For powerlifter Erik Balogh, strength has taken on a whole new meaning.
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.
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.
“I always understood strength as physical, blunt, brute force,” said Balogh, who began lifting weights as a teen and became a competitive powerlifter in 2017. “But it's so much more — 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.”
But the road back began with what seemed like an ordinary respiratory infection.
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 — and lifesaving treatment.
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.
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.
“She was concerned and said I needed to go to Urgent Care,” he said.
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’t for her suggestion, he would have gone home—and that she saved his life. Upon arrival, doctors discovered elevated cardiac enzymes..."
“That came back with an EF (ejection fraction) of only 20 percent," Balogh said. "And that's when all hell broke loose."
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.
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.
“That's when I knew I was in big trouble and was scared like no other time in my life,” he said.
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.
According to Balogh, his heart stopped twice during the operation, requiring doctors to resuscitate him.
The first incident occurred after he was placed under anesthesia, before surgery began, which Balogh said “scared the [stuff] out of” his anesthesiologist, Dr. Mark J. Heath.
“He didn't expect me to crash,” Balogh said. Heath performed chest compressions and used a defibrillator to revive him.
Balogh's heart stopped again toward the end of the operation after he was taken off the heart-lung machine.
“Dr. Heath said, ‘Your heart started, beat 15 seconds, and then you crashed again,’” Balogh said. “Being I was still open, they used the metal paddles directly on the heart and got me back a second time.”
Balogh learned what happened two days later when his surgeon, Dr. Koji Takeda, visited him in intensive care.
“Surgery was good,” Dr. Koji Takeda told him. “You died and we got you back. You have a long road, but will be OK.”
“I had no idea how to react,” Balogh said. “I said, ‘Thank you!’”
Delia had already been told about the complications but had wanted to wait until he was out of intensive care before sharing the news.
“Hearing all that left me stunned,” Balogh said. “Grateful 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.”
Balogh was discharged on Nov. 21, a week after surgery, but returning home was only the beginning of another difficult ordeal.
For a man used to making the most of his physical strength, the hardest part of recovery was being helpless.
“Needing help for everything, losing all my strength; eating was hard,” Balogh said, adding that the ordeal also took an emotional toll. “I couldn't sleep because of PTSD from [his time in the] ICU and the fact I died.
“It's very hard for a man who does everything, and fixes everything, to now be helpless,” he added.
After surgery, Balogh was unable to work for more than two months or drive for eight weeks. He also lost more than 50 pounds — dropping to approximately 205 pounds.
One thing he didn't lose was his will to come back.
“My big thing was, I won't be helpless,” he said, describing his mindset as, “I need to build back for my wife, my daughter and myself.”
Despite what doctors told him, “I refused to believe I could never train again.”
Balogh credited longtime family friend Dr. Erica Jones, a cardiologist, with supporting his return to strength training and advising him throughout his recovery.
“She firmly believes in strength training,” he said. “She 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.”
Balogh resumed light lower-body training Jan. 3 — less than two months after his surgery — and was cleared for light upper-body exercise Feb. 1.
By March, he was ready to return to training with his powerlifting team in Fonda.
“To get back to my team upstate March 1 meant so much,” he said. “It meant that I had not given up, and I will be back.”
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.
How did his return to competition go?
“I killed it,” Balogh said.
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.
“From what I am told, no one has ever competed raw and equipped alternating between the two types, and never going six for six,” he said.
Balogh said the 570-pound lift placed him 17th on the all-time list for the 55-59 age group in the 220-pound weight class, according to OpenPowerlifting.org.
His comeback has also attracted attention from people facing similar medical challenges. Balogh said three men who had recently experienced serious heart problems contacted him after seeing his recovery videos on social media. In one case, the brother of a man who had undergone open-heart surgery in September reached out to tell Balogh how inspiring his story had been.
“We ended up texting back and forth for a few hours one night, and sharing stories of the horrors of what we went through,” Balogh said. “Feels great to hear people tell me it helps them and gives them hope.”
He has also received encouraging comments from people dealing with other health problems and hopes to expand his outreach. He recently appeared in a short podcast video and has contacted other podcasters about sharing his experience.
With the anniversary of his surgery approaching, Balogh plans to return to Columbia-Presbyterian in November to thank the doctors and staff who saved his life.
While Balogh has not yet entered another competition, he has set his sights on a much bigger lift.
He said the all-time record in his new age and weight division is 766.1 pounds — a mark he hopes to surpass within the next year or so.
“I have four years to do it, since I just turned 55 in July,” he said.
But for Balogh, sharing his story is about more than celebrating his comeback.
“I hope this will help anyone going through this or getting ready to go through any life-altering situation,” he said. “To give people hope that with love, determination and strong will we can all overcome anything.”
Learn more about Erik's journey on Instagram @Skullyeb and TikTok@ erikattila42
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