Iron Man March 1967
In the December issue of Lifting News, Peary Rader touched
on a subject to which I have given much thought. This is the starting of Plus 40 lifting
clubs.
Anyone who has owned a barbell, worked out in a gym,
attended lifting meets or watched Mirror Athletes on the dais trembling with
self-love, is aware that the smell that pervades the weight game is not attar
of roses. So, tired of holding his nose, he takes up golf, bowling, bleacher or
TV sports.
The smell that pervades the whole lifting game is not the
sweat of the lifters nor the essences that anoint the poseurs. It is the decaying
smell of death. Lifting as it’s practiced today is DEAD.
So, let’s not patter the Plus 40 Lifting Clubs after the
dead. LET’S START TO HAVE FUN.
Let’s start with a few members in every locality. No special
place to hold the first meets is needed. Just a member’s garage.
The meets can be held Friday nights, Saturday or Sunday
mornings. They’ll be FUN meets. No one is barred. A man who presses but 50
pounds can compete. There’ll be no standard lifts. No combination of lifts will
be repeated more than twice a year.
At times the members will compete as individuals and at other
times as members of a team. The teams can be chosen on the spur of the moment.
Remember these are to be FUN meets.
There’ll be rooting for one’s team mates and heckling for
one’s opponents. No hard feelings will ensue because one’s opponents in one
meet may be one’s team mates the next time we lift.
If we’re to have fun we must get away from REGIMENTATION.
When I was a kid we went to a vacant lot or a playground and chose up sides for
baseball, basketball, football or track. Now from the time a kid gets out of
diapers he’s regimented in playing baseball, football, basketball, in track, in
swimming, and now in lifting weights. The more sensitive the kid the sooner he
begins to puke. And puking is not fun so he quits.
Let me tell you about contests we’ve held in my garage the
past 35 or more years. We’ve pressed behind the head, squatted with weights
held overhead, Jefferson lifted, bench squatted, squatted for top weight, squatted
for reps, half squatted, quarter squatted, on-leg squatted. We’ve pressed:
bench pressed, incline pressed, decline pressed, side pressed, performed the
down-and-up with weight held overhead; curled, cleaned for top weight, cleaned
for reps, dead lifted, Jefferson lifted.
We’ve dipped for weight and we’ve dipped for reps, we’ve one-hand
cleaned, we’ve one-hand jerked, we have pressed while seated, we have one-hand
snatched.
We’ve done sit-ups for top weight, we’ve dumbbell pressed,
we’ve dumbbell jerked. We’ve done the dumbbell swing for top weight and for
reps, we’ve done the hold-outs; in fact, we’ve done just about anything that
anyone has thought of. And it has all been fun. These contests are so much fun
that it’s only for lack of time that we don’t have them after every workout.
It's not necessary to be able to lift in order to have fun
lifting. I can’t lift but no one could have had more fun lifting than I’ve had.
The result of my super activity in lifting and other sports is that at age 69 I’m
probably in as good health as any person regardless of age.
At the start of the Plus 40 Lifting Clubs it isn’t even necessary
to separate the lifters by bodyweights. All that’s needed is to determine the
percentage of bodyweight that’s to be used in the various lifts.
For the press the standard 100% of bodyweight is okay. In
the bench press go along with 150%. Stick to 200% in the squat. Make the dead
lift 250% of bodyweight.
For a decline bench press add 10% more to the regular bench
press weight. And for the incline bench press deduct 10%.
Push up contests are nothing but fun and excruciating pain.
They can be run in teams or dog eat dog. Make then sets of 20 to 25 reps. As
soon as a pusher-upper finishes, another starts. It’s all very cozy until some
start to drop out. Then the agony starts. When only two are left the arms ache
like a broken heart. And making the last rep gets as tough as a record bench
press on the 7th try.
No matter what lifts are competed, a percentage formula is
easy to work out. Of course when there are enough Plus 40 members, contests can
be run by bodyweights.
Here’s a sample contest that’s short and sweet. (When the
other guy is doing the lifting.) Load a barbell to 50% of bodyweight; clean it
for five minutes without a stop. High reps win first place. The winner gets his
head examined free. For the second lift load a dummy to 25% of bodyweight;
swing it for reps. High man wins eight hours’ sleep.
Peary wants to limit the Plus 40 competitors to 50 years of age.
Why? Does he want us has-beens and never-wasers to spend our remaining years in
diapers instead of athletic trunks?
In August 1966 I joined the Seniors Track Club. From August
26th to December 10th I competed in 10 races, the last
one a marathon. If we had a 40 Plus Lifting Club I’d be alternating week ends
between lifting contests and running events.
I quit Judo at age 60 (note – the original article said age
6, but I assume that was a typo) because I wasn’t allowed to compete. The Dojo where
I worked out had a monthly contest. Time after time I was told that I was too
old to compete. I couldn’t see their
logic. I was too old to compete but not to get bounced 25-30 times on the mat
by the Black Belts. Hitting the mat never bothered me but black and blue legs
from the knees to the ankles sure did.
But let’s get on with the Plus 40 Lifting Clubs. And let’s
not ape the dead heads who are funning the so-called regular meets. Let’s get
together to have FUN. A small expense fund can be accumulated by charging a $.50
entry fee to compete. If non-lifters show up it’ll be a miracle, and a miracle
shouldn’t have to pay an admission fee.
Meets can be worked out a few weeks in advance to give the
lifters a chance to work on their lifts or stunts.
So come on, you has-beens and never-wasers, write to Peary
Rader, to Donne Hale and to Bob Hoffman and tell them what you think. But
remember, it must be a HAVE FUN organization or it won’t get many of the older
men out of the moth balls.
You won’t have to be a muscle-head or a monster or a freak –
just a bum who enjoys or thinks he will enjoy, lifting weights.
If they can’t find esthetic value in their wrinkles, let the
I-love-me old pumpers die of broken hearts.
If they can still find enjoyment in their porcine
proportions let the old monsters be buried in their troughs.
If they can still find enjoyment in their deformities, let
the old freaks go to their graves like they lived – deformed.
But you, my undistinguished fun lovers, can stick around for
years lifting unimpressive poundages, owning unimpressive muscles and running
at an undistinguished pace. BUT HAVING FUN!
