As a young bowler on the PBA Tour many years ago, Amleto Monacceli learned the advantages of his dedication to his physical fitness. And even to this day as a PBA50 Tour bowler, Monacelli is still extremely strict with his workout routines.

Monacelli, 56, credits much of his success and longevity to his dedication to working out. It has helped lead him to 20 career titles on the national tour and eight titles on the PBA50 Tour.

The Venezuelan native will look to add another title to his resume this week at the PBA50 South Shore Open presented by Hammer, which will be broadcast live on FloBowling.

“When I came on the tour, I felt like I needed to do something besides bowling, and I knew I needed to get stronger in my legs, shoulders, core, everything,” said Monacelli, who began his professional bowling career in 1982. “Anyone can go and throw a strike, but they don’t know how many muscles are actually involved. Core is a big percentage. If you’re not strong enough there, eventually you are going to get hurt. The reason I work out is to eliminate the possibility of getting injured.”

These days, Monacelli has changed up his workout routine, focusing more on weights and less on cardio. He used to run 30 miles a week, but now runs six miles a week while doing more functional exercises and weightlifting.

“I do functional exercises, so eight to 15 stations where you jump from one to another with no rest and you do that for like 30-40 minutes – it’s really hard,” Monacelli said. “I do that at least two or three times a week. The other times I am weightlifting and running to get the lactic acid out of my body.”

Even when he’s on the road, Monacelli said he finds time to work out.

“I’m very strict, and I hate to miss a day,” he said. “I do it about six days a week with one day rest. Sometimes with travel, I might only do five days.”

There is no denying Monacelli’s success on the lanes and its connection to his fitness. Since he joined the PBA50 Tour in 2012, he has won a title each season.

This season, Monacelli said he has been very pleased with his physical and mental game, but it hasn’t yet yielded a title even though he has bowled well in qualifying rounds and has advanced to match play in five out of seven events.

The way the PBA50 Tour regular events are structured, pins are dropped after each round, creating a fresh start for all advancing bowlers. With so few games in each round, it makes it even tougher to make the stepladder finals.

“I need to get a little bit luckier to make it to the show and go through the field,” Monacelli said. “You can bowl good in qualifying but if you don’t win games in match play, you are going to get in trouble.”

With a bowling game and physical fitness that favors long-format events, Monacelli said he has struggled with the sprint format that dominates the PBA50 schedule, but he said he enjoys the opportunity to still be competing.

“I’m working so hard on my mental game, physical game and always working on something,” Monacelli said. “I do it just because I love bowling.”