BODY BUILDING AFTER 50

I started weights and body-building in 2000 aged 50 when I was working in Vientiane in Laos. After work I would go to a small gym at the Lao Plaza Hotel and struggle with tiny weights and huff and puff. I benched 40 kg (88 pounds) max – less than half my body weight!

Then a friend suggested I buy “Weight Training for Dummies” by Suzanne Schlosberg and Liz Neporent – yes, the ladies have got some good advice for beginners of both sexes. The results came with regular hard work and learning the right techniques. I found the book was down to earth, emphasized safety, has good illustrations and there was no silliness about looking like Arnie.

But I did want to have the strength you need when you get older and a little heavier. As a youngster I was pretty skinny – 6 foot four inches of skin and bone, though some muscle and wiriness as I learned karate and then later T’ai Chi, so I was by no means weak. I probably weighed in at about 80 kgs (176 pounds) aged 30. However, in those days (early ‘70s) people in the martial arts advised against weights and bulking up, so my physique suited the training. But by my late 40s not much exercise and a sedentary office routine combined with lots of business travel had made me a lot less fit than even the photo suggests. I must have weighed around 100 kgs (220 pounds) aged 50 when I started weight training.

Those early results in the gym in Laos quickly meant that bodybuilding got to be addictive; I also wanted to prove that even if you start at a fairly unfit 50, some real progress is possible. The next post will provide a quantitative idea of the results and how to get them, Don’t ever say you are too old!

Photos:The guy with the beard is me aged 30, then at 50 before I started weights and now at 58; getting older can mean getting bigger and stronger!!!

"The Gym" Islamabad

This is "The Gym", the best exercise center in Islamabad, Pakistan where I have the privilege of working these days for the Bush Empire. This is a serious gym with lots of older, well-used machines, and good free weights. Cost is cheap, I pay Pak Rupees 2,500/month which these days is about $35. "The Gym" is clean and reasonably well-maintained - they just spent money re-painting and re-furbishing the gear. memberships is serious (usually) so you get a good feel pumping iron.