You’re Never Too Old II: Meet Don Wildman

Posted By elissa on Jun 28, 2009 | 5 comments

Last summer, I posted a link to an article about the benefits of exercise for seniors.  The point was simply this: no matter how old you are, you can still reap benefits from a regular workout program – even if you’re starting from scratch.

And even if you’re not: there’s no reason to slack off or rest on your laurels.  Don Wildman is living proof of that.

Don Wildman is the founder of Bally’s Total Fitness, and even at the age of 76, still “walks the walk”.  In fact, he can walk people half his age into the ground.

We’re 45 minutes up a forbidding Malibu dirt road that climbs 2,200 feet in four miles, and the Wild Man is ahead. Way ahead. Out-of-sight ahead. And my excuses begin:

“I’m a mountain biker, but I’ve never ridden right after a grueling, two-hour, all-body weight-room workout before.” “It’s so hot — 90 degrees and rising — that I’m literally blinded in my own sweat.” “I’m bonking because I haven’t eaten a thing in over three hours.”

But, of course, the Wild Man hasn’t eaten either. He lifted the same weights I did, probably more. And, amazingly, he hasn’t swallowed one sip of water all morning; he didn’t even pack a water bottle on his bike. So at the top, when he greets me with his typical upbeat attitude — “Wow, I’m really getting strong; that’s the first time I ever rode this in my middle chain ring” — I look at the leathery brown face, the slightly stooped shoulders, the washboard abs and bulging biceps, and I face reality: “A 76-year-old man just kicked my butt.”

And then: “I better train harder.”

I’ve occasionally wondered whether I’ll have to deal with inexorable declines in my strength and overall fitness as I (eventually) pass into my “sunset” years. But after reading stories like Wildman’s, I believe there’s hope for me yet (at least ’till I’m past 80 or so).

(more on Wildman from Esquire)