This granny can lift
A 70-year-old woman wins hearts with her energetic workouts on Douyin, He Qi reports in Shanghai.
Videos on the social networking platform Douyin — also know globally as TikTok — that show men and women with impeccable physiques working out or dispensing fitness tips are commonplace.
Trying to stand out from the crowd amid the deluge of such videos can often be difficult, but a relatively new account, which has only been active since last year, has managed to do so easily.
The fitness instructor behind this account is not a young woman with a slim, toned figure that would leave viewers green with envy.
The star here is 70-year-old Chen Jifang, a Shanghai resident with 3 million likes on her Douyin videos. She was once even featured on a reality show on China Central Television.
According to her trainer, who helped to manage the Douyin account, Chen attracted more than 400,000 followers within just a few months.
“The main group that I wanted to encourage was people ages 30 to 50,” says Chen.
“I think they will be motivated to work out in the gym after seeing that a granny like me can. The message I want to convey is that it is never too late to pursue good health.”
For Chen, her passion for exercising was born out of a need instead of desire to become famous.
According to Chen, her health had been poor since she was a child. She even had to give up her job after giving birth to her daughter because her health was severely affected by the pregnancy.
“In the past, whenever I felt uncomfortable, I would lie at home for an entire day,” says Chen, who used to be a saleswoman in a local food company before retirement.
In 2018, following a physical examination, Chen was diagnosed with a slew of issues such as a fatty liver, hyperlipidemia and degeneration of the knees. The doctor suggested that she exercise more to stem the further decline of her already poor health.
An overweight Chen started with light
We cannot stop aging, but exercise can slow it down. Instead of spending money on medicine, it is better to spend money on fitness.”
Chen Jifang, Shanghai retiree
but a fitness coach later advised her to improve her physique and rehabilitate her knee before running. Because of this, Chen entered a gym for the first time on Dec 29, 2018.
“Everyone in the gym was young. They were giving me weird looks,” recalls Chen, who made it a point to walk 3.5 kilometers to the gym every day.
Her daily training started at 8 am with 50 pushups, mountain-climbing workouts, running and weightlifting. After a short break at 9 am, Chen continued working out until 3 pm. She hit the gym every day in 2019.
A radical change in her diet was also needed. This meant giving up her favorite foods like barbecued meats, cream cakes and spicy hotpot.
When her health and fitness improved, Chen embarked on high-intensity training sessions and tackled the more challenging workouts like kettlebell swings, battle ropes and deadlifts. Three months later, she lost a whopping 28 kilograms. Her body-mass index also returned to normal.
While most people would be concerned about having an elderly family member perform such strenuous workouts in the gym, Chen has the full support of her family.
Her husband shows his support by doing most of the household chores. Her daughter, on the other hand, helps to pick her gym attire.
Chen may be a star in her own right, but she is also just one of many elderly citizens in China’s major cities who are embracing exercise.
According to a 2019 Cheetah Mobile report on the fitness behavior of the middle-aged and the elderly, nearly 90 perjogging, cent of such people in China have fitness habits while 66.4 percent of them exercise almost every day.
The report also notes that the traditional means for the elderly to stay fit, such as square dancing and tai chi, have been unable to meet the new needs of the fitness-obsessed elderly population.
“As the number of people over the age of 50 entering the gym has increased, gyms are trying to develop new courses to meet their needs,” says Yao Ning, CEO of 3HFIT, an agency that certifies fitness coaches.
According to Yao, 3HFIT has set up a unique training program for seniors that aims to prevent and slow down the occurrence of chronic diseases, delay the degradation of body functions and maintain health.
The 62-year-old also organizes homebased training sessions regularly.
“We are all old people. We need to do some exercises to maintain our body functions, including keeping our joints flexible and stable and maintaining our capacities,” he says.
Chen shares the same sentiment. “We cannot stop aging, but exercise can slow it down,” she says.
“Instead of spending money on medicine, it is better to spend money on fitness.”