Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 31, 1994 TAG: 9401310113
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KAREN BARNES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, he's faithfully in the weight room - lifting 55-pound dumbbells over his head and working out on the exercise machines for two hours.
Tuesdays and Thursdays, he swims a mile - 36 laps.
Ben D'Ooge works out like an athlete in his prime - and he's 80 years old.
"Activity is the key for a good old age," he said. "You sit around, you decay and become a cripple so quick."
The trim, balding man with glasses swears exercise makes him look and feel younger. "I've been mistaken for someone in his 60s," he said, smiling. "I just feel good all the time. I haven't been sick since I came here," in 1988 from San Mateo, Calif.
But that's not such a surprise. He says he never missed a day of work in 32 years as a United Airlines employee.
His only hospitalization was for a broken leg in 1947.
Even the recent ice storm didn't keep D'Ooge away from his daily workout. "He was one of the few who actually made it in," said Keith Fisher, the YMCA's executive director.
Daily exercise helps him slow down the aging process, D'Ooge said. "It's obvious no matter how hard you work out, you lose strength."
But that doesn't mean D'Ooge isn't fighting to keep what he's already got. "I'm not in love with lifting weights, but I like the effects," he said. "I rely on swimming for aerobic exercise and weights for muscles."
The YMCA fitness director Pam Cox said D'Ooge has an incredible amount of strength. "He does more than most of us do at 20," she said.
But he's modest about his workout routine. "Most of the weights I handle are a joke to the young guys who come in," he said. "I'm afraid I'm just a curiosity."
Or perhaps an inspiration. A few of his friends at the Elks National Home have accompanied him to the gym, with mixed results. "They're astounded," he said. "They don't know how I keep it up. There are a few who come over, but they do it so gingerly, they won't get much out of it. I'm the only one from the Elks home that works out so hard."
The former Marine, sailor and Merchant Marine keeps fit in other ways, too - such as watching what he eats. "As you grow older, you have to eat less," D'Ooge said. "You can't work hard enough to prevent getting fat."
He weighs just 158 pounds, but eats only breakfast and lunch. Second helpings are allowed only on vegetables.
He hopes all this attention to staying healthy will carry him into the next decade. "When I was 45 or 50, my goal was to see the turn of the century," he said. "Now it's almost here."
He also wants to see his 100th birthday in 2013. "If I make it to the century mark, I'll be happy," he said. "I'll try to [keep working out] and I'll know that's what kept me alive, if I am."
He also helps keep other people alive by donating blood regularly. He figures he donated almost 11 gallons while he worked at United Airlines. Now, he gives blood about once every three months.
"I have no aftereffects at all, and boy, do they have good cakes and cookies afterward," he said. "It's healthy for me to replace a pint of blood. I think it's healthy to have your blood manufacturing in good shape."
And what's his secret for a long life? "The secret is being active until your last day," he said. "Get started. You're never too old."
by CNB