Coaching exercise is the easy bit.

You’re learning to coach, and nobody has shown you how to coach someone two or three times your age.

It’s a skill. You can learn it early, and you don’t have to work it out alone.

People over 50 can take intensity and progressive overload.

Building the relationship is the tough part of coaching.

A coach or gym owner can build a good working life on this.

A client I’d been talking to for a couple of years joined my coaching programme last month.

In our third session she mentioned she wanted some firewood delivered and needed a pallet to stack it on.

After the session we went for a walk, and there were pallets on the street by the gym.

She drives a Corolla, so I took the pallet round to her house on Saturday, in something big enough to carry it.

For me it was nothing out of the ordinary. For her it was, because it wasn’t what she expected from a coaching relationship.

A Tuesday when you sit down with a 62-year-old for a First Conversation, listen, and know what to do next.

Months later that client is still turning up, stronger, and you are someone they trust.

You have fewer clients who stay longer, a week that fits, and income that matches the work.

You stop wondering whether you are good enough.

I’m Paul Richards. I’ve spent 15 years coaching clients over 50, and the last 7 coaching the coaches who work with them.

I’ve owned Ignite Fitness in Lower Hutt, New Zealand, since 2015.

I’m building The Ageless Playbook for coaches who want clients over 50 to stay for years.

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Less Isn’t The Same As Easy

10 September 2026

All writing

I write about coaching clients over 50. If that’s for you, join. If it isn’t, you can leave any time.