A man who started CrossFit in his 80s now does 100 push-ups a day

Over the past year, Dreeben created a group who take weekday walks over the 857-meter-long Ponquogue Bridge in Long Island. The route is about 1.6 miles long, and Dreeben pauses regularly to do 15-20 push-ups until he hits 100. It typically takes him around 50 minutes.

“I was always a slow walker — I’m short,” Dreeben said. “I just started recently walking faster, so sometimes we do it in 43 minutes. A lot of my walkers are women and they live in New York City. They walk all the time, so they come out here. It’s easy for them. It was hard for me.”

Dreeben built a lot of upper body strength through paddle sports over the years, which he said never felt like hard work because he loved doing it. He recently started using a prone board.

“You lay on it and you swim, and you go really fast,” Dreeben said. “It’s the best upper-body workout because you have to balance on your stomach with your head up. It’s a riot, but only a few guys use them because they’re very tiring and stressful. But I’ve done so much kayaking. I like the challenge of something new.”

When he’s not paddling or walking, Dreeben might be working out with his battle rope at home (“I whip the battle rope a couple hundred times a day”), gardening (“I’m up and down on my knees all day long”), or swimming in the ocean.

Dreeben works out outdoors every day come rain or shine: “I think fresh air is really good for you.”

Dreeben hopes he’s boosting his longevity

Dreeben enjoys living an active lifestyle, but he’s also motivated by the health and longevity benefits of staying in shape.

“I don’t want to get sick, and it seems like if you stay physically fit, you seem to live longer, you don’t go to the hospital as much. I hope it’s true,” he said.

Dreeben’s health check-ups all suggest his lifestyle is keeping him in good shape.

“My heart doctor said, ‘Whatever you’re doing, don’t stop,'” Dreeben said.

Dreeben may have always been active, but he’s learned new skills later in life.

“It’s never too late,” he said. “You could start easy. You don’t have to do a two or three-minute plank. You can do a 20-second plank. Planks are hard.”