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he began training on a custom-made Life Fitness leg press machine and now performs three sets of 20 reps at 120 pounds every other day. Octane went back to work, at
Nieto’s request, on another cus- tom xRide, which features a motor to move the leg and arm pedals to get him started. But Nieto can overpower the motor and drive the pedals him- self, which he demonstrated during a 20-minute workout on March 20 in front of a large, emotional crowd at Octane’s exhibit booth at the IHRSA
Fitness Industry Pioneer Augie Nieto Exercises Again After Eight Years with Lou Gehrig’s Disease
D
riven by fierce determination, fit- ness industry pioneer Augie Nieto, who was diagnosed in 2005 with Lou Gehrig’s disease, is working
out again – even though he uses a wheel- chair, relies on a breathing machine and is unable to speak. The chairman of the board of Octane
Fitness LLC, since 2005, Nieto, 55, is the founder of Life Fitness, a global fit- ness equipment company that he sold to Brunswick Corporation in 1997. Since his diagnosis, (patients have a typi-
cal life expectancy of three to five years), Nieto founded Augie’s Quest, a non-prof- it foundation that is part of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, to raise money for ALS treatment research with the goal of finding a cure. To date, Augie’s Quest has generated $37 million. Nieto, with his wife Lynne, serve as co-chairs of MDA’s ALS di- vision. In this time, Nieto has written two books: Augie’s Quest and Reciprocity. "Augie's ambitions have always been
truly limitless, from the first days of the original Lifecyle to the day he was diag- nosed with Lou Gehrig's disease," says Chris Clawson, president of Life Fitness. "It was aſter his diagnosis that the most spectacu- lar Augie came to be, and we're proud to support him in this moment."
Never Say Never In 2007, Nieto asked Octane Fitness for a
special motorized xRide seated elliptical as a way to maintain his cardiovascular fitness. But as Nieto’s condition worsened, he was unable to ride aſter six months, so the ma- chine was disassembled at his request. However, Nieto’s personal fight against
this paralyzing and fatal disease has been fueled by a bold refusal to quit, tremen- dous support from his family and friends, and multiple treatment regimens. In 2012,
May/June 2013 Fitness Business Canada 9
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Annual Convention and Trade Show in Las Vegas. “We have benefitted so much as a com-
pany and personally from Augie’s leadership and friendship,” says Tim Porth, executive vice president of product development and marketing at Octane Fitness. “Obviously, we are passionate about helping him recover and will do whatever it takes.” With the leg press and xRide now at
Nieto’s home in California, his current mis- sion is to exercise regularly in order to walk at the 2014 IHRSA show, March 12-15 at the San Diego Convention Center.
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