Joe Montana's New Goal: Lower Blood Pressure

Several years ago, the quarterback known as the Comeback Kid found himself in a familiar fix. The numbers looked grim, the clock was ticking and he was a long way from his goal.

But this was no game. Joe Montana had just learned he had high blood pressure, putting him at risk for a stroke, heart illness and kidney disease.

As he had done many times on the field, Mr. Montana took stock and went to work. "I just knew that I had to get it under 120 over 80," he recalls.

A football legend, Mr. Montana led the San Francisco 49ers to four Super Bowl titles. He helped teams win come-from-behind, fourth-quarter victories in 31 games.

Weight gain

When he retired in 1995, Mr. Montana was in good shape. "I figured after 31 years of playing football and working out all the time, I could cut back a little bit," he says. In the next few years, he gained 8 to 10 pounds.

At wife Jennifer's urging, Mr. Montana sought yearly physicals after he turned 40. At his first of these physicals, his blood pressure was OK, so the seco0nd-year diagnosiss shocked him. "I felt perfectly fine and had no symptoms or anything," he says. "Even though I had a family history, I really didn't think that it would affect me."

Mr. Montana set out to study high blood pressure. "I didn't know anything about it," he recalls. His first game plan: renewed exercise, a better diet and medication. "But the first medicine didn't work at all."

Then his doctor prescribed a pill that tackles high blood pressure by combining two medications. "It lowered my blood pressure and since then, with the lifestyle changes, I've been under 120 over 80," he says.

Two factors

Mr. Montana cites two critical changes to his diet: Less salt and smaller portions.

"I used to salt my food without even tasting it," he says. And instead of the 20-ounce porterhouse, "now I have the 6- or 8-ounce fillet." Rather than banning foods, he eats them less often.

"The kids have been a help, too. They'll move the saltshaker away. They'll move the second portions to the other side of the table so I can't get to them."

Mr. Montana, 50, slowed the pace of meals, too. "I was always eating so fast and on the run that I never even gave myself enough time for my stomach to say I was full."

He now does at least 45 minutes of cardiovascular exercise most days. He often uses a stationary bike or treadmill, and adds light weightlifting a few times a week.

Today, Mr. Montana has a new goal. He wants to let people know that high blood pressure "can affect anyone - that you may not look or think or feel that you'll ever have it, but you'll be just like I was."