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SALT LAKE CITY -- If you're currently in a workout rut, this next story may be exactly the jump-start you need. For decades, Merrill Matzinger has kept his body in incredible shape. It's truly remarkable for a man who was alive when Woodrow Wilson was our nation's president.
Merrill Matzinger warms up for his daily exercise routine. His routine that always begins with stomach crunches -— 1,500 of them. It's a number so amazing, it puts most people to shame. And if you think that number is impressive, wait until you hear his birth date -- May 10, 1915.
As he says, "I like my numbers, 5/10/15."
Yes, this Salt Lake resident just celebrated his 95th birthday. His age baffles just about everyone.
"They think I'm 75, maybe 80," he says. "So that's encouraging to go to a doctor and get compliments instead of prescriptions. All the doctors who have treated me can't believe what they're seeing."
Matzinger can't see much anymore -- he's legally blind -- but that hasn't slowed him down. In fact, over the last 20 years, he can remember missing his daily workout just once. That was two weeks ago when he was busy moving.
"Real success is when it's a natural thing and you come out smiling from it," he says.
That's an attitude, he says, that began after a very unhealthy start.
"My first lucky thing was the survival of the 1918 flu epidemic; and the next thing was I had a ruptured appendix before they had penicillin," he says.
Other than that, Merrill says he's been in tip-top shape.
"I could last forever this way, I don't have anything major bothering me except the joints," he says.
Matzinger's trainer, Rocky Griffino, said, "All the other people I train in here would like to be in as good a shape at their age, and they're 30, 40, 50."
Matzinger says he can see living to 100, but says he simply takes it one day at a time. Then before he knows it, it's time to wake up and start his 1,500 crunches all over again.
But before he gets on his back, he gets on his knees.
"Very first thing, get out of bed and thank God I'm alive," he says.
His daily workouts take a minimum of 30 minutes and go up to an hour and a half.
E-mail: kaiken@ksl.com
