Who are some of your favorite actors in Ron Maxwell's classic movie Gettysburg? One of mine has to be Avatar star Stephen Lang, who played General George Pickett. Gettysburg was a great movie and Lang is a great actor all around. I'd love to meet him someday. The guy played Pickett perfectly. I always think of Lang when I think of George Pickett. Since for 20 years I was an avid horseman (I owned both a Thoroughbred racehorse and a purebred Arabian), I was amazed at Lang's riding skills in the movie. Lang admitted he had absolutely no horseback riding experience prior to the making of Gettysburg. He prepared by working intensively with a McClellan saddle (the standard U.S. army saddle during the Civil War and one I too had to get use to when I rode with the First Maine Cavalry as a trooper in a California reenacting unit) and bonding with his horse Stormy. Interesting enough, in the famous scene where Pickett gives his pre-charge speech, historians insist that the real Pickett walked on foot during the actual historical event. Lang insisted on riding a horse in the scene.
Lang was featured in a recent issue of Men's Health. The actor maintains his fitness by focusing on stretching, stamina, and joint-friendly strength training rather than heavy powerlifting. He targets individual muscle groups with lower weights and higher reps, much as I do. His regimen also includes karate, walking, and swimming on recovery days.
Whatever he does, it's obviously working. His physique is lean, sinuous, and agile. Lang is 74 years old. He was born on July 11, 1952. I am just 34 days older than he is. Nice to see another septuagenarian in such good shape. He's yet another reminder that men in their 70s can build significant muscle, improve balance, and enhance cardiovascular fitness through an approach that focuses on consistency and functional movement rather than high-intensity strain. This is exactly why I eat right and exercise regularly. It's clear, by the way, that Lang works on his core.
Nobody loves ab exercises, but it improves your appearance, digestion, metabolism, and posture. Here's an ab exercise I worked on today. I call it a "horizontal lat pulldown."
And here's a dumbbell bench press I did today with very light weights and high reps.
I agree so much with what Lang says is his philosophy of training. Lang obviously pays close attention to his diet, sleep, physical activity, and stress. If you nail all those things, even just do them pretty well, odds are you'll be able to remain active and fit in your 70s and even into your 80s.
Yes, exercise is THAT important.