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For powerlifter Erik Balogh, strength has taken on a whole new meaning.<\/p>\n
On Sept. 19, the 55-year-old Mahopac resident overcame enormous physical, mental and emotional barriers to return to competition in the sport he loves, successfully completing six bench presses, including a 570-pound equipped lift.<\/p>\n
For any athlete, coming back from surgery is hard. But for Balogh, it was literally a comeback from a near-death experience, less than a year after undergoing triple bypass surgery during which his heart stopped twice, requiring doctors to resuscitate him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always understood strength as physical, blunt, brute force,\u201d said Balogh, who began lifting weights as a teen and became a competitive powerlifter in 2017. \u201cBut it’s so much more \u2014 emotional strength, strong faith in God, a strong marriage and strong relationship with your children. Strength is so many things, so many layers, so many dimensions. But above all, love is the biggest strength we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the road back began with what seemed like an ordinary respiratory infection.<\/p>\n
Balogh, who works as business manager at Gabriel Sports Car, weighed approximately 255 to 260 pounds and followed an intensive training regimen before symptoms he first experienced at the gym led to a life-altering diagnosis \u2014 and lifesaving treatment.<\/p>\n
In October 2025, Balogh developed a persistent cough. Having suffered from pneumonia the previous year, he initially assumed he was dealing with another bout. Despite occasional shortness of breath, he continued training, even bench pressing more than 900 pounds during a Nov. 2 workout with his team, based in Fonda, N.Y.<\/p>\n
Two days later, he became lightheaded and short of breath while exercising at 24 Hour Fitness in Jefferson Valley. His wife, Delia, urged him to seek medical attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was concerned and said I needed to go to Urgent Care,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
After a chest X-ray revealed fluid in his lungs, nurse practitioner Kelly Marra at Optum Urgent Care in Yorktown suggested that instead of treating it as pneumonia with antibiotics, he get checked out immediately at the emergency room at New York-Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital. Balogh noted that if it wasn\u2019t for her suggestion, he would have gone home\u2014and that she saved his life. Upon arrival, doctors discovered elevated cardiac enzymes…”<\/p>\n
\u201cThat came back with an EF (ejection fraction) of only 20 percent,” Balogh said. “And that’s when all hell broke loose.”<\/p>\n
An angiogram revealed such extensive coronary artery blockage he needed open-heart surgery, which meant a transfer to Columbia University Irving Medical Center in Manhattan.<\/p>\n
Delia and their 10-year-old daughter, Mackenzie, arrived at the hospital just in time to see Erik loaded into the ambulance for the trip to the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s when I knew I was in big trouble and was scared like no other time in my life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On Nov. 14, Balogh underwent coronary artery bypass surgery, a procedure in which surgeons use healthy blood vessels to create new pathways around blocked coronary arteries. Four bypasses had been planned, but surgeons completed three after complications arose.<\/p>\n
According to Balogh, his heart stopped twice during the operation, requiring doctors to resuscitate him.<\/p>\n
The first incident occurred after he was placed under anesthesia, before surgery began, which Balogh said \u201cscared the [stuff] out of\u201d his anesthesiologist, Dr. Mark J. Heath.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn’t expect me to crash,\u201d Balogh said. Heath performed chest compressions and used a defibrillator to revive him.<\/p>\n
Balogh’s heart stopped again toward the end of the operation after he was taken off the heart-lung machine.<\/p>\n
\u201cDr. Heath said, \u2018Your heart started, beat 15 seconds, and then you crashed again,\u2019\u201d Balogh said. \u201cBeing I was still open, they used the metal paddles directly on the heart and got me back a second time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balogh learned what happened two days later when his surgeon, Dr. Koji Takeda, visited him in intensive care.<\/p>\n
\u201cSurgery was good,\u201d Dr. Koji Takeda told him. \u201cYou died and we got you back. You have a long road, but will be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI had no idea how to react,\u201d Balogh said. \u201cI said, \u2018Thank you!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Delia had already been told about the complications but had wanted to wait until he was out of intensive care before sharing the news.<\/p>\n
\u201cHearing all that left me stunned,\u201d Balogh said. \u201cGrateful to know the details and the men who saved me. Took me months to process, and I still struggle every day with it. But it also is what has fueled my recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balogh was discharged on Nov. 21, a week after surgery, but returning home was only the beginning of another difficult ordeal.<\/p>\n
For a man used to making the most of his physical strength, the hardest part of recovery was being helpless.<\/p>\n
\u201cNeeding help for everything, losing all my strength; eating was hard,\u201d Balogh said, adding that the ordeal also took an emotional toll. \u201cI couldn’t sleep because of PTSD from [his time in the] ICU and the fact I died.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s very hard for a man who does everything, and fixes everything, to now be helpless,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
After surgery, Balogh was unable to work for more than two months or drive for eight weeks. He also lost more than 50 pounds \u2014 dropping to approximately 205 pounds.<\/p>\n
One thing he didn’t lose was his will to come back.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy big thing was, I won’t be helpless,\u201d he said, describing his mindset as, \u201cI need to build back for my wife, my daughter and myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite what doctors told him, \u201cI refused to believe I could never train again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balogh credited longtime family friend Dr. Erica Jones, a cardiologist, with supporting his return to strength training and advising him throughout his recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe firmly believes in strength training,\u201d he said. \u201cShe 100 percent believes my fitness level before was the main reason I never had a massive heart attack, and she also believes in weight training post-surgery. So she has advised me well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balogh resumed light lower-body training Jan. 3 \u2014 less than two months after his surgery \u2014 and was cleared for light upper-body exercise Feb. 1.<\/p>\n
By March, he was ready to return to training with his powerlifting team in Fonda.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo get back to my team upstate March 1 meant so much,\u201d he said. \u201cIt meant that I had not given up, and I will be back.\u201d<\/p>\n
By July, Balogh said he was beginning to make significant gains, giving him the confidence to schedule his Sept. 19 comeback at the Gorilla Pack XPC meet in Fonda.<\/p>\n
How did his return to competition go?<\/p>\n
\u201cI killed it,\u201d Balogh said.<\/p>\n
Alternating between raw and equipped bench presses, he successfully completed all six attempts. His raw lifts were 275, 315 and 335 pounds, while his equipped lifts were 505, 535 and 570 pounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom what I am told, no one has ever competed raw and equipped alternating between the two types, and never going six for six,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n