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Dungeons and doctors: These physicians take a no-frills approach to exercise

It's cold, spartan and dank. But the garage-now-gym is the early-morning place to be for four weight-lifting cardiologists.

By Damon Adams, amednews staff. Dec. 16, 2002.

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Inside a dingy garage in a neighborhood still sleeping, Greg Mishkel, MD, lies on a bench and puffs short breaths with each push of weights from his chest toward the ceiling.

His sleeveless burgundy shirt reveals straining muscles as he pumps the barbell up and down over his slender frame. His focused stare shows the determination that keeps the cardiologist coming to this makeshift gym before most people get their newspaper.

Three days a week, before work, Dr. Mishkel and three colleagues from St. John's Hospital come to lift weights at the Dungeon Training Center, a garage-turned-gym in Springfield, Ill. With its concrete floor, exposed wiring and insulation and duct-taped window, it seems an unlikely place for doctors to exercise.

But they love the camaraderie here, the workout routines and the physical and mental boost that pumping iron provides. Proudly, they are slaves to the dungeon.

"It's freezing in the winter and it's boiling in the summer. There are times when it's cold and I wish at 5:30 in the morning we had some heat," said Dr. Mishkel, 45. "It's not a gym that one would normally associate a bunch of physicians to be at."

From about 5 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the Dungeon is where you will find Dr. Mishkel, Stephen Jennison, MD, Richard Ammar Jr., MD, and Kriegh Moulton, MD. All four work for Prairie Heart Institute at St. John's in Springfield. They range in age from 37 to 50.

The workouts offer them a way to practice what they preach. Advice about staying fit means more coming from a healthy doctor than one who's noticeably out of shape. [...]