The fitness instructor mika takishima (Her nickname Tamika) begins her exercise videos with a smile, raising her clenched fist and exclaiming, “Age is just a number!”
She is 90 years old.
“You stumble on a small step, right? Let’s do a little ankle exercise to prevent a fall.”
In one clip, he shows how to move the joints and shoulder blades in a circular motion. In another, she shares a five-minute bedtime workout.
Mika Takishima became famous in the pandemic
Takishima created a stir online after he posted his home workout videos when much of the public was staying at home due to the new pandemic.
Earning the nickname Takimika, the trainer began to appear on television and in magazines.
He squats and lifts a loaded 20kg barbell, and can almost do a full split with his chest touching the ground.
And yet Takishima only became a coach three years ago.
He wasn’t always the athletic type, having never participated in sports club activities when he was a student.
Takishima’s first job was at a department store, but she became a full-time housewife after she got married.
After his children grew up and left home, Takishima found himself with too much free time. He didn’t like it when a family member told him he was getting fat.
At 65, she began her fitness journey when she was told she was getting fat
At the age of 65, he joined a Tokyo gym. Initially, Takishima was unable to keep up with other members during group lessons.
Left behind, she exercised and danced in the back. She studied how others moved her body and learned exercise routines by following her lead.
For all the challenges, “I never imagined there was such a fun place,” he recalled thinking.
Takishima lost 15 kilograms of weight over the next five years. As she got leaner, she developed more muscles, and she found herself capable of more strenuous exercise routines and became obsessed with the workouts.
He learned to swim at the age of 70. She started taking lessons from a personal trainer after she turned 79.
Takishima made her debut as an instructor at the age of 87.
“When your heart moves, your body moves. You will improve if you don’t give up,” said his coach, Tomoharu Nakazawa, 46. “She showed me that those things are true.”
At Nakazawa’s urging, Mika Takishima made her debut as a fitness instructor when she was 87 years old. to teach exercises in gyms and nursing homes for the elderly.
Takishima fully sympathizes with the feelings of older people who worry about their declining health or are not good at sports. She tells them not to try too hard, but to never give up.
Takishima was forced to suspend in-person lessons due to the pandemic and began posting her videos for those who had stopped exercising due to the stay-at-home lifestyle.
Motivates you to lift people’s spirits
She was contacted by a woman in her 30s who said she had given up on her life, but changed her mind after seeing the videos. More than ever, Takishima says that she is motivated to lift people’s spirits.
His routine is to wake up before dawn to walk four kilometers and jog three. Once home, she sits upright to watch TV and tiptoes when he goes to the bathroom.
What is Mika Takishima’s regime
Takishima does not follow a particular diet regimen. Instead, their emphasis is on a hearty breakfast with plenty of fermented foods and proteins, such as natto (fermented soybeans), yogurt, fish, egg, and vegetables.
He mainly eats plantain for lunch, but enjoys two glasses of red wine and pre-cooked dishes in the evening. She is passionate about “daifuku” rice cakes filled with sweet bean paste.
“Being patient creates stress. I don’t accumulate stress in the slightest,” Takishima said, adding that he takes it easy when he doesn’t feel like exercising.
She believes that setting detailed goals and putting in great effort are the keys to making exercise routines a habit.
When asked about his current goal, he replied, “I just want to reduce the size of my hip by one centimeter.”
Plus, as if that weren’t enough, she’s looking forward to traveling abroad to help others get healthier once the pandemic subsides, which is why she’s recently started studying English.
Some might say that it is too late for a nonagenarian to start learning a foreign language. Maybe they should think again.