Age is Just a Number: What a 97 year old record breaker can teach us about growing older

by Charles Eugster

Retired dental surgeon Charles Eugster rekindled a love of competitive rowing he'd neglected for most of his adult life at the age of 63. He took up bodybuilding at the age of 87. And at the age of 95 he started sprinting for the first time in his life, becoming World Champion at 200m indoor and 400m outdoor. He is a world record holder for his age group in a number of sports, and has 40 Gold Medals for World Masters Rowing. In this book, Charles shares his journey and his passionate belief that growing older needn't slow you down. And he shows his readers how taking on new challenges, learning new things, and improving your body as it ages is not only fun, but rewarding for the individual, and beneficial to society.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction

168 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 26, 2017

Reviews

[Suzanne Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

You don't need to be over 60 to gain from reading this book.

Part memoir, part health and part self-help book, this book can help us all towards a healthy and long old age. Charles Eugster is a true inspiration to all that being old does not and should not mean we should stop trying to improve and challenge ourselves, and that when we do the benefits are unmeasurable to all.

[Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not even past the introduction and I have laughed out loud

The author is talking about running in a sprinting event and says ‘I’ve come out too fast…I’ve blown it before I’ve barely begun….Already the younger guys are approaching the second bank….’

The younger guys are in the 85-89 age group and the author is in the 95 plus category

Brilliant

[Rachel Kidd · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't what I expected at all, I wasn't at all interested in his early years so I didn't read the first part. A lot of his views were regularly repeated so I skim read those bits. I thought there would be a lot more about his athletic achievements as an older person but there wasn't much detail at all. The final section was irrelevant for anyone under 55.

Two stars as he was clearly an amazing man who showed just how healthy, fit and well you can be at any age so I'm sure it could be very inspiring for anybody in his target audience as he provides a plan to help others achieve a happy and healthy retirement.

[Assiela Aiman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that focuses on successful ageing where the author promotes a healthy lifestyle post-retirement. He also provides guidelines on exercises, work and nutrition for advanced elderly people hoping it will benefits the related age-group.

I’m hoping for more based on its title hence the 3/5 stars. Nevertheless, it was admirable of him to at least change our perspectives about post-retirement through his research studies and the amount of achievements he attained in sports.

[Marrije · Rating 3 out of 5]

Encouraging little book, but not a lot of substance here. I haven't seen Eugsters TED Talk, but I expect you get everything from that that you get from the book.

Also! Remember to check with your doctor before starting any exercise regimes! (<- he mentions this about seventy billion times...)

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn'the really warm to this book. I felt it was an odd mix of memoir and self help guide. Whilst I admire the author's achievements in health, wellbeing and sporting challenges; and acknowledge the considerable research that is discussed, the overall result just didn't work for me.