Fitness is
an ongoing process which requires lots of dedication and discipline. This
article is dedicated to top five people who are fit despite being fifty and
symbolize the physical culture. The kind of drive required to be in top shape
at fifty is no joke, one needs to focus on lots of areas like weight training ,cardio
and nutrition; figuring a way to work around injuries or at least not to
trigger an old injury. The top five fit celebrities on my list are Jackie Chan,
Jean Claude Van Damme, Sylvester Stallone, Dolph lundgren and Madonna.
Jackie Chan
needs no introduction; he’s a stuntman, actor, director and action choreographer.
Jackie is known for his breath taking action and stunt sequences, the nature of
his stunts are so dangerous that no insurance company insures him in movies in which
he performs his own stunts. Jackie has been injured numerous times while
performing stunts; he almost died while filming armour of god he fell from a
tree and fractured his skull. Jackie has a back ground in martial arts,
acrobatics and ballet. He always emphasizes on exercising everyday and working
on flexibility. He’s mantra of fitness is more of rigors and regular exercise
rather than too much focus on dieting. According to Jackie boxing is one of the
best ways to get in shape and can be a great stress buster. Jackie still continues
to do death defining stunts and is in top shape for a 57 year old.
Known as the
“muscles from Brussels” Jean Claude van damme aka JCVD, started martial arts
from the age of ten. His styles consist of kick boxing, Muay Thai, shotokan
karate and taekwondo. While studying martial arts and ballet van damme added
weight training to his regime. In many of his movies he displaces his perfect
physique and flexibility, thus ruling out the theory of weight training make’s
one muscle bound. Now 50, van damme looks 10 years younger than what he is and
his physique gets better and better day by day. He still can do the famous 360
degree helicopter kick and the splits he’s know for, he’s scheduled to fight
Olympic gold medalist Khamsing who’s 38 years old. The fight is rumored to take
place in Bangkok; it will be a Muay Thai fight.
Sylvester
Stallone aka Sly is an inspiration both in the world of fitness and movie
making. He is a classic example to prove what can be accomplished with sheer
determination and hard work. Bodybuilding god Arnold Schwarzenegger once quoted
“Sly has awesome will power”. Sly has a physique that can easy put a 25 year
old to shame; he has had his fair share of injuries from his incredible
physical pursuits. While filming training scenes for the movie rocky 4 sly had
tore his pectoralis resulting in four hour operation. Sly has displayed great
physique in his movies like Rambo, rocky and specialist. Sly always had an
apollonian physique, no wonder he was inspired to take up weight training after
watching “Hercules in chains” starring Steve reeves. Sly is in incredible shape
for a 65 year old and is currently training for the movie expendables 2.
Dolph
lundgren is a Swedish actor, director and martial artist. He holds a 3rd
Dan black belt in kyokushin karate and was European champion in 1980 and 1981.
His breakthrough in movies came when he starred in rocky 4, co-starring as
villain with Sylvester Stallone. Dolph is very similar to van damme in terms of
martial artist turning into action super star however Dolph is a huge guy
towering at 6’5’’ and weighs anywhere from 225 to 240 pounds. His awesome
physique can be seen in movies like rocky 4, he-man and universal soldier
co-starring with van damme. Dolph follows straight weight training routine with
martial arts training.
Madonna the
pop icon, actress and entrepreneur she’s also know for her incredible passion
for fitness besides her super music career. While age is catching up with her, she
takes pride in keeping herself in top fitness condition. She practices ashtanga
yoga, which is very intense form of yoga that build’s great cardio and helps to
retain muscle. She also does karate, running, cycling and occasionally horse
riding. Her lifelong commitment to health and fitness is commendable job and at
53 years of age she is an inspiration to many women.
