Forty years of recreational bodybuilding,and still training.I wonder how many old guys out there have similar stories to mine. I got hooked at age 9, when I saw the movie Hercules (Steve Reeves). I asked my Father for weights at Christmas, but he said I was too young to build muscles, that I’d have to wait until my hormones kicked in. I waited and waited until at age 14 I finally got my weights. I had already read lots of musclemags, so I knew how to train right from the beginning. I’ve never lost interest, but the longest I’ve ever trained without laying off is about 8-months. Don’t know why, it just seems to happen. The upside to this is when I start training again, size and strength come back extremely rapid.
I got hooked at 11 watching The Big Top on Saturdays at 1:00 and their strongman, Dan Lurie. I bought a set of his 110 lb barbell/dumbells and started reading Strength and Health magaine. My early heroes were Steve Reeves, John Grimek and Tommy Kono. During High School, in the late 50’s and early 60’s I played football against Mike Katz, and got even more inspired. I have been fortunate in that I never really had a long lay off period except for the service. Next June I will hit the 50 year mark of working out. Without weights, I would likely be full of aches and pains as most folks my age are.
Yes I remember Dan Lurie. Have you seen his website? There’s a photo on the website of him, Chet Yorton, and now publisher of Musclemag International Bob Kennedy. Bob Kennedy was my highschool teacher here in Brampton Canada back in 1968.