Start Doing This Now To Live Till a 100! (For Ages 60+)

I did have a big birthday in December. To me, it was a big number. I take care of myself, take care of my bills. I'm on top of everything. I don't carry a cell phone because I have no reason to. I still lift a 50-pound kettlebell. I still lift heavy weights. Naturally, it's in my DNA to have a positive attitude. Hey there, April of yesternext year. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Estelle, who is 95 years old. Now, you may remember her. We sat down with her several years ago and even worked out with her. She's as vibrant and energetic as ever. Now, she really exemplifies what it means to stay strong and find joy at any age. Let's sit down with Estelle and find out her secrets to the fountain of youth. Estelle, it's so great to see you. I understand that you hit a milestone. Before we go into my milestone story, I want to tell you how grateful I am that you came from the West Coast to the East Coast. We can spend time together and we can just enjoy each other's company rather than via the telephone. It makes me so happy to see you. Yes. All right. Talk to me about what the milestone is. Okay. Well, I did have a big birthday in December. To me, it was a big number. 90 was big, but 95 is much bigger because it brings me farther along. Now, I don't really believe in a lot of celebrations, but I figured maybe I should celebrate, not celebrate, but share this big birthday year with somebody. Since a lot of my time is still going to the Equinox Gym and my birthday fell on a Monday, I decided to have a little breakfast party at the gym. I got enough food for a few hundred people and I got little plates. Anyway, I had it all out. Then I said to myself, well, now everybody's going to know how old I am. My old thing is if the guys know how old I am, they won't flirt with me. I said, just go for it. Everybody was so happy and so pleased to share and they all wrote, my friend got birthday cards and they all wrote messages. I have two or three cars full of people and messages and inspirations. It was one of the best ideas I've had. What a way to celebrate your 90th birthday. It was. It was. Everybody remembers it. And you remember it. Oh my goodness. That's beautiful. Okay. How are you feeling at 95? I still have a hard workout. I still lift a 50 pound kettlebell. I still lift heavy weights. I still have the strength, but my body really sometimes is not the same. I may get, but of course I get tired because I push. I will leave the gym with my gym bag. I will pick up food at the store and it's heavy and I schlep home and I can be a little tired. I work very hard on balance because my biggest concern as you get older is not to fall. My biggest concern, I don't want to have a wheelchair. I don't want a cane. I don't want a walker. And that's what people do. So I work on balance at the gym and I'm cognizant of how I walk. I try and lift my feet at night. I lift my feet. When you're walking or just exercising? You don't want to. Occasionally, very occasionally my sneaker, maybe like the courts and then I managed to catch myself. I managed to catch myself, but I'm cognizant of what my feet are doing and I don't shuffle. You lift your feet up. I don't exaggerate too much, but I lift them up. I lift my feet up. I'm conscious of my feet. Talk to me about what kind of exercises you do for your balance. Can you describe what you do? Yes. Actually, it's a little bit of balance, but I do like walking with weights, walking lunges, which is really... Like farmer's carry? No. I walk with your feet. You crouch down and you walk, walking lunges, which is really an exercise, but it's all balance because I use like a seven and a half pound weight and I have to bend down and take a big step walking. It's a lunge. I see. Yes. And even though it's an exercise, but you have to have balance. Right. And I have the heavy weights in my hands and I go one step and then the other step, lunges. I see. Another one is to stand straight and have a chair like a little below your waist, stand a few feet away, stand up on one foot, bend over and touch it with two hands. Okay. That's a really good one. That's a balance. That's a really good one. Excellent. Now, my trainer told me another one, which I really have to start. I can take like a 10 pound kettlebell maybe and hold it in my hand. Just hold it. And just hold it and stand. Yeah. I have to practice that. Yeah. But standing on one foot and bending over is a good for balance. Right. That's a single leg move. You're on one leg. Exactly. Exactly. That mimics your walking. Exactly. And sometimes I do at the end of my exercise or in the middle and sometimes my feet are in better shape than others. It all depends on the end because I do a lot. I always do cardio first. I always do cardio, 15 minutes. I walk and I jog. And that warms you up. Warms my body up. And then I do my weights. How long do you do weights? Full body, right? Full body. I don't do like arms one day. I always do full body. Yeah. And you do that how many times a week? Two hours a day, four days a week. On Monday, I will do my weights for almost an hour and then I will do a Pilates class. So I learned to stretch. On Tuesday, I warm up and I have my trainer. And so if he puts me through an hour of heavy, he stretches me and then I go home. And then on Wednesday, sometimes Wednesday morning, I do laundry. And so I still go get to the gym. I do it early and always do my cardio and do my weights for at least 35, 40 minutes. Awesome. And then I always stretch. I always get on the floor. I know how to stretch for my Pilates. And then on Saturday, I get in early and warm up because then I do my spinning, my bicycle class for 45 minutes on Saturday morning. And then I do more weights and then I stretch. Amazing. Amazing. And now what's your typical, I mean, you kind of describe your week, but like in a typical day, on a workout day, you wake up at what time? I wake up early, about seven o'clock. I have a strange, maybe because I was heavy years ago, I have a strange living habit because I go to the gym early. I'm a morning person when I was in business and I go to bed early. I like a good, nice rest. It's important. I don't watch a lot of television. I have trouble in bed. I try to read, but for some reason, if I keep, I sit up, I get a lot of cramps in my legs. I've had it for years and I don't know why. I've always had a lot of problems with cramps in my legs and I've never gotten an answer to it. Sometimes I have to crawl to the bathroom to undo. Yes, it's very painful. So if I, if I do, Are you staying hydrated, drinking a lot of water? I don't, I try and drink more water. Everyone tells me I try very hard, but whatever it is, I still get the pains and I crawl and I relax the muscle occasionally in my calf. It could be maybe years of playing tennis exercise. I'm not a breakfast or lunch eater. I'm not hungry. If I come home from the gym, which is usually around noon-ish, I may take some cold cereal, just a teaspoon or maybe a teaspoon of peanut butter. Okay. You get your protein. Yeah. I eat very well. I eat very well. And then I have dinner early, like around 3.30. And what does that look like? Well, I have a dinner. I eat early because then maybe around six o'clock when I say dessert, I'll give you a little ice cream or a cookie and a glass of milk. I don't do all that. My dessert period, because that's what I have. I have to, cannot go to bed on a full stomach. Yes. I have to, I have to digest. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I'm really not hungry in the morning because I've been doing it for so many years. Don't drink enough water. I try very, very hard and I take sips. So that's your goal. More water. It is like, and I'm cognizant of it. I force myself to, I'm the only one who leaves a spinning glass. I don't perspire. Right. Yes. Uh-huh. Right. But, um, Lisa, you're thinking about drinking water. That's good. I'm thinking about everything. I take care of myself, take care of my bills. I'm on top of everything. I'm not online. I don't. You like to read? My niece orders stuff that I cannot find in the stores because everything's online. Right. I do not carry a cell phone. It's unusual. I don't carry a cell phone because I have no reason to. Right. If something happens to me at the gym, I fall flat. Send me to the nearest hospital. And if any, then I'll tell somebody to call somebody and tell them where I am. And if I'm on the street, I have identification. Right. It's kind of liberating not to have a cell phone, right? I don't know because I don't know any other way to live. It's everybody. It's a world. As a senior senior, I'm not used to. So you're not, no cell phone, internet at all? Are you, you have email? I have email. Um, I don't, I personally, I don't have a great computer. Maybe it's a computer, but it's not, it's not a big fancy one. Yeah. It's really for email. Right. And so people can contact me if they want to, other than the telephone. Um, I don't know how to order. There are very few things, but I have a wonderful niece who's very good. And there are certain things she gets me. I'm, you know, and they're perfect. I certainly exercise clothes. Oh, that's that's your exercise uniform. Or I wear gloves to lift weights. Oh yes. I always lift gloves. I couldn't find the gloves because all the stores are closed. Right. Right. And actually I go to, I don't shop in Lululemon like everybody else does because I'm small. I go to Old Navy and I go to the teen department and I get the largest size and I get gorgeous tight leggings. That's using your noggin. That's very, very, it fits, fits just right. Right. And the material is gorgeous. Yes. And good for you. It fits good for you. Good for you. So, so looking at you're at 95. So I do, I do a lot of reading. You do a lot of reading. I've been living in New York. I've been to all the Broadway shows in the opera. And you still do all that by yourself? Yes. I go to the opera alone. I live nearby Lincoln center. I don't need a lot of people to go with. So if I want to go to the opera, I pick up a ticket by myself, a matinee. I have a dear gym friend who absolutely adores dance. And there was a dance theater called the Joyce theater in lower New York that has unbelievable modern dance groups that are mind boggling. Classical ballet is okay. But these groups like watching gymnastics and I love her company and we go downtown and we just spend the afternoon just meeting and going. And how does that make you feel like going, going to shows and you know? I love having young friends. And number two sometimes we'll go in and say, it's a chore when I go to the gym in the morning. We'll not give that up and then dash home, take a show and get dressed and go downtown or locally. But I push myself. I say, I have to do it. I don't go to the theater as much because Broadway is not the same. It's not the same. The theater isn't this. It just isn't the same. It's, it's, they all look alike. They're all musicals. They're all, it doesn't reach me. I'm a little jaded because I've seen so much. Yes. That's good. Yes. Yes. But you stay in touch with friends, you at the gym. I'm on top of everything. I have a lot of gym. They, they all want to be my friend. They're all young. When I say young in the sixties, I have a neighbor who moved away who loves me. She's what, 42? Right. She calls me from Virginia all the time. She doesn't want to lose me. Oh, that's beautiful. Well, that keeps you engaged and young. Oh, yes. Yes. I'm always giving, I'm always giving good advice. Oh, I'm always, what, what's, what advice have you given? Oh, I'm always getting it. I, I, I, I, I tell most of the girls, if they're going to get engaged, I say, remember men are stupid. Just be smart. Have your own money, be independent. This is good to be independent. Yes. I don't care how, how much you love and, and be careful. Always have a little bank account for yourself. Always have just a little bank account for yourself. So if you want to buy yourself two pair of shoes instead of one, you don't have to ask permission. So you may hear, you may hear music in the background and we're at a music school that Estelle supports. And Estelle, how long have you been involved with? I volunteered when I was widowed. I wanted, I like to work. And I came across this idea to come here to the music school. That was before COVID. And tell us the name of the music school. Oh, this is Merkin Hall and Kaufman Center named after some people who believed in this oh, 30, 40 years ago. And they fixed it up. It is a concert hall. They've improved it at night. Oh, seats, maybe 250, 300, 400. And then there's a, there's a school. It's a public school, but you have to be a musician, a child from, from two to a musical instrument. And they have unbelievable classes and they have these little ballet at three years of age, these little tutus. The school has come so far. And you're surrounded by one. In fact, I invited you, you're coming to see me this afternoon. They're going to have a piano music competition from music students all over the world that come here from the ages, I think from four to 16. Amazing. That's amazing. And so what kind of volunteer work do you have? Okay. I work. Do you still do it? After COVID things changed. Things changed after COVID. I used to work in the school department doing paperwork. And then I went to development. I worked very fast. I used to, at that time, there was nothing, you know, no electronics. I had to fold like 300 letters a day, put stamps on, clerks work. I'm very, I mean, I can spend three, four hours getting 300, 300. How old were you when you, when you started? I must've been, oh, 10 years ago, maybe 85. I did that twice a week. Oh, sure. Easily. And then, oh yeah. And then after COVID, I said to them, I could, I will be happy to help you. Now they have a gala every year in June. They were so thrilled when I said, you want me to help out sending invitations? Of course. So I did three or four hundred. Wow. That's amazing. It was a pleasure for me to do. And of course I came to the gala. Right. Now you were saying being at 95 made you think about like where you were and also, you know, you feeling your body, but yeah. Also not having children or not. I decided to divest myself of stuff, stuff, jewelry. Not that I had a lot. I guess I did have a lot. I liked it, but I sold some, gave some away. I was concerned that my, the person in charge of, of closing up the apartment and getting rid of me, it's a job. And I wanted to make like as simple as possible. I can't take all the paintings off the wall and leave myself empty, but I gave a large set of dishes away. I gave my crystal away. I don't entertain that way. I still have enough around the house. And I said to my niece, there is maybe one or two of pieces that are valuable that you may want to keep. Otherwise have somebody come in and just write something. Right. That's very thoughtful of you to think about people. I never really had a lot of possessions and I don't need a lot of possessions. And at this age, I don't have the social life. I don't have the, and it's fine with me. I don't, I don't need it as much. Occasionally it would be nice to cuddle now and then, but I have my Kindle and my book. And if I have a book to read, that's my companion and I just love it. That's awesome. I love it. Yes. And, and, and I'm so tired at night. I cook every night. I mean, I set a table, I plan my menu, or I love to have a drink now and then. I love a cocktail. It was nothing. Yes. So like everything in moderation, right? You have a little, yeah. Don't treat for yourself. I treat myself well. Good for you. And so what kind of other advice would you give to even younger folks? 95 years of wisdom, but I can't make you a tennis player. If you have two left feet, I naturally, it's in my DNA to have a positive attitude. Some people just think negative, half full, half empty. It just isn't in my, and at this point, even though I'm a little lonely, even though I get a little tired, I, my major concern is to be well, just to be well and, and not, and not, not relying on a Walker or a Walker or a cane or a wheelchair that would devastate me, right? I would say that's the end of it. I don't want that. Right. I just want to be able to get around, make my decisions, take a trip. If I want to be able to do these things on myself. That's awesome. Well, on that note, that is a beautiful, beautiful way to, uh, and to come to conversation. Yes. And to wish you well, happy birthday. And we'll do it again. Maybe next year. Absolutely. Let's do it. Who knows? All right. I may even have a love affair to tell you about. So I thank you so much for joining us and sharing yourself. Thank you. Thanks so much for joining us. I hope you enjoyed catching up with Estelle. If you liked this video, I invite you to follow and subscribe for more conversations and inspiration on how to find fitness and joy at any age. Talk to you next time.