22 Sep 2026
At 74, most people are not thinking about launching a new career, but Richard Carruthers is.
The St Albans resident has recently qualified as a Level 3 Personal Trainer after a working life spent largely in law, and is now hoping to build a new career helping people become stronger, fitter and more confident.
Richard studied philosophy before qualifying as a lawyer, and spent much of his professional life in a very different world from gyms and fitness coaching. But exercise had long been a personal interest, and his wife Jan encouraged him to stop treating it simply as an enthusiasm and turn it into something useful.
“Her encouragement helped push me back into formal study, practical assessment and professional training at an age when many people would be looking to slow down.
“The experience has reinforced my belief that age should not automatically mean reducing expectations. I am particularly interested in working with older adults, including people who may assume that strength training, cardiovascular exercise or challenging physical goals are no longer for them.”
For Richard, fitness in later life is not mainly about appearance. It is about maintaining strength, mobility, independence and the confidence to continue doing the things that matter.
His own neurodiversity is also central to the kind of trainer he hopes to become. Richard is autistic and has ADHD, and believes many conventional fitness environments and coaching styles can be unnecessarily difficult for neurodivergent people.
“I hope to develop an approach that is clearer, less intimidating and better adapted to people who may struggle with busy gyms, complicated routines, motivation, organisation or conventional ways of being coached.”
Richard is now looking to work with clients in and around St Albans and is also seeking opportunities to teach circuit and group exercise classes locally. He hopes his late career change will encourage other people to question assumptions about what can and cannot be started later in life.
There is also a possibility that Richard may be among the oldest men in Britain to first qualify as a Level 3 Personal Trainer. Extensive public searches have so far failed to identify a documented UK male qualifier who achieved the qualification at an older age, although there appears to be no official national record for age at first qualification.
For him, though, the more important point is simpler: starting late is still starting. And at 74, he has no intention of treating the next chapter as an afterthought.
You can contact Richard via Facebook or email at enquiries@carruthers-fitness.co.uk
