User:ECMPaul/Dr Charles Eugster

Dr Charles Eugster

For over a decade, Charles has competed in the World and European Masters rowing championships and every year he has won one or more gold medals, claiming 5 golds at the World Masters Rowing regatta event in Canada in 2010. Also in 2010, in Vienna, he also received special recognition as the first ever nonagenarian competitor.

In 2010, Charles began a third career (previously he was a dentist and later a publisher) as a personality, when he signed a contract with the INJOY chain of fitness clubs to help promote the brand and the benefits of fitness training in old age.

In 2008 Charles won the World Strenflex (General Fitness) Decathlon Championships in Switzerland in the 80+ category, as the oldest contestant ever, aged 89. In June 2009 he won the Van Der Merwe Cup, an international fitness decathlon in Basel, with the highest number of points scored by anyone in any age group. In November 2009 he was crowned Strenflex Swiss Champion, scoring a higher number of points in every exercise than he did a year before and in 2010 in Essen he scored the highest number of points ever in a Strenflex competition. He said: "Even at 90 my body is still improving!  This is revolutionary!"

Charles became interested in bodybuilding at the age of 87 after introducing heavy weights into his training regime. At that time he noticed dramatic improvements in his rowing performance. Recently (since turning 90), he has undergone hypertrophy training, whereby the muscles are worked to exhaustion, and he has again seen substantial improvements. After the initial four week programme, his strength increased by up to 50%, as measured by the amount of weight he could shift with specific muscle groups.

In his home country, Switzerland, Charles has become a celebrity, appearing on prime time television as a subject of documentary features and as a talk show guest. He also appears as a speaker at conferences and other events. He is tri-lingual in English, French and German.