I can’t remember how we first heard about Fred Woolman but I knew it was imperative to have him as a guest on The Art 2 Aging.

That was more than a year ago; at the time, Fred was a full time fitness instructor at a nearby facility in his hometown of Rochester, Minnesota, 125 LIVE, where he was conducting fitness classes and personal training three times a week.

At the age of 83.

He’s still at it and the fact is, he is older than anyone in his classes – and they’re all what you could call “seniors”.

They will tell you that they love his classes and they are his biggest fans.

Well, bit by bit, Fred’s fame spread beyond Rochester and recently reached the offices of the Guiness World Records headquarters in London, England.

They were intrigued that this now-84 year old guy was a fitness instructor and possibly older than any other living trainer. So they began their background checks to determine the veracity of Fred Woolman: was he who his bosses at 125 LIVE said he was? Could he be doing what he was purported to be doing at 84? Was it even possible?

Yes, it was possible, they discovered. Fred came as advertised. He was the real deal – an 84 year old fitness instructor and personal trainer.

So, Fred became a Guiness World Record Holder in September, 2025.

But not just once. Twice. He’s in the Book of Records as the oldest living fitness instructor and the oldest personal trainer in the world.

Now, what do you think that says about aging?

I reached Fred at his home in Rochester, Minnesota to get the Guiness story from the horse’s mouth and learned that he’s just plunged headlong into a new physical activity: mountain biking!

There’s no stopping this guy!

Last May, The Art 2 Aging had the pleasure of talking with Mike Drak about his commitment to regain his health.

Mike is a 70 year old man who lives just north of Toronto. His sedentary lifestyle had resulted in large weight gains and he was determined to lose as much of it as he could before August 3.

That’s when he would enter a triathlon competition in Ottawa, Canada’s capital city. Here’s the link to that episode. If you are one of the millions who have decided to lose weight through injections of Ozempic, you might want to listen to it.

We got in touch several weeks ago to interview Mike again after the triathlon and learn how he fared during the event which turned out to be filled with unexpected surprises.

Every week, thousands of readers enjoy the musings about aging that can be found on Crow’s Feet. The best way to describe Crow’s Feet is to think of it as a gathering place or compendium of content about growing older that flows from the minds of hundreds of different writers every month.

Nancy Peckenham oversees the content, editing and publishing the works of her writers and leaning on her former broadcast journalism career at CNN to keep the content polished.

Nancy talks about that career, her new one with Crow’s Feet and what she, herself, thinks about growing older in this week’s episode of The Art 2 Aging.