70-year-old personal trainer wins national title

[Curt James]

70-year-old personal trainer at K2 Crawley wins national bodybuilding title

By C. Ballinger
October 04, 2016

A pensioner who underwent cancer treatment last year and broke his leg six months ago has won a national bodybuilding contest.

David Brice came first in the 70 and over category at the British National Bodybuilding Federation competition held on September 25.

bricebb.jpg

Mr. Brice, who has been a personal trainer at K2 Crawley for the last 11 years, first started working out with weights back in 1962 when he was 16 and to this day he still gets to the gym at 5:30 a.m. to exercise six days a week.

The life of an older bodybuilder is not beyond suspicion, though, because before last month's contest Mr. Brice had to pass a lie detector test as judges wanted to be sure competitors were not taking performance enhancing drugs.

The 70-year-old said: "The organisers take the competition seriously for people at my age as well as in the younger categories because they are determined to eliminate any cheats.

"We were all strapped up to polygraph machines and had to take a urine test to make sure we weren't misusing any drugs or hormones.

"The test was measuring changes to my blood pressure when I was asked questions such as 'is your name David Brice?', 'have you ever lied to a friend that had serious consequences?' and 'have you ever taken any performance enhancing drugs?'

"I first got into bodybuilding at the age of 55, before that I had been a weightlifter, and it has taken time for me to feel comfortable on stage in what can only be described as a posing pouch.

"I feel shy about standing up on stage to pose in different positions where every bit of fat on your body shows up.

"And because it is the done thing, my wife gives me two spray tans in the hotel room before the show."

The popularity of bodybuilding among older generations is rapidly increasing according to Mr. Brice because when he first took part in the over-60 contest he only had one competitor, whereas this year he was against six other men.

Mr. Brice, who lives in Mill Lane, Felbridge, puts his continued passion for fitness down to his prostate cancer diagnosis which he is now in remission from. Even hip replacement surgery after a freak accident where he broke his thigh in March did not stop him from continuing to train for the national competition.

"Thankfully the cancer was caught very early and I started treatment in October 2015," he added.

"I always had it set in my mind that I wasn't going to continue my exercise programme alongside my treatment but when I broke my femur in March I thought this year's competition would be a write-off for me.

"It was a complete accident. A foam roller had been left on the floor and I tripped over it. I immediately heard my thigh crack and I had to undergo hip replacement replacement surgery.

"For two weeks I was really down because I was bed bound and unable to train at all. I've struggled to give myself one day off a week from the gym, let alone going weeks without exercise.

"I pulled myself together through and got back into my small gym at home, moving myself into positions to work on my upper body even when I couldn't move my leg."

Mr. Brice had adapted his workout routine as he has got older to focus on the number of sets and repetitions he completes, compared to the heavier weights he used to lift.

He said: "My squat record was 272.5kg when I was 30 but I don't focus on the size of the weights at all anymore because my body just couldn't manage it.

"If I tried I could maybe now squat 120kg.

"Now my strategy is to focus on different parts of my body on different days of the week and complete different sets of 15 or so reps back to back to give my body minimum rest while I'm working out.

"I still use weight machines and free weights but on one day I'll work on my legs, then on another my upper body, then shoulders, biceps and back."

More @ http://www.crawleynews.co.uk/70-year...ail/story.html

[BananaHammock]

BLTL (better legs than Levrone)

[sassy69]

Continued proof of "you're never too old". Great stuff & congrats Mr. Brice!

[Jude2]

Looks good.

[cook]

Good for him

[Puma]

Thinking the BNBF is the British INBF/WNBF. He looks familiar.

[Sunnyday]

Congrats to him!

[ryancutler]

Would love to be half as good looking, when I will be 70.
good job

[The Flash]

Continued proof of "you're never too old".

Exactly, should there be a cut-off for Mr Olympia. Why not have a 50+, 60+, 70+ and so on class for it ...plus the same for (Ms Olympia) Wings of Strength and all the other women's division?