Donald Trump calls his political rallies ‘a form of exercise’

Republican candidate Donald Trump has said he stays healthy on the presidential campaign trail with his animated performances at rallies describing them as "a form of exercise."

The New York businessman told celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz on his television programme, The Dr Oz Show (right), that his physical motions during rallies in hot rooms kept him in good health.

“It is a lot of work, you know,’ he said. “When I speak in front of 15,000 people and I’m up there using a lot of motion, I guess in its own way it’s a pretty healthy act.

“And I really enjoy doing it. A lot of times these rooms are very hot, like saunas, and I guess that’s a form of exercise.”

Under pressure to release medical records to show whether he is fit to serve as US president, the Republican nominee underwent a televised health check answering a series of questions from Dr Oz during the programme broadcast yesterday.

Mr Trump (70) admitted during the interview that he did not exercise, that he wants to lose between 15 and 20 pounds, and that has been on cholesterol medication for several years.

His appearance comes nine months after his long-time doctor Dr Harold Bornstein gave Mr Trump a clean bill of health, claiming that the reality TV star would be "the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency." The New York doctor later admitted that he wrote the letter in five minutes while the candidate had a limousine waiting outside his Manhattan office.

Before the show, Mr Trump’s campaign released the latest letter from Dr Bornstein in which he said that the Republican candidate, who would be the oldest US president elected if he won the November 8th election, was “in excellent physical health.”

Summary of results

Dr Oz read from a summary of the results of a medical Mr Trump underwent with his doctor last week and questioned him on a range of health issues ranging from head to heart to lungs.

Mr Trump said he never had colds but suffered “a little hay fever” in the spring and autumn. “People are amazed because I don’t get much with the colds,” he said.

Mr Trump compared himself with his friend, the American footballer Tom Brady (39), the New England Patriots quarterback: "I feel the same age as him – it's crazy."

Mr Trump's Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton returned to the campaign trail for the first time this week after taking three days off sick to recover from a bout of pneumonia.

Mrs Clinton took to the stage of the rally in Greensboro to the strains of James Brown's I Got You (I Feel Good), telling the crowd she was pleased to be back at the hustings.

“I tried to power through it but even I have to admit that maybe a few days of rest would do me good,” she said.

“I’m not great at taking it easy even under normal circumstances but with just under two months to go until election day, sitting at home was the last place I wanted to be.”

The Democrat used her speech to talk about families who could not afford sick or family leave and her plans to help them.

Tax returns

While Mr Trump has been forthcoming about his health records, he is unwilling to release his tax returns, breaking with a tradition that has existed since 1976 for major-party candidates.

The businessman has claimed that he is worth $10 billion (€8.9 billion) but he has repeatedly refused to release his tax returns on the basis that he is being audited by the Internal Revenue Service, though an audit does not preclude him from publishing the returns.

His son Donald Trump Jr offered a different reason in an interview published by the Pittsburgh-Tribune Review on Wednesday.

“He’s got a 12,000-page tax return that would create . . . financial auditors out of every person in the country asking questions that would detract from his main message,”he said.