Emulating the can-do spirit of senior exercisers for a healthy way of life

A short video uploaded on WeChat in late September has gone viral. In it a group of elderly Chinese men, boasting strong muscular strength, stunned a foreign bodybuilder with their dexterous movements on high bars.

Unlike most exercisers who would do pull-ups on a high bar with both arms, an old man in the video pulled himself up using his left and right arms alternately. At the same time, two other seniors swung on nearby high bars like a pair of spirals, their brawny arms bent over the bars to form powerful revolving loops.

With a humorous touch, the young and energetic expat, who had hoped to exercise in the same park in part to flex his muscles, appeared "dwarfed and dumbfounded" by the local elderly musclemen, who were performing like professional acrobatic gymnasts. Feeling a bit "lost," the foreigner sluggishly threw his unopened training backpack onto his shoulder and "shied away" from the scene.

While it was meant to entertain WeChat viewers with a comic twist, the short video did provide a glimpse of the strenuous exercises undertaken by many senior Chinese citizens, whose will to stay fit and healthy hardly withers with age. I browsed the main page of the expat's WeChat video account and found this succinct self-introduction: "Enjoying life in China."

The video was shot and produced in southern Guangdong Province, but similar scenes abound across the country – from Beijing to Shanghai, Harbin to Hangzhou, and Chengdu to Chongqing.

Not all elderly exercisers are muscular, though, but they make no less strenuous efforts to keep the doctor away, whether by simply walking or swimming. The more you talk to them in person, the more you are likely to rethink what it means to grow old.

Respect for the elderly

Aging is not necessarily to be weak, and the popular phrase "respect for the elderly" (jinglao) may infer more than just care for the infirm. In many cases, jinglao should be more about our appreciation and admiration for those senior citizens whose daily exercise habits have not just helped them maintain a relatively independent life in old age, causing as little burden as possible either on society or on their families, but also set a good example for younger people.

In my interviews with dozens of elderly exercisers over the past few weeks, I discovered a common trait among them: persistence. By consistently practicing tai chi, perfecting sword skills or simply doing push-ups and/or pull-ups all year round, they have shown how courageous and confident they are in squaring up to old age that so many of us have feared, often falsely, since time immemorial.

One morning, about 6:50am, an old woman who was nimbly doing push-ups in a park near my suburban Shanghai home caught my eye. "One, two, three ..." I counted from a distance. By the time I counted "10" I had come close to her side, ready to strike a conversation. But before I uttered a word, she had turned around, lifting her left leg to one side of the parallel bars that were as high as her chest. She surprised me by bending her back until her head touched the ankle area.

"I guess you're in your late 60s?" I quipped as soon as she resumed her standing pose.

Her smiling eyes squinting under the morning sunlight, she answered shortly: "I'm 81."

"Wow, let me see how many push-ups I can do," I said, explaining that I hadn't exercised much ever since I contracted COVID-19 last May.

"One, two, three ..." I counted. Before I uttered "four," I flumped.

Then I tried to lift my leg to the same bar the old woman had tried before. Oops, my rigid muscles failed me miserably: I simply couldn't raise my stiff leg that high.

"How could you do that?" I asked her.

"Just do it every day," she smiled back. "And look, I had a lower back surgery two years ago to ease a pinched nerve. A steel plate was inserted into my back and remains in place today. In a similar surgery, a steel plate was also inserted into my left leg. It's still there."

She said her children had suggested she rest at home under their 24-hour care but she refused. "I told myself right after the surgeries that I had to stand up and walk and exercise as soon as possible. I told myself that I had to find my feet in my future life, instead of relying on others, including my family."

After her daily morning exercise – lasting nearly one hour – was over, she wiped the sweat off her forehead with a small cotton handkerchief and was ready to go home. She said she lived across the street of the mini park, about three minutes' walk away.

A deep respect for her vigorous spirit arose in my heart. To think that I had almost abandoned physical exercises just because I had once contracted the coronavirus! And to think that so many younger people would rather idle a day away playing with their smartphones than spend even half an hour playing in a park. When we get older, can we stand on our own like the octogenarian woman?

"You've got to exercise every day, otherwise your body rusts away," a 90-year-old man told me the other day as we chanced to meet in our residential community in the western suburban district of Qingpu. He was exercising on an outdoor air walker, which allowed him to stride in mid-air to strengthen his leg power. His easy gait and upright upper body made me and other neighbors playing around think that he looked like someone in his 70s. His hair was mostly dark, with only a few gray strands.

Exercise matters

He advised me to exercise every day when I asked him about a possible secret to his healthy life in old age. "In addition to leg swings, I swim and practice martial arts with a sword almost day in and day out."

Seeing that I was wearing a pair of glasses, he said: "Your myopia is not that bad, it's about 2.0 diopters."

"How could you know?" I wondered. "Yes, I'm nearsighted with only about 2.0 diopters, but I suffer from chronic eye fatigue due to my constant use of computers and cellphones."

"You need to regulate your exposure to those digital devices and give your eyes enough rest," he admonished me like a high school teacher would when talking to a student. "Now and then you must look at a view at least 6 meters away from your eyes. If you simply take your eyes off a digital screen and look at something else within 6 meters, your eyes won't get a real rest."

It turned out that he used to be a professional ophthalmologist as well as the president of a large hospital in Shanghai. "In my life I've never been nearsighted."

A report published late last year on the website of the General Administration of Sport of China shows that, by 2022, 53.6 percent of the country's youth had been diagnosed with nearsightedness. The report explains that myopia has become increasingly common among youngsters in recent years, seriously affecting their health. Enough outdoor exercises, the report suggests, can go a long way toward preventing nearsightedness.

A recent national survey conducted by the Social Sciences Academic Press (China) finds that about 25 percent of the country's elderly people are habitual exercisers. And of all the elderly people in China, nearly half exercise at least once a week. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China had 297 million elderly people (aged 60 and above) by the end of 2023.

Before wrapping up this article, I thought of yet another nonagenarian who comes to a mini park near my home every day at 6:30am except on rainy, snowy, windy or extremely hot days. When playing with a long spear or a broadsword, he steadily swings his body or even stands on one leg for a long time.

In answer to my question about longevity and health, he said: "Swing your legs. Don't sit all day long."

China has designated October as a month devoted to promoting societal respect for the elderly. When we, as younger people, observe the special month, we should do more than just paying a visit to elderly homes. We should also spread the can-do spirit of these senior exercisers, who are helping set the pace for an ever healthier way of life that we all aspire to.

Now, I can do more than 10 push-ups in a single round. I've not just interviewed many elderly exercisers, but am following their lead as well.