The WSJ had a great story about the owner of a local car dealership – Fred Beans.
Fred recently celebrated his 80th birthday by doing 125 push-ups – straight through, with no rest. An impressive feat at any age, but unbelievable at 80.
For the past 11 years, Mr. Beans has been working with a personal trainer, and at the age of 72, he set a pushup goal of 100 push-ups on his birthday. He met the goal, and now encourages other employees to also set goals for themselves. To encourage such behavior, Beans holds monthly fitness challenges and rewards employees who win such challenges with prizes such as gift cards to a local convenience store (Wawa??)
Besides the push-ups, Mr. Beans does of variety of other exercises. He hired a personal trainer eight years ago to help with his fitness routine, and the trainer seems to plan out a variety of exercises for Mr. Beans and to ensure that Mr. Beans is doing the exercises properly.
Mr. Beans notes that one of the reasons he works out is so that he can get through his 10-hour days. He seems to love the work that he does, and the exercise enables him to continue to do such work at a high level.
Mr. Beans seems like my kind of guy. Exercise has become part of his habit, and I am sure he can’t imagine skipping a day.
Next time I am in the market for a car, I would seriously consider getting a car from the Fred Beans set of dealerships ( there are currently 20 dealerships in southeastern Pennsylvania that employ 1,750 people) simply because the owner cares about his health and wants to get the employees to show the same enthusiasm and commitment.
But first I’d want to get in push-up shape so when it is time to buy that car, perhaps I could challenge Mr. Beans to a push-up contest. If I win, he knocks 20 percent off of the car. If he wins, he knocks 15-percent off. Seems like a win-win all around, at least for me.
Borden's Blather 