Jimmy Choi will never forget that morning.
He was 35 years old, weighed 113 kilos, and walked with a cane because of the early-onset Parkinson’s he had been diagnosed with years earlier. He was carrying his 10-month-old son, Mason, when he lost his balance and fell down the stairs. The baby was unharmed. But the look of horror on his wife and daughter Karina’s faces stayed with him forever.
From that day on, he signed up for every clinical trial that would accept him, seeking to understand his own body. One of those studies measured the benefits of exercise, and something clicked: he started by walking short distances at home and ended up running the 2012 Chicago Marathon. That same year, Karina, then 10 years old and a fan of American Ninja Warrior, pushed him to try it too.
Today, at 50, Choi has run 16 marathons, earned three Guinness World Records, and competed for seven seasons on the show alongside the daughter who convinced him. With training and good nutrition, he has cut the number of pills he takes each day in half. His motto is simple: the best exercise is the one you keep doing.
