The residual power of fitness

I just finished a telephone conversation with my 80 year old Dad who has been lifting weights since his early 20s. He started his fitness by following the Charles Atlas course and gravitated towards weight training. Here are some of this stats (then is late 20s, 5'9" and 200 lbs. now is 80 years old - 5'7" and 185 lbs with a belly):

Bent-over rows - then: 270 lbs. for 4 reps - now: 160 lbs. for 2-3 reps.

Military press - then: 220 lbs. for a single rep - now: 120 lbs. for 1-2 reps.

Bench press - he professes that his was his weak lift - then: 280 lbs. for a single rep - now: 140 lbs. for 2 reps.

Full squat (old style) - then: 460 lbs. for a single rep - now: he only does hack machine squats - 220 lbs. for 2 reps.

Deadlift - then: 480 lbs. for a single rep - now: he does not do.

Dumbell presses: then: 100 lbs. in each arm for a single rep - now: does not do.

I also found out that he entered a powerlifting contest when he weighed 148 lbs. It was an unusal meet in that there was a 4th lift of barbell curls. Here is what he did:

bench press - 220 lbs.
squat - 360 lbs.
deadlift - 420 lbs. (set a Northern California record at the time)
curl - 140 lbs. - 8 lbs. less then BW.

He got 1st place at this meet.

I've got an 80 year old Dad who is probably stronger than me, but I can outrun him, and do more pullups, pushups, dips and burpees than him. He'd make a better DiscussFitness member than me in the Online Journal section.

This training we do is great and helps contribute to a long & healthy life.

Originally Posted by pierini

He started his fitness by following the Charles Atlas course and gravitated towards weight training.

I loved my Charles Atlas couse! Of course, I couldn't work out in the **** like it suggested, being 12 years old and all my parents would have thought I was pervert! But it was a great start to trying to be fit my whole life. I can appreciate where he has been and him still keeping up with his weight training. He has some pretty impressive lifts there, both old and current!

[rufiedog]

I saw an episode on fit TV where a female professional volleyball player was training on some new _high Tec _ machines (I forget the name). She preformed reps with as much speed and force as she could (I think the machines were hydraulic). The machine would tell her when to start and when to stop. The rest period would count down the seconds until the next set. The machine was precise in measuring how much force was put forth during each set. The numbers would reveal even the slightest increase in fitness.

IMO, the computers precise measurement of work preformed provides the motivation that most of us do not have in order to keep these intense sessions going. Reminds me of the concept 2 rower (world renowned for its accuracy to a tenth of a second). If it weren’t for the computer on the C2 no one would use them. I think we will see a lot more of these _ information _ machines spring up amongst athletes.

To do what you do day after day takes an inherent amount of motivation. It’s only for a few.

It doesn’t surprise me that your dad is the fitness guy that he is- even at his age.

Dan

[.V.]

So your dad is 80 and still outlifting me. Please pass on props to him from me. Maybe he should do an age grouped PL meet. He'd win because he'd be the only one in his age group still working hard like that.