Uncle Oubon was gracious enough to take us on a little hike through Lyons Arboretum and Botanical Garden. It is the only university botanical garden located in a tropical rainforest in the United States. It is also the only easily accessible tropical rainforest on the island of O’ahu.

For those of you who have never been, the hike is basically uphill over unpaved and sometimes rocky paths. What impressed me the most though, wasn’t the wonderful flora located all over, but the fact that Uncle Oubon was basically speeding up these paths without even catching his breath. What was even more impressive was when he whipped out his camera to start taking pictures of the flowers that were very low to the ground. There he was in a perfect, full squat, position shooting away. Amazing!!! I was so amazed that when we were done hiking and grabbing a bite to eat, I asked him if I can take a picture of him squatting and so he did (see pic below).

I then proceeded to ask him whether he works out and what his routines were. Because I forgot what he told me I got back to the mainland, I decided to ask him if I can interview him via email so that I can post it on this blog and share it with all of you. He agreed.

Here is our interview:

Alex: How old are you?

Nobuo: 85 now; 86 in June.

Alex: How long have you been living in Hawaii?

Nobuo: I was born in Hawaii. Hawaii has always been my home. However I have lived and worked in Japan, Germany, and Bahrain (in the Persian gulf). The number of years I lived in these places are as follows:

Hawaii: 53 years
Japan 23 years (1945 – 1968)
Germany 8 years (1970 – 1979)
Bahrain 1 year (1987 – 1988)

TOTAL 85 years

Alex: What do you do or did do for a living?

Nobuo: After I was discharged from the US Army in 1946 in Japan, I began working for the U.S. government as a Federal employee. Between 1946 and 1986 (when I retired) I worked for the US Army and US Air Force — mostly with the US Air Force; My job was in personnel administration and personnel management. After I retired, I worked for the government of Bahrain in personnel administration.

Alex: How long have you been exercising for?

Nobuo: After I retired in 1986, my exercise consisted of walking-jogging-swimming for one hour at the beach area near my apartment. In May 2007, I joined the YMCA and since then have been exercising one hour at the YMCA gym every other day.

Alex: What are the main reasons that you exercise?

Nobuo: To keep healthy, I realize how important it is (1) to eat the right kind of food and (2) to exercise. If I keep my legs strong, (1) there’s less likelihood that I would fall and (2) there would be no need for using a cane.

Alex: What is your current exercise regimen?

Nobuo: Half of the time I spend in the weight machine room using 3 machines for exercising the chest, abdomen, and shoulder/back.  Then I go to the Cardio Center and walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes at 2.8 – 3.0 speed.

Nobuo Yoshioka posing in a Full Squat position

It goes to show you the importance of exercise, not just on an aesthetic basis, but also on our ability just to partake in activities of daily living (ADL), especially as we get older. Uncle Oubon understood this well before we started seeing the word “functional training” appear on the fitness scene. He is a testament to the fact that not only should you exercise just to look good, but you should also exercise to perform and live your life doing the things you want to do.