Listen to your body, not a fitfluencer, especially if you are over 35 years old

At age 35 people begin to notice their breath catching a little more than usual One day you wake up with knee pain Then comes the bloodwork that screams ldquoGet your health in order before itrsquos too laterdquo Thus begins your search for a workout plan leading you to YouTube and Instagram fitness influencers and then the temptation to follow celebrities doing squats and frog leaps on the treadmill The overnight switch from a completely sedentary lifestyle is causing men and women across India to take unnecessary risks mdash from a wrecked gut unable to adapt to drastic diet fads to grievous gym injuries that leave one in a worse situation than beforeIf this sounds familiar yoursquore not alone itrsquos a worldwide phenomenonPhysical activity peaks at 35 the Swedish Physical Activity and Fitness study revealed in a report published in December 2025 The study is a culmination of 47 years of observing 427 participants from the age of 16 to 63 years It observed that when in both men and women the estimated maximal aerobic capacity how much oxygen body can use during high intensity training and muscular endurance bench press repetitions peaks at ages 2636 and then declines gradually The rate of decline starts at 03 to 06 per cent per year and accelerates to 2 to 25 per cent per year Which essentially means that the older you get the harder it is to see the same results from exercisesThe study also confirms that similar results were seen in tests on elite athletes mdash a decline in physical capacity before the age of 40 which can later lead to clinically significant physical dysfunction especially in individuals with a sedentary lifestyleSo the next time you look at a video of a celebrity running and doing jumping jacks on a treadmill remember even science is saying that you need to be realistic about your goalsAur thoda listen to your body yaarIt doesnrsquot have to be all or nothingNondiet nutritionist Kripa Jalan has been making content to help fix Indiansrsquo with foodKripa Jalan talks about how celebrity workout and fad diets are extremely unhealthy PicSayyed Sameer AbediOn her Instagram Kripa Jalanrsquos kripajalan content is about finding what works for you The nondiet nutritionist insists that tasty food isnrsquot necessarily bad food She also tries to bring forward the realities of fad diets workouts and toxic weightloss cultureldquoCelebrity routines tend to glamorise extremes mdash intense workouts highly restrictive diets and perfectly optimised days What we donrsquot see is the infrastructure behind it full teams managing their training food recovery sleep and schedulesrdquo he saysldquoFor someone in their 30s or 40s whorsquos working managing a home possibly raising children trying to replicate such routines can quickly trigger an allornothing thinkingrdquo he adds ldquoEither yoursquore waking up at 5 am drinking a green smoothie and doing a 5K or yoursquore hitting snooze Therersquos no middle ground But that middle ground is exactly where real progress livesrdquo she saysThose 35 and above have their own unique challenges towards food ldquoSeveral of my Millennial clients didnrsquot discover disordered thinking about food on Instagram They arrived there already shaped by two decades of messaging that their bodies were problems to be solved And that maybe just maybe theyrsquod be liked a little more if they looked like lsquothat girlrsquo the one with the tiny waist chiselled jawline and a noticeable lack of kid throwup on her tshirtrdquo she addsJalan has observed consistently across 10 years of clinical practice that ldquopeople binge on the foods they restrictrdquo ldquoThe person cutting out sugar Monday through Thursday is eating half a cake on Friday not because they lack willpower but because restriction creates a physiological and psychological pressure that eventually demands release The only things genuinely worth avoiding are foods yoursquore allergic to or ones a doctor has asked you to limit for a specific clinical reasonrdquo she saysRejig your baselineHealth and life coach Sapna Vyas says fitness in your 30s and 40s cannot look like it did in your 20sSapna Vyaas says that being happy is the gateway to fitness and not the other way aroundWith 15 million followers on Instagram Sapna Vyas coachsapna has been at the forefront of Indiarsquos fitness journey for over a decade Right off the bat she says that for those above 35 itrsquos crucial they ldquoknow where they arerdquoldquoAnd by that I mean they should do a blood test show it to the doctor and find out if they have any deficiencies Most Indians suffer from B12 deficiency and they are unaware of itrdquo she saysCelebrities like Kareena may show case their extreme routines but what we donrsquot see is that they are monitored by entire teams constantly ldquoCelebrities have trainers and nutritionists and their workouts are under observation all the timerdquo she saysThere are some who are not genuine on social media she warns ldquoThere are people who are taking Ozempic or who have done surgeries but they will show you a few workouts as their lsquosecretrsquo to fitness So letrsquos not follow their advice because we donrsquot need to show dramatic body transformations on screen in two daysrdquo she addsVyas believes that happiness should be a gateway to fitness and not the other way around ldquoThe only thing you should keep in mind as a baseline is lsquoI should be happy where I amrsquo But you should keep improving That way you will eventually reach your best version without any painrdquo she says ldquoOtherwise people either die of the inferiority complex and anxiety until you just say lsquoTo hell with it letrsquos have some cholekulche tonightrdquoPiciStock03 to 0637Decline in aerobic capacity and muscular decline in men and women from the age of 36lsquoI just walkrsquoContent creator Shilpa Chawla 46 has survived obsessions over size zero and other fads Now she doesnrsquot listen to lsquoonline noisersquoShilpa Chawla is a 46yearold who swears by walking PicAtul KambleBack in 2008 Kareena Kapoorrsquos movie Tashan had just been released and Shilpa Chawla was among thousands who were sucked into the ldquosize zerordquo craze after seeing bikini shots of the actor ldquoI fell for it it was the only trend that had got me goodrdquo she recalls ldquoAt the time there were articles saying lsquodonrsquot have sugar donrsquot have carbs donrsquot have rotisrsquo This was in the preInstagram era but even traditional media had unsolicited and bizarre health advice such as lsquodonrsquot have salt it makes you bloatrsquordquoChawla ended up with extremely low blood pressure and thatrsquos when she decided to give up the sizezero dream ldquoIndian women I realised will have a curvy bodyrdquo she saysCut to a few years before the COVID19 pandemic Chawla who had by this time entered her late 30s decided to join the gym ldquoI was so tired all the time at first I couldnrsquot do the weight training the trainers expected me tordquo she saysIt was the pandemic that changed Chawlarsquos health journey ldquoDuring the lockdown I would walk around my balcony or the house just to stay active Slowly as the restrictions were lifted I began to take the stairs Eventually I began to walk in the lane near my houserdquo she saysThe result was instantaneous ldquoI lost weight and I was glowing Many asked what my workout routine was and I told them that I was just walkingrdquo she recalls adding ldquoNow I do at least 7000 steps or on a busy day at least 5000 I take the stairs when I can and I have not changed a single thing in my diet I eat food made only in ghee staying true to my Sindhi roots When I crave something sweet I have three bites of ice cream rather than the whole cup or a few bites of gulab jamun But I eat everythingrdquo The only change she made was to add beetroot to her diet after her haemoglobin levels were found to be low nine last yearShe did try traditional yoga mdash as it was always meant to be practised mdash but says that between her job and other demands of life it became difficult to continueChawlarsquos favourite routine now is to walk from her home on Bandrarsquos 16th Cross Road all the way to Pali Hill and back Chawla has found her own community of walkers and has not looked back for the last five years since she first began ldquoFind what works for you Do not turn to social media for a health planrdquo she saysNot all dadi ke nuskhe workAs a fitness professional Ashley Drsquocruz focuses primarily on food as he believes that it is the bigger factor in a fitness journeyAshley Johnathan Drsquocruz says it takes time to unlearn long held assumptions about dietAshley Johnathan Drsquocruzrsquos social media getfitwithjonathan is full of realistic goals for Indians ldquoIf someone has been doing something for 35 years and you tell them that itrsquos not right for the body itrsquos going to take a lot of time for that person to come out of that Half of my job at least in coaching is spent helping them unlearn what has been passed down from their grandparentsrsquo generation like lsquoghee and millets are super foodsrsquo These are big mindset changesrdquo he saysThe health and performance coach warns that anyone 35 years and above must start with basic strength training ldquoIt may not be sexy It may be a little boring But you need to go through a process where you understand your body better through gradual exposure Because at 35 if you make one mistake thatrsquos going to cost you weeks and weeks in recovery And nothing is more demotivating than just staying in bed because of an injuryrdquo he saysRealistic goals are keyEvent management executive Kanika Bhatia has been trying to find time to squeeze in workouts while managing a family with two childrenKanika Bhatia is a mom of two and tries to slot workouts in the middle of daily lifeLast year Kanika Bhatia tried the keto diet and intermittent fasting but found both too highmaintenance What worked instead was a balanced and consistent diet that she is used to and can commit to every day ldquoI stick to chilla and oats for breakfast roti dal rice and sabzi for lunch salad and sprouts with juice for dinner Irsquove lost 4 kg in as many months and am at a stable weight nowrdquo she saysShe improved consistency with movement ldquoI ensure I complete 50007000 stepsrdquo She also tries to go to dance cardio classes at least twice a week although scheduling is a challenge with her prepping meals for her schoolgoing children and working husband ldquoDuring the week I usually end up rescheduling classes because therersquos too much work at home or I am too tired at the end of it all So I usually go for classes over the weekendrdquo she saysItrsquos clear that her key is to do as much as she can rather than be obsesses with a perfect workout routine that clashes with her lifeBhatia is especially averse to taking advice on social media ldquoI find that there are so many people giving gyaan on social mediardquo she addsFollowing celebrity workouts we see online is especially problematic she believes ldquobecause they are not meant for people who have responsibilities and jobsrdquoPiciStock5000 7000steps that she tries to complete everydayThe controversyThe fitness world was rocked after nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar that said mothers need not take nutrition advice from kidsSonakshi Sharma a mom and a fitness coach feels that reels do a lot of harmDiwekar reel says women should not take protein advice from their children who have no idea what itrsquos like to cook four to five meals a day While many criticised her a few had more nuanced takes such as Sonakshi Sharma fitnaariindia She has criticised Diwekar for being dismissive of womenrsquos protein requirementsldquoI do understand where she was coming from probably from a place of concern to take the load off a womanrsquos shoulder whorsquos already neck deep in household responsibilitiesrdquo says SharmaldquoWe are already doing our best to help our parents with nutrition because we recognise that they didnrsquot have the time or bandwidth to take care of themselves Even I have been doing my bit for my parents but statements like this taps onto our parentsrsquo strongly held biases And they feel that if someone of Rujutarsquos stature is resonating with their struggles more than their children It solidifies their belief that prioritising protein is tough when in reality it can be done in fairly simple ways We just need to make them conscious and aware of their optionsrdquo she addsDespite Sunday middayrsquos attempts to reach out to her for a comment there was no response from Diwekar till the time of going to print