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

Jim Dreeben, 83, works out outdoors all year round.

Jim Dreeben has always been active, but it wasn’t until he was in his 80s that he took up CrossFit.

Dreeben, a retiree in Riverhead, New York, now does weekly CrossFit sessions and 100 push-ups six days a week, he told B-17.

That’s alongside walking, kayaking, battle rope workouts, sea swimming, planking, and paddling on a prone board.

He is one of the many keeping up serious fitness regimes into old age, in the hope of staying healthy as long as possible.

“I enjoy working out and you sort of get hooked on it after a while,” said Dreeben, who is 83.

CrossFit is an intense sport designed to help people build strength, fitness, power, and endurance across a range of disciplines. It soared in popularity over the 2000s. There are now more than 15,000 CrossFit gyms globally.

While modifiable for people of differing abilities, it’s typically most popular with younger demographics — stats suggest that 42% of CrossFitters are aged 25-34.

Dreeben does CrossFit with people half his age

Dreeben was an active kid, and as a teen he did shotput, wrestling, and general workouts. That said, he didn’t consider himself particularly good at sports.

For most of the 53 years of his working life, Dreeben ran a kayak shop which meant he spent a lot of time paddling and racing. He was always training for something, building strength and fitness as he went.

Dreeben retired in 2017.

He started CrossFit by chance in 2022 after chatting to the wife of an instructor he met in a jewelry store.

Dreeben gave it a try with a personal training session and hasn’t stopped since.

“I called my trainer up the next day and said, ‘That’s all you got?'” Dreeben said. “So the following week he upped it. It’s a steady hour, non-stop, I’m pouring with sweat.”

Dreeben has a couple of limitations, such as an issue with his shoulder. Private sessions allow him to modify movements where necessary, and he also regularly takes group CrossFit classes.

“I compete with the 40-year-olds and 30-year-olds. It’s fun,” Dreeben said. “They had a really serious workout a couple of weeks ago that they wanted you to do in seven minutes. I did it in eight.”

He loves telling people he does CrossFit because it raises eyebrows. “They don’t even know how intense it really is,” he said.

Dreeben lives an active lifestyle

Dreeben planks regularly.

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.”