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73-year-old Rosalind Umar speaks to VICTORIA EDEME about her love for workouts and how she began her fitness journey

Could you provide us with a brief overview of your background?

My name is Rosalind Umar. I’m 73 years old and I hail from Warri in Delta State. I’ve been based in Lagos since 1966. I occasionally travel outside the country, but I’m mostly in Lagos. I’ve been married for 51 years. I have five biological children, including a set of twins. I had my first two children from my first marriage and the last three from my present marriage. For my husband and me, it’s our second marriage, and altogether, we have 10 children and 16 grandchildren. The oldest is 52, and the youngest is 37. Our oldest granddaughter will be 21 in November, and she’s in her third year at the University.

What sparked your interest in lifting weights and other physical activities?

I would go further back before lifting weights because I started lifting weights about two years ago. Almost 25 years ago, I began experiencing very debilitating pains in my knees and had to see an orthopaedic surgeon. After x-rays, I was informed that I had deterioration of my cartilage, resulting in arthritis. It is a degenerative disease that would get worse over time, but I was too young to have surgery then. Ultimately, I was going to need total knee replacement surgery. My doctor advised me to do exercises to delay the need for this surgery because, when they put in implants, the lifespan of those implants is typically no more than 20 years. If I had surgery, then, it would mean that by 70, I would need another surgery, unless I wanted to experience bone rubbing on bone, which is excruciatingly painful. My knees kept swelling, and I had to keep draining what he called synovial fluid. He gave me steroid injections, which were a temporary solution. So he advised me to learn how to swim and do gentle exercises for my knees.

Did you know how to swim at that time?

I learnt to swim at the age of 51. I was overweight then. My stomach looked like I had a benign tumour, and my buttocks appeared as if I was carrying a pillow attached to me. My feet were so grotesque that when I started learning to swim at the swimming club, I would only go at night because I was a frightful sight in my swimming suit. But I persevered. It took me quite a while to master the art of swimming. Once I learned how to swim, I swam one mile a day, five days a week, for almost 15 years. Additionally, I used the gym, walked on the treadmill, and rode the bicycle. At that time, that was the best we knew. There were no modern gyms where I lived and no certified personal trainers who studied the science of sports. You just went along and did the best you could on your own.

Several years ago, my knees were shattered. By then, I had become a recluse at home. I even stopped going to the gym because no amount of exercise could help those knees. Eventually, I had surgery. After I recovered from the new knee implants, I felt good. I was no longer in pain, so I stopped going to the gym. I even stopped swimming because I felt I was okay.

What made you resume your activities at the gym?

Due to the sedentary lifestyle of just sitting at home, watching TV, and reading, my weight started piling up little by little. I did my medical reports two years ago, and the results were not good. My blood sugar level, body mass index, and visceral fat level were too high. I was then advised to have a lifestyle change as I was slowly killing myself with inactivity. This was when my husband and I were abroad. Five of our children live in the United States and Canada, and we are usually there for three to four months every year. When we came back, my husband, without even consulting me, went straight to a gym in FESTAC, where we live. He paid and registered me for three months and paid for a personal trainer. My husband is 77 and has been playing tennis for over 60 years since he was in secondary school. So one day, he just came back from playing tennis and told me that he had registered me in the gym and that I should start. I went and started.

What was your first-day experience like at the gym?

On the first day at the gym, I met my trainer, whom I still work with today. I consider him the best personal trainer I could ever have met. He motivates me and has singularly trained me to achieve what I am today. He taught me most of what I know about strength training. When we first met, he suggested we gather information and facts about my body. We used a special scale to check my body composition, and I noticed a look of concern on his face. I asked him what was wrong, and he explained that my muscle mass percentage was alarmingly low. This explains why older people sometimes struggle to open a new bottle, while others can do it effortlessly in one twist. He mentioned something called sarcopenia, which is the loss of muscle mass that can occur after the age of 40. Due to this, my trainer recommended starting with strength training to build muscle strength.

I used to pride myself on my old-fashioned treadmill walks, but he advised me not to focus solely on that. Treadmill walking is primarily a cardiovascular exercise, beneficial for the heart and lungs. So, that’s how I began. On the first day, I lifted the minimum weight, simply stepping up and down on the board repeatedly. Within 30 minutes, I started hearing the lyrics of Wyclef Jean and Mary J. Blige’s ‘Someone Please Call 911’ in my head, as if I were hearing an ambulance. I felt delirious and almost gave up. Somehow, I survived the first and second weeks. By the third week, it was becoming easier. By the fourth week, the rest is history.

When did you include boxing in your routine?

I started using the treadmill again. The only other person I used to chat with in the gym then told me that there was another cardiovascular exercise that would double the benefits of the treadmill: boxing. I asked him if he knew how old I was. He explained that I wouldn’t learn boxing to become like Tyson Fury; I would do it just enough for my heartbeat to pound. He said the calories you burn on a treadmill in one hour can be burnt in just 20 minutes of boxing. That was how he sold the idea to me. He said he would teach me boxing and aikido. Aikido is a Japanese self-defence martial art. So, I took it as a challenge and bought boxing gloves and the rest of the kit. I started doing it side by side with walking on the treadmill and doing my bodyweight training. The only thing that will now encourage you is when you start seeing results in your body. My weight started melting away. And I was still eating every single thing. I wasn’t on a diet. I was drinking my red wine with dinner every night. I enjoyed my cocktails and alcohol, but I was exercising regularly. That protruding waistline of about 40 inches shrunk to 36, 35, and 34. I was surprised. My body started firming up.

How long did it take before you started noticing the changes?

It was around the third or fourth month when my husband also noticed that I was physically changing. That became my motivation. When the three months he had paid for expired, I didn’t ask him to pay for the fourth month. As I continued, I began to love exercising every day. It’s now like an addiction. I became quite involved and would always go to train. I had to take breaks for about three to four months when we went to the States or Canada to visit our children. Again, I couldn’t imagine sitting around without exercising. In each city where we stayed with our children, they enrolled us in their local gyms. Some of them even hired personal trainers for us. So, there was no break for us. When we returned, we just picked up where we had left off.

Did your husband actively participate in your exercise activities?

In December 2023, my husband noticed that he was always panting and got tired easily whenever he played tennis. He was developing cardiovascular issues. He observed that whenever he ran around the court, he would stop, go to the side, bend over, and take a deep breath before resuming his tennis playing. He wanted to join a gym, but I knew he wouldn’t tolerate the unstructured approach in Nigerian gyms, where there is no one-on-one training with your trainer. Trainers often have multiple trainees at a time and cannot focus on one person. So, we decided to set up a gym at home and bought the necessary equipment. Since they were expensive, we prioritised buying only the essential items. We purchased items gradually and even imported some from overseas. Fortunately, my trainer, who had brought me to an advanced stage, also resigned from the gym at around the same time we were looking for a personal trainer to come and train us at home. So, we hired him, becoming his first client. That’s how we started our home gym, and he began coming to train us at home.

Do you continue to visit the public gym now that you have established one at home?

For about a month or two, I was still combining gym and home training. I would work out at home from 9 am to 11 am and then head to the gym, where I would exercise until 1 or 2 pm. But it was too much for me at my age. I was exhausted the whole day. So, I decided to stop doing both since I was even getting too skinny. I don’t want to lose weight; I just want to be fit. Therefore, I reduced the intensity of my workouts. I no longer exercise three hours a week; I do maintenance sessions. One day a week, I focus on lower limb exercises. On another day, we work on the upper body, and on the third day, we do intense boxing for cardiovascular fitness.

Did your husband notice changes after engaging in boxing?

Within six months, the difference was like day and night. He can now play for two or three hours at his age. Even his colleagues in the club, who don’t know what he is doing at home, are surprised that his stamina has improved. This is because he does arm-strengthening exercises and lifts weights.

Of all your activities, which is your favourite?

I love lifting weights. I’m not sure why. My husband’s favourite activity is boxing.

What are the effects of your workouts on your day-to-day activities?

I climb the staircase and clean the house. I do my house chores. I haven’t kept a maid for 10 years. I do extensive cooking in the house. I cook for my children.

What is the usual reaction of younger gym users when they see you in the gym?

They are always in a state of shock and awe. I am the Methuselah in the gym. As I’m in my 70s, the next youngest man will be in his 50s or 40s. The ladies are all in their twenties and thirties. I’ve always had a penchant for colours and fashion. So the ladies are not just interested in my workouts; they are more interested in the fashion I’m displaying. They look at my colour coordination, the matching shoes, stockings, wristbands, trainers, headbands, and gloves. I have every colour of gloves and trainers imaginable. I must have over 40 pairs of trainers.

How much weight can you lift at the moment?

I started with very small dumbbells of 2.5 kilos. It gradually increased until I started using two sets of 12.5 kilos each, which totals 25 kilos. When using barbells, the rod may weigh up to 20 kilos, and the weights on the ends add several more kilos. I lift various weights. For kettlebells, I use 20 kilos.