93-Year-Old Rowing Champion Proves That You’re Never Too Old to Start Exercising

If you’ve ever delved into the world of longevity, then you may already know the importance of exercise and movement - especially as we age.

“Motion is lotion”, as they say and Mr. Richard Morgan is a prime example of this.

Let me introduce Mr. Morgan with a quick summary of his life:

Twenty years ago, Richard Morgan, a then-73-year-old retired man from County Cork, Ireland, attended one of his grandson’s college rowing practices. 

Ultimately at one point, the coach offered to let him use one of the machines, and as he accepted, the rest is history.

Fast-forward to present day, 93-year-old Morgan is now a 4X world champion in indoor rowing, most recently winning the 2022 title in the 90-94 age division. 

Yup… he’s like that!

Morgan typically rows about 20 miles each week, primarily (~70%) at low intensity, with 20% at moderate intensity and 10% at high intensity. 

Altogether, he is estimated to have achieved a cumulative rowing distance of nearly 10X the circumference of the Earth over the last two decades, in addition to maintaining a resistance training regimen with dumbbells approximately twice per week. 

Naturally, he’s not only received much praise and amazement from others, but he’s also attracted the attention of researchers investigating the effects of aging and physical performance.

Diving Deeper

As we know, studying nonagenarians (90-99 year olds) and centenarians (100+ year old's) can provide insight into the science and processes for aging.

Whether that be the role of muscle mass and cardiovascular health in longevity or if relationships and social life makes an even larger impact.

Spoiler, it all plays a big role…

Either way, when news of Richard Morgan’s physical mastery reached investigators in the Netherlands and Ireland, they invited him to partake in various physiological and performance tests in the hope of shedding light on these theories.

A brief report published in December 2023 stated some astounding results.

Here’s a copy of the synopsis:

“Body composition measurements determined Morgan to have high muscle mass (105 lbs; 80.6% of total body mass) and a body fat percentage of 15.4% – values that would fall within a healthy range for a man half his age. Equally impressive were his metrics of cardiopulmonary function and physical performance. Morgan’s forced vital capacity, a measure of lung function, was reported to be 3.36 L, a value more typical of men in their 40s or 50s. In a 2,000-meter time trial on a rowing ergometer, the nonagenarian demonstrated exceptional cardiovascular adaptation to exercise, with his heart rate rapidly rising to a peak of 153 beats/min and oxygen uptake kinetics (a measure of time required to adapt to a changing metabolic load) approximating those of a healthy man in his 30s or 40s.”

This is even more amazing, given the fact that he started this journey in his 70s - building up his fitness, as he says, “from nowhere.”

In the end…

The authors of the study admit that genetics may also play a role in Richard Morgan’s age-defying fitness, and in the absence of baseline data from the time before he took up rowing, we cannot know to what extent his current physical health is attributable to the deliberate addition of exercise to his daily routine (though it certainly would have contributed significantly). 

But even with all of this in mind, we can put together some important lessons from Richard’s story.

1. It shows us that the “normal” trajectories of age-related physical decline are not exactly rigid.

The mere fact that Mr. Morgan maintains the body composition and cardiovascular fitness expected of a man much younger than him is evidence that the human body is capable of sustaining a high level of physical health far longer than many assume was possible

2. It goes to show that no one is ever too old to reap the benefits of physical activity.

Collective evidence from research time and time again strongly indicates that regular exercise is a necessary and powerful tool for aiding in health span and longevity.

You’re never “too old for exercise” and it’s never “too late”.

Be well and Keep Pluggin.

-C.