Supertraining

Hello everyone.  I'm new to this group.  It's good to know that the
article driving this topic classifies "old" as starting at 60.  I'm 58
and that information is worth the price of admission.

I've been at this lifting stuff since the price of gas was 19.7 cents
a gallon here in Los Angeles, back in 1969.

I recall reading an article perhaps 25 years ago about the remarkable
positive effects of resistance training on "older" people.  The
percentage increase in muscle strength demonstrated by people that
were inactive and then began weight training was dramatic.  This of
course was a no brainer then and is a no brainer now, but although I
write that, I am a huge proponent of resistance training for people of
all ages.

I won't over-intellectualize.  When I lift at my gym I always turn
away from the mirrors.  I truly believe that if Wayne Gretzky began
skating a 10 instead of 3 he would still have become the greatest
ever.  I applaud the comment that one person made implying that
Gretzky has other attributes that made him great.  It's the same in
any sport.  Bjorn Borg as I recall, had a resting pulse of 32 beats
per minute, which is ridiculous (in a good way), but I don't believe
that is what made him great.  It was just another ingredient.

The characteristics of athletic greatness include measurable and
non-measurable components. Long before OJ Simpson went Ginzu knife on
two people (allegedly)he was the arguably best NFL running back ever.
 He was not the only 6'1" 212 pound running back with blazing speed.
Travis Williams was a contemporary of OJ and was about the same size
and possibly even faster, but had nowhere near the success of Simpson.
 The point being that Simpson had intangible, mysterious traits that
made him superhuman.  These traits existed between his ears.  This
stuff cannot be taught.  I've seen this sort of thing in action with a
very close friend.

My friend, also 58 was an amazing sight to see.  In the mid-1960's in
Los Angeles, he was a shot putter in high school.  He only took second
place in the city championship, but he had a handicap.  Specifically,
he was small.  At 5'9" and 166 pounds he gave up nearly 100 pounds to
his competitors.  At that time a 12 pound shot was used, which he
threw nearly 58 feet.  One of the kids he beat went on to a very
successful NFL career.  This was in an era where there were no
performance enhancing substances and resistance training techniques
were still pretty primitive.  He bench pressed well over 300 pounds
and could beat all of the sprinters in the 50 yard dash, though this
was not an event run in meets.  In college, he had grown to about 195
pounds and began to focus on javelin.  He developed knee problems and
was unable to play serious football, despite the desperate pleas of
the school.  He would have been a prototype strong safety and could
throw a football 100 yards.  He went on to a major university and
became an Olympic hopeful until an elbow injury ended that.

I know this man well.  His explosiveness was off the chart.  Sure, he
was not the only small strongman around, but he was really without
equal at the time.  It's all about the wiring and his schematic is one
that is not made in the gym.  He went on to raise two wonderful sons
who both had brief careers as professional soccer players.

At some point I'll write about my fitness and strength at my ripe old
age, but will end this by saying that the level of fitness that we can
maintain as we get "older" has been a shocking surprise to me.

Joel Mench
Hollywood Hills, California, USA,