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SHANGHAI: Chen Jifang goes to the gym for at least two hours every day and has the physique to show for it. At nearly 70, he is seen as a shining example, as China commands its vast population to get fit and lose weight.
The Shanghai grandmother has become a minor celebrity in recent months, as her unlikely new love for exercise made national headlines.
After becoming a gym bunny in December 2018, Chen lost 14kg in three months and now sports the kind of flat stomach and toned muscles that people decades younger aspire to.
READ: Why You Shouldn’t Stop Exercising Even At 60 And Over
She has also built a fanbase on social media, acquiring 410,000 TikTok followers with her impressive exercise routines and encouraging others to follow her example.
A post on the video sharing app of the pensioner doing a quick series of squats and lunges to break the lungs has been viewed over 1 million times.
“I will exercise as long as I live,” Chen, who turned 68 this year, told AFP at a gym in a Shanghai suburb.
Chen Jifang experienced health problems until he began to exercise regularly. (Photo: AFP)
Chinese state media have reported Chen’s story with enthusiasm because it fits in with the government’s push to encourage people of all ages to get in shape.
That message has been amplified this year with the claim that staying in shape is a way to help beat COVID-19, which emerged in Wuhan in late 2019.
READ: Here’s how our seniors can better protect themselves against COVID-19
The Xinmin Evening News labeled Chen a “hardcore grandmother” and the Xinhua News Agency called her a “heavy-duty grandmother.” She has also appeared on television.
For Chen, who worked for a food company before retiring, iron pumping came late in life.
She began hitting the gym after a chance encounter with a personal trainer, driven into action by concerns about her deteriorating health and weight gain.
But she has gotten rid of the sagging and says that last year doctors gave her a certificate of good health, having previously had problems with fatty liver, high blood pressure and eye cataracts.
Chen Jifang exercises for two hours every day. (Photo: AFP)
Chen, who has a 14-year-old grandson, recalled the shocked looks he received the first time he walked through the gym door.
“It was very strange to them, they don’t usually see people so old who care so much about their health,” he says.
Aunts dancing
Under the watchful eye of a personal trainer, and barely pausing to breathe, Chen performs a series of exercises using weight machines, free weights, and other dynamic movements designed to burn fat and gain muscle.
READ: High-intensity exercise does more than improve your fitness
Despite her active lifestyle, Chen has no sports background and says she barely got out of bed when her daughter was very young because her body was so weak from childbirth.
“If your muscles are strong and powerful, it will protect your bones if you fall, because the elderly are more afraid of falling,” he said.
Chen Jifang has presented himself as an example to others in China. (Photo: AFP)
“In fact, I also fell once and fell terribly, hurting my forehead, hips, knees, and toes.
“They saw an old woman with white hair lying on the ground and passers-by started calling for an ambulance.
“I said ‘no’, and got up. I said I’d been exercising, so I’m fine.”
On a typical warm autumn afternoon, so-called “dancing aunts” fill Shanghai’s parks and public spaces. For many women middle-aged and older, square dancing is the only form of exercise they do.
“No matter how much you square dance, you can’t reach my current condition,” Chen said, flexing his biceps for the camera.
She added: “At our age it’s not about how much money you have, who you are or how good your kids are.
“All you want is as short a medical history as possible.”
