Strong and Vital No 1

Fit and Healthy

Takishima Mika Japan ’ s Oldest Fitness Trainer: 93

Japan’s life expectancy is one of the highest in the world, as the country’s 90,000 centenarians prove. Older people are becoming increasingly active, like Takishima Mika, also known as «Takimika», who cele brated her 93rd birthday in January. It was a casual remark from her husband that got Takishima, then aged 65, interested in fitness. Back then, she was more than a little plump - her trouser size was twice as big as it is today. Nevertheless, she stubbornly refused to admit that she was overweight. One day, however, when her husband made a com ment about her weight, she suddenly felt the need to change things and decided to join a gym. Although the full-time housewife had never exercised before in her life, passion for fitness immediately won her over and enabled her to lose 15 kilos over the next five years. Debut as an octogenarian Even though Takishima had more than achieved her original goal of losing weight, she continued to attend fitness classes and, at the age of 79, began a programme with a personal trainer to strengthen her muscles. Of course, she could not imagine at the time that eight years later her trainer would make her such an attractive proposal that it would be difficult to refuse. From one moment to the next, her trainer, owner and manager of the gym, asked Takishima to become an instructor. She had started working out at the age of 65, and 22 years later she finally became a fitness instructor at 87. Takishima’s trainer claimed that her body radiates love for training. It would be a waste to have her come to the gym just as a customer. That’s why he half forced her to take on the role of fitness trainer. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, Takishima’s schedule was limited to 60-minute online classes in which she taught participants aerobics and core training programmes that she had designed her self. Her exceptionally youthful appearance made her advice all the more compelling. «You are never too old to start something.» A strenuous daily routine: Training with complete dedication Takishima’s day is full. As she only needs three or four hours’ sleep, she gets up very early in the morning when it’s still dark to go walking or jogging. Then, she has a balanced breakfast with plenty of protein and fermented foods. After recharging her batteries, she does housework and occasionally does a few stret ching exercises. Takishima explains that she only eats a light lunch to avoid sleep-inducing digestion.

In the afternoon, it’s time for an intensive training ses sion supplemented by strength training, followed by stretching exercises. For dinner, Takishima cooks herself a hearty meal and drinks wine with it. Even before she started training, the fitness enthusiast always ate three balanced meals a day and avoided artificial additives and preservati ves. In fact, she doesn’t follow a strict diet, but uses common sense and eats what she likes and as much as she needs. After dinner, the senior athlete finally has time for her self, but there is no room for lazing around. Instead, she works on the prescribed training exercises, refi nes her smartphone and computer skills and attends courses to brush up on her English. All this discipline might seem a burden, but, as Takis hima explains, her lifestyle is dictated by motivation and was not born out of a sense of obligation. At the beginning of her fitness regime there was only the desire to lose weight, then the goal of reshaping her body took over, admits Takishima. She would never have dreamed that her life would turn out like this. But Takishima does not want to remain a virtuous indi vidual. She wants to spread her attitude to life with social awareness in order to conquer other people with her healthy passion and motivate them to start training. The senior fitness instructor travels through all forty-seven Japanese prefectures to organise training demonstrations and involve the audience present. The people who attend her events don’t have to join in straight away - if her demonstration inspires them, they will be motivated to take up fitness themselves and follow Takishima’s example. In fact, the senior ins tructor told the Japanese press:

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STRONG and VITAL No. 1 - 2024