My Father and Fitness...

Here is my fathers story on his Journey with Fitness I wrote earlier this year for Fathers day. Enjoy.

I would like to share an inspiring story of my father. My father Gordon in 1986 at the age of 58 was feeling tired and decided to see the doctor. The doctor performed an angiogram and noticed some blockage and immediately he had heart surgery. He recovered well after the surgery and was advised by his doctor that he needed to start an exercise program and change his eating habits.

My father had never exercised before and his diet consisted of meatloaf, pork chops, you name it. I can remember growing up as a kid he use to love to bar-b-que alot of red meat (steaks), so our diet wasn't the greatest. The doctors advice was pretty foreign to him if you could imagine. Well, he decided to follow the doctors orders and started an exercise program which was simply walking around the block of our neighborhood increasing his distance a little at a time working his way up to walking 4 miles a day. His diet consisted eating more vegetables, fruits and lean protein such as fish and chicken. He lost weight and maintained this lifestlye for some years.

In 1999 my father at the age of 72 had his second by pass heart surgery. His continued healthy lifestyle over the years is what helped him last this long. My mother and I waited at Mercy hospital during his surgery. We waited and waited. His surgery lasted 12 hours. When the surgeon came to talk to us he looked exhausted. He told us that it was a very challenging surgery and that this would probably be his last heart surgery because his veins had deterioated so much.

Twenty-one years since his first operation he has been doing good untill a couple of months ago, walking became difficult and painful. He started to worry if he would be able to continue walking which he enjoys so much. So I designed a strength training, flexibility and joint mobility program which has helped him immensely. I should have had him doing this a long time ago. (Bad son;-)

Well, my father will be 80 next year in July. He is an inspiration to me and his family. I hope you'll find your father, or that someone you can model and be inspired too;-)

"What you do DAILY, you become PERMANENTLY!"

-VF