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good for the bones, though they differ on the mode of exercise with the First Lady preferring weights and machines while her husband uses his body weight for exercise.
Speaking in an interview with our sister paper, The Southern Times yesterday, President Mugabe said speculation about the First Family’s health was misplaced as they were of sound health.
The President revealed he had only had a cataract removed from one eye while his wife, First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe had problems with a dislocated hip bone for which she was undergoing physiotherapy in China where she is also reading for a degree in the Chinese language and cultural studies.
‘‘Ikoko arikuita degree kuChina kwacho, uku achienda kuphysio (therapy) . . . So that is that. It’s not an ailment . . . it’s a physical misplacement yakaitika.”
The dislocation, the President said, may have been worsened by the First Lady’s passion for exercise as she has been a fitness enthusiast for years.
‘‘But akanzi no, don’t carry anything, you must be protective of yourself. No exercise yekugym yawaiita and that might have worsened it because she likes gyming.
‘‘Ini handimboda zvegym. Ndakati I won’t be excercised by machines. I am my own machine. Kuprison takanga tisina maequipment emamachines, taizviitira, zvino ndinozviitira up to now.”
The President said he sometimes asks the First Lady whether she will be preparing for the Olympics given the intensity of her training.
‘‘Although we have these huge machines that she bought and she is there all the time, and then I ask her, ‘urikuenda here kumaOlympics uku?’ Today I want to do 2 hours, 3 hours, what for? And you want to do it regularly? Tofunga ndizvo zvakakonzera,” he said.
Exercise, the President said, is good for the bones as it stimulates calcium production.
‘‘Exercise develops calcium, although I take calcium in addition for the bones, I exercise. I fall sick if I don’t exercise. For now I am as good as my age says I must be.
‘‘I am not old, I am 87 but my body says the counting doesn’t end at 87, at least you must get to a 100,” he said challenging journalists gathered to aspire to live to be at least 100-years-old through exercise.