FRINGE BENEFITS
Lifesaving value of fitness; nearly dying changes your thinking
If I told you that I spent over 45 years working out because of the health benefits— I would be lying. While it’s true “getting into shape” and bettering our health are primary motivators for starting a fitness program, once the fat comes off and the muscle starts to appear, when the mirror reveals possibilities you had once only dreamed of, other driving forces begin to take over. Your pants' waistline becomes loose, shirtsleeves become tight … and it’s “game on!”
Dare I say it? Ego becomes a primary motivator. To look and feel better than anyone else in the room is a powerful drug many of us have partaken of, a basic human personality trait.
Personally, I was never huge by bodybuilding’s comic-book standards, but I loved being the guy “in shape.” I never dressed to play up my physique, but it was great to know that should I choose to wear a sleeveless shirt, someone would compliment my arms. Most years I had abs. I never looked my age. Through my 40s, 50s and even into my 60s, this kept me in the gym. I never really thought much about the health benefits.
I entered my first physique contest as a personal challenge at 60. Contest prep brings conditioning into high prominence. High-intensity cardio became a part of my life. I won that contest. Life was sweet. Again, I never thought about the health benefits.
THE DAY YOU ALMOST DIE TENDS TO ALTER YOUR PERSPECTIVE The evening that I couldn’t catch my breath during cardio led me home to shower and put on underwear with no holes (mom always said) before heading to the ER.
Doctors poked, prodded and took so much blood that they collapsed my favorite arm vein (darn, I miss that vein). I was not getting a proper blood supply. Doctors scheduled an angioplasty to look at my heart. Shockingly, my main heart artery (nicknamed by doctors as The Widowmaker) was 100 percent blocked (from bad genetics, not bad diet). Usually this means a major, usually fatal, heart attack.
But not for me. They installed a stent and sent me back to my room.
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE LIFE-GIVING (POSSIBLY LIFESAVING) BENEFITS
OF FITNESS So, with my heart’s main artery blocked, why wasn’t I dead? Turns out my heart had built alternate blood-supplying arteries called collaterals. While not uncommon, collaterals are usually not big enough to prevent widowmaker blockages. The doctors agreed that years of hard training had built those vessels up to be unusually effective in supplying my heart’s needs. My rather astonished cardiologist said, “You had the best possible outcome.” Three days later I was back in the gym. But now I was keenly aware of fitness training’s healthy “fringe benefits.” n Tony DiCosta is a Certified Personal Trainer C.P.T. and fitness writer. As a competitive physique athlete in the Masters Divisions, Tony has been the Over-60 Florida state champion and holds numerous regional and international titles. Tony can be contacted at the Sanibel Health Club.