Signature: Vasan “Bill” Gvoich

He demonstrates a variety of push-ups, seemingly exerting no effort at all. Forget that he’s wearing a golf shirt, slacks and dress shoes. Bill Gvoich doesn’t look or feel 60.

“I want to redefine what age is all about,” says the first strength and conditioning coach of the National Hockey League’s Detroit Red Wings, a job he held in his mid-20s.

Gvoich’s desire to spread the gospel of strength, conditioning and “fitness for life” goes back to his roots, and to Baton Rouge, his home for the past 14 years.

You may know him from his Cox 4 TV show Living Fit.

A post-war baby born in a barn in the former Yugoslavia, he recalls, “You ate what you raised.”

In 1957, when he was 8 years old, his family left the Communist country for Quebec.

“When we went to Canada I was a typical immigrant child. There was no time to play sports. We worked,” says Gvoich, who still bears his Serbia-Croatia accent.

Age: 60

Occupation: Health and wellness consultant

Birthplace: The former Yugoslavia, but raised in Canada

But he eventually played football and wrestled, and then got into power lifting in college. All the while his salt-of-the-earth upbringing shaped his personal lifestyle and professional goals.

“I was always aware of good nutrition and the advantage of whole foods,” he says and smiles. “I eat at least two apples a day.”

He earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Guelph, and later a master’s in program planning with an emphasis in exercise and fitness and community planning.

Gvoich’s résumé is too long to list, but the former strength and conditioning coach for the Canadian National Alpine Ski Team came here from Tampa to work for General Health Systems in 1995. Two years later, he started his TV show and eventually struck out on his own to push his own innovations, such as exercise equipment for the elderly.

“I wanted to demystify the concept of a fitness center and health clubs, and to educate people on different aspects of a good lifestyle.” They are essential, he says, to controlling and eliminating stress.

He and his wife Leah have two children at LSU.

Gvoich stands 5 feet 9 inches and weighs a steady 215 pounds. He gets the bulk of his own exercise—“activity with a purpose”—through power walks at night wearing a 30-pound vest. On July 30 he intends to wear 100 pounds … “for my 61st birthday.”

Click here for more Signatures.