June 5, 2025 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Ted N.C. Wilson, President, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
It’s been said that if there is such a thing as the “fountain of youth” it is exercise! And no one illustrates that idea better than Hulda Crooks, who was the oldest woman ever to climb Mt. Whitney, at 14,495 feet the tallest peak in the continental United States, and Mt. Fuji, the 12,388-foot mountain in Japan. Between the ages of 66 and 91 she climbed Mt. Whitney 23 times, and at the age of 91 she became the oldest woman ever to scale the heights of Mt. Fuji. In addition to climbing these two famous mountains, she climbed to the top of 97 other mountain peaks in her later years.
Crooks, who lived to be 101, started jogging and running at the age of 72 because, she said, “it made climbing so much easier.”
When she was 82, she participated in the Senior Olympics, running 1500 meters in 10 minutes, 58 seconds, setting a world record for her age group. At 95, she continued to walk two miles a day.
But this 5-foot 1-inch, 115-pound wonder woman wasn’t always so fit and trim.
One of 18 children born to a farming couple in Saskatchewan, Canada, young Hulda gorged on meat and candy and by age 16 weighed 160 pounds. Shortly before she turned 18, however, she left the farm, became a Seventh-day Adventist and a vegetarian, and the weight began to come off. Later, she married her high school sweetheart, Dr. Sam Crooks, and they had one child together before Sam died at age 53, and then their only child died in his 30s.
Hiking and climbing helped Hulda endure the death of her husband and son, boosting her physical and emotional resiliency. “Good health doesn’t always happen by accident,” she said. “Sometimes you have to work at it.”
Hulda Crooks remained active throughout her later years. When she was 80, she described a typical day like this: “Early to bed and early to rise. Out jogging about 5:30 a.m. Jog a mile and walk it back briskly. It takes me 12 minutes to jog the mile and 15 minutes to walk it,” she said. “Do some upper trunk exercises, work in the yard, and walk to the market, and work.” At age 90 Hulda replaced jogging with walking and tallied an impressive 1,200 miles a year in walking exercise.
We’ll be talking more about Hulda Crooks in a later video, but for now, let’s consider her amazing example in exercise!
While it’s always important to check with your health care provider before starting an exercise program, almost everyone can benefit from some sort of exercise regime.
Did you know that physical fitness is the most important predictor for longevity? And regular physical activity decreases the risk for many diseases including obesity, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, osteoporosis, many cancers, anxiety, and depression. In fact, studies have shown that the most physically active breast cancer patients reduce the risk of cancer-related deaths and recurrence by up to 40 percent![i]
This should not surprise us. Inspiration tells us: “Action is a law of our being. Every organ of the body has its appointed work, upon the performance of which its development and strength depend. The normal action of all the organs gives strength and vigor, while the tendency of disuse is toward decay and death. . . Inactivity is a fruitful cause of disease. Exercise quickens and equalizes the circulation of the blood, but in idleness the blood does not circulate freely, and the changes in it, so necessary to life and health, do not take place” (Ministry of Healing, pp. 237, 238).
There are so many scientifically documented benefits to exercising that we don’t have time to list them all, but here are just a few more: better stress management, strengthening the bones, building a stronger immune system, relieving back pain, improving memory and learning abilities as well as improved mental function for all age groups.
If you are already exercising—that’s great! Keep it up! If not, are you ready to start? If so, remember to first check with your health-care provider to find a regime that is right for you.
One of the keys to exercising is to be consistent. Here are five tips from the book, Habits That Heal, that can help you get started:
I invite you to begin living a more active life today and see how beneficial it can be. And until next time, may God bless you as together we seek a more abundant life in Him!