Extraordinary couple Ralph Bender and Liz Fritz stay fit to travel the world
By Kelly A. Goff
They are a couple like no other. Long-time San Antonians Ralph Bender, 82, and partner Liz Fritz, 46, exude health and well-being. They’ve spent decades traveling the world, punctuating every few years with Olympic games attendance. When you meet them, their vibrancy and energy are contagious. Could it be travel, or is it the 36-year age difference that’s the anti-aging elixir we’ve all been searching for?
“It’s very important to be around young people because they are the breath of life,” says Bender, architect emeritus and former San Antonio City Planner. “So don’t hang around a bunch of old people. They’re very nice, and we love old people, but don’t hang around with them.”
Their choice of kindred spirits certainly adds spice to their youthful recipe. But the main ingredients are regular exercise and good nutrition. “We’ve both been committed to staying in great shape so we could do things around the world,” Fritz says. Things like reporting for News 4 WOAI as Olympic correspondents at the Salt Lake City, Utah, and Torino, Italy, winter games. With seven Olympics under their belts, both say being in good physical condition is a must for doing the games right. “We walk all day and all night when we’re traveling,” says Bender. “It’s a blast!”
Travel isn’t their only motivation though. Continuing their work as early-childhood advocates with organizations that Ralph helped found, such as Voices for Children, the Alamo Community College District and LULAC Parent/Child Scholarship Trust program, also keeps them moving.
Staying in shape means they’ve tried all kinds of fitness regimens. “We’ve done running, walking, skiing, Spinning – even worked with personal trainers. Ralph also fenced for many years. But it wasn’t until a little over a year ago that we found a workout that we both like and that works,” she says.
Taking it super slow
That regimen is known as SuperSlow, a high- intensity, low-force exercise strengthening method that is comprised of a cycle of weight-lifting repetitions. Monitored by Dr. Charles Christian and his certified instructors, exercisers complete 20-second cycles (10 seconds lifting, 10 seconds lowering) on specialized equipment until they reach momentary muscle failure. The whole-body workout lasts approximately 20 minutes and should be done two times a week. The philosophy behind the program is to safely build muscle and increase the resting metabolism, allowing the body to burn more calories even while at rest.
At age 72, Bender quit fencing and gained a lot of weight. “He went on these crash diets off and on for years,” says Fritz. After his last crash diet he lost 16 pounds in only a few months. However, he was devastated when his doctor told him he’d lost mostly muscle. “That’s why I’ll do SuperSlow the rest of my life – because I’ve not only gained that muscle back, but I’m maintaining it and have remained injury free. At my age that’s something!” touts Bender, one of the founding members of the San Antonio Sports Foundation and past president of the USA Pentathlon, the national governing body for the Olympic sport.
Both of them not only swear by the strength-training program, but also its nutritional component, Dr. Barry Sears’ Zone Diet®.
After witnessing overweight friends die young, Bender and Fritz have become even more committed to their healthy lifestyle. “The reality is, many people don’t know how to stop creating fat on their body. They think they can lose all the weight they need to by exercise alone. That’s just baloney,” exclaims Bender. “The key is not to get fat in the first place – stay at a reasonable weight and you can avoid a lot of hell when you get older.”
Make no mistake, they’re not sacrificing anything in the meal department. “Dr. Sears’ diet is simple: 40 percent good carbohydrates, 30 percent protein and 30 percent good fat. That leaves plenty of room for variety. We enjoy everything we eat,” claims Bender. “Ralph especially enjoys jelly beans,” chides Liz with a smile.
Natural body building
Liz Fritz has recently taken her fitness to a new level. A former commercial real estate maven, she’s been ardently raising money for children for the last 10 years, in addition to her travels with Ralph. About five months ago, she went looking for something that would help strengthen her back because she was feeling the effects of sitting at a desk for years. During this same period, she ran into one of her original fitness trainers from the 1980s. “I was amazed to see even after all these years, she hadn’t let go of her fitness,” remembers Fritz.
That’s when she realized her “happy hour” diet just wasn’t going to cut it anymore. “I looked around at my peers who were at the top of their game and knew I could take my body to another level,” she shares. It was one of her SuperSlow trainers, Amanda Antonini, who introduced her to Karen Martinez, her current fitness mentor.
With Martinez’ expert guidance, Fritz spent five months preparing for the 2006 Alamo Classic Showdown, a natural bodybuilding and fitness competition held in October. (Note: This publication went to press before the competition was held.)
She stopped eating candy, desserts, cut out the alcohol and religiously followed a comprehensive training program that basically had her eating every three hours and adding weight-lifting to her cardio exercising three times each day, as well as drinking at least a gallon of water. She went from 132 pounds to 118 in just five months. “She completely transformed her body,” says Bender proudly. “She’s always had a nice figure, but now she has this athletic physique – she’s toned and radiant.”
“For me this training has been the greatest education in nutrition. I understood how cardiovascular and strength training worked, but I could never get my body to respond,” explains Fritz. Although she won’t continue as rigorous a schedule after the competition, “it’s more of a seasonal thing,” she says. She has taken the nutritional concepts to heart and feels she’ll be able to maintain her newly toned physique.
“I don’t sleep in anymore because I’m so excited to start the day. I’m so turned on to the fact that I know how to make my body healthy – it’s amazing motivation,” she says.
Fritz says her newfound nutritional knowledge will also help her with her volunteer work with a new program called “Go Girls Go.” “This program recently launched by the San Antonio Sports Foundation addresses health and fitness issues young girls are facing today – diabetes, obesity, lack of interest in physical activity. I wanted to make sure I understood not only the fitness component of health, but nutrition too, so I could be confident in helping girls with these challenges,” she says.
