How Kim Atienza almost lost his life

MANILA, Philippines - Kuya Kim” has become something of a household name these days. Kim Atienza in real life, he has gone far beyond merely being the face of TV Patrol’s weather and trivia segment, the lively mainstay at Showtime and the trivia king of Matanglawin. He has become synonymous with overall wellness both physically and mentally, as shown by the growing list of health and fitness endorsements and advocacies he’s been asked to take part in ever since his rise in the marathon and triathlon scenes. His freshest product endorsement would be that for Yurbuds, the No. 1 sport earphones in the US, guaranteed never to hurt or fall out. Why he’s been chosen to locally represent a brand that supports tough-as-nails athletes is a story familiar enough to those who have heard of the other campaigns he’s taken on, but it’s one worth retelling.

“I didn’t even know that I was inspiring. I inspired myself, that I’m alive,” he says one morning as the Yurbuds team sat down with him to ask him a few questions in between his daily 10K interval and 4K swim that morning. The team asked him about whether or not he expected his vibrantly active lifestyle to snowball into the whole-health campaign that seems to speak for itself.

“Maybe the prime motivation why I keep on going is because I almost lost it (my life). And when you almost lose it, you realize that just to live is a miracle. Being able to swim, bike, run — being able to do all these things is a bonus. But I’m just happy being alive. I’m happy being able to do triathlon  — it’s a blessing. That is really inspiring,” he says.

He was, of course, referring to his close call in 2010, when news broke that he had suffered from a mild stroke caused by a condition called patent foramen ovale, or having a hole in the heart which pumps blood straight into the brain. For someone who seemed on top of his game and ended the daily weather forecast with a lighthearted “ang buhay ay weather-weather lang” reminder, it was chillingly ironic. With a career that heavily relied on all faculties of the human body, a stroke was a huge blow.

“I was never really that unfit although I let go. When I was a lot younger, I used to do a lot of aerobics,” he says, chuckling as he recalls his days on the ‘80s aerobics show Muscle In Motion.

“It’s my third year since the stroke and I started really walking and running about three months after the stroke and I never stopped. I just kept going and going,” he says.

And that’s exactly what he did — from the slow walks required for recovery, to the brisk walks that turned into full runs, to the marathons and triathlons — he hasn’t stopped getting better. In fact, he is currently training to join his first full IronMan in Australia on December. And that’s why Yurbuds has chosen him to be its newest product ambassador — but it’s because of much more than that.

Atienza’s image as a well-rounded family man amid the shiny, fast-paced environment of showbiz has earned him even more fans, appealing to the sometimes-forgotten Pinoy core values. When we asked him how he was able to manage that, he openly described what his daily schedule looked like and how it managed to bring together all the important aspects of his life: each day starts with breakfast with his family, and then he’s off to do his morning training. After which he does his three-hour taping for Showtime and takes his mandatory 30-minute nap before doing the TV Patrol segment. The day is capped by spending quality time with his wife and kids once again. It sounds simple, but he doesn’t deny that the tightness of time his lifestyle requires is not easy, yet it’s a routine that he loves and takes pride in.

For one of the most well-rounded people around, one would almost expect an air of pomposity or some kind of smoke-and-mirrors talk when asked about his secret to the complete brain-and-body, family-and-career, work-and-play balance.

“I think the brain follows the body. When you’re unfit, you’re mentally tired also,” he answers, commenting that at 46, he feels that he is currently at his fittest. “Even mentally fit. I’m also sharper now and it’s because I’m fit. Sound mind and a healthy body — it’s a cliché but it’s true. When the body’s tired then the mind is tired also. Even my resistance — my capacity for harder work — it’s even better now because I’m fit.”

And speaking of all things sound, Yurbuds couldn’t have picked a better ambassador to represent it. Designed by athletes for athletes, the whole range of Yurbuds earphones have been making a strong impression on the athletic community with its impressive specs that strike through all the athlete’s training-with-music needs such as sweat and water-resistance, FlexSoft comfort fit and TwistLock Technology, tangle-free cords and cutting-edge sound. 

“My minimum runs are 28K. Before Yurbuds, I used to run with these earphones that used to fall out. Yurbuds is perfect because they stay in your ear no matter what, they are also very comfortable,” Atienza says. With training habits like his, no other earphone could probably keep up to begin with. Combine man and this power-packed piece of fashion-meets-function ingenuity and you’ve got a force that’s simply unstoppable.

Behind the friendly Kuya Kim persona that has endeared him across all demographics lies just that — a tough athlete who wants to keep on pushing the envelope while keeping all his values intact. It shows in his physique and flows through the kind of easygoing but impressionable vibe he brings whenever he walks into a room. A stroke didn’t stop him — it only pushed him to become fiercely, intensely better.

Yurbuds is available at Fitness First, Islands & More, Zalora.ph, Upgrade.ph, Planet Sports, The Athlete’s Foot, Runnr, Riovana, Chris Sports, PowerMac Center, R.O.X., Rudy Project, Islands Souvenir, IGig Center, The A Shop, Gold’s Gym, Nothing But H2O, Primo Cycles, and Specialized Concept Store.