By Suzanne M. Ellis

When Champions Fitness Center opened 22 years ago, like similar businesses of that era, its primary focus was 20- and 30- somethings interested in body building.

“We catered to a young clientele when we opened in 1990,” said Champions’ owner and president David Ferguson. “It was a weight club … there were a lot of young people and we were young ourselves, so we did what we loved, we trained hard and grew the business from there.”

But as the baby boom generation — those born between 1946 and 1964 — has aged and become much more aware of health and fitness, Champions has adapted.

Its focus today is wellness, and it’s a full-service facility offering an array of programs for an older generation, including a heated pool, hot tub, dry sauna, steam rooms, arthritic and cardio classes.

Ferguson managed Champions for 13 years and then became a partner with James W. Sutor in 2004. Sutor died in July of 2010, and Ferguson then became sole owner.

“It’s important that people realize that we are not the [gym] or weight club of the past,” Ferguson said. “We are no longer what some might perceive us to be.”

The center, at 7687 Frontage Road in Cicero, offers chiropractic, massage, aquatic and physical therapy — all under the same roof.

“It’s been an evolution over the past 20 years,” Ferguson said. “We’ve grown the pool program enormously; back then [in the early days] we had a pool but it didn’t get used a lot. Now it’s one of the essential core elements of our facility, and it’s what separates us from the competition.”

Another thing that separates Champions from some of the others, Ferguson said, is that the center manages its population.

“The commercial clubs of today are all about just packing them in … the more the better, and they are crowded,” he said. “We maintain a manageable level of population so we don’t deal with that issue, and it’s a much better experience for the user.”

On-site physical therapy, provided by therapists from Onondaga Physical Therapy, is a relatively new offering at Champions, having been introduced in June of 2009, according to Onondaga Physical Therapy owner Lauris Rigdon.

Rigdon leases private physical-therapy space at the Champions facility, he said, and also has access to the pool, for aquatic therapy, the center’s locker rooms and all of its exercise equipment.

“It’s a unique relationship, and it’s working well,” Rigdon said.

In addition to working together on health education and marketing the fitness center-physical therapy affiliation, it is a win-win for patients and clients, both men said.

“When our physical therapy patients are healthy and feeling better, it’s a logical transition for them to continue on at the fitness center,” Rigdon said. “And if members of the fitness center get hurt and need therapy, they already know us because they’ve seen us there.”

“It’s just a perfect fit,” Ferguson said. “And it’s working out really well.”

By Lou Sorendo

For Dr. Samuel Paris, the phrase “going the distance” embodies his lifetime creed.

Paris, 72, is a family practitioner with North Medical Family Physicians in Liverpool. While he certainly goes the distance for his patients, he has also gone the distance in over 300 marathons.

And there is no slowing down this quick-witted Syracuse native who earned his medical degree in 1967 at the University of California at Irvine and has been practicing for 43 years.

Paris said the major threats facing Americans today are cardiovascular disease and cancer. Not far behind are problems associated with out-of-shape and overweight people, conditions that commonly lead to diabetes.

“My job is mainly defense. My defense is so good that it’s offensive,” he said.

“I believe in life after death and I also believe in life after birth,” he said.

“I want to take good care of my people so they don’t end up in the hospital, in a box or cremated,” he quipped. “Then I work on how they should be living.”

Paris advocates the formula put forth by Hippocrates, who said the secret to good health is a balance of adequate diet, rest and exercise.

“He said it in Greek, so a lot of people probably didn’t understand him,” Paris said.

“Their’s is no magic thing,” he added.

Paris complained that people put too much food and supplements into their bodies.

He said patients often complain that they would rather treat themselves through natural means. Paris counters by saying medicine is more effective, particularly in situations such as controlling high cholesterol. “With medicine, you can clean out your arteries in a month or two,” he said. “With diet and exercise, which a lot of people probably won’t do, it probably takes three years to do that. And that’s if you lose 50 pounds and exercise a minimum of six hours a week.”

He said when he does visit urgent care or the emergency room, the majority of people there are not adhering to the right balance of diet, rest and exercise.
Paris compares notes with Dr. Walter Bortz, who has written and spoken extensively about fitness and aging. Bortz ran the Boston Marathon this year at 80, his 40th marathon in the last 40 years.

His books include “We Live too Short and Die too Long,” “Dare to be 100” and “Living Longer for Dummies.”

Born to practice—Paris’ pat answer when asked what he wanted to be at the tender age of 5 was a doctor.

He enjoyed and respected his own family doctor, and said he was “horrified” to discover he would not be the one to remove his appendix at age 11.

When he attended medical school in California, he enjoyed every service he engaged in.

The family doctors in California at that time did surgery too, which captured Paris’ attention.

“Family doctors take care of acute and comprehensive medical care. They try to be all things for all people,” he said.

Paris devoted himself to the “one doctor for one family” philosophy. When he first started his practice, he stressed the importance of dealing with families because he wanted to touch on all aspects of medicine, from pediatrics to gerontology.

He has always been attracted to acute medicine, and thrives in the urgent care environment. He used to work in the emergency room and attend to obstetrics, but age and a back injury stopped him from delivering babies back in the late 1980s. He delivered over 2,000 babies.

“I like everything about medicine. There isn’t one thing that I don’t like,” he said.

Back in the day, it was common for Paris to work 100 hours a week. Now, that number has shrunk to 50.

He does make himself available to his own patients, and proudly proclaims that two of his patients are 100 years old.

His oldest patient lived to 105. “God did that, not me,” he said. When his oldest patient got into a fender bender at age 102, it was suggested that he hang up the car keys.

“He probably resented that until the day he died,” Paris said.

Marathon man—Paris participated in track and cross-country in high school and college and said he enjoyed the competition. His passion for running carried over into his adult life.

Paris’ brother died of a heart attack at age 44. “It’s probably one of the things that influenced me to continue running and working with heart patients,” Paris said. He took care of his brother’s three children until his sister-in-law remarried.

While he has run over 300 marathons, he has also integrated his passion for running into his medical practice.

“I started treating overweight men in their 40s and 50s who had experienced heart attacks, and asked myself why,” he said.

Paris then took a page out of Dr. Terry Cavanaugh’s book. Cavanaugh operated a cardiac rehab center in Toronto at the time and trained people who had suffered heart attacks to run marathons.

“I just copied him,” he said.

“I had 50 people who had bonafide heart attacks and trained them to run marathons,” Paris said.

It started when Paris was treating a man in his mid-50s who had had a heart attack. He saw him in the coronary care unit at a hospital and shared a copy of Cavanaugh’s book, “The Healthy Heart Program.”

“I said, ‘Read this if you want, and don’t be down and depressed, because I’ll have you running a marathon in one year.’ He said, ‘You’re on, doc.’”

Paris employed his own cardiac rehab program and after 13 months, had the man running the Marine Corps Marathon.

Paris ran with him, and made sure he had a stethoscope under his sweats along with a healthy dose of adrenaline in case anything wrong happened.

One of Cavanaugh’s charges survived five heart attacks. He is still alive today, and actually beat Paris’ time during the last marathon they competed in together.
Paris took five members of Cavanaugh’s vaunted “World’s Sickest Track Team” and ran the Boston Marathon with them. They all made it between 3:30 and 3:45, remarkably fast times that caused some consternation among healthcare professionals who were in attendance.

Benefits of running—“It gives you a high,” Paris said in regards to the benefits of running. “It releases endorphins, so that’s less tranquilizers you have to put in people.”

Paris just recently was running six miles a day with a 23-year-old Le Moyne College student. “It makes me feel good and young,” he said.

He said if a person gets their legs in shape, “the rest of the body will follow.”

He once read a letter in the New England Journal of Medicine that stated people attending the Olympics in the stands die at the same age as those who participated in the Games. However, a rebuttal letter stated in the next issue that if you looked at the participants in the 10-kilometer run and marathon, they seemed to live six to seven years longer than the people in the stands or the other participants.

Paris once ran the Boston Marathon when it was 100 degrees at the starting line. He finished just 20 minutes behind the winner.

How did Paris master such an endurance test?

“It’s the same thing as working 100 hours a week,” he said.

He competes in the Boston Marathon through the American Medical Athletic Association.

One of his notable accomplishments was participating in an invitational run which started at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and ended at Convention Hall on the Board Walk in Atlantic City. The run was 60 miles and took nine hours for Paris to complete.

He was the youngest 40-year-old-plus competitor to complete the run, only stopping to hydrate and urinate while running on the New Jersey Turnpike.
The North Syracuse resident said the key to preparing for a marathon is motivation, the same kind of motivation that has made him a cancer survivor.

Paris has battled both prostate and esophageal cancer.

“I really have to practice what I preach,” he said.

Paris comes from a family that has been stricken by heart disease. “Very few of my people made it into their 70s,” he said. “We don’t have longevity.”

Paris was told by doctors when he was sick that if he had not trained as a runner and built his lung capacity, he would probably not have survived his ordeal.

“They didn’t think I would make it. The doctor gave me lousy odds,” he said jokingly.

After surgery, however, he was determined to jump back in the race.

“I had all these freaking tubes, and when I was walking with the nurse, she couldn’t keep up with me,” he said.

He was also told after back surgery to correct a pair of ruptured discs that he would never run again. Again, he proved the doctors wrong by being motivated enough to overcome obstacles.

The golden years—At 72, Paris said he feels the “heat is off” as far as expectations are concerned on the marathon circuit.

“I finally realize that I can’t do what I used to do, and that is run an average of eight-minute miles,” he said.

Instead, he is content with running a 10-to-12-minute mile pace and finishing the 26.2-mile challenge.

While he intended to slow his pace at the last Boston Marathon he ran, a nasty spill and a muscle pull hobbled him on the course. Despite the bleeding gash and limp, he managed to avoid being pulled from the course and finished.

Does that deter the veteran marathoner?

“Next year, I will probably go a little faster,” he said.

“Everybody has a little touch of competition and an ego,” he said.

He also tells his patients to set a goal of finishing, even if they have to stop and walk to get there.

Paris cautioned that running seven days a week increases the chances of injury. Going five or six days is safer from a health standpoint, he noted.

He noted that one surgeon general suggested exercising an hour for five days a week.

“Anything is better than nothing,” he said.

He gets a kick out of people who insist they are in shape because they play basketball once a week.

“Those are the guys I worry about. They go out on the court and drop dead,” he said.

Paris said, “You don’t play anything to get in shape. You have to get in shape to play,” he said.

Lifelines:

Birth date: Dec. 27, 1937
Birthplace: Syracuse
Current residence: North Syracuse
Education: Bachelor’s degree, Le Moyne College; master’s degree, Syracuse University; degree in medical technology, University of Southern California; medical degree, University of California at Irvine
Affiliations: American Medical Athletic Association; American Medical Association; American Academy of Family Physicians; diplomate, The National Family Medicine Board; Society of Teachers of Family Medicine
Personal: Married to Susie with 10 children, three of which are stepchildren and two of which are adopted.
Hobbies: jitterbug dancing.

By Nancy Haus

“You don’t stop playing when you grow old; you grow old when you stop playing.” This is the motto of the Empire State Senior Games. Pretty powerful stuff, isn’t it?

Karen Wilkins is an ultrasonographer who some might consider a “baby boomer” or a “senior citizen,” just because she’s over 55.

In Wilkins’ spare time, she likes to have “fun,” which, for her, translates into playing volleyball.

“Being happy and having fun helps you live longer,” says Karen. These days, this philosophy has been adopted by millions of people, young and old alike.

For three years, she’s played on an “over 55” volleyball team at Jordan Middle School. Typically, they practice once a week from 7:30-10 p.m.

That means fitting in as many games as they can during that two-and-a-half-hour time slot.
There are seven girls on the team called the Whatt Knots. Initially, Wilkins’ primary goal was to stay in shape, but as time progressed, and she realized how much fun playing volleyball was, her competitive spirit set in, and she was hooked.

Actually, Wilkins has been playing volleyball in some shape or form and in one place or another since high school. In fact, two other members of the Whatt Knotts team played along with Wilkins on the same high school varsity volleyball team at Cato-Meridian High School.

This year became an extraordinarily special one for the team when it elected to compete at the Empire State Senior Games.

“It’s hard to believe how competitive people over 50 can be,” says Wilkins. With that decision, it meant that the team could look forward to lots of practice and hard work, accompanied by lots of fun and laughs.

The Empire State Senior Games is an organized sports and leisure program for New York state residents who turn 50 and older by Dec. 31 of the year in which the games they’re competing in take place. These games are also the only New York state qualifier for the National Senior Sports Classic being presented by Humana set for Aug. 1-15 in Palo Alto, Calif.

This year, SUNY Cortland was the site for the 27th annual games held in early June, that attracted nearly 2,000 athletes, guests, and friends from across New York state.

Athletes participated in more than 20 competitive sports and recreational events. Also featured were instructional clinics, informational exhibits, and educational seminars.

Each evening featured an informal social event planned specifically for the games’ participants. These included a special torch lighting ceremony, dinners, and dancing to the sounds of popular local bands.

The senior games were created with specific goals in mind:

• To encourage fitness as a life-long activity
• To combine sports and games with fitness, fun, and fellowship
• To provide recreational opportunities
• To promote a positive public image of seniors

The central location, size, enthusiastic attitude, and supportive community contribute to making this an exciting event.

Competitive sports as diverse as archery and triathalon, golf, horseshoes, and “pickle ball” are presented.
Wilkins says, “the nominal fee of $25 per person to register, plus additional costs for some sports and activities, is money well spent.”

Seniors are divided by gender into five-year age categories beginning at ages 50-54 up to 100-plus.

The Empire State Senior Games adheres to rules and reserves the right to combine age groups when there is an insufficient number of competitors in an age category to compete.  Athletes may compete in a lower age group but not in a higher age group.

In team sports, like volleyball, individual players may play in only one age group and may appear on only one team roster. The age category of a team is determined by the youngest player on the team roster.

“Those participating in the senior games are role models for all of the 3.2 million older New Yorkers and aging Baby Boomers,” said Michael Burgess, director of the New York State Office for the Aging. “These active and engaged older New Yorkers demonstrate that a healthy and involved lifestyle opens countless opportunities to live an enriched life in later years.”

He also recognized the excellent organizational support provided by the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

The Whatt Knotts wound up playing seven games and getting into the quarterfinals.  In fact, they took home the gold but, as Wilkins explains, “it was because there was no one left to play in that class.” When they weren’t playing, they were required to work the lines for the referees, and help with scorekeeping.

Wilkins said it was ironic that they played against a team named, “Just In Time,” with a team member who’ll turn 80 years old this fall.

A 95-year-old senior at the games, named Margaret, was heard to claim, “The secret to living longer is to have friends who are younger. And now that I’m 95, I have no choice.”

She says she stays young by hanging out with 20 year olds—and by keeping her sense of humor sharp.
Happiness comes in many forms. For Wilkins, it’s volleyball that brings a smile to her face, and fun, and happiness into her life.