At 79, Tom Rauscher has a morning routine that would challenge people half his age. Before he even leaves the house, the longtime award-winning athlete completes the following sequence in order:
- 50 V-ups
- 30 push-ups
- 30 squats
- another 50 V-ups
- two-minute plank
- final 50 V-ups
He said it takes about 12 to 15 minutes when he moves straight through, or up to 25 minutes if he pauses to watch the news between sets.
The short workout gets him about halfway to his daily goals of 300 V-ups, 100 push-ups, 75 squats, and three minutes of plank.
Rauscher holds multiple certificates in fitness and nutrition and teaches several fitness classes a week. While his morning routine is a mix of full-body exercises, he said there’s one set of muscles he likes to target most: the core.
“I tell my Pilates class the core is really important because it’s the foundation of your balance and your stability,” he told Business Insider. “So you’re using your core not just for movement, but for supporting your body.”
His routine has not only helped keep him healthy and fit but also enabled him to pick up powerlifting in his 70s and, in just a few years, compete at the national level.
Over the summer, he deadlifted a personal record of 275 pounds at the 2025 National Senior Games in Iowa. That’s more than twice his body weight, and his overall performance earned him third place, beating men over a decade younger than him.
Business Insider’s Sarah Andersen and Mark Adam Miller followed Rauscher earlier this year as he trained for the games:
His favorite exercise, he’s done over a million of them
V-ups are an intense core workout, but Rauscher said they’re his favorite to do.
Before he was a powerlifter, Rauscher was a national champion pole vaulter, winning half a dozen gold medals in the sport. That’s how he started doing so many V-ups.
“If you think about pole vaulting, what do you have to do? You have to lift up your legs. And, in fact, the position that you get into in vaulting is not dissimilar from the V position,” he said.
Then, when he started CrossFit about 15 years ago, V-ups were one of the exercises he excelled at. There were other, younger men around him lifting and doing more than he could, he said, but V-ups were where he could shine. “So I just started doing that more.”
It was around the same time that he set a personal goal: to complete one million V-ups over the next 10 years or so. “Last year I did my one millionth V-up since I started counting,” he said.
Rauscher’s tips for getting stronger
Mark Adam Miller
Each year, Rauscher sets clear fitness targets and tracks them daily.
“The way you get stronger overall is just little goals along the way, and to have daily goals is a big help,” he said.
His advice to beginners is to pick a few exercises you enjoy, set modest goals, and build gradually.
The exercises should be interesting or fun for you to do, he said. However, they should also push you a little bit so that you improve a little each day.
After months, years, and even decades, you might be surprised how much of a difference those daily habits can make.