A Crying Need... A "Mr. Over 40" Program - Fred Grace (1967)

 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 7^th 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 26^th to December 10^th 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!