On magazine covers, billboards and TV screens, middle-aged celebrities are flaunting their fat-free, perfectly toned muscles. How hard is it for the average fiftysomething to measure up? And what will it do to the rest of your life?
Could Nicole Kidman possibly be real? That was the question springing from her photoshoot for Perfect magazine, in which the 55-year-old adopts a power victory pose, flexing arms like a bodybuilder, her biceps taut, huge, extremely detailed. She looks like an anatomical drawing, and as if she could pull a truck out of a swamp. I was bewitched by her legs. It’s difficult to see muscle definition, head on, on a leg. Oh boy, not any more. The Daily Mail said she looked “decades younger” than her age, which is not true, since we don’t tend to age one another by our arms (it’s all in the eyes, folks). What she does look is absolutely ripped, in her 50s. She looks like an elite athlete, as does Davina McCall, 54, with her rock-hard six-pack and even Huw Edwards, 61, who caused a stir by showing off his toned torso on Instagram.
There has been a trend for visible strength in the female form in the past few years, driven by millennials, who exercise differently. They focus on body-strength training and urban calisthenics, using online coaches, motivational Instagram communities and better, less fat-depositing lifestyles. Yet the important difference is in their sexual politics.
