Staying in form is a troublesome process, and it’s made tougher while you’re going it alone. Whereas most of us would like a little bit of assist, encouragement or skilled teaching, you may’t at all times depend on such luxuries. What you may depend on, nonetheless, is expertise—equivalent to a health tracker or smartwatch—that can remind you to train, monitor your exercise ranges and observe your progress over time. In actual fact, the most effective health trackers are the following neatest thing to having your individual private coach.
Carrying a health tracker helps hold you on observe to your health objectives.
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Choosing the proper health tracker can show daunting when you think about the numerous choices accessible at this time. Fitbit, the corporate that singled-handedly popularized the idea of health monitoring, sells a slew of various fashions. After which there are health trackers from Garmin, Coros, Polar and dozens of different firms. It pays to buy fastidiously, as a result of not all trackers are designed for the sorts of train you need to do, and a few have additional options, like smartphone notifications, coronary heart charge monitoring, stress monitoring and blood-oxygen stage sensors.
Irrespective of which health tracker you select, there’s a great probability it’ll cowl all of the fundamentals fairly properly, however you may want extras like water resistance (nice should you’re a swimmer), built-in GPS and particular sensors that cater to your private wants. We’ve rounded up 8 of the most effective health trackers you should purchase at this time; regardless of the place you’re in your health journey, there’s a mannequin right here for you.
The Fitbit Cost 5 captures the flag as the most effective general health tracker as a result of it represents, in some ways, the template from which all different trackers are created. The Cost 5 represents the fruits of every thing Fitbit has discovered about making wearables through the years, and contains just about every thing the typical particular person wants in a health tracker. It counts steps, distance and has sleep monitoring options. It routinely acknowledges while you’re doing a wide range of widespread exercises and begins monitoring—20 sorts of exercises in all. It’s waterproof to about 150 ft and you’ll put on it right into a pool to trace swim exercises.
The Cost 5 replaces the older Cost 4 and, like most trendy wearables, features a full-time coronary heart charge monitor. You additionally get a formidable 7-day battery life, however the coolest change within the new Cost 5 is the modern, vibrant display that’s two occasions brighter than the Cost 4, and an always-on show mode that permits you to verify your progress with only a look.
Accessible in three shade colours, different noteworthy options embody irregular coronary heart rhythm notifications, stress administration scores, temper monitoring and menstrual cycle monitoring.
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Execs:
Brilliant AMOLED show
Constructed-in GPS and GLONASS
Helps cellular funds
Cons:
No bodily buttons
Clock faces can’t be custom-made
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Finest Finances Health Tracker
Preserve Tabs On The Necessities, With out Breaking The Financial institution
Display screen: HD AMOLED touchscreen | Coronary heart charge tracker: Sure | Waterproof: Sure | Exercise monitoring: Sure | GPS: No | Battery life: 18 days | Compatibility: Apple, Android
There’s no denying the truth that health trackers are costly, however you may nonetheless get by with an reasonably priced, succesful choice that doesn’t value an arm and a leg. For example, the Amazfit Band 7 nonetheless encompasses a good display, 24-hour coronary heart charge monitoring, sleep monitoring and an ultra-long 18-day battery, nevertheless it prices a mere $50.
That includes a show that’s 112 p.c bigger than the earlier technology Amazfit Band 5, software program permits you to customise the watch face to your liking and you’ll even add a sequence of non-public images. The waterproof housing is designed to face up to depths as much as 50 meters, and a pool swimming mode can seize beneficial swim knowledge. If swimming isn’t actually your factor, merely peruse 120 completely different sport modes to seek out your most well-liked exercise.
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All this isn’t to say the Band 7 is ideal. For example, you’ll have to pair the tracker together with your cellphone to make use of GPS, and there’s no choice to retailer music for on-the-go listening. You’ll additionally want to make use of the Zepp app as a way to view your private metrics, so hold this in thoughts should you’re already utilizing Strava, MyFitnessPal or one other most well-liked health app.
Execs:
Spectacular battery life for the worth
Vibrant AMOLED display
120 exercise modes
Cons:
No built-in GPS
Zepp app required to view metrics
Finest Splurge Health Tracker
A Refined Smartwatch With All The Bells And Whistles
Polar has lengthy lived within the shadow of its health rivals, Garmin and Fitbit, however the Finnish-based model hit its stride lately because of high-end choices just like the Vantage V2. A succesful mix of minimal and dynamic, it’s packed to the gills with severe tech that features 4 types of positional monitoring, guided respiratory workout routines, coaching exams and an ultra-long battery mode that tracks exercise for as much as 100 hours. And naturally, it has a price ticket to match.
You’ll discover virtually each sort of sensor conceivable within the Vantage V2, together with Sp02, caloric consumption, ECG and sleep monitoring. A lot of that works routinely when you sleep—the Vantage V2 measures your actions and blood oxygen ranges at evening to make some normal assessments about your well being. After all, the watch additionally has all the standard health and exercise options, permitting it to trace most types of train together with step monitoring and coronary heart charge. The watch may even point out when it is best to push somewhat bit more durable throughout a exercise to get essentially the most out of your session.
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Whereas the Vantage V2 ships with a fairly conventional show, it nonetheless has strong usability options. The display remains to be shiny and responsive, you might have the flexibility to obtain notifications, and it really works with each Apple and Android telephones. It additionally gives about 7 days of battery life between expenses while you use it in watch mode.
Execs:
100 hours of battery life through simplified GPS readings
Spectacular sleep monitoring options
Pairs with the Polar Coronary heart Fee Chest Strap
Cons:
Unimpressive battery life in customary watch mode for the worth
Restricted app skills
Finest Health Tracker For Runners
Monitor Splits, Sprints, Sunday Marathons And Extra
Positive, any health tracker with devoted GPS may observe your morning run, however the Coros Tempo 2 stands out from the competitors for a handful of causes. Before everything, it’s extremely light-weight for its dimension, which suggests you received’t be fumbling together with your watch while you’re attempting to set a brand new private greatest. Past the light-weight profile, it encompasses a stronger processor and extra reminiscence area for add-on options. And the 20 days of battery life is paired with 30 hours of battery in GPS mode (a 20 p.c improve from the unique Coros Tempo) and 60 hours in UltraMax GPS mode, all of that are respectable numbers whether or not you’re utilizing the watch casually or competing in your first ultramarathon.
If working isn’t actually your factor, the Tempo 2 comes filled with a slew of different exercise modes that concentrate on biking, swimming and power coaching actions. And whereas many health trackers boast roughly 120 exercise modes, this one comes filled with a staggering 200 workout routines that can help you goal your higher physique, decrease physique and core, and a muscle heatmap permits you to see which muscle teams obtain essentially the most motion.
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Whereas it doesn’t function an Spo2 sensor, the Tempo 2 does come filled with an optical coronary heart charge monitor, a barometric altimeter and a thermometer to regulate physique temperature within the midst of coaching.
Execs:
Robust battery life in GPS mode
Muscle heatmap helps you identify coaching choices
Over 200 built-in power coaching workout routines
Cons:
Water-proof solely as much as 5 atm
Doesn’t function an Spo2 sensor
Finest Health Tracker For Girls
A Sensible Health Tracker Designed With Girls In Thoughts
Based mostly on numbers alone, the Garmin Fenix 6S Professional is excellent regardless of the way you determine to make use of it. Whether or not you’re monitoring a run, hike or stroll, the watch depends on an array of world navigation methods (GPS, GLONASS and Galileo) to ship correct distance, elevation, pace and well being knowledge, whereas superior coaching options like PacePro hold tabs in your tempo and supply coaching recommendation that will help you get essentially the most out of each exercise. Like all Garmin wearables, it comes filled with a litany of various exercises to select from and may even advise you that will help you get essentially the most out of these post-exercise restoration classes.
However maybe most significantly, this watch (together with different Garmin watches) takes under consideration how completely different hormones have an effect on ladies, serving to you make sense of dietary selections and fluctuating exercises over the course of any given month. Merely use the Garmin Join app to work together together with your private stats everytime you want somewhat extra information. As is the case with different health wearables, this one synchs together with your cellphone to show your texts, calls and different notifications.
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Execs:
Superior GPS metrics for actions like path working and snowboarding
All the time-on function nonetheless maintains long-lasting battery
Smaller face and strap compliments thinner wrists
Cons:
Navigating menus could be complicated
Very expensive
Finest Health Tracker For Sleep
Maximize Your Restorative Slumber, Evening After Evening
Fitbit gives a deep bench of merchandise—each health bands and good watches. The Fitbit Sense is likely one of the model’s extra fashionable health watches, providing essentially the most full function set within the Fitbit lineup. And it’s nonetheless reasonably priced when in comparison with comparable competitors. If, nonetheless, you don’t want every thing the Sense has to supply, it can save you a strong chunk of change by getting the extra reasonably priced Versa 3. However understand that should you do, you’ll miss out on some well being options like stress testing and ECG monitoring.
The Sense comes filled with a formidable variety of sensors, together with Sp02, pores and skin temperature sensing, ECG and sleep monitoring. Sleep monitoring takes place routinely within the background—the Sense retains observe of your blood oxygen stage and pores and skin temperature to make normal assessments about your well being, however among the extra helpful sleep monitoring insights are hidden behind a paywall. The watch has all the standard health and exercise options as properly, from step counting to coronary heart charge monitoring.
The Sense has strong usability options like a shiny and responsive shade touchscreen and voice instructions through Alexa and Google Assistant, and works with each Apple and Android telephones. It additionally gives about six days of battery life between expenses.
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Execs:
Spectacular GPS monitoring for the worth
Effectively-rounded sleep monitoring options
Cons:
Sleep monitoring insights hidden behind a paywall
Dim always-on display
Finest Multisport Health Tracker
Unlock Your Inside Triathlete With This Proficient Timepiece
Related in some ways to the aforementioned Coros Tempo 2, the Coros Apex Professional encompasses a vibrant display, unimaginable battery life (40 hours of battery utilizing customary GPS and as much as 75 hours in UltraMax GPS mode) and an optical coronary heart charge monitor and thermometer. However as a result of it is a devoted multisport watch, Coros additionally packs it with 5 navigation methods, downloadable panorama and topo maps, and extra options equivalent to back-to-start and off-route alert that come in useful past the overwhelmed path. For example, should you’re collaborating in a aggressive path run sequence, merely obtain the course beforehand to remain on observe even at the hours of darkness.
Not like the Tempo 2, the Apex Professional comes with an optical pulse oximeter to maintain tabs on oxygen saturation, and the interface could be managed through buttons alongside the bezel or by utilizing the touchscreen show. Use the Discover My Cellphone or Discover My Watch function within the occasion that you simply lose a bit of coveted tech, and obtain notifications out of your cellphone straight to your wrist.
Execs:
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High quality construct supplies (sapphire glass, metal bezel, aluminum case)
Unbelievable battery life in GPS mode
Touchscreen show is simple to make use of and navigate
Not like different health trackers that function a vibrant show and high-end supplies, the Intuition 2’s cumbersome design seems to be extra like the standard watch you’ll have worn 10 years in the past. However don’t let its outdated look idiot you—this watch is definitely designed to face up to impacts, shocks, warmth and water in methods most health trackers merely can’t, a results of the fiber-reinforced polymer case and scratch-resistant glass constructed to army requirements for toughness. Whereas different watches are rated for depths as much as 50 or 100 ft, the Intuition 2 nonetheless works over 300 ft under the floor.
After all, this watch can do greater than survive the following apocalypse. It comes filled with an array of sensors to watch your coronary heart charge, blood oxygen saturation and stress ranges. It options unimaginable battery life, receives notifications out of your cellphone and the photo voltaic version expenses the battery within the solar. Over 100 exercise modes hold tabs in your physique while you’re getting lively, and daring shade choices stand out from conventional health trackers. Whether or not you’re in search of you health tracker that may go the place others can’t or just just like the look of a conventional design, the Intuition 2 is tough to beat.
Execs:
Unbelievable battery life
Water, thermal and shock resistance
Elective music integration downloads music to your wrist
Cons:
Pixelated show seems to be outdated
Optical coronary heart charge monitor isn’t correct over tattoos
What Can Health Trackers Do?
Health trackers are available in a wide range of kind elements—relying on the mannequin, you may put on it like a bracelet or watch, clip it to your clothes, and even put on it like a hoop in your finger. However regardless of the precise look, health trackers all have a tendency to supply the identical primary set of options: They observe your exercises and exercise stage, serving to you to remain on a health plan and get (or hold) in form.
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Essentially the most primary health trackers are merely pedometers—units that attempt to preserve an correct depend of your steps. However most trendy health trackers do much more than that. Nowadays, they’re typically bristling with sensors which gather data to deduce your health and well being stage. Listed here are the most typical sensors present in health trackers:
Accelerometer. This measures movement, and is usually the first sensor used to establish exercise ranges.
Altimeter. Many health trackers measure altering air strain to deduce that you’re utilizing stairs.
Coronary heart charge sensor. With the proper sensors, your tracker can measure your coronary heart charge, coronary heart charge variability and even blood strain.
Sp02 sensor. This measures the oxygen stage in your blood.
ECG sensor. An ECG sensor can carry out an instantaneous electrocardiogram, which measures your coronary heart’s rhythm and electrical exercise. Usually, an ECG tells you in case you have a sinus, or uniform, rhythm, or another consequence. In no case can or ought to an ECG be used to detect a coronary heart assault, although.
All of those sensors, and typically others, might help you select and observe exercises in addition to get quite a lot of supplemental details about your well being and wellness. They will additionally observe your sleep, stress stage and different elements of excellent well being.
What To Look For In A Health Tracker
Shopping for a brand new health tracker isn’t only a monetary funding, it’s a step towards enhancing your general well being. That’s why it’s essential to discover a tracker that integrates together with your each day life, and on the very least, comes with primary options that allow you to observe what’s most essential to you.
Exercise Modes
Not all trackers can acknowledge all workout routines. For example, if you wish to observe swim exercises, you’ll want to look not only for a tracker that’s waterproof, but in addition one which explicitly helps swimming. Likewise, solely a handful of trackers help actually uncommon sports activities and exercises—so should you’re into cling gliding or BMX, you’ll want to look into choices just like the Vivosmart 4. When contemplating completely different fashions, you’ll want to slender down your choices by reflecting on the assorted actions you’d like to trace.
Sensors
Most trendy health bands observe a wide range of broader well being and health attributes as properly. We’ve already mentioned options like Spo2, ECG and bioelectric impedance sensors, and these are typically removed from necessary—however more and more, all however essentially the most finances fashions are beginning to sport these kinds of superior sensors. Simply understand that quite a lot of the whole-body analytics you get from sensors like these are sometimes not particularly actionable; you would possibly get a normal sense of your general well being, health stage or sleep high quality, however it may be exhausting to know what to do to enhance. Till that side of the software program catches as much as the {hardware}, you may take into account all of those superior options fairly non-compulsory.
Battery Life
Relying on the construct high quality, accessible sensors and display decision, battery life can final anyplace from sooner or later to a number of months. In the event you intend to make use of your health tracker as a conventional pedometer, you may most likely get by with a mannequin that encompasses a smaller battery. However should you intend to make use of it over extended intervals of time (as an example, when backpacking or working a marathon), take into account choosing a mannequin that options prolonged battery life or photo voltaic charging to complement the battery in direct daylight.
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Accuracy
As a lot as we’d like trackers to be utterly correct, third-party testing reveals that that is not often the case. Producers typically depend on algorithms and sensors to trace sure metrics, which results in a small diploma of error. With this in thoughts, take into account investing in a health tracker that’s designed to help your most well-liked actions. For example, a chest strap that measures your coronary heart charge and transmits knowledge to your health tracker might be extra correct than the built-in coronary heart charge sensor glued to your wrist.
When you’re busy, exercise is often one of the first things to fall by the wayside. When this happens to you, don’t beat yourself up about it—it happens to us all. Maintaining a positive mindset towards exercise is one of the things that will ensure it’s enjoyable and keep you motivated.
It’s also worth remembering that a little bit of exercise is better than none at all.
I was reminded of this when I recently saw Barre instructor Mara Cimatoribus’ workout for the time-poor. It’s a five-minute arms routine that you can do while you’re waiting for your dinner to cook, or a kettle to boil.
If you’ve never tried barre, it’s a brilliant way to get stronger. It involves low-impact movements that improve your mobility and strengthen a range of muscles, including those that you might not use as much in other forms of exercise.
This workout is designed to improve muscle tone in the arms and it’s great for boosting posture too.
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How to do Mara Cimatoribus’ five-minute barre workout
There are five exercises in this routine, which Cimatoribus recommends doing for 20 reps, or 16 reps on each side of the body for the unilateral exercise.
All you’ll need for this workout is a light set of weights, but if you don’t have any, you can use water bottles or food cans, which will work just as well.
Start your week with achievable workout ideas, health tips and wellbeing advice in your inbox.
The benefits of habit stacking your workouts
Cimatoribus’ suggestion that you could do this workout while you’re waiting for your air fryer to cook your food is a great example of habit stacking, a technique that combines a new habit you want to adopt with a habit you already have (like cooking dinner, for example).
Research has found that habit stacking is a great way to lose weight and, in this case, it could also help you establish a new exercise routine, by remembering to do this quick five-minute workout every time you use the air fryer.
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Incorporating regular movement into your life, even in short bursts, is an effective way to improve your physical and mental health—it just needs to be more than a one-off.
Exercise training while wearing a weighted vest is undergoing somewhat of a renaissance. Social media posts and trainers are promoting them as a potential strategy for improving fitness and health.
Exercising with additional weight attached to the body is nothing new. This idea has been used with soldiers for many centuries if not millennia – think long hikes with a heavy pack.
The modern weighted vest comes in a range of designs that are more comfortable and can be adjusted in terms of the weight added. But could one be helpful for you?
What the research says
One of the earliest research studies, reported in 1993, followed 36 older people wearing weighted vests during a weekly exercise class and at home over a 20-week period. Wear was associated with improvements in bone health, pain and physical function.
Since then, dozens of papers have evaluated the exercise effects of wearing a weighted vest, reporting a range of benefits.
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Not surprisingly, exercise with a weighted vest increases physiological stress – or how hard the body has to work – as shown by increased oxygen uptake, heart rate, carbohydrate utilisation and energy expenditure.
Adding weight equal to 10% of body weight is effective. But it doesn’t appear the body works significantly harder when wearing 5% extra weight compared to body weight alone.
Does more load mean greater injury risk?
A small 2021 study suggested additional weights don’t alter the biomechanics of walking or running. These are important considerations for lower-limb injury risk.
The safety considerations of exercising with weighted vests have also been reported in a biomechanical study of treadmill running with added weight of 1% to 10% of body weight.
While physiological demand (indicated by heart rate) was higher with additional weight and the muscular forces greater, running motion was not negatively affected.
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To date no research studies have reported increased injuries due to wearing weighted vests for recreational exercise. However a 2018 clinical study on weight loss in people with obesity found back pain in 25% of those wearing such vests. Whether this can be translated to recreational use in people who don’t have obesity is difficult to say. As always, if pain or discomfort is experienced then you should reduce the weight or stop vest training.
Better for weight loss or bone health?
While wearing a weighted vest increases the energy expenditure of aerobic and resistance exercise, research to show it leads to greater fat loss or retaining muscle mass is somewhat inconclusive.
One older study investigated treadmill walking for 30 minutes, three times a week in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. The researchers found greater fat loss and muscle gain in the participants who wore a weighted vest (at 4–8% body weight). But subsequent research in obese older adults could not show greater fat loss in participants who wore weighted vests for an average of 6.7 hours per day.
There has been considerable interest in the use of weighted vests to improve bone health in older people. One 2003 study reported significant improvements in bone density in a group of older women over 32 weeks of weighted vest walking and strength training compared to a sedentary control group.
But a 2012 study found no difference in bone metabolism between groups of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis walking on a treadmill with or without a weighted vest.
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Making progress
As with any exercise, there is a risk of injury if it is not done correctly. But the risk of weighted vest training appears low and can be managed with appropriate exercise progression and technique.
If you are new to training, then the priority should be to simply start exercising and not complicate it with wearing a weighted vest. The use of body weight alone will be sufficient to get you on the path to considerable gains in fitness.
Once you have a good foundation of strength, aerobic fitness and resilience for muscles, joints and bones, using a weighted vest could provide greater loading intensity as well as variation.
It is important to start with a lighter weight (such as 5% bodyweight) and build to no more than 10% body weight for ground impact exercises such as running, jogging or walking.
For resistance training such as squats, push-ups or chin-ups, progression can be achieved by increasing loads and adjusting the number of repetitions for each set to around 10 to 15. So, heavier loads but fewer repetitions, then building up to increase the load over time.
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While weighted vests can be used for resistance training, it is probably easier and more convenient to use barbells, dumbbells, kettle bells or weighted bags.
The benefits of added weight can also be achieved by adding repetition or duration. Geert Pieters/Unsplash
The bottom line
Weighted vest training is just one tool in an absolute plethora of equipment, techniques and systems. Yes, walking or jogging with around 10% extra body weight increases energy expenditure and intensity. But training for a little bit longer or at a higher intensity can achieve similar results.
There may be benefits for bone health in wearing a weighted vest during ground-based exercise such as walking or jogging. But similar or greater stimulus to bone growth can be achieved by resistance training or even the introduction of impact training such as hopping, skipping or bounding.
Exercising with a weighted vest likely won’t increase your injury risk. But it must be approached intelligently considering fitness level, existing and previous injuries, and appropriate progression for intensity and repetition.
Celebrity fitness instructor Mahesh Ghanekar, who trains celebrities like Kareena Kapoor Khan, Soha Ali Khan, and Suriya, often shares their progress on Instagram. On the weekend, Mahesh posted a clip of Kareena’s intense workout routine that shows the actor bringing her workout A-game. Even at 44, the actor slayed the routine and inspired us to be active.
Kareena Kapoor’s new fitness video will inspire you.
Also Read | Man who dropped from 95 kg to 68 kg shares 3 fat-loss meals that helped him lose 27 kg in 4 months
Kareena Kapoor’s intense workout routine
The celebrity trainer posted Kareena’s clip with the caption, “Jumping and punching onto the New Year’s Fitness Game #2025 #newyear #newpost #newwork #newgoals #celebrity,” The video shows the actor doing two different full-body exercises. In the first exercise, she can be seen jumping continuously on one leg with the other balanced on the wall. She kept her spine neutral, her arms near her torso, and repeated the routine while keeping her breath in check.
In the second exercise, Kareena sat down on her yoga mat with her torso and legs lifted up from the ground. Maintaining this position and holding dumbbell weights in both hands, Kareena punched her arms forward. She kept her back in a neutral position during the routine.
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How did the internet react?
Fans loved Kareena’s dedication towards her fitness routine and felt inspired by her intense workout. One wrote, “Queen.” Another commented, “Even after two kids! Insane.” A comment read, “OMG! Wow.” Another said, “She looks amazing in her body. She’s in her 40s, she has had two kids, and still, she appears healthy and happy.”
Taimur’s sweet gesture for his Maa
Apart from an inspiring fitness routine, Kareena’s 2025 began with a sweet gesture from her and Saif Ali Khan’s oldest son, Taimur Ali Khan. The actor shared pictures of her son carrying her heels with the caption, “MAA ki seva iss saal and forever. Happy New Year, friends ❤️ More Pictures coming soon. Stay tuned.”
Kareena and Saif welcomed Taimur on December 20, 2016. They are also parents to Jehangir Ali Khan. Jeh was born on February 21, 2021.
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