MACON, Ga. — You know in the movies, you might have heard a drill sergeant say "Drop and do 50." They're talking about pushups, and for a lot of folks that could pose a challenge.
But Gene Pollard prides himself on big numbers, consistency and a will to keep moving — no matter the age.
“The masses I started doing after I retired which was 25 years ago now, Gene recalled.
By the masses, Gene Pollard means hundreds of pushups, five days a week.
“1070,” he calculated per day.
It's a big number. But how about this: the guy is 93 and going up and down hundreds of times a day.
As you can imagine, a guy who's 93 has health problems and days where he doesn't feel that great, but it doesn't matter. He gets the job done.
“Probably 20 years before I retired I would do 20 every morning,” he surmised.
He worked for the Department of Defense and had a busy life traveling the world.
“I was in Berlin when the wall came down. I chipped enough off for myself and all of my five kids,” he said while looking at those chips on the mantle.
Before the kids and after World War Two, the guy in the black and white photo squinting played for the original Macon Peaches as a first baseman.
Back then it was a Chicago Cubs organization and he didn't make it to the majors. But it did plant that seed of exercise.
Gene is a mean pool player, makes furniture including this one from one of his Peaches bats and also paints.
But the pushups with interval stops on the bike well he says they're an insurance policy for the future.
“People would ask me: 'Why do you do those exercises' and I would say because I want to continue doing it. If I ever stop, I probably couldn't start back again so I do them five days a week," he reasoned.
He does take the weekends off, sleeping in especially on Saturdays because Monday through Friday he's up at 3 a.m. in the rec room.
It's a way of life from a man who could all teach us a thing or two about aging gracefully.