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Innocent Choga Fitness
Any supposedly fit person can suddenly fall ill, ultra fit athletes and exercisers pass away during matches/sessions. I am being constantly reminded about that, but that is not a reason we should not adopt fitness lifestyles. People do not stop going to school because they will pass away. What if the Almighty grants you a very long life? Will it be a miserable long life or a happy and productive long life? Research has indicated that adhering to fitness lifestyles can assist in prolonging lives (long term benefits), but the major purpose is to enable us to perform to the best of our abilities (immediate gratification).

Way back , among my group of friends there was one who had no inclination to exercise and he was always trying to find and point out the “uselessness of exercise”. Not only that, but he liked to eat anything and everything and as a result he was out of shape. We did not push him into exercise and we did not judge him; we lived and we let live.

He was the joker in the pack, always coming up with wise cracks that would keep the group entertained. “People who exercise also get sick, do they not?” He would grin with a snarl. He would further point out that the fitness lifestyle is no guarantee to long life. “They die, do they not? Some even at very early stages of life?”

The grin would turn into a wolfish smile.

He did not like to see the children playing games in front of the dusty patch of land in front of the houses. He played cat and mice games with the children whenever he caught them raising dust.

“Buy them a soccer ball and send them to the nearby ground,” I advised. “A waste of money,” he said, “they should be reading books. There is no future in playing games”. As a result he aptly earned himself the nickname “Gargamel” after the evil character in Smurfs who did not like to see the little Smurfs happy.

We met two years ago and I learnt that he had suffered a minor stroke that rendered part of his face stiff. The doctor advised him to change his lifestyle.

He started by changing his diet and slowly got into exercise and now he is seriously into marathon running and weight training. He says he is very happy he can carry his weight, run up the stairs and do things he could not do before. He has been asking me to write his testimony. Even fit people can suffer strokes, but it is advisable to try and keep the blood vessels clear of obstructions.

What would be better a long miserable, unproductive, purposeless life and a short but explosive, productive and purposeful life? After watching several documentaries on Bob Marley and Bruce Lee, I found their lives interesting and similar in some aspects. They both overcame hurdles to become the most sought after masters in their arts.

A reggae artist who died at 37, and a martial arts actor who died at 32, they had short lives but they made the most out of it and used exercise to enable them to work very hard. They achieved so much within that short time they had on earth and left very long lasting legacies. They were workaholics; it was like they were rushing to fulfil their mandate. A cancer thought to be a genetic problem claimed the life of Marley but Lee died suddenly.

Bruce Lee was a philosopher and a perfectionist with amazing physical skills and a dynamic on screen presence. A director, choreographer, producer, author and actor who presented his philosophies in the movies. He would spend four days shooting a five minute screen scene.

He actually drew clips showing the exact angles his physique was to be shot from in each fighting scene. He had his own home gym at a time when even public gyms were not so popular. He trained and ate strictly like a bodybuilder. His body fat levels melted to a point where

I think it was well below the recommended minimum levels. He sustained a permanent back injury after ignoring the warm up phase. This injury put him out of training for six months, but what is interesting is that he reached the peak of his career after sustaining the injury.

At 5 feet 7 inches, 130 pounds he did not look as muscular in his Chinese suits, but the story was different when he took off his shirt. It was a case of what we call kutsonga in Shona. Contrary to the usual belief that muscle slows you down, he was so fast such that the camera men would ask him to slow down so that the cameras could catch the action.

Marley “The Wild Man of Reggae” was so much into soccer and running. When he went on tours, he would assemble a team to play against locals. He even juggled the ball in the studio and on stage before the gig started.

According to his son and his daughter, he would take them running at the beach, and for the father it would be serious business as he would bolt and surge ahead running like he was in a sprint competition and would return back to the children laughing.

He was said to be very competitive in whatever he did; so serious and focused during play and work. He would work into the wee hours of the night and would not leave the studio until everything was perfect. “He was the first in the studio and the last to leave, often cajoling his band friends to stay for a while.”

Exercise generated the energy which he also expended on stage with his wild style of dancing which required lots of energy. He would jog on the spot, jump, stagger and hop, shake his head vigorously, wave and swing his arms wildly. But as his wife Rita remarked “too much of everything is not good for anyone”. He became a world icon and everyone wanted a piece of him.

He fulfilled too many fixtures and that hastened the deterioration of his health. We also had a piece of him when he performed on Independence Day at Rufaro Stadium in 1980 and he also etched a piece of himself in Zimbabwean history when he composed a masterpiece song “Zimbabwe”. It is not uncommon to hear foreign visitors asking to be shown the stadium that Bob Marley played, and this includes teenagers.

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Innocent Choga is a six time National Bodybuilding Champion with international experience. He is studying for a science degree in Physical Education and Sport