'Addicted to fitness'

Levi Hoch’s friends literally dragged him to his first swing dance three years ago.

“I’d never even heard of it before,” says the 23-year-old Kalispell resident.

He went along, but his plan was to stay as far away from the floor as possible.

There he was at the Bigfork Inn — and it turned out that just watching wasn’t happening.

A young woman found him in his tucked-away spot and pulled him onto the dance floor.

During the car ride home, he allowed he “might go try it again.

“I’ve pretty much have looked forward to it every time since. Some of the songs are amazing,” he smiles.

“It was a completely new experience — and has kind of developed my music sense. I am not a musician, so keeping the rhythm was really tough.”

Swing dance has turned out to be “more than I ever planned. Dancing allows for a lot of creativity. I’m really starting to fall in love with certain styles.”

He’s gone from participating to teaching, helping organize a local dance club (North End Swing) and looking forward to a couple of Lindy Exchanges (3-day swing dance marathons in Portland or Seattle) per year.

The dancing begins at noon, lasts till 5 p.m., then picks back up at 7-8 p.m. and goes until midnight.

“It’s a lot of fun, but it’s exhausting. You learn a lot.”

Around here they dance every Friday at 6:30 p.m. The lessons are until 7:30 and dancing starts at 8.

“We are new to teaching, so we are starting with the basics,” he said.

His group doesn’t go to the Bigfork Inn any more (too many people). Instead, they’ve found one venue in the Kalispell Senior Citizens Center and are looking for more space.

“We’re pretty much maxing (the Senior Citizens Center) out,” he said.

“In the future we hope to have the ability to dance several nights a week.”

For Hoch, it’s another activity added to an already packed karate/mountain-road biking/lifting/running/hiking and hunting schedule.

“I want to do as many different things as possible. I love being in good shape. I’m really addicted to fitness,” he explained.

So, he works at all of them and keeps an eye on his nutrition as well. He tries to avoid sugar, wheat and dairy and avoids eating late at night.

“The bad food is everywhere,” he said.

“Lattes are my weakness, but I try to eat pretty healthy. I try to keep a healthy diet, lots of raw food. I don’t eat out very much,” he said.

His training schedule is enough to tire a person out.

It’s pretty much 1-2 hours, five days a week after work (he takes Wednesdays and Sundays off for church).

All of this is possible because Hoch is young, has a job that encourages fitness (customer service at Hammer Nutrition), has no wife or children, but does have a ton of family support.

“My dad got me into most of it,” he smiles.

His dad was a cyclist as a young man — and he and Hoch’s mom also got their son into karate (it was physical education for the homeschooler) at age 10.

He started riding his bike to karate lessons, and began cycling seriously in 2003.

He even gave some thought to cycling as a career.

“I thought I wanted to be a pro racer for awhile. But that lifestyle requires a lot of dedication (and travel). I just do it for the fun,” he said.

He’s been a karate black belt since 16 and he currently helps with teaching at Flathead Karate Club.

“It’s one of the best workouts I’ve found,” he said of karate.

“(Biking) is a completely different kind of workout (aerobic and low impact). It’s really relaxing, a good way to escape for a little while. It’s good for fitness and it feels really good.

“You can ride all the time and not injure yourself,” he added.

“But cycling demands the most training.”

And now there’s dancing.

If you were to try to make him choose, Hoch wouldn’t.

If you forced the issue, he’d tell you he’s really enjoying the dancing, but cycling is right there as well and he still likes refining his karate technique.

If there is something that has fallen off a bit, it would be karate. He only works on that one night per week.

“I really should do it more, but it’s not like I’m working toward anything,” he said.

Karate is also where he feels the most pressure. “If I don’t win, it messes with me,” he said.

Cycling takes the most training — he usually starts road biking in early February, preparing for racing season in June.

“(The three) are completely different.”

But they also blend together in interesting ways.

“Karate is kind of a dance, too.”

He believes dancing adds dexterity and while cycling takes away karate speed, he feels it improves his power and the strength of his kicks.

“Your muscles adapt,” he said.

“I like them all a lot. I can’t imagine not doing any of them,” he said.

For now, at least, he doesn’t have to.