60-plus: Dubai's new fitness club?

When one thinks of old age, the image conjured up is inevitably that of doddery old men and women: white hair, skin sagging into soft folds, memory getting rusty. You certainly don't think of Ernestine Shepherd, the 80-year-old African-American bodybuilder with a Guinness World record for taut muscles that could give anyone even a quarter her age a serious complex. Or John van Walwyk, the modern-day Popeye who puts his ability to "still pump iron at the age of 90" down to one word: spinach.

It was a Facebook video of an 'old' man doing pull-ups on an iron bar that made us wonder if Dubai too had its own fit seniors - and it does! These folks may not be 'ripped' or sporting six-pack abs, but they sure can give youngsters a run for their money - and beat them to the finish line, while they're at it. They're redefining what it means to be their age - and that's fit as a fiddle.

'As long as I live, I want to be strong'

Mohammad Osman wears a broad smile on his face as he comes striding into Gold's Gym at Al Barsha Mall. His regular routine sees him at the fitness centre everyday between 8.30am and 10.30am, making the most of the group fitness classes on offer. The workouts are intense. Most days, when he has extra energy post the group sessions, he tackles the gym equipment: rowing, doing vertical rope pulls and leg curls. He is 75.

The rest of the group's participants are "much" younger. "I'm everybody's grandfather here," chuckles the Syrian expat. Other gym members often marvel at his age. He wishes they wouldn't. "It's stupid to say age is just a number," he says. "It's not. We cannot escape from age - but how we end up depends on our lifestyle."

A former mechanical engineer, Osman has been working out for as long as he can remember. It's sheer force of habit that has him making the 10-minute drive from his house in The Springs everyday for the last 35-odd years - but he's never had to drag himself to the gym. "I drag others with me!" he quips. "Most of the members in the morning group classes tend to be women, so sometimes I go and drag some other guys to join us - just to give me some company!"

It's a little surreal to hear Osman talk about hamstrings and Bodystep classes, while extolling the virtues of balancing cardio workouts with strength and endurance training; not exactly your average grandpa talk. But the septuagenarian is in full flow, explaining routines that target the chest, back and legs and the intensity of different workouts. He has some humorous observations too. "Some young people are very strange," he says. "They come to the gym, then spend time on their mobile phones. Why come to the gym?" Likewise for the solemn New Year's resolutions: "You don't have to make promises to yourself - just make good habits."

Outside of the gym, Osman loves his sacred afternoon naps and his evening Sudoku. But when the weather is as pleasant as it is now, he also loves long walks, often parking his car far away from his destination and covering the distance on foot. There's also the walking track in the residential community where he stays. "I think I was born walking," he jokes. "I'm usually 10 steps ahead of people I walk with." Not very polite, he admits - but still great exercise.

If science is constantly telling us about the positive chemical benefits of exercise, then Osman is a 'walking' case study. Having left the construction company he was working with in 2003, he'd gone on to start two new companies that were doing very well - until the 2008 financial crisis hit. He asserts it was his regular gym visits that kept him from 'losing it' along with everyone else too. "It was a bad time for everyone, everywhere. I'd hear many stories of people going into depression, having strokes, committing suicide. Personally, I lost millions. But I found that going to the gym during this time really helped me overcome the crisis. I stopped worrying and developed a more positive attitude to my troubles. Exercise really got me through."

Now, the retired father-of-four bets he's fitter than any of his children and cannot imagine his life without the gym. "It's unthinkable. I know I'm not going to live forever. But as long as I do, I want to be healthy, strong and able to do things without depending on others." So far, so good!

GETTING BACK ON TRACK: Jan Maddern, 64, practises yoga and weight training, which are helping her recover from a recent hip replacement surgery

'Staying fit is helping me rehabilitate faster'

Dubai-based Jan Maddern was a first-hand witness to her mother's "severely crippling" osteoporosis that began at the age of 60. Knowing she was genetically predisposed to the disease made the Australian expat vow to never let her own bone density suffer through laziness or lack of exercise - which is why the 64-year-old has been going for weight training and cardio classes three times a week for the last 10-12 years. She also practises her own yoga routine and goes for beach walks several times a week. "I tend to veer into the osteopenia range every now and then, but when I increase the weight training a bit more, I come back into the normal level of bone density for my age. It's the same case for both my sisters too," says the author, who's lived in Dubai for the past 27 years.

The fight to stay fit is a daily one, but so is the priority - and it's one she understands very well, considering the many injuries she's had, from broken hips and collarbones to torn rotator cuffs. What she also understands, however, is that her daily fitness routines are what helped rehabilitate her more quickly than she would've done otherwise. "A couple of years ago, I slipped at home, broke my hip and had an immediate hip replacement," says Jan, a teacher of yoga and meditation. "I modified my daily exercise programme to use weights and walk with crutches into the pool, and swam daily. I was mobile again after 4-5 weeks."

Unlike Osman, she does have to drag herself out of bed most days to weight-train. "It's hard, sweaty work. I have cheat days on Fridays, but some days, I lack motivation." But though she's still working to get "yoga-fit" and flexible, she says she is able to better appreciate the rewards of exercise now that she's older. "Weight training makes me feel stronger and the yoga and meditation keep me focused on my fitness goals when I get side-tracked," she notes.

Only a couple of her peers get regular exercise through golf, tennis and yoga ("Those who don't complain about arthritis and other aches and pains!"). To keep her going, Jan suggests taking an unlimited package of classes for a month, like she did this year. "Having teachers kept me motivated and my friend and I ended up doing 50 classes of pilates and yoga in January, which was a great start to the year. Lack of mobility is common with old age, but I think you process them more easily and are able to keep moving despite them, when you have a regular exercise routine."

GOING FOR THE FINISH LINE: 65-year-old Michael Lobo has run more marathons than he cares to keep track of

'No excuse not to run in Dubai'

Michael Lobo's earliest memory of running goes back to his school days in India, when he and his friends would "chase donkeys in a bid to try to ride them". But it was only when he moved to Oman in 1978 and didn't have "much else to do" in the evenings after work that he took up running as a serious pastime. Today, the spry 64-year-old is a veritable marathon man. He's run more marathons than he cares to count because, as he puts it, "it's not about how many, is it?"

The entire family is sporty (though each pursues their active lifestyles differently). For Enrique, one of the greatest incentives to cycling is the ability to clear his mind. "I work in construction and it's a very stressful environment. Getting out on the road with my bike, with the wind in my face and the sand dunes all around, really helps put things into perspective." Pick your choice of sport, he says. But don't use age as an excuse. "You're never too old to be physically active."

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