 17.2 percent.

“As I’ve gone through this journey, I think I’ve really gotten the message that strength is key in midlife. You have to be strong. That is the foundation,” she says. 

But strength is just one measure of wellness, Kirtley notes: “I think we have ignored other things that are also important. And I think those are entering the chat now.” The prospect of building up those other aspects of well-rounded longevity is what makes Kirtley so excited for November’s Super Age Games.

“I have not focused as much on my endurance. I don’t focus as much on my mobility. I don’t know how good my balance is,” she says. “I plan to have a magnificent second half, and I can’t do that unless all these things are present. I have to be mobile, and I want to know what my cognitive ability is like. I’m excited to explore all these things in the Games.”

She’s also excited to train for all those assessments. Kirtley’s competitive, so she’s aiming to be near the top of her age group in every event. And, as always, she’s planning to bring others along: other coaches from Rebellion Body are already signed up, and she plans to add some coaching clients to her team, too.

“I’ve really mastered one area, and now it’s time to look at the full picture,” she says. “And it scares me a little bit! But that’s why I want to do it.”

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