Dick Van Dyke has turned 100 — and he’s still training like someone with decades to go.
The Hollywood legend marked his December 13 milestone by sharing the habits he says keep him feeling youthful and mobile.
Speaking to Good Morning America, Van Dyke said he and his wife, Arlene Silver, still hit the gym multiple times a week.
“That’s good advice for anybody of course,” he said. He described Silver as a “health nut” who “keeps me young,” adding: “She gives me energy, she gives me humour and all kinds of support.”
As a result, the Mary Poppins icon, boasts: “I’m so lucky. I don’t have any ache or pain.”
In an interview with The New York Times last month, Van Dyke summed up the physical reality of reaching triple digits with trademark candour: “When you reach 100, a lot of things don’t work too well,” but “sometimes I feel like I’m 15 again.”
He told The Times that on the way between machines, he’ll occasionally dance. On non-gym days, he practices yoga and stretches; his doctors, he said, are impressed that he can still touch his toes.
Those movement habits line up with patterns seen among long-lived communities. Many centenarians in Okinawa, Japan — a famed blue-zone region — begin mornings with radio taiso, a few minutes of low-intensity, social exercise. The throughline: frequent, enjoyable, sustainable movement that supports balance, flexibility and strength.
Mindset is part of Van Dyke’s regimen, too. “I’ve decided people are born with a certain personality and a certain outlook, a certain perspective,” he told Al Roker on the TODAY show in November. “I tend to look on the good side of things.” That optimism keeps him game for new challenges — he appeared in Coldplay’s “All My Love” video last year — and closely tied to a lifelong sense of play. As he put it in the Directors’ Cut: “I’m one of those lucky people who got to do for a living what I would have done anyway.” He added: “Think how lucky I am. I got to do what I do — play and act silly.”
Van Dyke also stressed the importance of family time, and revealed that he adores having his grandchildren and great-grandchildren at his home.
There we have it. The big-picture playbook from Van Dyke’s century: move most days (with a mix of strength, mobility and balance), make it fun enough to stick with, keep an optimistic outlook, and invest in loved ones.
And, if we’re lucky enough, maybe we can reach 100 looking as good as Dick Van Dyke!
Featured image credit: YouTube/GMA/Instagram/official_dick_van_dyke (screenshot)
