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Feb 21

Mark Spitz: The Real-Life Diet of the Legendary Swimmer Who Still Does Imaginary Races Against Michael Phelps – GQ

Diet Comments Off on Mark Spitz: The Real-Life Diet of the Legendary Swimmer Who Still Does Imaginary Races Against Michael Phelps – GQ

In the summer of 2018, Olympic legend Mark Spitz walked to his fridge and almost fainted. His wife called the paramedics, kicking off a harrowing 12 hours at his local hospital.

The incident came out of nowhere. No one was as surprised as Spitz, who, at 70 years old, is still in damn good shape, exercises regularly, and has eaten a low-meat diet for almost 20 years. So what happened?

It turns out Spitz has atrial fibrillation, more commonly known as AFib. Its a condition where the heart beats erraticallyeither too fast (tachycardia), as it does for Spitz, or too slow (bradycardia). Curiously, its relatively common among elite athletes as they age. And in case you need a refresher about Spitzs elite athlete status: In 1972, he won seven gold medals and set seven world records at the Munich Olympics, all while rocking one of the finest mustaches of the 20th century.

Spitz has made a full recovery since his scare in the summer of 2018so much so that hes enthusiastically partnered with AliveCor, which manufactures the portable EKG monitor he now endorses (KardiaMobile). He recently spoke to GQ about living with a chronic heart condition, swimming imaginary races against Michael Phelps in his backyard pool, how training for the Olympics has evolved in the half-century since he competed, and who to watch for in Tokyo this year.

GQ: Can you tell me how you came to be diagnosed with AFib?

Mark Spitz: Well, it was a Sunday I believe, and my wife asked me to grab some blueberries from the refrigerator. When I got out there, I was feeling kind of weird, like light-headed, and I said to my wife, I think Im going to faint. And I dont ever get that sensation. After about five minutes, my wife called the paramedics.

The next 12 hours, they were trying to control me with medication. They had an IV in one arm for blood thinners, and another IV for controlling adrenaline to get my heart rate down. It was coming down but not fast enough, and they thought they could actually shock me into sinus rhythm. I was put to sleep and they shocked me three times in two minutes, like you see in the movies with the paddles. It still didnt go down until later that evening.

Id imagine that was a scary time.

Oh yeah. The disturbing thing I found out is that this stuff doesnt go away. Its not like, Take two Aspirin and call me tomorrow. This is a lifetime experience.

What kinds of lifestyle changes did you make to deal with that?

Having AFib is not a question of changing your lifestyle, its a question of understanding your lifestyle. If in fact you have some bad habits, you have to arrest those. There are three major things that my doctor says you should take into account: monitoring, diet, and exercise.

I have to be able to track my heart activity. A lot of people dont know that theyre in AFib, and a lot of people dont like to go to the doctorwhen you have an EKG, they hook up all these wires to you, and youre afraid of what theyre going to find out. But if you go into a routine of taking your EKG, then it just becomes a standard thing. I think knowing is so much more important than being afraid and not knowing.

I use this device called KardiaMobile. [Spitz is a spokesperson for KardiaMobile.] It can actually create an EKG at any time in 30 seconds. So Im constantly monitoring myself.

Excerpt from:
Mark Spitz: The Real-Life Diet of the Legendary Swimmer Who Still Does Imaginary Races Against Michael Phelps - GQ

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