> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Told he might never run again, disabled Army veteran places at Muscle Beach and races
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/told-he-might-never-run-again-disabled-army-veteran-places-at-muscle-beach-and-races/
- Published: 2026-09-29T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-29T20:13:35.000Z
- Author: Maaz Alin
- Tags: Lifestyle, Santa Monica

A decade after he was told he might never run again, Anthony D. Bongi spent one week in September pushing his body to two opposite extremes: he placed second in a bodybuilding championship on Muscle Beach, then ran a 20:51 5K just five days later.

Bongi, 46, a 100% permanently and totally disabled U.S. Army veteran who served 23 years, finished second in Men's Physique 40+ at the Muscle Beach Championship at Muscle Beach Venice on Labor Day, Sept. 7\. On Sept. 13, he ran the [Santa Monica Classic](https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-classic-draws-more-than-7-600-for-20th-running-sets-charity-records/) 5K in 20 minutes, 51 seconds, finishing fourth in his age group — about three seconds shy of third place.

"I hit my goal of finishing top five in both events, but it was much more difficult than I anticipated," Bongi said.

Combining the two performances in one week, he said, amounted to a physiology experiment.

"I was essentially asking my body to break the rules of human physiology," Bongi said. He pointed to what exercise scientists call the "interference effect" — the idea that the adaptations that build a competition-ready bodybuilder can conflict with those needed to run fast.

To get "shredded" for Muscle Beach, Bongi said, he dropped from roughly 178 pounds to 155, a cut that aggravated old injuries from his military career. "I'm a 100% combat-related disabled veteran with a lot of accumulated injuries, and once I was that depleted, I felt every one of them to the nth degree," he said, joking that he "felt like a shrunken-down old man; something from a Stephen King book."

Then he had five days to reverse course, "rehydrating, taking creatine, eating carbohydrates and, yes, a lot of pizza." He said five days was not enough to fully recover and that he "absolutely felt Muscle Beach resonating" through his body during the race.

The run carried added weight because of where Bongi started. Injuries accumulated over his Army career, which began at West Point, had left him being told about 10 years ago that he would likely never run again. He said he had not run a 5K in roughly a decade and had not done a single outdoor training run before the race.

Crossing the finish line, he said, "it felt normal again."

"For the first time in a really long time, I crossed a finish line actually hurting a little bit — that familiar feeling of really pushing yourself," Bongi said. His first thought, he recalled, was, "Wow, I had so much more left in the tank." He said he never stopped and never walked, unlike in his training runs. "Instead of that finish line feeling like the end of something, it felt like the beginning."

Bongi said he is "content. Not happy," with the result and has already signed up for another 5K on Oct. 17.

The athletic comeback runs parallel to a career one. After retiring from the military and spending years rehabilitating, Bongi moved to Los Angeles to return to acting and modeling, interests he said he pursued in his teens before choosing military service. He said he signed with [Baron Entertainment](https://baronentertainment.com/?ref=smdp.com) for representation after about two and a half months in the city and has worked on five major television productions. He said Muscle & Fitness, Gold's Gym and the Santa Monica Classic have shared his recent content.

Asked what he wanted other disabled veterans to take from the week, Bongi returned to a single word.

"Grit. G-R-I-T. That's what the Army freaking gave me," he said, adding that his service also instilled the Army Values and "the ability to keep functioning when things get extremely difficult."

His message, he said, is simple: "Don't give up. Ever." He urged veterans in particular to draw on their training. "Discipline creates freedom," he said. "Take that same discipline you had in the military and apply it to whatever the next chapter of your life is."

"Your first dream ending doesn't mean you're done," Bongi said. "Go build another one."

As for what is next, he named a goal: to star in a film with Arnold Schwarzenegger — "King Conan. Predator. One. Both. That's the goal."