In my last newsletter I spoke about how powerlifting was more like a marathon than a sprint, especially compared to Weightlifting.
I used some examples, Laurie Butler and Gordon Santee, both 63.
Here is an email I just got back from Gordon
[FONT="]Markos,
Thank you for the kind words. There are many examples of powerlifters actually getting stronger as they mature. In 1994, at the age of 48 with a body weight of 75Kg I squatted 247.5Kg, benched 155Kg and deadlifted 255Kg, while at the same time winning the bodybuilding contest being held at the same event. It was titled the powerlifting IronMan competition. In Capetown, South Africa in 2001 at the WPC World Championship, I deadlifted 255.5Kg for a world record deadlift and a personal best. I was 55 years of age at that time. I was 7 years older, but still managed to hold on to my strength.
I just turned 64 at the beginning of September and at my new weight of 67.5Kg, I am handling 90-92% of what I did back in the late 1980s.
As the Canadian songster Neil Young once wrote, "it is better to burn out than to rust".
A few years ago the local paper interviewed me. We ended the interview when the editor asked "well Gordon, when are you going to give this up?" My response was simply "when they pull my cold dead fingers off the steel bar!"
Best regards,
Gordon[/FONT]
I used some examples, Laurie Butler and Gordon Santee, both 63.
Here is an email I just got back from Gordon
[FONT="]Markos,
Thank you for the kind words. There are many examples of powerlifters actually getting stronger as they mature. In 1994, at the age of 48 with a body weight of 75Kg I squatted 247.5Kg, benched 155Kg and deadlifted 255Kg, while at the same time winning the bodybuilding contest being held at the same event. It was titled the powerlifting IronMan competition. In Capetown, South Africa in 2001 at the WPC World Championship, I deadlifted 255.5Kg for a world record deadlift and a personal best. I was 55 years of age at that time. I was 7 years older, but still managed to hold on to my strength.
I just turned 64 at the beginning of September and at my new weight of 67.5Kg, I am handling 90-92% of what I did back in the late 1980s.
As the Canadian songster Neil Young once wrote, "it is better to burn out than to rust".
A few years ago the local paper interviewed me. We ended the interview when the editor asked "well Gordon, when are you going to give this up?" My response was simply "when they pull my cold dead fingers off the steel bar!"
Best regards,
Gordon[/FONT]