It’s noon on Wednesday, and while most people are grabbing a sandwich and a soda for lunch, Mayor Anthony Russo is busy hitting the heavy bag and pumping iron. It’s hard to believe, as one watches his vigorous hour and a half workout, that this is the same man who just finished chemotherapy a couple months ago and, less than a year ago, had cancer-filled tumors removed from his brain and half of one of his lungs extracted.
The 54-year old mayor said that ever since he started his fitness program in November, he has never felt better.
“I have never worked much with weights,” said the mayor, while doing 55-pound curls at the New York Sports Club in Hoboken. “Right now I feel stronger than ever before. You couple the weights with the cardiovascular work I’ve been doing and I feel better now than before I had cancer.”
Russo, who in the past four months has gained 22 pounds, starts his workout by either hitting the heavy bag for 15 minutes or riding the stationary bike. Then he does more than 200 crunches, which are designed to work the abdominal muscles. He then hits the weights.
When he began in November, he struggled to lift 65 pounds, but now he is bench pressing 135 pound weights with little difficulty.
“I’ve been very impressed with his progress,” said NYSC Professional Trainer Al Kesheno last week. “His improvement has been dramatic. He has increased his bench press by over 55 percent. He has dropped his body fat from 22 percent to 14.7 percent without losing muscle. For a person his age, 20 to 25 percent is normal. The fact that he is at 14.7 is excellent. But what impresses me most is his commitment. He is here five to six days a week working hard.”
Kesheno also points out that, with the new regimen, Russo is going be more fit for work. “[Russo] is getting a well rounded workout,” Kesheno said. “Not only is he getting strength training, but he is also working his flexibility as well as stamina. This means he is going to have more energy at work and will be able to work longer hours.”
The mayor is happy with progress and said that the latest tests show that he is cancer-free.
“There is no cancer in me,” said the mayor. “Every time I go to the doctors they are so happy ’cause nothing is showing up. The MRIs and CAT scans show no cancer at all. I feel great and I am ready to work hard for Hoboken.”