At 25, strength may be measured by how much weight you can lift, how fast you can run or how hard you can push your body. At 59, Raul Ortiz measures it differently. Strength is still found in the gym. But it is also found in discipline, adapting to the changes that come with age, raising a family, caring for someone you love and continuing to believe there is more to learn and more to give. For Ortiz, strength has become something much larger than muscle. As businessman, longtime minister, former semi-professional football player, coach, competitive bodybuilder, father of eight and grandfather of eight, Ortiz has spent much of his life testing the meaning of strength.
Ortiz began seriously pursuing bodybuilding at 22. Along with muscle, however, he was developing something that would prove even more valuable: discipline. “No one is telling you to go,” he said of training. “You are not punching a time clock.” Ortiz played ten seasons of semi-professional football and competed three times as a bodybuilder in his 40s. Years of football and injuries from a serious automobile accident eventually affected his range of motion.
Rather than stop exercising, he adapted. Today he uses more machines instead of free weights to reduce stress on old injuries and joints. Training that once took place as many as six days a week is now three. He believes fitness becomes more important, not less, as we grow older, helping with balance, longevity, mental clarity, confidence and maintaining a healthy body.
His approach offers an important lesson about aging: Adaptation is not surrender.
Ortiz was 41 when he entered his first bodybuilding competition. It was something he had wanted to do for years, but softball and football came first. When his football career ended, he finally pursued the goal. The experience taught him something he still carries today: we need challenges that stretch us. “Launch out of your comfort zone and just go for it,” Ortiz said. “Mess it up, fall flat on your face, fail but keep getting up.” That philosophy now extends far beyond the gym. Ortiz begins his mornings at 4:30 with prayer, Bible reading and motivational and devotional programs. He deliberately makes time for reading and learning, calling it his personal growth plan.
This year, that philosophy was tested. Ortiz’s wife became ill in April. Initially diagnosed with bronchitis, her condition worsened. On July 7, Ortiz took her back to the emergency room.
The diagnosis was congestive heart failure. According to Ortiz, her heart was functioning at only 10 percent. Suddenly, strength meant something entirely different.
With four children still living at home, the family reorganized. His children assumed additional responsibilities. Friends, church members and supporters stepped forward with meals and assistance while Ortiz balanced work, home and caring for his wife. Her energy has improved, he said, although the family knows the journey isn’t over. “Your strength and willpower play a part in the equation,” Ortiz said, “but that can only go so far.” For Ortiz, what carries him beyond that point is his Christian faith. On October 10, he will mark 44 years of preaching the Gospel, and he says the trials of life have only deepened that faith.
Raising eight children and becoming a grandfather also changed Ortiz’s understanding of strength. His family, he says, taught him about sacrifice, patience, love and humility. “These are strengths the gym could not produce.” Perhaps that is one of the lessons that comes with age.
When we are young, strength often means proving what we can do ourselves. Later, strength may mean carrying someone else or allowing others to help carry us.
Ortiz rejects the idea that getting older means gradually stepping away from challenge. Instead, he encourages people in their 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond to continue setting goals, learning new things and sharing their experience with younger generations. “The more you learn the more you can share with others and add value to their lives,” he said.
His advice applies whether someone is 20 or 80: Start moving. Start learning. Keep growing.
And if you are beginning later in life? It isn’t too late.
When asked what true strength means after a lifetime of athletics, ministry, family and service, Ortiz ultimately returned to the foundation that has guided him for decades. “Total reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ,” he said. “That is true strength to me.”
The body changes. Responsibilities change. Life occasionally knocks us flat. But strength isn’t about remaining who we were at 25. It is about having the courage to keep becoming who we can be next.
