I just competed in my first powerlifting meet, and I can’t wait until my next one. I'm 70-years old with a hip replacement, a bad shoulder, a surgically rebuilt left knee, and a spinal cord stimulator. How the hell did I get here?
I lifted my first weights in the mid-1950s to rehabilitate a paralyzed arm from a football injury. Medical professionals sent me to the polio ward of our local hospital to work with cable pulleys. That got me hooked on weight training. It wasn’t allowed at our school; I did it anyway at the local YMCA with the professional wrestlers. Then I played another year of football as a center, middle linebacker, and kicker. (We played both ways in the 1950s, and football players were kickers, not soccer players.)
There wasn't any need for a 180-pound interior lineman in college, so I ended up having to study. I did manage to lift with the shot-putters and discus throwers, but my weight ballooned to more than 250 pounds. Paul Anderson was my hero, and I think I was stronger than I’d ever been. Alas, there wasn't any sport of powerlifting at that time and no coaching or instruction. We lifted with brute force and awkwardness. We participated in some local bench press competitions.
For years, I kept at it and got stronger. My weight also ballooned to 260 pounds. At five feet, six inches, that wasn't a good situation. After graduation, I went to law school, but I was mad as hell at myself for having gained so much weight. With very little knowledge of nutrition, I put myself on a calorie-restricted diet, and from July to January, I lost 100 pounds. Too much, too fast though. My health was crap, but I looked good. I kept the weight off during law school but did very little weightlifting.
With a law degree in hand and a new wife in tow, I embarked into the real world. It wasn’t until 1970 that I got the bug again and bought a set of York Olympic bar and plates. By then, my weight had ballooned up again, and I was mad at myself. On and off, my weight went up and down. Weights and diet, fat and slim, strong and not so strong, I went merrily along.
For the next forty years, I alternated among rugby (resulting in the knee reconstruction), tennis, racquetball, and weightlifting. During that same time, I dealt with three wives, four kids, and a sole practitioner’s law practice. Whew! All of that left me with a right shoulder that's toast and needs replacing, a left knee that has been bone to bone for many years, a recent right hip replacement, and a spinal cord stimulator implanted in my ass to deal with multiple disk herniations. What a wreck!
As I began the rehabilitation process after the hip replacement, I did the exercises that the physical therapists instructed me to do. I did more than was required to get better more quickly. I began riding an old Nordic track ski machine every day and continued to do so for many months. After that, I went to a commercial gym nearby and began lifting again but only with machines. I also started to read. I scoured the Internet and realized I needed to get back to free weights. I began with the 5 X 5 program. The more I read, the more interested I became in powerlifting. I consulted my doctor, and with her supervision, drugs, and shots, I lost 80 pounds in six months. As I lost weight, I became more and more a regular at the gym.
My daughter married a powerlifter/Strongman (which ultimately didn't work out) and lived in Columbia, South Carolina. She often referred to her husband’s friend, whom she called Big Donnie. I was led to believe that he was an accomplished powerlifter. As I became more and more interested in powerlifting, I looked him up and, to my great surprise, it was Donnie Thompson, one of the best in the world!
My daughter put me in touch with him, and I’ve been training with him regularly for the last six months. He has taught me more in that time than I had learned in the past fifty years. He has taught and continues to teach me techniques in all three lifts and has introduced me to the Westside method. Together with all that I can read and videos that I've seen, I’m beginning to learn to train.
I’ve maintained my weight loss for a year, and in my first meet, I was on the light weight platform. I had never been called a light weight in my life. This is my last diet! I'm adamant that I won't gain the weight back again.
I don’t think I’ll have twenty years in the sport (although it would be nice), but I intend to do it as long as I can. I have never been healthier, and I continue to get stronger and have better technique. I hope to continue to work with Donnie and read and learn more about the sport and about nutrition.
I try to emphasize the importance of resistance training to my peers, but it often falls on deaf ears. I think I’ll have to lift equipped the next time. I’m not sure what all that entails. I just know that I have to wrap my knees. I can’t wait until the next meet. I'm too young to be this damn old!