The Hollywood legend Dick Van Dyke is set to celebrate his 100th birthday in two months. Despite this, Van Dyke has no intention of slowing down the fitness regime that he’s long credited with keeping him youthful.
Van Dyke recently showed this once again when he was seen flexing in a gym selfie with the rocker Rick Springfield. Indeed, Van Dyke truly is showing the world that age really is just a number!
Van Dyke Flexes In Gym Selfie
Springfield, 76, took to Instagram on Friday to post a gym selfie of himself with Van Dyke.
‘Filming an episode of Men’s Health and I went to the gym and who should be there but 99 year-old Dick Van Dyke working out on every machine,” Springfield wrote. “Dick has lived in Malibu for about 30 years and is an awesome human being.”
“I thought I was doing well at 76, but Dick got up from the chest press machine and did a little dance step before I left!” he continued. “Amazing!”
Check out the epic gym selfie for yourself below.
The former Dancing With The Stars host Tom Bergeron took to the comments section of the post to highlight Van Dyke’s love for fitness.
“I LOVE this picture, Rick!” Bergeron wrote. “I just did the audiobook for Dick’s latest, 100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life, and he writes with great affection for that gym & his thrice weekly workouts.”
That book hits stores on November 18. The former The Dick Van Dyke Show star will then be celebrating his 100th birthday on December 13.
Van Dyke’s Commitment To Fitness
Van Dyke has always credited his longevity largely to fitness.
“I’ve always exercised three days a week. We go to the gym, still, three days a week,” Van Dyke said earlier this year. “I get down and do a lot of stretching and yoga-type things, sit-ups. And they have machines … something for almost every exercise.”
Van Dyke previously said that getting older meant “giving up the things that you enjoy doing.” That’s why he’s held onto the aspects of his fitness regimen that he can still do.
“I can’t handle the tennis court anymore. I can still run and dance and sing,” Van Dyke told NPR in 2015. You know, I made a habit of asking other people in their old age: “Of all the things you enjoyed doing when you were younger that you can’t anymore, what do you miss?”
“Some people mention golf or tennis. One woman said, ‘I miss having lunch with the girls.’ But the people who said I wish I had made smarter business decisions, I think they’re missing the point.”
Van Dyke’s Health Scare
Fans are especially happy to see Van Dyke back at the gym after he was forced to miss an event over the summer due to illness.
The former Mary Poppins star had been set to host Vandy Camp at the end of June alongside his wife Arlene Silver, 53, at the Arlene & Dick Van Dyke Theater at Malibu High School. Instead, Silver hosted the event alone.
When she took the stage, Silver admitted that she was “not the Van Dyke you’re expecting.”
“I have to inform you that Dick is not up to coming to celebrate with us today. I’m sorry,” she continued. “When you’re 99 and a half years old, you have good days and bad days … and unfortunately, today is not a good day for him, and he’s sick that he can’t be here.”
Silver went on to say that she is “pretty confident” that Van Dyke will be at the next Vandy Camp event “in person.”
Thankfully, it appears that Van Dyke has bounced back and is now having some “good days” as he closes in on his 100th birthday.
Van Dyke is a true living legend, and there will never be another one like him. His commitment to fitness at 99 is nothing short of inspiring to his millions of fans around the world.
God bless you, Dick Van Dyke!