Kathmandu, Aug. 4 -- In recent years, the number of young people going to the gym has gone up significantly; this everyone knows. But it is not just a question of how many more people are working out, but also of who is working out. Gym-goers report a certain change in recent years in the weightlifting demographics.

It is not rare to see, during the late afternoon lull, retired folks on the treadmill or homemakers doing bicep curls and, in the evenings, to see 9-to-5 employees in their forties clocking into the gym after clocking out from work. What is behind this shift in the gym-goer demographic? Why are so many more uncles and aunties working out now?

"When I was growing up, people did not think of the gym the way they do now. Then, ...