70-Year-Old Grandfather With Six-Pack Abs Shares His Fitness Routine
Humans have been trying to discover the secret to staying young since Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León went searching for the fountain of youth in the 1500s. But one man in China may have inadvertently stumbled upon the key decades ago when he embarked on a fitness regimen that is the reason he now looks better at 70 than many people half his age.
As the South China Morning Post reports, Zou Heping, a grandfather from Chongqing, China, first embarked on his fitness journey in 1979 after reading about running in a magazine. And he quickly went all-in, running not just uphill but also carrying a 44-pound, five-gallon jug of water with him. He would also wake up at 5:30 a.m. to tackle this daily routine before heading off to work every morning
Over four decades later, Heping still works out daily, rain or shine, at Chongqing’s 2,273-foot-tall Gele Mountain National Forest Park. The popular tourist attraction is a draw for local fitness enthusiasts, boasting a variety of hiking trails, a large-scale outdoor rock climbing field, forest climbing, and an aerial adventure maze, among other features.
Every day, Heping makes the trek up 2,500 steps from the foot to the summit of the mountain, which takes him a little less than two hours to complete. However, he likely gets stares from other visitors due to his unconventional approach, which involves frog-jumping as he ascends the mountain and alligator-style crawling on his way back down.
“Crawling doesn’t hurt the knees, it trains limb coordination,” he told the Post. In addition to scaling the mountain, Heping’s fitness routine also includes weighted pull-ups, rope or pole climbing, and handstands.
View the original article to see embedded media.
But his grueling workouts aren’t the only thing keeping him young. Heping also attributes his youthful appearance and fit physique to clean living. He hasn’t touched alcohol or cigarettes in at least 40 years, and always makes sure to get plenty of sleep. And while he may not carry five-gallon jugs on his runs anymore, one would also have to imagine that he maintains good hydration practices.
“Life lies in running, and the most important thing is to exercise, preserve your fitness and develop a good lifestyle,” Heping explained of his lifestyle.
Indeed, experts say that running can help you live longer, boost your vitamin D intake, strengthen bones, and burn crazy calories, among other cardiovascular benefits. And best of all, you can run pretty much anytime, anywhere, and without a ton of equipment.
“If you’ve got shoes, shorts, and a shirt, you are good to go,” Jason Fitzgerald, a USA Track & Field-certified coach and the founder of Strength Running, recently told Men’s Journal. “You can’t say that about many other workouts.”
