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Home » Fitness » Retired Wall Street Exec Discovers Benefits of Fitness at 70 – Next Avenue

Forget second acts. Jim Owen, who turns 80 on Oct. 20, is capitalizing on his third. His new documentary film, The Art of Aging Well,is the culmination of what he describes as his purpose and his legacy: Inspiring older adults to become healthier and more active.

Were experiencing a health care crisis that no one talks about, and its not the second wave of the pandemic: We are a nation of couch potatoes, and its literally killing us, says Owen, who lives in San Diego.

The film ran on Wyoming PBS,airs on Rocky Mountain PBS on Sept. 24 and will be available to PBS member stations through the National Educational Telecommunications Association starting Oct. 31.

He had read that if you live to age 70, youd likely live another 15 years. With no desire to spend those years in pain with no energy, he vowed to get in shape.

In a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers predicted that nearly half of Americans will be obese by 2030. Owen adds that health experts have long known that being physically fit substantially reduces the risk of serious chronic illnesses such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer, and most of us have much more control over the aging process than we think.

Owen firmly believes that how we age is largely up to us: While we cant help getting older, we dont have to get old.

Growing up in Lexington, Ky., Owen played recreational football, basketball and baseball, and lifted weights, too, all in the shadow of his older brother, a star athlete. But after graduating from college, he spent the next 30-plus years doing no exercise at all as he built a successful investment career on Wall Street, including publishing the bestselling book, The Prudent Investors Guide to Hedge Funds.

I got lucky; I was blessed and had a very rewarding career. But anyone can make money; its much harder to make a difference, says Owen, who reinvented himself in 2003 as a motivational speaker and author of Cowboy Ethics: What Wall Street Can Learn From the Code of the West.

I dont wear a cowboy hat and Im kind of afraid of horses, he admits. But to me, the mythical cowboy was a construct: Every culture needs heroes, and when I grew up, cowboys like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry were mine.

Owens advice about business and life sparked a movement, leading to two subsequent Cowboy Ethics business books, the launch of the Center for Cowboy Ethics and Leadership nonprofit and hundreds of speaking engagements per year. It was while he crisscrossed the country on a whirlwind speaking tour in 2006 that Owen realized how weak, stiff, achy and tired he felt all the time.

The tipping point came when Owen watched a video of himself on his 70th birthday, looking haggard and pale. He had read that if you live to age 70, youd likely live another 15 years. With no desire to spend those years in pain with no energy, he vowed to get in shape.

Applying the same determination that worked during his Wall Street days, Owen slowly took control of his health, beginning with daily 10-minute walks. Working with a professional trainer, he added on strength-building exercises and began eating healthier.

Many older adults worry theyll get hurt by starting an exercise plan, and Owen discovered there are no shortcuts. He had briefly taken up running at 50 and injured both knees. After switching to weightlifting, he bench-pressed too much weight and was left with searing lower back pain that kept him up at night.

The older you are, the more safety has to be the number one priority, and that means listening to your body, says Owen, noting theres a fine line between getting out of your comfort zone, progressing and going overboard.

Dont get overly ambitious, particularly if youre older. Just chip away at it, and all the sudden youll look back and say, I cant believe how far Ive come, he says

Owens persistence was validated when, at 75, his primary care physician pronounced him in excellent shape for a 65-year-old. His body was now a decade younger than his actual age.

Exercise has enlarged my view of the world. Getting fit is incredibly empowering: If someone says, Youll never do this, I say, Watch me. Im not that coordinated, so if I can do it, anybody can do it, Owen says.

Most people think that the hard work and subsequent payoff from regular exercise is physical. But for Owen, the mental aspect has been the most daunting and the most rewarding.

Id guess that eighty percent of people who go to the gym are going because somebody their doctor or their spouse told them to. Thats not motivational, so you do it in a half-hearted way, he explains. My motivation was getting rid of aches and pains, but the life-transforming thing came after five years, when I changed my mindset from working out to training. Thats really when you make big strides. Exercise has really boosted my confidence.

I want to be lean, and its not vanity. If I do get hit with COVID-19, a stroke or a heart attack, I believe Ive done everything I can do to weather it.

In addition to three strength workouts a week, Owen walks, stretchesand does yoga, Pilates and movement classes, often alongside his wife Stanya. He is pain-free, and weighs less than he did in high school.

I work on my weaknesses, not my strengths. Most people only work on their strengths; you see guys doing bicep curls or tricep extensions. You dont need to do that stuff. Try doing push-ups. I hate push-ups, but thats why you should do them. When I started, it took almost a week before I could do one. Today, I can do fifty; Im in the best shape of my life.

Breaking a sweat inspired Owen to raise awareness about the power of being physically active.

His 2017 book Just Move! A New Approach to Fitness After 50 named one of the years best books on healthy aging by The Wall Street Journal chronicled his new-found passion for healthy living and provided a step-by-step program that could be adapted to any level of ability.

I know it sounds corny, but I strive to become a role model, Owen says. Not a week goes by where I dont get emails or phone calls from people who say, Mr. Owen, youve changed my life, or You changed my father or mothers life. Its fascinating to me, because theres no lack of information out there, but thats not the answer. Both my book and the documentary are a call to action.

Produced by Owen and directed by Jim Havey, The Art of Aging Wells overall message emphasizes that its never too late or too difficult to become healthier. Over the past two years, Owens team gathered powerful success stories of individuals who overcame obstacles to find health through exercise later in life.

The 30-minute film also features practical tips and perspectives from leading wellness experts across the country who believe prevention should be our primary health care strategy.

Everybody we talked to wanted to be part of this to share their experience, and I want these stories to change the world, says Owen, who plans to produce more films about healthy aging. This is not a business for me; I wouldnt work this hard for money. Its just really fun.

The pandemic has brought a sense of urgency to Owens work, and he hopes that living in the COVID-19-era has been a wake-up call to many older adults as they realize they can reduce the risks to their health.

Hes convinced that staying active and having a positive, youthful attitude builds up resilience to face any health crisis, should it present itself.

I want to be lean, and its not vanity, Owen says. If I do get hit with COVID-19, a stroke or a heart attack, I believe Ive done everything I can do to weather it.

Owen continues to take on big challenges, and says healthy living has given him a sense of purpose that motivates him every day.

Many people my age sort of give up on life; I dont, he says. I used to think that life inevitably goes downhill once you hit seventy or seventy-five. Now, I feel my best days may still lie ahead.

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Retired Wall Street Exec Discovers Benefits of Fitness at 70 - Next Avenue

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