'You gotta keep moving,' says Ernie Heckbert. 'If you don't keep moving, rigor mortis will set in.' For years, Heckbert had a little basement gym in his home, so when he and his late wife moved into an apartment building seven years ago he decided to convert one of the bedrooms into a mini-gym.
Although the 87-year-old stopped competing in bodybuilding events when he was 79, he still holds the record for Canada's oldest bodybuilder.
Two years ago, Heckbert had his second hip replacement after a bad fall on an icy sidewalk. He's never fully recovered, even though he exercises every day.
"I'm trying to get my muscle mass back," he said. "I go for walks and work out on the equipment as much as I can."
Heckbert inspired his granddaughter Nicole Fraser to begin bodybuilding — this photo was taken in 2014 at her first competition.Heckbert has always pushed himself to be fit, ever since he was picked on for being scrawny as a kid back in the '40s.
"I was teased for being skinny, so I thought I'd do something about it, said Heckbert, pulling out an album of old photos.
"After the war you couldn't get metal, so I made all my equipment out of two by four planks."
Some of his daughter's earliest memories are of Heckbert working out in the family's dirt basement. Christensen recalls the time her father got so fed up with the cramped space, he literally took matters into his own hands.
"He couldn't lift his weights down there because the ceiling wasn't high enough, so he dug a hole by hand, took all the dirt out of the house by hand so he could lift his weights over his head," she said with a smile.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-bodybuilder-ernie-heckbert-summerside-susan-christensen-1.4722272
