Staying Fit at 70: Bill's Story

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00:01 This is not a comfort podcast. This is a confrontation. If you're looking for soft motivation, easy answers, [music] or permission to stay the same, this isn't for you. This is for those who've been overweight, addicted, broken, finally tired of making [music] peace with their own excuses. Here, we choose discipline over comfort, faith >> [music] >> over feelings, action over intention. We train the body, sharpen [music] the mind, and rebuild the spirit one hard decision at a time. This is where the

00:32 old you ends and the strong one is earned. This is the Body by Phil podcast. Hi, welcome back to the Body by Phil podcast. This is Phil, and I'm really excited today to have my my friend with me, Bill Patterson. Uh Bill and I met I don't know, what about eight 7 8 years ago now. >> Yeah, in the beginning. Yeah, when I first started Body by Phil, him and his wife, Rudy, were uh probably two of my my first people and

01:04 definitely my first married couple that I had had here. And he has an incredible story, and Bill is just had his 70th birthday, and I want to have him on here today because I hear a lot of people talk about physical fitness, and they think, well, you know, maybe I'm too old to start a new training program. Maybe, you know, I have this health issue or I had some ailments or problems in the past that would prevent me from from working out

01:36 or or staying consistent in a fitness program. And Bill is absolute uh living testimony that that is not true. In fact, when you hear a little bit about Bill, you'll you'll understand why I wanted him to be uh on here today. So, Bill, first uh welcome and thanks for coming on Body by Phil. Yeah, thanks for having me. Of course, and let's go back a bit, man. Let's go back to when you and Rudy first showed up. What was your prime motivation for wanting to engage

02:07 in a a fitness? What brought you to me? Well, I had just uh purchased a motorcycle and it it was uh the biggest production motorcycle made, and about 900 lb, and then in trying to get it out of my garage, I felt weak in the legs, and I had always been pretty pretty strong, but uh over the past few years up until that point, I had uh not been as active as I should be,

02:39 and uh I was probably a good 30 lb overweight, and uh I just wanted to be able to get strong legs, and I just uh saw your place was open. I stopped by and said, hey, I I want to be able to hold that bike up, and that's where it all started. It it doesn't seem like it was that long ago, either. I mean, it's we've we've gone through a lot here um together. So, I remember you and Rudy were training together, and um we were

03:11 getting you to your goal of dropping some weight and getting some some strength. Um did anything surprise you when you first came in about your the training and the whole process? Well, I wasn't familiar with circuit training. I didn't know really what we would wind up doing, and I knew Rudy was interested in also getting more fit, and uh it was just a total unknown for both of us as to what how it was going to play out.

03:42 And uh and after a few sessions, uh I one I remember most is just doing 100 crunches. Yeah, we had us both on the floor. Yeah. 100 and I thought, wow, we did this, >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Uh when you think about that now, when you think about um doing 100 crunches, we we we sit and talk while we're doing them now together. >> Yeah. We can lay on the floor and just crunch for hundreds of crunches, and we're talking to each other. It's really not even a big deal, but, you know, again, that's a that's just a testimony to how

04:13 your body will adapt, and eventually what's really really harder in your mind, you think it's impossible, eventually becomes very doable, then very easy, then you have to just keep raising that bar up and up and up. Now, you had some health issues uh since I've known you, and even I think before I knew you. Um feel free to talk a little bit about that. Well, I had uh again, like I said, at one point, I was

04:44 uh in a uh I drive primarily commercially, and but in my in my younger years, I worked for 7 Up for 17 years, and maybe most people were probably too young to to remember or even know this, but I started when we had the eight-pack bottle, returnable bottles in the wooden crates. I worked very hard, and I was fit. I was

05:15 fit for many years, and uh when I uh changed jobs, it got more sedentary, and I started gaining weight, but I in the back of my mind, I always told myself if I changed jobs, I'm I I need to do something. I need to stay active. But I never uh was proactive about it. But anyway, um I was about 40 lb overweight on my in my my job, and uh

05:47 felt a little lump in my neck, and I had had allergies and swollen glands and stuff before, but this time, it didn't go away. So, I I'd gone to a surgeon, uh he took it out. He found discovered that I had uh base of the tongue squamous cell carcinoma. And uh I'd gone through that, and I wish it it on no one because uh between the chemo and the radiation, it just uh it

06:18 just kind of wipes you out. >> Yeah. Although, during that time, I was I still went to work Wow. >> over that whole time. They gave me Fridays for my chemo day, and uh I got through that um and uh I was clear. I've been clear ever since, and uh one thing is that uh it it gives you perpetual dry throat,

06:50 which is you learn to deal with that, and uh uh after that, uh in that was in '11 in '17, uh I started feeling pains in my chest. Uh thought [clears throat] I'd better see get it taken care of, and uh I went and had a stress test. Everything seemed to be okay. We had taken a vacation. We'd gone overseas. We went to Ireland and France,

07:21 and we come back, and uh I'm still having these chest pains. So, we went and saw the doctor, and they found out that there was some information that fell through the cracks at the hospital, which they didn't see that my heart was screaming, help me, Yeah. to my primary care doctor. So, they uh went in and did some stents, and I've been pretty good ever ever since. I mean, I I

07:52 work out hard here. >> No problem. No problem. Well, that's that's really incredible um the the way you fought through those injuries and those um those trials in your life, and how do you feel that fitness has helped you get through some of these challenges that you were faced with? Well, it's it's given me the motivation to uh to be fit to the point where I can do

08:24 everything that I want to do. Um I'm still working, uh and I don't have any plans to quit working. My job is agreeable with my schedule, and uh there's benefits involved, and uh uh I it's it's just I want to uh be able to I I'm just motivated to do things as as a young person, right? You know, and that that keeps you going. It does, and

08:56 um Bill currently holds We have we always throw little records, like we want people to try to challenge and push themselves to to different feats and try things that are far outside of their comfort zone. So, I purchased um not long ago uh a Jacob's Ladder. Now, this Jacob's Ladder, it is a never-ending ladder, kind of like how the StairMaster, you just walk the whole time on like an escalator that never ends. Uh the ladder is the same thing. It's at an in uh incline, and you just um I'll show a

09:27 picture here. And this is the Jacob's Ladder. And uh you can see Bill here. Uh the average person, okay, that's never been on here, me included, can do between 1 and 3 minutes, and then you're you are s- really really really labored. And um even in good shape, it's it's taxing on the body again when you're not used to it. So, Bill would come in, this was just recently, and every morning before work, even if he wasn't scheduled for a class or uh scheduled for training, he'd come in

09:58 and start practicing and um working on that Jacob's Ladder, working on his his endurance. And it wasn't that long. I don't know how long it took. We'll get to that. But anyway, he has the record of 45 minutes um nonstop on this beast. I mean, mine's 20. I I've done 20. So, Bill has smoked that. And everybody's like, "Whoa, I'm going to beat the record. What is it? 45? I'm out." Nobody [laughter] wants to even try it. So, um yeah, people even say, "Hey, tell Bill I did 45:01 and see [laughter] what and

10:30 see what he says." But, um And I want you guys to to remember now not long ago Bill and I were practicing on strengthening his legs so that he can move his motorcycle out of the garage. And also just be able to step up. We worked painstakingly just on his ability to step up on a step with one foot. And now to be able to do something like the hardest physical equipment I have in in the gym for 45 minutes is again it's just a a real

11:00 testimony. And and again, proof that he he he just had a 70th birthday. So, age does become um just a number with that perseverance and that strong mental will. Um What When you're training now and you're doing things now, are you surprised at the things that you can do compared to even say 5 years ago? Absolutely. Absolutely. Um And one thing I did leave out that is is a big factor

11:31 here is that uh after the cancer uh uh it compromises your your jaw area and uh I wound up due to an infection in a wisdom tooth, I wound up having uh they I believe they called a uh fibula flap surgery where they take your fibula on my left leg from my ankle to my knee and tissue and the arteries and they rebuilt the right side of my jaw.

12:03 Um And that was I I I was worried about it. They told me that uh Olympians have this and and keep going, which was encouraging. And um the cosmetics that were involved and they did a fantastic job at the Cleveland Clinic. So, so just to to understand this, right? They actually took your tibia bone out of your leg your fibula bone and took it out and put it into your jaw. Yeah, and used

12:35 it to reconstruct the bone in my jaw. And um with titanium and pins and everything. And uh it it it just uh they did a great job. And uh that made everything challenging because my legs were weak. They felt unbalanced. I remember certain things we would do because he didn't have uh the two bone structure down. He had Did they take the full or just cut part of it off?

13:06 They took it from the knee to the ankle. From the knee to the ankle. So, yeah, I mean so where we have two bones supporting our leg, Bill has one. And we go back to, you know, we do jumping in here. We do he does just did 45 minutes on this ladder where you're nonstop climbing. So, where you know, people may say, "Okay, well, that's the end. You know, I just lost my ability to balance and strengthen." But, um we strengthen the muscles around the legs. We strengthen the calves. We strengthen everything above and below the afflicted area. And um we really do

13:39 ever have any real issues with it now? Only in in the jump rope. When I wanted to jump on that left leg by itself. You know, and and alternate and uh that's that's when I I feel that it being unstable. But, um I'm trying to work through that even cuz I know it can uh it can change. Uh Bill, the reason he's jumping rope, we should definitely get into this is because uh you know, when I retired from bodybuilding, you guys know I went

14:10 into master's boxing. Boxing was always something that I always wanted to do, but I was so out of shape and and not fit enough to even consider that. Once I got into shape and retired from bodybuilding, I wanted a new challenge in my life. So, I went to Boxing has always been one of my absolute favorite sports. And um you know, when you're boxing, you need somebody to help you. You need a sparring partner. You need somebody to train with. And lo and behold, um Bill and I started training together for for

14:40 master's boxing and he became pretty much my my steady sparring partner. And um we will train together. We still spar. And we'll do do our rounds together here. And um I I I just think that's incredible because I'm 57 years old and Bill just turned 70. And you know, we we just got to Well, we did four rounds of 3 minutes on and 1 minute off. And I think that was the first >> Yeah, that was that was >> Yeah. And if anybody if you do any That's what Yeah, pros do 3 minute

15:11 rounds. So, you know, and this man is in shape. You know, he has the leg situation. He had the heart situation. He had the cancer situation. But, every year he continues to push and to strive and to be better and to be stronger. And um it's just been incredible for me as a trainer you know, to witness this thing because I don't see every day I don't see people given that kind of drive and that kind of determination. So, when somebody like Bill um does uh I I do see that. It really stands out.

15:43 And I I do this because I think it's just a source of inspiration. If I would have been sitting here in my worst state watching a podcast like this and see a gentleman like Bill go through all the adversities he's gone through and all the struggles to become a stronger version of himself now at 70 than he was, you know, when he was driving a truck and gaining his weight. And I just think that that is such a huge testimony. And it it should resonate with people who want to get fit, but think "I've been through too much. I'm too far

16:13 gone. You know, my body won't respond. Uh I'm I'm too fat or I'm too lazy or I'm too old." But, these really are, guys, these are excuses. These are These are not things that are holding you back. You're holding yourself back. So, you know, you want to get up. And Bill, when we Did you try anything before you came here? Did Did you have any success or did When you were wanting to lose weight or get healthy, did you try to do it on your own? Well, I did uh probably about I probably about 12 years ago or so, I I

16:46 did lose some weight. I did the vegan thing. Yeah. Sure. And uh and it worked, but you know, it was not really sustainable without exercise and try you know, uh you got to couple it together. And uh I can't do that. >> [laughter] >> There's no I I can't I can't do that. >> If I was to add anything, uh I I would say first of all listen to your body. Uh these things that I had to go through, if I wouldn't if I were to just

17:18 put it off or said I I don't want to I don't want to go through the hospital thing. I don't want to go through that and just let's just see how it works out. If I would have done that uh with the cancer they have killed me. I I talked to number of people that go through these neck dissections and it they cut half their tongue out and listen to your body. Listen to those things that don't feel right. And uh as far I didn't come here to with

17:48 any super big goals. I I didn't want to bulk up. I I just wanted to be fit. And the consistency of coming on a regular basis and and just trying to push yourself to do a little bit more is the key. It is the key. You know, I say that all the time. I think I've said it in just about every podcast I've done that I find that there's three things that you really need to do with physical fitness and nutrition. I include that with these three elements. And you take these three

18:19 elements into your your mindset when you want to try to get fit or get lean or get healthy. And if you do these three things, you're going to have success. And these three things are you have to allow time. You have to allow time for your body to adjust, okay? Chances are you didn't get to your current physical shape overnight. So, you have to allow time to reverse all of that. You have to be very patient. This is not a fast process. This takes some time. So, you have to be patient and wait for

18:51 this process to work. And above all what Bill just said, you have to have consistency. You can't come in and do something like this for three or four times, take three or four weeks off, disappear, go back to your old habits, come in for a day, go back out. It just doesn't work that way. You know, and it it's hard. It is hard to get up in the morning. Bill comes here, it's dark. He goes in and trains. Often times it's dark right now. So, um you know, he's an early riser, but he's consistent. Even on his days off, he's active. He's doing something. Um

19:24 The older we get, the more motivation that is to not stay still, to keep moving, to keep your muscles loose, to keep the blood flowing, to keep your heart strong. And um again, I'm just really proud of this man and the things that he has done. And your wife, Rudy, too. I want to have her on here, too, because uh Rudy has a really really great story. Um so, I want to have her on here, too, talking about weight loss and restrictions that she had. She is an absolute dynamo in what she has accomplished um in her time uh in in

19:57 fitness training, health, and and nutrition. Um do you have a favorite story since we've trained together or known each other? Oh, uh it would be probably have to be have to do with our uh numerous rounds of boxing. And uh it was just things that happened. >> Yeah. Uh nothing I can pinpoint uh uh And just so you're watching

20:27 understand that we wear mouth gear. We wear thick masters headgear, so it's cushioned. We have a ring here so we get we go in. And but we this man can hit. We we tee off pretty good. It's a good time. We have In fact, I'm going to put this picture up here. This is what we consider fun here in the morning where we both connected really good shots at right at the end of the fight. And um you know, we're bloody. And and yeah and I I I I guess I can say uh

21:01 the funny uh one was when uh Gary and I sparred. >> Yeah. Yeah. And he's 74. Yeah, yeah. I think he's 76 now. >> He's an ex-military uh officer and fit for his age and and uh he slugged Yeah, yeah. Slugged me. And I wasn't expecting it out of him, I guess. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, Gary's no joke. Uh I will I want to have him on here, too. Yeah, he's a he's a fun guy.

21:32 Well, again, so what do we take away from today's podcast? Look, um life's going to happen. We're going to be hit with we're going to hit with challenges, adversities. We're going to hit be hit with health issues. And I think a lot of these health issues, you know, when you're faced with them, you're going to come out of them um largely based on the condition that you go into them, too. I think when you're you're healthier, you're going to heal much much faster than the average person. And say you had some health issues or some health scares and it it kind of shook your ground a

22:04 little bit and you thought, "Okay, you know what? It is time that I do something." Like Bill said, "Don't ignore your body. When you feel that the time is right, you need to strike. You need to get yourself fit. You need to start reversing um your mindset a little bit. Don't put restrictions on you. Start small. Start slow. Start easy. Start with just moving around a little bit. Start with making small little changes, small habits. Because like I always say, small habits repeated over time create massive changes. So, you want to have these small little changes

22:35 to improve your life, add years to your life. Uh there's enough things out there that help us to subtract them. So, we want to go the other way and try to live uh the healthiest version that we can. My friend Bill, thank you so much for being on uh today's show. And I'll see you in the ring. Yeah, and I just want to say thank you from both Rudy and I. You've been a great friend and I we couldn't have a better trainer. Love you, buddy. >> Thanks. All right, that's Body by Bill. Check us next time. Don't forget like and

23:06 subscribe. We'll see you next time. Cool.