Man, 95, still works out in a gym, shares 5 simple tips for a long life

At 95 years old, David Scott is a regular at the gym, lifting weights to keep his muscles strong — the latest chapter his lifelong health routine.

He works out at Planet Fitness in Dover, New Hampshire, three times a week where he uses weight machines to target his shoulders, arms, legs and abs. For cardio, the U.S. Army veteran also walks several times a week.

“It makes me feel good,” Scott tells TODAY.com about his exercise habits. “The circulation of the blood is important if you get too sedentary. And it’s also good for the mind.”

Scott and his 86-year-old wife, Lydia, live independently in their house in Dover. Both share a lifelong love of sports — the couple met on a bus in her native Italy as they headed to ski in the Alps and struck up a conversation on the ski lift.

“When we got to the top (of the mountain), she said, ‘Let’s go,’ and she disappeared. She skied much faster than me. But I finally caught up to her,” Scott recalls. “For me, it was love at first sight.”

“For me it was, too. Two weeks later, we were engaged,” Lydia Scott tells TODAY.com. They’ve been married 62 years and have three children.

Scott says he’s in good health as he approaches 100. Here is what to know about the almost-centenarian and his advice for living a long life:

Eat a healthy diet

Scott and his wife eat the Mediterranean diet, which is famously healthy for the heart and brain. The menu includes home-cooked meals with lots of fruits and vegetables, some chicken and fish, and plenty of olive oil.

The couple has a garden where they grow salad greens, carrots, zucchini, string beans, edamame, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and all kinds of herbs.

Lydia Scott is the cook in the house.

“I make lots of soups, which I freeze for the winter. Plus, we eat fresh veggies all summer,” she says.

“I also make jams with all the fruits we grow, and I freeze lots of berries for smoothies.”

David Scott’s favorite dish is the “spaghetti that my Italian wife makes,” he says. “I’ve never eaten so well after I got married.”

Vegetable-heavy pasta dishes are a tasty, healthy part of the Mediterranean diet.

For a long life, Scott advises others to stay away from fatty foods and keep alcohol consumption to a minimum, sticking to a bit of wine rather than hard liquor if choosing to drink. He stopped drinking alcohol about 20 years ago.

For dessert, Scott likes dark chocolate, which is rich in polyphenols, or beneficial compounds produced by plants.

Pick the right spouse

When asked about his secret to longevity, David Scott is quick to reply.

“A good wife,” he says without hesitation. “She knows what I need and she’s there.”

Married people have a significantly greater life expectancy and active life expectancy — the number of years without disability — compared to their unmarried peers, with men particularly enjoying the protective health effects of marriage, studies have found.

Married men tend to eat better, exercise more and get more regular medical care than unmarried, divorced or widowed males, according to Harvard Health.

Being married even boosts the chances of surviving cancer, research suggests.

Think positive

But Lydia Scott believes there’s more to her husband’s longevity than their long marriage.

“The secret is having a positive way of thinking and having also a good sense of humor and accepting life the way it is. And not having too many complaints,” she says.

Optimists live longer, studies have found, perhaps because optimism may help people cultivate and maintain healthier habits, and regulate their emotions during stressful times.

Be adventurous

Scott went to Harvard at 16, joined the U.S. Army when he was 17 in 1945, then returned to the university after the end of World War II to graduate with a degree in Greek philosophy. 

He went on to Harvard Business School and worked for several companies before he decided to move to Europe.

“I thought I should go to Italy because I like to ski,” he recalls. The bachelor was working in a U.S. factory in Milan when he had that fateful meeting with his future wife on a bus heading to the ski slopes.

He lived in Italy for two decades and traveled to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Nigeria as part of his work before moving back to the U.S., writing about his adventures in a book titled, “My Twenty Years in Italy: How Opera and Skiing Changed My Life.”

Move your body

Scott still remembers being impressed as a 10-year-old when he read a magazine article about a muscular man who said people could become as big as him if they followed an exercise routine. 

Being strong has been on his mind since then, especially because he grew up in Chicago in a “rather tough neighborhood,” he says.

He always liked sports, playing football and wrestling in college.

He and his wife love to ski. Lydia Scott also practiced fencing and was on the Italian team. In later years, she did tai chi and qigong — exercises that tap into the mind-body connection.

“Doing sports is very important in our family,” she says. “We were always doing many, many sports and our children are also into sports a lot.”