The following is a news release from Melaleuca.

Melaleuca CEO Frank VanderSloot is staking his entire 32-year career on his ability to break a world rowing record on his 70th birthday Tuesday. Last week VanderSloot announced he was going to make an attempt at the record on his birthday. But, today, in a surprising company announcement, VanderSloot stated he intends to resign his position as CEO of Melaleuca, if he fails to break the record.

VanderSloot says he is doing this to make a point. Melaleuca’s signature nutritional supplement product, the Peak Performance Pack, is touted to curb the impact of free radicals which cause humans to age. He believes this product has helped him not to age as fast as even the most world famous athletes his age.

Aging causes even the most stellar athletes to lose muscle mass and strength over time. The 100-meter row is a sprint that depends on speed as well as leg strength, arm strength, and back strength. Those who hold the various world records on the indoor rower to date have been world-class athletes.

VanderSloot is not an athlete. And he doesn’t claim to be, but he believes is not suffering from the muscle loss that most people his age incur because of the science behind the Peak Performance Pack.

But the odds are not in his favor. For several decades, VanderSloot has worked what he calls "a cushy desk job". His demanding work and travel schedule leaves him only 10-30 minutes two to three days a week to exercise – certainly not close to the two to four hours per day six days a week that the current world record holders are known to invest. To make things even more challenging, Frank is going to try to break the record from Idaho Falls at an elevation of 4,700 feet. Establishing a rowing world record at that elevation has never been done since rowing world records are established at or near sea level.

The current world record for 70 year olds in the 100 meter sprint on slides is 15.3 seconds, held by the Netherlands’ Frank Bertina, who has been one of the his country’s leading rowers and trainers since he was 30 years old. No one in the world has come close to Bertina's world record.

VanderSloot insists his confidence that Melaleuca’s Peak Performance Pack is not misplaced. The Peak Performance Pack was researched and developed entirely by scientists in Idaho. Three clinical studies – the Freiburg Study, the Sterling Study and the Deprivation Study – have documented that the Peak Performance Pack substantially reduces free radicals that cause aging.

“I have always planned to be in the job at least until I am 80, and if I can do this, it is evidence that my body is young enough to stay in the job; but, if I can’t I break the record, it will be evidence that I am aging as fast as other 70 year olds. And I’ll move over and let a younger generation of Melaleuca leaders take us to the next level,” VanderSloot said.

By personally putting it all on the line, Frank seeks to provide further evidence that the Peak Performance Pack slows the aging process and causes people to stay younger longer. Even though he believes that staying active and working out is important to creating healthy longevity, he believes that curbing free radicals is even more important.

VanderSloot’s live world record attempt takes place August 14th at 1 p.m. MDT on Melaleuca’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/melaleuca/). It will be on Facebook Live. The company expects thousands of Melaleuca’s fans customers to watch the Facebook Live event.

“Truthfully, I plan to be in the job another decade or two. I love my job. I love the people I work with, and I love the people our products are helping around the world. But, I am also a realist. We’ll let the results speak for themselves. I am laying it all on the line because I think it is time that the world learns about this product, which really does change people’s lives. I’m hoping for another 10 years with my team. But in a few days we’ll see if it is that or retirement at 70.”

The current world records for the Concept 2 indoor rower can be found on Concept 2 logbook rankings under “world records.”