| Training For My First Competition at Age
61: A "Senior" Bodybuilder's Championship Season By Scott "Old Navy" Hults The Challange and the Preparation |
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| On January 1, 2004, I was a 60 year-old,
158 pounds, out-of-shape retired U.S.
Navy
Reserve Captain. After my retirement
from
the Navy, I no longer was required
to stay
fit and pass a service-wide semi-annual
Physical
Readiness Test, so I slacked off. Although
I went to the SportPlex gym in Birmingham,
Alabama regularly, I generally spent
more
time gabbing with my fellow gym rats
than
I did working out. Six months later,
I was a little more disciplined and
worked
out with a partner regularly 45 minutes
a
day, five days a week. I started to
lose
a few pounds and looked better. And,
of course,
I felt better. One day my wife of 25
years
made an off-handed remark saying, "Scott,
you seem to enjoy the gym and working
out,
so why don't you compete?" I said,
"Do
what?" She said, "Compete.
See
if you can do it." I couldn’t
believe
my ears when I heard myself say, "OK,
I will." And on June 1st, I began
a
10 month journey to get ready to stand
up
on a stage in nothing more than a tiny
posing
suit, as a 61 year-old Bantam Weight,
Grand
Master bodybuilder. The first thing I did was to begin working with a personal trainer who shared my goals and agreed to help me achieve them. His name is Will Lantrip, a former champion bodybuilder and personal trainer, who not only trains "natural" bodybuilders, but also encourages and works with athletes, who are on illegal muscle enhancing drugs and still want to compete, to agree to train with Will "natural." Will's Christian-based company is called, "Will Power." Will was a good choice for me. I have known him for a long time and have watched him work with men and women, young and old. Each of his clients is special and he trains each one "individually." When I started training with Will, I weighed 155 pounds. The first thing he changed was my diet. Gone were the cheeseburgers, ice cream, french fries, chocolates and potato chips. Within two months, I lost seven pounds. By Labor Day, I was down to 139. I looked OK, but was not very cut. My waist had gone from 33" to 30" and I did add muscle in a few areas, especially the upper body. Then, on September 11th, I had a fateful encounter when I met Thomas Hawk at the I.N.B.F. Southern Natural Bodybuilding & Figure Competition in Marietta, Georgia. I attended the show at Will's suggestion to see what a competition was like. Tom was a competitor. We met backstage before the pre-judging and talked about training for competition. He was very friendly and helpful. When I saw him taking a few supplements during his warm-up I asked him about it. He said he was a Beverly International client and had been taking their supplements and their advice for years. He had just come off a win the week before at a Supernatural Bodybuilding and Fitness (S.N.B.F.) show in Atlanta and was in Marietta to try for another win. That night he easily won his class and nearly took the overall at the I.N.B.F show. Tom gave me the telephone number of Beverly International in Cold Spring, Kentucky and I called them the first thing Monday morning. After talking with them, at their request, I sent an email with all my particulars, including my goal to compete. Mark Ritter called me later that day and became my nutritionist-counselor. Mark is terrific. He is patient, friendly and extremely helpful. None of my stupid questions were stupid to him. He answered them and gave me good advice about diet and supplements. For the next 25 weeks, preparing for my first contest, I was a Beverly International client-athlete. On November 1st, both Will Lantrip and Mark Ritter told me I needed to add lean mass to my body weight. I weighed 140 pounds and both of them wanted me to put on at least 10 pounds. Mark added an extra meal of three scoops of Mass Maker after my morning workout. By Christmas Eve, I weighed 151 pounds. I sent some photos to Mark, who, after looking at them, said to cut out the Mass Maker, continue with the rest of my diet and talk to him again in two weeks. Will Lantrip was generally satisfied with my weight but said he would still like to see me put on a few more pounds. Meanwhile, Will upped the intensity of my workouts. He is good at making sure I can handle the extra work without injuring my 61 year-old joints and muscles. He does know how to make it hurt, though. And he does know how to help me grow. I have gotten bigger in the chest, biceps, shoulders and especially the legs and calves, which we work twice a week. |
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| Come back next month for part two as Scott continues his journey at 12 weeks out! | |
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