Fit after 60

Ageing is no longer what it used to be. India’s elderly have started defying the body clock in ways you never thought possible

Togged in tight black stretch pants, a snug turquoise T-shirt and diamond jewellery, Usha Chopra has slung her body low in a crouch. She holds her balance perfectly on a vibrating platform called the Power Plate, an exercise machine that shot to fitness fame after Madonna stepped on it. Except that Chopra is an entire generation older. She’s 72.

The other Power Platers at this swank exercise studio in Delhi have even larger age gaps with Chopra. Not that anybody would notice. She’s had knee replacements. But nobody suspects it. After all, she does the workout session in 25 minutes flat. The only giveaways are the few flecks of perspiration on her nose, wiped away with a lace hankie. “I was happy wearing high heels till I was sixty,” says Chopra, with a smile, “now after my knee surgeries, I’m as happy in my sport shoes.” Vesna Jacob, her Power Plate instructor, keeps track of her progress: “She loves to go to the extreme, it’s me who has to hold her back.”

Like Chopra, more and more silver citizens across India are flexing some serious muscle in gyms and yoga classes, on running tracks and treadmills, during appointed hours and spare time. Spurred by retirement, rude health shocks or just plain rage against age, senior Indians are pushing back their years with fitness regimes that might have made them tangle their dentures even a decade ago. Their skin may have lost its elasticity, but the ripple of muscles under it can still take young breaths away. The metabolic rate may have slowed down, but that’s of little relevance.

Colonel Surinder Wadhawan is 85, and the only rate on his mind is his speed as a sprinter. He has survived cancer, had 60 per cent of his stomach removed and shrugged off medicine dependency. He can do a 100-metre dash in 17 seconds flat. “No one can compete with me in Delhi,” he exults.

President of the Delhi Veteran Athletic Association, which organises annual state sports’ competitions for age groups beyond 30, the former colonel has hauled home medals from all over India as well as the world. “The family worries sometimes that you may hurt yourself,” he acknowledges, “but when you get the gold, they are happy.”

The 100 metre-dash for the 60-plus, meanwhile, is getting more and more public attention, even as our aged athletes push the limits at discus, shotput, hurdles and even high jump, which requires special precautions against fractures (the bones, alas, do get brittle with age).

Sheilu Sreenivasan, editor-in-chief of Dignity Dialogue, a monthly magazine, is delighted with all this silver-flexing. “You didn’t see saris and sneakers in gyms ten years ago,” she says, “you do now. Regardless of age, people have taken to modern exercise.”

Tina Ambani, editor of Harmony, another magazine for the elderly, is even more emphatic about turning back the body clock: “The world over, 60 is now perceived as the new 40, and India is no exception.” Besides living longer, she says, “Silvers—our term for the elderly—are slowly learning to put themselves first and are investing more time and money in their self-actualisation.”

Indeed. It’s this new, can-do attitude that has drawn so many senior faces onto the streets to participate in marathons, that age-old test of endurance. Over 3,000 silvers ran the Harmony Senior Citizens’ Run that’s become part of the Mumbai Marathon since January 2005. According to Tina Ambani, many more were keen to take part. If all these faces don’t show up on TV, “It’s because the cameras pack up before they finish,” says Mathew Cherian, CEO, HelpAge India.That’s just as well. They’re not there for the media glare. Indu Puri was a shy Delhi homemaker when she took up athletics about ten years ago. She stunned her neighbourhood—becoming an overnight champion.

It all began when her husband began to get sporty after retirement. She joined him at the race track one day, picked up an iron ball for the first time in her life and just let it fly. Now at 69, she heads out in her salwar kameez to compete in shot put contests for veterans at every given opportunity. Though her fingers are bent and her shoulders slightly stooped, spectators hold their breath when she hefts the 4-kg orb across a mighty four metres.

A humble medal-winner, Puri says with a quiet smile, “People get scared seeing a nani like me throwing a shot put in the park.”

Such sights encourage others to go for fitness regimes. And the effect is quite evident in virtually every metro today. At the trendy Qi Gym in Churchgate, Mumbai, which also houses the Asian Heart City Centre, every tenth member is above 60. Jennifer Sadri, head of quality control and training performance at Qi, counts seniors as an important age segment. “We propagate exercise till the age of 90,” she says.

Right now, India has about 81 million seniors approaching life’s finishing line. Average life expectancy is 63, going on 64. A decade ago, it was 55. It’s expected to rise further. Based on current demographic trends, by 2025, silvers will form a sizeable chunk of India. All this makes senior health a huge public health issue in India, where we only have two dedicated geriatric facilities.

Active ageing is the only way seniors can retain their independence and confidence. Yet, a body worn and torn by six decades of life must contend with a loss of flexibility, balance, bone mineral density, muscle and nerve mass. All that, apart from specific frailties such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Or debilitating medical conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, muscular atrophy and osteoporosis.

So, workouts can only begin after a nod from the physician. Every regimen needs adaptation. For instance, Wanitha Ashok, a fitness expert in Bangalore, does not let seniors hold their breath. Reason: it increases blood pressure.

Ashok also factors in medication and keeps the heart rate in control during low-intensity aerobic sessions. “I recently trained in seated chair aerobics,” she says, “This allows people to work out even with reduced mobility.”

Health deterioration is the scariest aspect of ageing. The Caring Heart Support Group was formed in Mumbai in 2000 to help reverse this. “Too many bypasses were happening,” says Pallavi Shanbag, convenor of the support group, “People refused to believe there was an alternate route to surgery. So we took up research to show the regression of coronary diseases via yoga.”

When the group meets every Sunday for a session, more than half the participants are above 60. Yoga is rejuvenating in itself, but the gathering also offers emotional support for people like Thomas Cordozo. Cordozo, 70, had a heart attack at 54, but say he’s healthier and happier as a septuagenarian since he no longer feels “all alone”.

For most silvers, it’s still the ancient discipline of yoga that holds the deepest appeal. After a debilitating spinal injury many years ago, Freny Motivala turned to the famed yoga exponent BKS Iyengar for help. “After all possible remedies, consulting the best surgeons, pills and promises only succeeded in giving me temporary pain relief. But I was looking for a permanent cure; I call the role of Guruji in my life a divine intervention.”

Now 78, she conducts Iyengar yoga classes at her Mumbai home along with her 80-year old husband Sam, guiding students with asanas that challenge the spine and soul. Says Freny Motivala, “Yoga gave us a new and meaningful life and brought us closer as a family.”

That eternal quest for near-perfect health is what makes 66-year-old Lata Vaswani, a mother of three, a regular at Kolkata’s Bodyline gymnasium. Reeling off her routine, she says, “I do aerobics and weight training for one hour, six days a week without fail. I gym every morning and practise yoga every evening.”

She pooh-poohs leisure vacations. “Going to a seaside resort and basking in the sun or a stroll on the beach is just not for me,” she says, “I always choose a hotel or resort that has a well-equipped gym.” Her physical prowess is enough to impress Robin Ghosh, her yoga instructor from Vivekananda Yoga Institute who notes that “she can execute a new posture, much faster than people less than half her age”.

Ageless body, timeless mind? Some seniors aren’t bent with age, but bending age with silvery grace. 

With inputs from Shubhangi Swarup and Jaideep Mazumdar