It’s said that most people’s physical fitness and health decline after their 30s and I’m no exception. In the years after I hit the big 3-0, I found that I ran slower than before even though I still exercised regularly. Recovery also took longer as muscle aches plagued my body post-exercise.

To perform at the same intensity as before also took much more effort and even then, I can’t hit those levels sometimes these days. On many occasions, I find myself huffing and puffing after 30-45 mins of tennis whereas I could easily go without a water break for 90 mins straight in the past.

Researchers are also right on their money when they say weight gains tend to happen after 30. My metabolism has indeed slowed significantly as I see the numbers on the weighing scale climbing each day. Gone are the days of fab abs though I can still see faint outlines; instead love handles are starting to show.

Perhaps all these indicators of physical decline are made more apparent and compounded by the sedentary lifestyle of a post-pandemic world where work-from-home arrangements have become commonplace. I’m not giving up on my fitness journey though as the decline can still be arrested if I intervened in time.