Moving Through Retirement - Women’s Experiences of Exercise during Retirement in Aotearoa

Within Aotearoa New Zealand, less than half of women aged 65 to 74 exercise, despite its critical role in supporting their holistic wellbeing. Throughout their lives, women face numerous social and gendered pressures related to exercise, which can evolve and intensify with age. While retirement may offer more time to exercise, the experiences of older women and the unique barriers they encounter at this time remain underexplored in Aotearoa. This qualitative study explores how women in Aotearoa experience exercise during retirement and how these experiences interact with societal expectations as they navigate this life transition. Eleven retired women aged 65-73 years with previous experience of regular exercise were recruited through Facebook community groups and posters at fitness centres and bus stops. The women participated in semi-structured, in-person interviews that lasted between 30 and 110 minutes. The data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis guided by the research question and life course theory with an interpretive approach. The analysis generated five themes: Exercising with an Ageing Body, Rejecting Old Age Through Exercise, Facing Social Pressures as a Retired Exercising Woman, Exercising Provides Community, and Exercise as Fulfilment. Collectively, these themes offered several key insights. The first, that some older women experienced exercise as a requirement fuelled by underlying social pressures of healthism, beauty standards, and ageism. The second, that women also described experiencing newfound freedom to exercise during retirement that offered them space to respond to their body’s needs and capabilities with reduced external pressures or time constraints. Finally, that exercise was vital for these retired women beyond its physical benefits, particularly for building a community and providing meaning. The findings from this study provide critical insight regarding why older women exercise during retirement and the unique challenges they face. These experiences can inform more nuanced and inclusive health promotion and exercise policies for older women that encompass care for their whole wellbeing.