What if living to 100 isn’t about luck but about how you choose to live every single day leading up to it?
There are big birthdays, and then there are Big Birthdays! On August 3, one of Sun Valley’s most beloved residents—an innovator, an athlete, and a quiet force of nature—will celebrate his 100th birthday. And no, Charley French isn’t Irish. So maybe his remarkable run of good “luck” has less to do with chance, and everything to do with a lifetime of preparation meeting opportunity—again and again—for nearly a century.
Just how rare is 100? Aside from being the only 99.9-year-old living in Blaine County, there are roughly 100,000 centenarians in the U.S., just 0.03% of the population. Even with projections indicating that number will quadruple in the next three decades, this is still one of the most exclusive clubs on Earth. If you’re 65 today, your odds of making it there are slim: for women it’s about 6%, for men less than 3%.
So, how does someone not only get into club centenarian, but arrive strong, mobile, and mentally sharp? Success always leaves clues, so let’s do some digging and try to ascertain how French has managed to outrun the “Four Horsemen of Death” (heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, type-2 diabetes) and outlive 99.97% of Americans. And if you’re thinking he simply inherited some magical longevity gene, he didn’t. His parents and siblings lived mostly average lifespans. French didn’t inherit longevity. He built it. Through movement. Through resilience. Through a stubborn refusal to ever “act his age.”
Born restless in St. Louis, Missouri, French joined the Navy at 17, at which point he was quickly shipped off to the Pacific Theater during World War II. He worked below deck as a machinist aboard the USS Cleveland, surviving multiple sea battles, including one especially close call with an incoming Japanese torpedo. After the war, engineering took him into the aviation industry overseas, where skiing in the Alps every chance he got led to a chance encounter with fellow powder addict Bob Smith—yes, Bob Smith of Smith Optics—and together they helped create the first dual-lens ski goggle still used today.
Then came Sun Valley. In the early 1970s, French arrived to ski and stayed to build. Working alongside Ed Scott—founder of Scott Sports in Ketchum—he helped develop a lighter, more responsive alpine ski boot that would redefine performance on the mountain. And when he wasn’t designing the future of sport, he was outside building it—running, biking, and testing the limits of his body.
By the mid 1980s, French’s engineering mind collided with cycling history. He designed—and literally bent into shape—the aerodynamic handlebars Greg LeMond used to win the 1989 Tour de France. But here’s what separates French from most innovators: he didn’t just build it. He proved it. Three years earlier, at age 60, he showed up at the 1986 Ironman World Championships with a homemade version of those same aero bars—unseen, unheard of—and won his age group by 41 minutes.
French would go on to compete in well over 200 triathlons, winning his age group in 195 of them (five of which were World Championship titles). He also picked up 12 gold medals at the World Masters Nordic Championships and won his age group in 41 out of 45 Boulder Mountain Tour races. And last, but not least, at the tender age of 99, French earned indoor world records on the Concept2 SkiErg and RowErg!
But here’s the crucial detail: French didn’t fully commit to power-endurance sports until his mid-50s. When most people are slowing down, he was just getting started. Better late than never, because science continues
to demonstrate that the two most critical drivers of health-span and survival are power and endurance!
Study after study points to the same uncomfortable truth: weakness is not just inconvenient—it’s downright dangerous. In fact, it carries a five-times higher health risk than being a smoker. Low strength—which reflects declining muscle mass, power, and coordination—is one of the strongest predictors of frailty, loss of independence, and early death. Poor cardiovascular fitness is equally unforgiving. Landing in the bottom 25th percentile for VO2 max—the maximum amount of oxygen your body can process during aerobic exercise—is associated with a 400% higher risk of all-cause mortality.
As French’s example demonstrates, it’s never too late to start upping your power-endurance game. Consider also Robert Marchand, one of the most well studied late-bloomer athletes in history. He didn’t catch the fitness bug until his late 60s. Then, at 101 years old, after breaking the world hour cycling record, he decided to go even farther before old age slowed him down.
Working with renowned exercise physiologist Dr. Véronique Billat, Marchand trained for two more years and didn’t just improve, he transformed. He rode significantly farther (averaging 17 mph), increased his power output by 39%, improved VO2 max by 13%, and achieved the cardiovascular fitness of a 50-year-old man—all this at 103 years old! He continued to ride nearly every day until his passing at age 109, proving beyond any doubt that you’re never too old to get “younger,” faster, and more fit.
Which brings us back to French, and a question that applies directly to me as his fitness-trainer. How should a man who is about to turn 100—and who still wants to hike, bike, ski, and travel—continue to train his body?
The first rule is simple: Don’t get hurt! As French sees it: “The older you get, the more important it is to train in a way that keeps you improving without getting injured. My best advice is shift from lifting weights, to using your own bodyweight and elastic bands to train athletic movements that are similar to life and sports.”
For older bodies, injury is not just a setback, it’s a threat to independence. One bad fall, one careless lift, can mean months of pain, immobility, decline, and even death.
The second rule: Stimulate, don’t annihilate! Every workout should deliver the strongest possible signal for targeted adaptation—increased power, VO2 max, muscle mass, bone density, mobility, coordination—using the minimum effective dose. Enough to improve; not enough to break. As a corollary, French adds some centenarian wisdom: “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that balance, coordination, and mobility need to be part of every workout.”
Interestingly this approach mirrors protocols developed by NASA for astronauts in microgravity. Since the first Apollo mission in 1969, scientists have understood that the weightlessness of space accelerates the aging process—muscle wasting, bone loss, reduced strength—similar to the rate of a 100-year-old body on Earth. NASA’s solution? Daily high-intensity cardio, combined with resistance training utilizing elastic bands, pistons, and flywheels for resistance.
Not only is this the best way to train young astronauts in orbit, but it’s also proven to be the safest and most effective methodology for training older bodies.
Whether you’re floating in space, or hiking in Sun Valley, aging is a thief. It’s a clever one that silently steals the physiological assets you need to enjoy an active lifestyle. Unlike money, which grows with compounding interest, health and fitness metrics decline exponentially. So, it’s essentially reverse compound interest, which can only be offset by properly training your physical assets to defend themselves against the process of aging.
So, the real retirement question is not just: “Will I have enough money?” but, “Will I have enough fitness to enjoy my life?”
Without a doubt, working with French and observing him move and feel better while getting stronger and more confident has inspired me to never quit. In 2062—when I’m 100—I’m aiming to be where French is now: sharp as a tack, mobile, energetic, and still doing the targeted training indoors that makes it possible to enjoy activities outside.
The real lesson to be learned from the life of Charley French is not that he’s lucky. It’s not that he’s gifted, nor even that he’s extraordinary—though he clearly is. It is this: A long, active, productive life is not built by accident. It’s built by design.
TOP THREE TAKEAWAYS:
- Maximize Your Rewards: Workouts should focus on improving the six things your body needs: power, endurance (V02Max), dynamic mobility, whole-body coordination, functional muscle mass, and bone density.
- Adapt Intelligently: Just because you skied bumps when you were 50, doesn’t mean you should when you’re 80 or 90. Pivot to easier terrain on perfect days, or swap your alpine skis for Nordic.
- Be Relentlessly Consistent: Being consistent and staying at a high level of fitness year-round helps stave off declines. Aim for three to five workouts per week to make your body harder to knock down and easier to get back up when you do get knocked down.