I am a 91-year-old bodybuilder
April 29, 2011 2:28 PM   Subscribe

I am a 91-year-old bodybuilder (SLgrauniad)
posted by Tom-B (43 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
FUCK YEAH! Old-Man Strength, AHOY!

Jack would be so proud.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 2:32 PM on April 29, 2011


Then, at last year's event in Germany, I triumphed, scoring higher than any contestant in any age category for my 57 dips, 61 chin-ups, 50 push-ups and 48 abdominal crunches, each in 45 seconds.

WHAT?!
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:45 PM on April 29, 2011 [4 favorites]


Yes he's fit, but how sexy are his underarms?
posted by Kabanos at 2:46 PM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]


WHAT?!

I know an eighty-something who still fights Judo shiai. A lot of old age is what you make of it.
posted by rodgerd at 2:46 PM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]


57 dips, 61 chin-ups, 50 push-ups and 48 abdominal crunches, each in 45 seconds

Yeah, that's insane. Sheer athleticism aside, I find anyone who can do more chin-ups than push-ups (or crunches?!) an enigma.
posted by gurple at 2:47 PM on April 29, 2011 [2 favorites]


He's three times my age and I don't even think I could do one chin up, let alone 61 chin ups in 45 seconds! That just blows my fucking mind.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 2:54 PM on April 29, 2011


ha, C-D, I was just coming in to post that. I don't even care if he did all his dips and chin-ups cradled in the mighty arms of a 250 pound "spotter" -- 61 chins in less than a minute is pure badass at any age.
posted by vorfeed at 2:55 PM on April 29, 2011


Hope I die before I get old. And by "get old," I mean "do 57 dips, 61 chin-ups, 50 push-ups and 48 abdominal crunches."
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:58 PM on April 29, 2011 [4 favorites]


"each in 45 seconds"

yeah, something about those chin-ups seems funny. if you're going all the way up and down, that pace seems ridiculous, even if you spread your arms as wide as possible.

61 chins in less than a minute is pure badass at any age.

it certainly is. it also appears to be a world record ... send it in, Eugster!

again, yeah, who does chin-ups faster than crunches?

cool story, but pretttttty slim for a post.
posted by mrgrimm at 2:59 PM on April 29, 2011


Sometimes I can do a pull-up.
posted by sonic meat machine at 3:04 PM on April 29, 2011 [4 favorites]


In fact, I can barely conceive of what that might look like. It'd be like those scenes from Next Gen where Mr. Data was doing something android-y and they sped up the tape.

yeah, something about those chin-ups seems funny.

He freely admits that "as I'm over 70, they did make allowances", so it's not like he's claiming to have done them with strict form. And frankly, 61 of even the half-assiest and old-manniest of half-assed old-man chin-ups is still pretty badass.
posted by vorfeed at 3:07 PM on April 29, 2011 [3 favorites]


pretttttty slim for a post

It's all the chin-ups.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:07 PM on April 29, 2011 [4 favorites]


OK, here's dude's site. Pics. Also on facebook & twitter.
posted by Tom-B at 3:10 PM on April 29, 2011


cool story, but pretttttty slim for a post.

Perhaps, but what links, pictures, and anecdotes it can elicit can easily make up for any slim-ness.

I love it when posts almost instantly put little vignettes in my head.

This post put the scene in my head of him playing chess on a cold, windy hill versus the grim reaper. Charles looks at the pieces, grins a little as his head rises up, and says "Let's make this interesting, shall we?"

The Reaper's hood nods.

The pieces knocked out of way for a gray haired arm to rest his elbow on the board, and clasps his opponent's skeletal hand, and the game begins.

Rock on, old dude.
posted by chambers at 3:27 PM on April 29, 2011 [4 favorites]


When this guy dies I hope he bequeaths me his motivation.
posted by WaspEnterprises at 3:29 PM on April 29, 2011


This is impressive. It shattered some preconceptions I had as to the frailness of old people.
posted by flippant at 3:33 PM on April 29, 2011


The Grim Reaper isn't going to arm wrestle him. Grim is a skeleton - he doesn't have any muscle tissue! I mean, sure, he's buff for a skeleton, lugging that damned scythe around for all eternity, but really, how is he going to compete with no muscle tissue?! I bet he'd get winded just pushing the chess pieces around, if he could actually breathe.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:36 PM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]


i'd like to see "before" pics (for context).
posted by rude.boy at 3:37 PM on April 29, 2011


This guy is not nearly as old, but I still find his video pretty darn impressive.
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 3:41 PM on April 29, 2011


But how many tv shows has he missed by spending all that time working out? Tbhere is always a trade off.
posted by Postroad at 3:42 PM on April 29, 2011 [3 favorites]


Strong people are harder to kill.

Also Louie Simmons. OK, he's 51 rather than 91, but I don't doubt that the dude could throw me like a javelin.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 3:50 PM on April 29, 2011


Actually I guess he's 65 now.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 3:52 PM on April 29, 2011


Forever young, I want to be forever young

Excuse me, I got another set of squats coming...
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 3:55 PM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]


Also Louie Simmons.

FWIW, Louise Simmons is open about being a juicer. In case that matters to one's analysis.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 4:00 PM on April 29, 2011


Work with the iron, and you become like the iron.

Epic.
posted by jnnla at 4:09 PM on April 29, 2011


Cool iron, if necessary.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:10 PM on April 29, 2011


Remember, they made allowances.

For example, he was on his knees for the push-ups.

And the chin-ups were just him moving his chin up and down...
posted by Bort at 4:11 PM on April 29, 2011 [3 favorites]


OK, I made that second part up.
posted by Bort at 4:12 PM on April 29, 2011


Good thing, too. I could totally kick his ass at chin moving!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:13 PM on April 29, 2011


Lift weights, live long, and leave a good-looking corpse.
posted by bwg at 5:10 PM on April 29, 2011


You're my boy, blue!
posted by Senator at 5:13 PM on April 29, 2011


FWIW, Louie Simmons is open about being a juicer yt . In case that matters to one's analysis.

Well, yeah, and doing steroids for 30+ years straight is pretty impressive in its own right.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 5:50 PM on April 29, 2011


I really enjoy the Grauniad.
posted by Mister_A at 6:54 PM on April 29, 2011


I was already rowing six times a week, and there didn't seem any harm in pushing myself a bit harder to rebuild my muscles. So in my late-80s I joined a bodybuilding club.

This line pretty much reaches out and gives you a friendly old man style clip on the chin.

Pow!

I like this man's attitude.

Also, if he told me to get off his lawn, I would do so with no argument.
posted by Skygazer at 7:03 PM on April 29, 2011


From the Strenflex.org site, it looks like the chin-ups are scaled to upright rows - that is, with the feet on the floor, lean away from the bar (which is at chest height) and pull yourself back towards the bar. Doing 61 of those in 45 seconds is conceivable. I wouldn't call them chin-ups though.

Still, kudos to Dr. Eugster for being as fit as he is at the age he is.
posted by zanni at 10:25 PM on April 29, 2011 [2 favorites]


Awesome inspiration, thanks.

Also -- old man strength, meet old woman strength! Morjorie Newlin started weightlifting at 72 because she was having trouble lifting bags of kitty litter. At 74 she was crushing it in bodybuilding competitions. She finally passed at 87 after a battle with leukemia.

And then of course there's Olga Kotelko, the 91-year-old track and field star who entered the sport at 77.
posted by en forme de poire at 11:49 PM on April 29, 2011 [1 favorite]


(p.s., the Olga Kotelko link is NYT)
posted by en forme de poire at 11:50 PM on April 29, 2011


"I turn 92 this year. It is a frightening prospect – the law of averages is against me, and, yes, one day something will happen and that will be it. But until that day comes, I'm going to carry on working on my abs."

I hope I live as long and have as much passion as this man currently does. The mortality aspect brought this article from a cute, lighthearted read into something that really touched me– as a young, unfit, lost little boy. Thanks.
posted by synthedelic at 12:20 AM on April 30, 2011 [1 favorite]


Yeah, that's insane. Sheer athleticism aside, I find anyone who can do more chin-ups than push-ups (or crunches?!) an enigma.
posted by gurple at 10:47 PM on April 29


This.

I knock off fifty push-ups a day just as part of my routine, along with cleaning my teeth and washing. I don't know how many I could do if I carried on until it hurt. But after fifteen chin-ups I'm starting to cry.
posted by Decani at 12:43 AM on April 30, 2011


Mandlebaum! Mandlebaum!

(It's go time!)

(Seriously? It took this long?)
posted by dirigibleman at 5:40 AM on April 30, 2011


on PBS t.v. they covered a group of rope climbers, all over 70 years old, they watch their diet and eat three meals a day, oatmeal, miss a meal and no meal, to avoid gaining excess pounds. they scurrey up a rope in minutes and seconds.
posted by taxpayer at 6:54 AM on April 30, 2011


The guy with the 70 year old head and the 20 year old body: Jeffry Life.
posted by twoleftfeet at 12:42 PM on April 30, 2011


The guy with the 70 year old head and the 20 year old body: Jeffry Life.

That's actually John Basedow after an unfortunate encounter with a stationary bike / time machine and about nine sandwiches.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 5:34 PM on May 1, 2011


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